MasterChugs Theater: ‘Love Actually’

The writer responsible for the biggest British hits of the last ten years – Four Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary – directs Love Actually, a vibrant romantic comedy, blending ambition with good sense by filling the profuse parts of his multi-storied script with excellent, experienced actors, and rising young stars.

And boobs. I should definitely point that out. Continue reading MasterChugs Theater: ‘Love Actually’

MasterChugs Theater: ‘When Harry Met Sally…’

Upon initial view, When Harry Met Sally… seems like a shameless Hollywood rip-off of Woody Allen’s masterpieces Annie Hall and Manhattan, which is slightly ironic, given that we just took a look at Annie Hall last week. There were so many similarities — the Jew-shiksa romance, the lush autumn New York City foliage, the ivory-tinkling Gershwin standards, even the white credits set on a black background. But now, the movie plays as a loving homage to a director who had already lost his romantic-comedy way. And as it turns out, Rob Reiner’s film about two friends trying to have a platonic relationship was ahead of its time. But, well …. there’s only one roadblock: looooooooove. Continue reading MasterChugs Theater: ‘When Harry Met Sally…’

MasterChugs Theater: ‘Annie Hall’

Alvy Singer stands in front of an orangey sort of backdrop and tells us, the movie audience, the joke about two women at a Catskill resort. “The food,” says the first woman, “is terrible.” “Yes,” the second woman agrees, “and the portions are so small.”

This, says Alvy Singer, is just about the way he feels about life. It’s not great—in fact, it’s pretty evenly divided between the horrible and the miserable—but as long as it’s there, he wants more.

In this fashion, Woody Allen introduces us to the particular concerns Annie Hall, a comedy about urban love and incompatibility that finally establishes Woody as one of our most audacious filmmakers, as well as the only American filmmaker who is able to work seriously in the comic mode without being the least bit ponderous. And you know what? It’s a story full of love, and surprisingly enough, pure romance. Hit the jump to see more about it. Continue reading MasterChugs Theater: ‘Annie Hall’