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Conference bookie::movies

Title:	Movie Reviews and Discussion
Notice:	Please do DIR/TITLE before starting a new topic on a movie!
Moderator:	VAXCPU::michaudo.dec.com::tamara::eppes

Created:	Thu Jan 28 1993
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1249
Total number of notes:	16012

991.0. "Mighty Aphrodite" by EVMS::HALLYB (Fish have no concept of fire) Wed Dec 27 1995 17:58

    This is a new Woody Allen movie playing at the Wilton Theater.
    
    Woody plays a Manhattan sports writer "Lenny" married to "Amanda",
    played by the huggable Helena Bonham Carter. Amanda is very involved in
    her job at an art gallery but she also wants a child; Lenny does not.
    Next thing you know, they've adopted a little boy, Max.
    
    Five years pass. Amanda is thinking of opening her own gallery. Their
    relationship is straining as Amanda's crowd doesn't appeal to Lenny.
    Max turns out to be a near-genius. Lenny wonders if maybe Max's real
    mother wouldn't be more suited to Lenny than Amanda, who has moved out.
    Lenny goes off and manages to locate Max's birth mother. She's not
    exactly what Lenny thought he'd find.
    
    A lot of this movie is typical Woody Allen, that is, people dealing
    with their relationships and hang-ups. In addition, this movie features
    something not often seen in modern cinema: a classical Greek chorus.
    The chorus is an integral part of the story, stepping in to warn of
    impending doom only to see the characters blithely proceeding doomward.
    
    For some people the chorus just gets in the way but for others, myself
    included, it becomes essential to the story. It's a bit like the Bogart
    character in "Play it Again, Sam", stepping in to offer advice.
    The chorus leader is played by F. Murray Abraham, who gets a fair
    amount of camera time dressed in chorus makeup, trying to convince
    Lenny that it's a baaaad idea to locate Max's birth mother.
    
    With a little deus ex machina help (literally!) the movie comes to a
    happy ending for all the players.
    
    I thought this was a good fun movie, with an original idea. But it just
    isn't overall as funny as other recent Woody Allen movies such as
    "Bullets Over Broadway". Still if you're a Woody Allen fan you should
    try to catch this while it's still playing the big screen.
    
    ***/*****
    
      John

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
991.1		WECARE::ROBERTS	climb a ladder to the stars	`Fri Jan 05 1996 16:53`	9
	Really enjoyed this film. The addition of the greek chorus compounded with the Oedipus Rex story line had tremendous impact. We were trying to figure out who played the blind man on the street who was panhandling and who wasn't blind of course. once again - woody allen delivers
991.2	Jack Warden	EVMS::HALLYB	Fish have no concept of fire	`Sat Jan 06 1996 14:16`	12
	> to figure out who played the blind man on the street who was > panhandling and who wasn't blind of course. Jack Warden. He also played John Cusack's agent in _Bullets Over Broadway_. Must be a new friend of Woody's. He had one of the best lines in the movie (spoiler): "No, she wasn't responding to him. She just opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue as far as was humanly possible!"
991.3	where are the Woody fans ?	GENRAL::PLANTE		`Thu Apr 18 1996 22:52`	12
	Finally saw this movie last night. Glad i didn't wait for the "rental" and "small screen". Woody Allen has some definite "short-circuits" in his brain....to write and direct something like this...and the results are wonderfull. I think it was "better" then "Bullets", but that was a year ago ,and the music from last nite is still bouncing thru my head. Mira Sorvino did deserve the A.Award nomination for sure...and wasn't "daddy" proud when she won ! Michael Rappaport...small role...but he is coming on strong as an Actor [True Romance,Higher Learning,?]. What a fun movie ! -Bill
991.4	Mighty Aphrodite	ABACUS::FORTIN_C	Worked the Bars & Sideshows....	`Thu Jun 20 1996 20:43`	26
	Couldn't find a topic for this yet. i rented it the other night and thought it was pretty good. You have to like Woody Allen, though, and I know a lot of people don't. Personally, I think he's a riot, and he's funny in this one in typical Woody allen fashion. Mira Sorvino won the Academy Award for this (Supporting Actress) and she does a good job as a hooker. There's quite a bit of harsh language in the movie and thats why its "R". The plot breaks down like this: Woody Allen and his wife want to adopt a kid, they don't want to have one because the pregnancy would interfere with the wife's career as a artist. She wants to own her own gallery, he's a sports-writer. Anyways, they adopt a new born boy and the kid gets to be a few years old and turns out to be a near-genius. Woody goes out and finds the mother who is the hooker. From there the plot sort of moves forward in a somewhat predictable, but effective manner. I can;t go into it without giving out too much info. but it's funny when he is interacting with Linda (Mira Sorvino's character). If you like Woody Allen, it's highly recommended, if you hate him, see it anyways for Sorvino's performance. */** CF
991.5	Sorry, Mr. Moderator!!	BRAT::FORTIN_C	Worked the Bars & Sideshows....	`Fri Jun 21 1996 12:36`	47
	Heads up, spoiler coming..... I'm serious...... The rest of the plot is nothing too unpredictable. Woody Allen's character tries to make Linda into a respectable person. He tells her she should get out of the prostitution/porno movie business and become a legit actress or a hairdresser. There's a funny seen when he confronts her pimp and has to get him some front row tickets to a Knicks game in exchange for not "owning" Linda anymore. The movie moves on with Lenny (Woodys character, just remembered his name!) trying to set her up with a boxer/onion farmer who is a real home- boy. He figures some day his adopted son will go looking for his real mother and he doesn't want the kid to realize she's a hooker who also does porno movies. Of course Lenny's wife cheats on him with a gallery owner and this drives Lenny to Linda's place where she was just punnched by the home boy. He slugs her because his friends rent him a porno movie to celebrate the fact that he's in love with her, and she's in the porno film!!! To no ones suprise Lenny & Linda have sex and then Lenny's wife comes back to him and Linda finds a nice guy and gets married. Bigger Spoiler About the Ending Last Chance The one time Lenny and Linda have sex, Linda gets pregnant again. So the movie ends after Linda's second child is born and she runs into Lenny at the toy-store. Linda never finds out that Lenny adopted her first kid, and Lenny never knows that Linda's new baby is his. And they all live happily-ever-after. It's well done and definatly worth seeing. There are some funny scenes because the movie is narrated by a Ancient Greek play (can't think of the right word), very effectivly. CF
991.6		KERNEL::PLANTC	The Truth is out there.....	`Fri Jun 21 1996 14:27`	6
	Thanks alot for the overview!! sounds like a great movie! Chris :)
991.7		WRKSYS::LASKY		`Mon Jun 24 1996 14:51`	5
	I rented it this weekend as well, and for a Woody Alan flick I would rate it 4/5. In my opinion it's much better then his last flick (Bullets over Broadway). I loved the hookers kitchen clock!!!! Bart