'Vicky Christina Barcelona' is the latest comedy from writer/director Woody Allen. I finally got it cued up in my Netflix*. Considering I started out the day trying to watch Spike Lee's 'Miracle at St. Anna', which I gave up on 45 minutes in, VCB really turned me around. And 'Miracle at St. Anna' is bad, real bad. I wasn't sure the man who directed it was the same one who made 'Inside Man' or 'The 25th Hour'. I was sure the combination of Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Scarlet Johansson, and Penelope Cruz would do the trick and it did. Woody Allen's almost poetic writing drives this narrative film about two mid-twenties girls who take a summer vacation to Barcelona.
Vicky (Hall) is engaged to a wonderful guy and wants to study architecture for her master's thesis. Christina (Johansson) is a free-loving, try-anything artist who is recently off another relationship. It doesn't take long for them to be enamored by Juan Antonio (Bardem) an artist and lover extraordinaire. While Vicky deals with have mixed feelings about getting married, Christina finds herself intwined in the love of Juan Antonio and his fiery ex-wife Maria Elena (Cruz). The character's and dialogue of course are absolutely perfect, Bardem and Cruz battling back and forth in Spanish is supremely fun to watch. Woody Allen has made a lot of movies, but I think 'Vicky Christina Barcelona' is one of his better films. Especially regarding the topic of sex and love, his usual specialty. Rent it for sure, good buy for fans of Allen.
A few extra thoughts before I go today.
1. A day after my post about upcoming films and previews I saw the trailer for 'Where the Wild Things Are', opening October 16, 2009. It is based on the wildly popular (and one of my personal favorite) children's book. Spike Jonze is the director so be ready for a fun movie, I am very excited.
2. I really hope they don't screw up 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'. Just a funny feeling.
Alright folks, I've got 'Slumdog Millionaire' up next, so stay tuned. And as usual I'll try to cover a few more topics in between the juicy stuff.
The Movie Doc
*Writer does not actually use Netflix, and is in no way being compensated by them or any of these items: Coca-Cola, Oreos, McDonalds, The United States Army, and Shamwow!.
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