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DVD Scoop (Widescreen Edition)
Light and charming, Scoop blends murder, ghosts, and falling in love. While inside of a magician's magic cabinet, aspiring journalist Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation) is visiting by the ghost of a dead reporter (Ian McShane, Deadwood) who has gotten a hot tip in the afterlife: A rising young politician named Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman, X-Men) may be the notorious serial killer who leaves tarot cards by his victims. With the magician (writer-director Woody Allen) in tow, Sondra sneaks her way into Lyman's life--and, despite increasing evidence that the tip is true, finds herself falling in love with him. Scoop is stronger than Allen's last film, the overrated Match Point; moment to moment, scene to scene, it's his most zippy and entertaining movie in years. It still suffers from laziness--Allen seems unwilling to look at the plot's holes and find a way to sew them up--and Allen's own persona, with his now-rote comic stutterings and hesitations, drags on the film's momentum. Despite this, Scoop has flashes of suspense and wit that, in an unknown filmmaker, would be cause for celebration. Also featuring Charles Dance (White Mischief) and Romola Garai (I Capture the Castle), one of the few actresses who can compete with Johansson in lusciousness. --Bret Fetzer
As the title of this review says: it's a boring, plodding, and ultimately unsatisfying piece of ... well, you get the idea. The ending is totally blah. Like the rest of it.
"Maybe he belongs to one of those clubs where he's a crossdresser."
"Scoop" the latest film from Woody Allen, falls into the light romantic romp category. While it lacks the depth of "Match Point", it's enjoyable, and hopeless Woody Allen fans (like me) will recognize familiar themes from some of his other films.
Budding reporter Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) is in England staying with some wealthy British connections when she attends a magic show. Sondra is invited as a member of the audience to assist in one of the tricks performed by magician Splendini (Woody Allen). During the course of the trick, recently dead reporter Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) contacts Sondra. In life, Strombel could never pass up a hot tip for a story, and in death he wants to pass the tip to a fellow reporter. Strombel tells Sondra that he's just received a hot tip that the mysterious unidentified Tarot Killer who's been stalking prostitutes in London is none other than millionaire Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman).
Sondra can't go to the police with a tip she's received from a ghost, so instead she enlists the help of the reluctant Stromboli to investigate the Tarot killings. Together Sondra and Stromboli go undercover, assume new identities and infiltrate Lyman's world.
The amateur sleuth team is reminiscent of the teaming of Diane Keaton and Woody Allen in "Husbands and Wives" but in "Scoop" there's a strong, otherworldly element of magic ("Alice") that conveniently acts as a Deus Ex Machina at times. It is delightful to see Woody Allen back at the fore of one of his films, and in typical Woody Allen style, his character's insecurities and voice of caution were extremely funny. For this Woody Allen fan, it was good to see this perennial, talented comedian back in front of the camera. There's nothing too serious here, and the film is clearly not intended to fall into the serious Woody Allen film category. Instead, this is just a lighthearted romp--nothing more and certainly nothing less. It's enjoyable escapism--displacedhuman
A Generous 4 Stars
This is a 3 star movie but I'm giving a sympathy star. As a big fan of Woody Allen's work, at least his 70's and 80's work, it pains me to say this but: its time for Woody to retire. He's obviously lost his drive. Its gone, all of it. The zanines of Sleeper and Love and Death, the wild grab-the-throat inventiveness of Annie Hall and Manhattan and the beautifully evocative interplay of serious and comic of Purple Rose of Cairo and Crimes & Misdemeanors. Sadly enough, I think Woody has long since made his last great or even fully enjoyable movie. Scoop is a fun flick if you miss the neurotic Allen of the 70's & 80's and the patter of jokes, some lame but some quite clever. Even then, its hard to watch talented and likable actors like Johannsen and Jackman struggle to make a go of the thin script and weak humor. I would not be devastated to see Woody hang it up and never make another movie. After all, we'll always have Manhattan.
This clever, funny big-screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's best-seller takes some of the snarky bite out of the chick lit book, but smoothes out the characters' boxy edges to make a more satisfying movie. There's no doubt The Devil Wears Prada belongs to Meryl Streep, who turns in an Oscar�-worthy (seriously!) strut as the monster editor-in-chief of Runway, an elite fashion magazine full of size-0, impossibly well-dressed plebes. This makes new second-assistant Andrea (Anne Hathaway), who's smart but an unacceptable size 6, stick out like a sore thumb. Streep has a ball sending her new slave on any whimsical errand, whether it's finding the... More Info about this DVD Director(s): David Frankel DVD Release Date: Released the 12 December 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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There are a lot of broad comedies about men refusing to grow up, but few have the sly bite of You, Me and Dupree. Even though Carl (Matt Dillon, Crash, There's Something About Mary) is newly married to Molly (Kate Hudson, Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), when his best friend Dupree (Owen Wilson, Wedding Crashers, The Life Aquatic) ends up homeless, Carl invites Dupree into their house--in which Dupree promptly makes himself at home, culminating in setting the place on fire during lurid sex. But though he's trapped between his wife and his best friend, Carl may have bigger problems as his boss--and father-in-law--hates him and is sneakily working against his marriage. You, Me and Dupree seems at first glance to be a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Anthony Russo (II) - Joe Russo (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Critics and controversy aside, The Da Vinci Code is a verifiable blockbuster. Combine the film's huge worldwide box-office take with over 100 million copies of Dan Brown's book sold, and The Da Vinci Code has clearly made the leap from pop-culture hit to a certifiable franchise. The leap for any story making the move from book to big screen, however, is always more perilous. In the case of The Da Vinci Code, the plot is concocted of such a preposterous formula of elements that you wouldn’t envy screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the man tasked with making this story filmable. The script follows Dan Brown’s book as closely as possible while incorporating a few needed changes, including a better ending. And if you’re like most of the world, by now you’ve... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ron Howard DVD Release Date: Released the 14 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock pair up again in what could be described as the anti-Speed: The Lake House, a sweet, relaxed-paced, whimsical romance. When Alex Wyler (Reeves, The Matrix) moves into an unusual glass house on stilts over a lake, he discovers a note from the previous tenant in the mailbox--but no one's lived in the house for years. He replies and soon discovers that he's corresponding with a doctor named Kate Forster (Bullock, Miss Congeniality) who's writing from two years in the future. Their correspondence turns romantic and their paths cross in unexpected ways, but when they try to truly connect, danger looms. Though the plot of The Lake House sounds potentially static, the movie is skillfully structured and, despite some truly awful... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Alejandro Agresti DVD Release Date: Released the 26 September 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Bearing absolutely no resemblance to the 1980s TV series that helped to propel Michael Mann into big-time filmmaking, Miami Vice is the kind of serious, and seriously stylish, crime drama that Mann does better than anyone else. As written by Mann himself, this undercover sting thriller doesn't reach the peak intensity of Mann's 1995 classic Heat, and it lacks the tight, nail-biting suspense of Collateral, but that doesn't mean it doesn't occasionally pack a wallop. As Miami detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs (respectively), Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx don't have to do much but mumble their plot-thickening dialogue and look ultra-cool in the casual cop attire, and their partnership is rather lifeless on screen (perhaps owing to the fact that this was a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Michael Mann DVD Release Date: Released the 05 December 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This clever, funny big-screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's best-seller takes some of the snarky bite out of the chick lit book, but smoothes out the characters' boxy edges to make a more satisfying movie. There's no doubt The Devil Wears Prada belongs to Meryl Streep, who turns in an Oscar�-worthy (seriously!) strut as the monster editor-in-chief of Runway, an elite fashion magazine full of size-0, impossibly well-dressed plebes. This makes new second-assistant Andrea (Anne Hathaway), who's smart but an unacceptable size 6, stick out like a sore thumb. Streep has a ball sending her new slave on any whimsical errand, whether it's finding the...