Featuring: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey
Writer/Director: Woody Allen
Movie website: sonyclassics.com/irrationalman/
Australian release date: Thu 20 August

Reviewer: rolanstein
Verdict: Well written, conceived and performed, but not quite top shelf Woody – it is cerebral rather than from the guts, and lacks emotional oomph. Continue reading Irrational Man movie review →

Featuring: Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Eileen Atkins, Jacki Weaver, Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater, Simon McBurney
Screenwriter/Director: Woody Allen
Movie website: www.sonyclassics.com/magicinthemoonlight/
Australian release date: Thursday, 28 August, 2014

Reviewer: rolanstein
Verdict: A bit short on magic and moonlight, but fun viewing, and well-performed.

Story:
Famous magician Stanley (Colin Firth) travels incognito to the Côte d’Azur to unmask beautiful young medium Sophie (Emma Stone) as a fraud and con-artist. He is unsettled by Sophie’s demonstration of her apparent powers, unable to discern any trickery or sleight of hand on her part. Ever the arrogant rationalist, however, he maintains his cynicism until she divines intimate secret details about his life that are unerringly accurate and impossible for her to know. In subsequently opening his mind to the mysterious and wondrous – even magical – aspects to life outside the bounds of the scientifically rational, he also opens his heart. But has he been conned? And is he too late in any case, with Sophie having accepted a proposal of marriage from the foppy uke-serenading son of a rich family who promises her a life of indulgence and luxury? Besides, Stanley is engaged to a sophisticated woman back in England who by all logical reckoning is the perfect fit for him. And yet…

Review:
Woody’s creative tap has been running intermittently hot and cold for a long time now. Midnight In Paris hot. To Rome With Love cold. Blue Jasmine hot. Magic in the Moonlight? Warm. Continue reading Magic in the Moonlight Movie Review →