Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich 

Movie Monday

Just a short posting since MM is still, like the bear in winter sleeping in a cozy cave, on hiatus.

Looks like Edward Snowden got away from the the clutches of the US. I wonder what country we will have to invade and/or drone bomb to prove we still have balls.

Saw a delightful movie this weekend, To Rome with Love. It's 2012 Woody Allen and, it was royally panned. (43% on Rotten Tomatoes.) However, I found it charming without the edge of a Cassandra's Dream or Crimes and Misdemeanors but still getting the Allen points across with a sort of Italian ennui.

We get disparate stories which never connect: the Italian "schmuck" who gets instant fame for no reason at all, the young sexually conventionally married couple who unexpectedly get sexual awakenings through unlikely partners, and the neurotic would-be actress who almost steals her best friend's longtime boyfriend. (She's played by Ellen Page, not usually my favorite actress, but here, to use the sports metaphor, she "hits one out of the park.") And then there's the segment containing Allen; it's wacky and self-deprecating.

Allen, especially with his later movies, explores the creative process (Deconstructing Harry) and the unexpected baggage it brings. Adding some twists, he does the same thing here with a solid cast: Alec Baldwin (who is given the first zingers re: Mia Farrow I've heard in an Allen movie), Judy Davis, Ellen Page, Roberto Benigni., Jesse Eisenberg, etc

Watch this movie and I do mean watch it. So much of it is in Italian with subtitles. No closing your eyes with this one. Witty, subtle, touching, charming, never brittle. Quiet satire in beautiful, vibrant Rome. I think you'll like it.