 Yeah, welcome back to the movie show on Think Tech at 1 p.m. on a given Tuesday with George case and George so nice to see you I'm so glad we can do this. I feel romantic George. I'm telling you now Yeah, the two romantic movies very different from each other. We'll discuss it Tell us which movies you want to talk about today George? I'll start with the Woody Allen movie Because it's romantic comedy and I really enjoyed the role. I like comedies and and there's four vignettes in this The first one Woody's in it. He's the father of Haley who was an American student that goes to to to Rome and Needs this Italian pro bono Attorney who helps the those who are indigent don't have money, you know so and And and she she meets him and they sort of fall in love and they want to get married So her parents Phyllis and Jerry come from America to meet the family of the The husband of the prospective husband So so it seems that Jerry who's the Woody Allen character He was sort of a opera director or something like that into music, you know and and he hears the father of Michelangelo who's the the prospective husband singing in the shower because they came a little early and The guy is phenomenal Pagliacci. He's he's singing Pagliacci. So so so Always the entrepreneur, right the money man Jerry says this guy's phenomenal I'm gonna make him a star, right? So at first Giancarlo says no, no, I don't want to do that I just sing in the shower for myself. So bottom line is he gets him up to do an audition But Giancarlo who's the father who's an undertaker. That's his profession. That's right. Right. He's an undertaker, right? So the thing is he he gets in front, but you don't want to shake hands with that man Woody doesn't want to shake hands because he's The hands of that guy in some dead body or formaldehyde Woody is Unbelievably funny. I was rolling in my chair almost fell out of my chair. Okay, so the bottom line is He gives him for an audition, but the the thing is he doesn't He doesn't do well because he's not comfortable, right? Because he's not in the shower, you know He's come so then what do you think is oh, we're gonna convince him to do so they get him In it on the stage in a shower booth, right in front of the opera, right with all these people in the audience, right? I mean, and he's naked The water is running on him on the stage board is right But they got him his private parts covered and he's phenomenal the audience just claps is amazing, right? Because he's an ease right so this is this one and then it goes back and forth, you know and the The public, you know the news people call him in bitchy Lee right in the seal But woody who's Jerry who's woody thinks that this is wonderful because he doesn't understand the word in bitchy It's in the cell stupid. So that's that one. That's Haley and Michelangelo. That's the first one. Okay, then the second one is Right out of Fellini 1952 movie the white chic woody just takes the plot from Fellini, right? It's this young couple Recently just married newlyweds, right? They come to Rome for from from a small town in Italy, right? Because his ill laws are gonna give him a job, right? And they're very well connected in Rome, right? So so nearly the wife they're in the hotel room She doesn't like her hair because she's gonna see her in-laws in front of his family right in Rome So she wants to go to the hairdresser and she gets lost in Rome doesn't know she's asking people all these directions Finally she comes on a movie scene, right? And it's her fit her favorite Italian actor, right? Not a very, you know good-looking guy, right? You know, but but she loves him, right? So she wants to meet, you know talk with him and meantime, she's a young woman He's attracted to her so he wants to have make love to her You know, it doesn't care that she's married or whatever so he convinces her to go to his hotel room, right? So make love to him and just as that as they're ready to make love a burglar comes in Robbs them Rob's Rob's her for her jewelry and and then and then at that moment the actor's wife with a whole bunch of You know people coming Detected no private private detectives, right comes and gorges in so so the actor runs into the bathroom And then they make it like the the the burglar and nearly are having sex, right? So they have sex this is typical Woody Allen craziness So the wife comes in knowing that her husband's having an affair and he's not there He's hidden in the bathroom, so they all get upset and they leave right mean time The young guy right the young guy follows his name now Antonio Antonio Antonio Antonio he a Prostitute mistakes the room comes into his room, right and and and and just as she comes and jumps in She insists she says no no I didn't call for you. She insists on on doing it, right? So she jumps in bed with his Penelope Cruz. This is Penelope Penelope Cruz in that movie She wears this short red dress. She is absolutely stunningly beautiful The whole thing is that's the price for admission right there. She never looks so good I've seen her before we've all seen her before but in this movie. She was absolutely fabulous Unbelievable sex object, right? So she's a prostitute Anna, right and and just as they're starting to have sex The family his family that's supposed to meet him right to give him a job burst it Because Anna had left the door open so they pushed the door open and they see him in bed with this prostitute So he figures at the last minute he can't say it's a prostitute. He said it's his wife, right? So so he's that this whole thing and then eventually later when she finds out he was a virgin He's a virgin that that's their wedding night. She wants to have sex with him in the woods So that that's that's a that's another one then another one with Alec Baldwin is it is an architect And he's sort of like in the scenes as a he sort of comes in and out of the scene That's like a mirage kind of thing and he was he's really living his life in Italy as a student 25 30 years before and he He wants to go to the same neighborhood and walk down the same street and he becomes a kind of ghost Giving advice to the young man about how to handle love and they say that some people reviewer say that that he's pretty much react Reacting to his own experience 25 years ago. So you've got these these these young kids Jonathan and Sally are this young couple and her friend Monica comes from From California from from the movie industry and wants to stay with them right in Rome And Monica is this really she knows how to get men, you know, she's sort of sexy. So the plot is that that Jonathan who's got his girlfriend that supposedly loves starts messing around with Monica and then he's going to leave Sally for Monica So the whole plot goes that way And at the end Monica gets a call from an agent that she's got a gig right in in LA Also to be in Japan for a number of months a month in LA a big a big part So here she was ready to go and and have a life with Jonathan but at the at that moment she says forget it, you know, and she run She's going to run back to LA. So he realizes how shallow, you know, he is Now that and then the fourth one is Okay, yeah, Haley. I got Haley. I got this clerk Leopoldo, right Roman clerk He's in love with the boss's secretary. She's beautiful, right? She's another Penelope cruise, right? And he's a nobody, right? He's just a clerk, right? In an office, right? Instantly he becomes famous for some reason just like Woody became famous instantly, right? So so that he's getting barraged by all these news media blah blah blah What underwear do you wear? What do you blow your nose with? It's he's a celebrity So he's being pulled like paparazzi, you know, just like poor, uh, what was her name the Princess Diana and that guy that got killed. So so there's they're driving him crazy So he says he doesn't want this And his wife doesn't know what to do and the kids and it's like and so he becomes the star and then after a few months They they tire of him and they find somebody new and then he he they forget about him. So then He's he's in the streets. Nobody recognizes them anymore. So he sort of misses the notoriety, right? So the the moral to this is if if you're If you're a no if you're a nobody life is difficult But if you're a celebrity, it's difficult, but it's better than if you're a nobody So I think I think I covered all four because I Because of course there's a lot more, you know, it's woody allies You have to look at it a few times before you you get all the details and the nuances I I thought that last one was really extraordinary because It it made fun of the whole paparazzi thing of the whole media thing He was he had fame for a moment They followed him around and asked him, you know, how he shaved in the morning And and the crowd went wild when he told him how he shaved this man had nothing whatsoever to offer the public conversation But they asked him these silly questions about his personal habits lifestyle his toilette And he answered them and all of a sudden he was famous and I think the most crushing part of that Again, you know making fun of the Italian media and maybe media in general Was that all of a sudden one day he walked out of his house And he expected the the crowd of paparazzi To be there asking him silly questions about the soap he used and alike And all of a sudden they're not and they follow some other guy Who was also a nobody and they ask him all the questions and ignore our friend I mean, it's it's really high. It's high comedy. It's high irony, but then that's that's that's woody allen This was really a very good movie And I have to say it was precious little about love It was more about comedy than love. It was more about woody allen than than true love It was making fun of everything But a moment before we go to the next one just to comment on this George You know, we're we're many of us are locked in we don't go out So our entertainment is is is tv. It's cable tv We don't mind spending the money, you know for cable tv various, uh, you know, um, you know, uh net netflix and the like Subscription services and there's tons of movies every time you look there's another dozen movies they put on They're spending millions and millions and millions and hundreds of millions Producing these movies and handing them to us because they're making so much money But most of the movies are in the genre of violence vengeance dark Midnight movies people hating each other Killing each other, you know, and and for the average Psychologically if you live in a world of of movies even call it entertainment. That's about hatred and killing and vengeance You know, you get to feel because you're stuck inside you get to feel that that's what the world is like So it's very important to get out of that. It's very important to look at a romantic comedy It's very important to see a woody allen. We're here and frankly, it's the minority There are others of course, but it's the minority of the movies on cable right now You have to make a conscious decision about looking at a romantic colony Comedy for comic relief Shakespearean comic relief in the darkness, you know, you need a little light Otherwise, I think, you know, you you're your your mental state is affected And that's why we should go to the second one now. The second one is is pure Romance. I loved the second one. Can you talk about that, george? A news a current newspaper reporter she works for one of the tabloids or newspapers This is a last letter from your lover last letter from your lover, right? 20 2021 just came out, right? Her name is ellie and she Uh, one of the senior reporters passes away So it was and she takes over the The role at the at the newspaper that the senior editor had died So she she's looking through some some of the the records, you know from her From the woman who passed away and she finds, uh Some some letters or something like that in the files where It The former reporter never was able to follow this through to see Who these letters were from right? They had found it in the in the archives, right? So she's a sleuth, right? She's trying to figure out What who these letters back and forth love letters are from and it's only says jay Illicit love letters. That's what attracts her. Yeah, it's an illicit affair And she's very curious like an investigative reporter would be Exactly And the thing is there's two love scenes two love relationships her and this archivist Indian guy Indian from india. It was very very good actor. I really enjoyed him Is a good sense of humor and Sweetness to him That made that made you understand why she liked him so much and she was difficult I mean, she's she's sort of a difficult person when she's reacting with this Rory initially, you know, that's the name in the movie the name is Not nabam. He's one right She's nasty with him, but he's very nice. He's very he gives her the rules You know, you got to do things a certain way for the archives So so yeah, he and that and that's that's her relationship But the other relationship is this Woman who was married to this very wealthy man industrialist in an unhappy marriage of convenience not happy right and and This reporter this financial reporter from another newspaper comes and they're on the coutre d'azur, which I love I know the cut the coutre d'azur and they're they're on vacation and he comes to interview The husband sterling right mr. Sterling and and then mr. Sterling gets called away Just at the last minute for one of his enterprises. So she's there jennifer sterling with What's the name anthony o'hair right who's newspaper paper reporter going with their names in the movie, right? And they sort of start doing things together because the the husband got Is just back in london, you know for business, right? His business is more important So they start of little by little they fall in love, right? And they start having passing letters between each other, right? But into a p.o. Box, right? It goes into a p.o. Box So so that the whole plot of the movie is to try to find Basically Who these letters were from so that this ellie the reporter she does all kind of sleuthing, right in the archives She goes into the basement of the archives tries to find more information and finally is able to track down Jennifer sterling In her 70s right in london And she goes and she tries to get jennifer sterling to to to to link up back with o'hair But initially jennifer sterling doesn't want to do and deal it So this ellie is persistent. She waits outside of the apartment at the con the condominium Where jennifer sterling and jennifer comes out to go shopping and she corrals her and she's able to get And then by then Jennifer sterling the woman diana You know that was the the the older diana can played the older version. Yeah, of of jennifer sterling She says okay, okay, and then she and o'hair meet in their 70s and renew their relationship because Mrs. Sterling had left the industrialist after having a child from him So then you at the end you see the two of them hugging and kissing and hugging each other and kissing And that's that's how the movie ends. So it's sort of like What the reporter today Did was get these two people back together in their twilight years So interesting movie a lot of love scenes in the interim jennifer sterling That was in an he was she was rushing to get to the train Uh to meet him to leave her husband back way back when and she has she's in an automobile accident And she has amnesia and her husband who goes to the hospital finds this letter in her in her in her purse, right? But tells her that o'hair had left and gone to new york. He was going to the united states So she he tells her o'hair is dead And then she's in the marketplace in london. He comes back to london for another gig, right? He's doing another Reporting on another Another person and she sees him in the marketplace and she faints because she was under the impression that And that o'hair is dead her husband lied to her. So the whole thing finally she's able to to You know to to to get back with o'hair at the end That is a lot of twisted. If you remember anything else from the movie, you know chime in Well, I this was my favorite between the two although I love woody allen and I love what he did And this was um, you know first class movie in case you were wondering whether woody's career You know was over because of all this legal trouble snack This movie was a reminder of just how great he is But the movie the movie uh last Love letter Was was really fabulous for me. I mean it was it was an emotional movie. It was an epical movie It was a statement of long term life long commitment and love It's the perfect way to get away from all those hate and vengeance movie movies on cable And I thought that uh shileen woodley She was the um, you know the woman the the heroine So to speak american actress Mostly this took place in england. Yeah. Well, some of them took place in boston because they were involved with harvard I think part of the plot but shileen Shilene woodley was was just fabulous Great actress and you know, I couldn't remember where she came from But she was in a movie called adrift A couple of years ago, which was about a a young couple that took off in a in a in a borrowed sailboat Trying to cross the pacific ocean I think from australia and the trouble they ran into and finally her boyfriend died and she survived in the movie and It was a survival movie Um, but it was also a romance movie and she was really really terrific in that movie And then she carried the same kind of it's a kind of a feminine strengths That she carried from adrift to this one She was perfectly cast in this movie and the romance really clicked between the two of them Um, the guy the guy, uh, oh hair to call him. Oh hara. What was his name? Okay Yeah, he was he was really perfect. He was the the perfect englishman Uh, he was he was at the one hand very respectable and You know english careful conservative personality On the other hand, he was really romantic and and the the script was out of this world The script was extremely Romantic and touching. I was touched by this movie. I went back and looked at the trailer So for our discussion today george and it just blew me away again You know the way it worked and and what is very interesting is this is an old template This is a template out of a movie made in 1957 Called an affair to remember Where where the um the star crossed lovers was supposed to meet at the empire state building at a certain time and place Months later. There was their little commitment to see if they still had anything between them And that's exactly what happened in this movie. They they agreed to meet but as in the 1957 movie And was by the way, it was remade. It wasn't just once this this movie has been made again and again She gets into an accident You know in new york She's trying to meet him isn't her new york or is in europe She's trying to meet him at a train station I think that was in london and she gets into an accident just the way You know the the the female Role got into an accident in an affair to remember on the way to this star crossed meeting And and it's unable to make the rendezvous And she winds up as you said she has amnesia They don't get together for years and years and the only way they do get together was the you know the situation by by this investigative reporter And it's very similar to a fair remember and very touching at the same time What's touching also to me is that it's an epical movie. This is a movie about how they found each other against the odds in 1965. I think it was 65 in london and And and and she always that is the woman character shilene Woodley the actress always Always denied him for one reason or another and but he kept coming back and he knew what was on her mind over a lifetime Between 1965 and current times. What how many years is that this one's at 50 years? And and he keeps coming back and she denies him and some things go wrong and or mobile accidents and whatnot But then finally they are reunited. And you know george, you said they were old at the time. It didn't seem to matter They still had the same Strong feelings for each other after a lifetime of being denied It was epical. It was really high level romance. It was in a funny left-handed way It was Romeo and Juliet but for a lifetime. That's what I thought about that movie. It's a total winner for me Now one similarity is that with the feline 1952 feline movie that woody Pulled the plot and in this one. They also pulled from a previous Uh Movie so that's that's the interesting part here as well. Yeah, that was the that that's the link there and um, yeah So, uh, what was another thing I was going to say about this? Um Oh, I know what I was going to say I did a little research on shilene woodley and she's got a very interesting heritage She's part african-american distant a few generations back And um, you know, uh And sort of like marco, you know the part part african-american so and and it talks about her african-american family and how how they Rose, you know, so it's really her her. She's got an interesting background, you know, uh, ethnic racial background so, uh, you know that that Plays into everybody, you know, maybe maybe so maybe it's part, you know part of the success of the movie So successful, yeah I think so I think the the whole idea about uh, taking a look at two romantic movies Romantic comedy and this pure romance movie about the last love letters And by the way before I forget to tell but the love letters were really beautiful and they remind us about the power of writing The power of language The power of connecting with people in writing And he was so good at it And he he in the character he he wrote these really wonderful letters and the mean husband Um, kept them Stowed them away never let shallene see them Stood in the way And and you say gee what a powerful love affair that was that these letters were written not received But she never forgot him And it was um the powerful Anyway, you know my point that I made before I think it's uh all the more important We should be looking for movies like this. We should be looking for romantic movies And although I like romantic comedy, uh, there's not too many can hold the candle to woody allen And uh, there are you know, there are a lot of very romantic in movies You know, you and I reviewed the cold war a romance in in poland, uh, you know and and paris A few weeks ago, and I think those movies are the kind of movies that that take us away From coven that take us away from being locked in that take us away from the dread Of the pandemic and and all the worries about the government in washington and the world today All the things that are happening that would make you sad We need this from hollywood The other thing I would like to offer is is this Um movies have become more than ever before in the past 18 months They become global I mean, you know, it goes back to the the thing about the cold war the cold war movie It's global. It's a global movie. It's in polish And if you flip the channels around the netflix or amazon or the others You find movies from every country And the movies, uh, may they may have american partners in them You know, we were watching one which I think we ought to review you and me called uh hit and run Which is an israeli movie It's excellent excellent movie. It's it's a series actually Um, what i'm saying is that although there may be american partners in making these movies And i'm sure there there have been in most of these movies the americans have offered, you know, their production Expertise and maybe they're writing or plot expertise or they're acting and directing expertise They are movies made in foreign countries And so what what we have here is a global phenomenon happening during coven Where hundreds hundreds thousands of movies are being made for the big screen at huge budgets, um, which are really excellent coming from every little country you could think of Including george romantic movies So likewise you and I can find romantic movies in various countries in europe in asia everywhere And learn about how that particular culture Treats the relationship between men and women Their roles are different than the than the us not to say that the us is uniform because I think the roles of lovers in the us Um, certainly differ from region to region But they certainly are even more different when you go far away in countries that we haven't visited for example In every country, you know, there's romance of one kind or another And uh, you know, I hope that you and I can have the the opportunity to look at some of these Romantic comedies. I don't think that's as common as straight romance Movies that will help us understand the relationship and the romantic experience that people have and the screen experience that the filmmakers make Of these various romances in various countries. I hope we can find some movies like that george and report on them as well Yes, and one thing I wanted to notice In the last letter from your lover Things have changed relationships are without letters now It's all email and it loses something. It doesn't have that depth that those letters have so Um, it changes the technology. It really changed the way Love relationships develop as well. So yeah, so that was another point. It's been changes. Yeah, all those letters Were poetry. Yes and to go further his remarks in that movie Were poetry I mean It's not only the words, but it's the way he the actor delivered them They they struck you every time he opened his mouth and he said what a guy what a guy he was he was He could teach us all about romance couldn't he? Well george, uh, I have to ask you this question Which one did you like more honestly? I'm into comedy now You know, I mean, um I like the woody allen movie because it was light, you know the other one You know i'm happy for them, but I'm not in the same place in my life, you know, so so, uh, I sort of like happy for them But then don't want to face my own situation, you know As it's deceased and we got divorced and and then other relationships didn't work out. So So the happy movie, I mean for me As good as this as the as the the last letter from your lover is in harsh wrenching I need I like comedies. I like to laugh And woody allen is phenomenal and I had a lot of laughs. I was constantly laughing every scene You know with with fedorico the clerk Being mobbed in the streets. I couldn't help laughing. So I mean for me. It was the woody allen movie and And you know, maybe for you it was the last letter from your lover, but You know, each of us have our own You know, well, I let me let me go ask you another question or same minds As in the days of siskal and ebert How many stars, uh, would you give each of these movies? Okay, um Woody allen movie an eight or a nine Last letter from your lover, maybe a nine or a 10, you know Um There's a lot of silliness in the woody allen movie that a little too far a little too far fetched So I would say in terms of depth Uh and and weight it would be the the last letter from your lover that was about a 10 And woody is is close, you know from a different perspective. So both really good movies I would suggest anybody who's interested in movies to watch much both Yeah, my ratings would be about the same george actually Well looking forward to doing this with you again. There's so much more coming down the pike We learned so much whether we realize it or not and as you mentioned And I think this is a real takeaway point is that we see these movies through the lens Of our own experience We see appreciate these movies through the lens of our own lives And so um, you can't you can't take yourself out of the equation However, you rate the movie. It's your life rating the movie So true Thank you george Thank you. Thank you george Thank george case and our movie reviewer here on the movie show on think tech really enjoyed this discussion Uh, we'll do it soon again. Thank you george. Aloha