1651- Melinda & Melinda

This is probably one of my favorite posters for a Woody film.  I don't know why I wanted to revisit this one, but here I am.  It really isn't one of Woody's finer films by any means.  The premise is very interesting - can a story (and therefore any story) be a drama or a comedy based on how it's told?  The film follows parallel story lines with only Radha Mitchell's Melinda carrying over from one to the other.  Great premise, years ago I thought about writing something like this, I think I still might at some point as my take would be a quite different.  I think the main problem with this film is the casting is wrong and, honestly, doesn't really work.  He'd originally planned it for Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr, and I think that would have worked a lot better.  The dialogue feels written and a bit stilted here, and I don't think it's overly different from the majority of Allen's writing, so I'm going to blame the cast.  This film came on the backend of a series of films that were not so successful for Woody and so he probably didn't have his usual situation where he could re-cast and re-shoot stuff if needed.  Luckily we're back into a golden age for Woody and shouldn't have to have those kinds of things hurting his films and process.
So this isn't essential Woody - it's got a great premise and a few enjoyable scenes and moments, but it feels cold and empty, sadly.  Not one of his worst films by any means, it hovers somewhere in the middle.

1535 - Big Love: season five

So.  That happened.  I'm pretty sure that the above photo is a press release from a previous season, but I don't care.  I love it, and I'm using it.  Okay, so this is going to be pretty darn SPOILER HEAVY so proceed at your own darn risk.

First I'll say that this is by no means my favorite series of all time.  I don't think it's something that I'll ever find myself rewatching, and it's not the kind of show I'm dying to get back to inbetween seasons, but it's a show that I always enjoy while I'm watching it.  It's a pretty interesting show in that it manages to balance a lot of different tones quite well, with ease.  No small feat.  I kind of felt like the show drifted somewhere in the middle - not quite sure where it wanted to head - but that it got there in the end.  More on that in a bit.
I think that what this show did somewhat poorly was the way it handled it's large cast.  In a lot of ways it bit off more than it could chew, and just spit it out when it didn't need it anymore.  Teenie, the (practically) red-headed step-child (actual daughter though) is a character that they probably wish they never even created.  She had but one interesting storyline the whole time involving her showing the other neighborhood kids pornography.  But outside of that, and perhaps some other things in the first season, she was completely wasted.  Somewhere in the fourth season they cast another actress to play her, but found ways to mostly keep her away - and then this season she just so happened to go off and live with Sarah so that they wouldn't have to deal with her.  And Joey.  I mean, come on - he was a pretty damn important character - but apparently he and Wanda will just forever wander around in Mexico.  There are more examples of this, but those are the main ones.  I realize that life is messy, and not everything has to be resolved, but I think that these particular pieces were just shoved under the rug.  They did it with storylines as well (I'm looking at you Native Casino)
Now, that brings us to this actual season.  There was much mocking of season four - I never really had a big problem with it - and it did what it needed to do to bring us to this ending.  I was not expecting it, but I bawled my ass off at this show's conclusion.  And it wasn't sad soppy crying - it was the tears of a happy happy man.  I thought that the ending they went with was so touching and perfect. 

HUGE SPOILERS NOW

Had Bill had lived it would have been messy.  He would have been in jail, it would have been a dark cloud over everything.  This was their way of letting him go out a hero.  Carl was an odd choice for his killer, but they seeded it just fine.  It couldn't have been Alby or some random fundamentalist - that would have been too much of a statement.  But instead, through his death, and seeing a glimpse of the family a year following, let us know just how powerful Bill was - it was able to keep his family together, even in death.  This show was never about Bill, it was always about the sister wives and never was that more obvious than in this episode. 

Like I said, I've always enjoyed this series, but I'm glad to see it coming to an end.  If I'm honest, I'm just sick of watching these poor people suffer, and often with such melodrama.  It was a lovely show while it latest.  The creators have a two year exclusive development deal with HBO so it'll be interesting to see what they come up with next...
Big Love: The Complete First Season   Big Love: The Complete Second Season  Big Love: The Complete Third Season  Big Love: The Complete Fourth Season