Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 10, Week 9

Okay....Scoop wasn't that bad after all. Granted, Scarlett's sense of comic timing is non-existent, but I hardly think it's the travesty it was made out to be. A decent enough (albeit lightweight) story with a handful of very funny moments -- ideal for sofa viewing. Granted, it's no Broadway Danny Rose (the answer to last week's quiz), but it would be difficult to top that mid to late 80s period, which found the Woodman in perfect form, directing such classics as The Purple Rose of Cairo and two of his best, Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Speaking of Mr. Konigsberg, New Yorkers are about to be blessed with a wonderful holiday treat -- a three week retrospective at Film Forum consisting of 28 titles from the director's oeuvre. A New Year's Day double-bill of Sleeper and Bananas sounds like a perfect way to begin '07. (Gentiles welcome as well.) This week -- still in a New York state of mind. My, how the neighborhood has changed over the years. (I expect all Brooklyn readers to get this one right away.) Name the film. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[Sean]

Thank you! Scoop wasn't nearly as bad as all the ruckus that was made. You’d think Woody ran over the collective cats of America’s critics with that movie. But in fact it was a breezy bit of fun and better than most movies out at the time. I saw it in Chicago and the audience was laughing all the way through and even gave it applause afterward. “You’re a credit to your race” still makes me chuckle. Granted, Scarlett isn’t best suited for that role and Woody’s shtick is a bit tired (though the older I get the more comforting I find the routine) but compared to Hollywood Ending, Anything Else (or whatever that was called) and Jade Scorpion – I thought it was great.

[mike]

It was a very funny movie but Woody's schtick is a bit tired and not all that comforting (I mean, how many "with all due respects" do I have to hear?? a couple more and I'd have thought I was watching Broadway Danny Rose. (I'm surprised he didn't use "didactic" once). Still, a worthy follow up to Manhattan Murder Mystery. My favorite line: "I was born of the Hebrew persuasion, but I converted to narcissism."

[Peter Nellhaus]

Scarlett Johannson and Hugh Jackman in two movies about magicians? The other film also starring former Allen player Michael Caine? The mind boggles at this coincidence!

[Todd]

I may be of the minority opinion but I think Scarlett is much better suited to comedy than drama, as evidence by her performance in the other hugh jackman/magician vehicle The Prestige (which I actually quite liked). The funny thing to ponder about her turn in The Prestige is that, because of all the meta-commentary going on in that film (accomplished in a refreshingly unselfconscious way), it seems quite probably that her hiring by Jackman's character to play a useless piece of eye-candy was exactly why she was hired for the film as well.

[C-47]

Actually, Scoop was that bad, and so is Scarlet, who has helped ruin a number of promising projects this year. Woody needs to remember what makes the film's you mentioned original and memorable; a great script. Scoop has an awful screenplay, lazy, clueless narrative pacing, and well, it isn't that funny to begin with.

[skip]

i kno the movie!!!