The MacGuffin

Coming out of Justin Zackham’s The Big Wedding, I thought it would be nice for us to brush up on our vocabulary skills. Luckily, I’ve come up with a few words that are appropriate for the film in question. Pencils ready? Let’s begin:

In honor of the release of Darling Companion, Spencer and Greg look back on Kevin Kline’s career.

Please note: starting this week our video and audio podcasts are splitting. They have become their own individual properties. Hopefully you’ll check them both out.

The MacGuffin crew discuss Manhattan, from director/writer/actor Woody Allen and co-starring Diane Keaton.

This episode can be played online via the flash player below or it can be downloaded from here. It is available on iTunes, Zune, and Stitcher.

Another Top 5 segment from The MacGuffin. This time Brandi and Allen share their top 5 guilty pleasure films.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes, and Zune. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here. After you’ve watched the video please vote in our poll and share which one you think is the best.

Woody Allen begins his film Annie Hall (1977) with a monologue in which he addresses the audience directly. Within this speech, he describes a joke that he first attributes to Groucho Marx, saying that he would never want to be a part of a club that would have him as a member. This joke, with its classic Woody Allen self-deprecating humor and wit, is the theme that will run throughout the course of his romantic comedy classic. It will be the theme that he uses to deconstruct and analyze the course of his relationship with the woman he would come to find is the love of his life. But if she was “the one” to him, why did things turn out the way they did? If he had happiness in his grasp at one point, how could he have let that slip away? Would he have been satisfied allowing himself to be a part of a club that would have him as a member, or is he only happy when he is unhappy?

Sometimes it’s nice to see a film that provides the warm glow that a good romantic comedy can, but without romance actually being the focus. Morning Glory, from director Roger Michell, serves up that feeling in a breezy sort of fast motion, acted out by a lot of extremely talented people who look like they are having a great time.

We open with the city skyline; far in the back we can see The Empire State Building.  Cut down to the street, covered in snow, with people hustling and bustling about.  We then move to NYU, with students sitting next to a fountain, reading their books.  After that, cars riding along the street, a shopkeeper opening his store, a couple kissing on a balcony.  Music gently plays as a narrator describes the first chapter of a book he is writing.  We see more buildings, parks, and streets.  The music grows to a crescendo, ending with a spectacular fireworks display right above the heights of the city.  In this opening scene, which lasts nearly four minutes, Woody Allen establishes all the life, beauty, and romance that come with living in New York City, a perfect backdrop to his romantic-comedy masterpiece, Manhattan (1979).