Woody Allen’s “Magic in the Moonlight” is still entertaining and has a lot of charm, but considering the film uses the word “magic” in its title, it is a film that is missing that special magic that we have seen on other captivating Woody Allen films.
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DVD TITLE: Magic in the Moonlight
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2014
DURATION: 97 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 2:39:1, Anamorphic Widescreen, English , French and English -Audio Description Track 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
COMPANY: Sony Picture Classics
RATED: PG-13 (For a Brief Suggestive Comment and Smoking Throughout)
RELEASE DATE: December 16, 2014
Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Woody Allen
Produced by Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, Edward Walson
Co-Produced by Raphael Benoliel, Helen Robin
Executive Producer: Ron Chez
Co-Executive Producer: Jack Rollins
Cinematography by Darius Khondji
Edited by Alisa Lepselter
Production Design by Anne Seibel
Set Decoration by Jille Azis
Costume Design by Sonia Grande
Starring:
Colin Firth as Stanley
Emma Stone as Sophie
Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Baker
Jacki Weaver as Grace Catledge
Hamish Linklaster as Brice Catledge
Simon McBurney as Howard Burkan
Eileen Atkins as Aunt Vanessa
Acclaimed magician Stanley Crawford (Academy Award Winner® Colin Firth*) dazzles his audiences with feats of supernatural amazement. But when it comes to the inexplicable, Stanley is a dedicated skeptic. Enter Sophie Baker (Emma Stone), psychic, soothsayer, and stunning seductress. As Stanley and Sophie embark on misadventures up and down the French Riviera, will they discover proof of a world beyond the laws of physics or have they fallen under the sway of a more earthly chemistry? Woody Allen pulls the strings with precision in this enchanting romantic comedy that explores the realm between what’s understood in our minds and what’s known in our hearts. *Colin Firth, Academy Award® Winner, The King’s Speech, Best Actor, 2010
Since 1977, director Woody Allen has had a film released in the U.S. and with each release, cinema fans are often debating if the director’s later films are still just as sharp and brilliant as his past films or the director’s work has waned considerably late in his career.
But for those who enjoy Woody Allen films, each movie has been fresh, different from any past films that has done and for the most part, have entertained fans for nearly 40-straight years which is remarkable.
Not many filmmakers have had this longevity nor had they had a film released each year of their working life but Allen, continues to show movie fans that he is able to make films that will entertain audiences and the same could be said for his 2014 film “Magic in the Moonlight”.
The film would star Colin Firth (“The Kings Speech”, “A Single Man”, “Love Actually”), Emma Stone (“The Help”, “Easy A”, “The Amazing Spider-Man” films), Marcia Gay Harden (“Into the Wild”, “Mystic river”, “The Mist”), Simon McBurney (“The Duchess”, “Body of Lies”, “The Last King of Scotland”), Hamish Linklater (“Fantastic Four”, “42”, “Battleship”) and Jacki Weaver (“Stoker”, “Animal Kingdom”, “Silver Linings Playbook”).
The film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics in Dec. 2014.
“Magic in the Moonlight” is set in 1928 and introduces us to the famous illusionist, Wei Ling Soo, who happens to be a British man named Stanley (portrayed by Colin Firth). After his performance, he is visited by a fellow (and not-as-popular) illusionist named Howard Burkan (portrayed by Simon McBurney), who tells him to accompany him to Cote d’Azure where a wealthy American family, the Catledges, have been taken in by a clairvoyant and mystic woman named Sophie (portrayed by Emma Stone).
The son, Brice (portrayed by Hamish Linklater) is smitten by Sophie and wants to marry her, while his sister Caroline (portrayed by Erica Leerhsen) and brother-in-law George (portrayed by Jeremy Shamos) are concerned of Brice proposing a marriage to her and want Stanley to find out if Sophie is a true clairvoyant or a fraud.
Howard believes that Sophie has uncovered secrets that no one else would know and that she may have supernatural powers, but Stanley, who is known to have debunked many charlatan mystics, will do what he can to prove that she is a fraud. Even going so far as going by another name and a man who is a businessman.
The two end up spending time together and while visiting his aunt Vanessa (portrayed by Eileen Atkins), Sophie goes into various trances and is able to pull up personal details about his life and also Vanessa’s past, including her great love affair.
Shocked by this, Stanley feels that Sophie’s powers now have changed the way he looks at the world and immediately becomes smitten by her, despite being engaged to a woman named Olivia.
But as Stanley spends more time with Sophie, will he find a woman that is true to herself or will he determine that she is actually a fraud?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Magic in the Moonlight” is presented in 2:39:1 aspect ratio (Anamorphic Widescreen) in English, French and English – Audio Description track in 5.1 Dolby Digital.
It’s important to note that if you want the best quality of “Magic in the Moonlight”, you will want to check out the film on Blu-ray as it will offer the best picture and audio quality.
As for the DVD, picture quality is very good as one can expect on DVD and there is a hint of the film grain during your viewing of the film. Skin tones do look natural but I can imagine detail and clarity would become much more evident on Blu-ray. I didn’t notice any major artifacts or banding issues while watching this DVD.
As for audio, the soundtrack employs a lot of Woody Allen’s passion for 1920’s jazz music, dialogue is clear and for this film, is strictly a center/front channel-driven soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Magic in the Moonlight” features the following special features:
- Behind the Magic – (11:21) The cast discuss the film, working on a Woody Allen film and more.
- On the Red Carpet: Los Angeles Film Premiere – (2:46) The cast promote their film at the LA film premiere.
- Theatrical Trailer – (2:08) Theatrical trailer for “Magic in the Moonlight”.
EXTRAS:
“Magic in the Moonlight” comes with an UltraViolet code, so one can watch this film via online streaming.
I’m not the type of reviewer who tends to be critical of Woody Allen films to the point that they would stop watching them because they felt he has lost the magic of filmmaking.
It is surely not the case as we have seen him create wonderful films in the past five years which include “Blue Jasmine” and “Midnight in Paris” but when you look deep into his 40-year oeuvre, there are films that will no doubt captivate you, films that entertain you but you just want to see it just once and films that you feel, it’s best that he shouldn’t have made it.
“Magic in the Moonlight” is a film that interests me because knowing that Woody Allen loves the music of the 1920’s-1930’s, let alone having performed that style of music for his own band, I know he has enjoyed films from the Golden Years of Hollywood.
With his latest cinematic offering for 2014, I feel it’s another romantic comedy placed in the 1920’s that lie on the performance of its main characters played by Colin Firth and Emma Stone.
Colin Firth does a great job playing an arrogant illusionist named Stanley whose beliefs are set and anything to disrupt those beliefs are wrong and he one thing that he is skeptical about is clairvoyant mystics.
And he will do whatever he can to debunk them.
Enter Sophie played by Emma Stone. Sophie, a younger clairvoyant mystic who is able to go in a trance and provide information that shocks Stanley because of her ability to know detail about his life, let alone his aunt’s life and thus challenging his thought on life and his set of beliefs.
While the character of Stanley is your typical “know-it-all”, Firth does a good job of playing the stick-in-the-mud who goes to the South of France in order to debunk an American young woman named Sophie. Is she there to marry Brice and become wealthy? Or is she a genuine clairvoyant mystic?
While the film is more of a life-changing experience for Stanley who can’t explain how Sophie knows these deep, personal moments about his life and his aunt’s life, it gives him a new lease on life.
While entertaining, the film is rather predictable. And while the performance by Firth is very good, you can’t help but feel that his casting was a miscast as the chemistry with Emma Stone did not feel genuine onscreen. It doesn’t help that Colin Firth could probably play Emma Stone’s father in a film.
Also, the film misses the intellectual dialogue that we often get from a Woody Allen film. And its ending and overall scenarios seemed a bit rushed for my tastes.
While it’s hard to dislike this film because it is entertaining, the film seems like a step back when compared to “Blue Jasmine” and “Midnight in Paris”. While location and costume design, especially the music selection works well for the film, the Woody Allen magic we are used to seeing in his films are missing in “Magic in the Moonlight”.
But still, even Woody Allen’s “Magic in the Moonlight” is still entertaining and has a lot of charm, but considering the film uses the word “magic” in its title, it is a film that is missing that special magic that we have seen on other captivating Woody Allen films.
