On Dec. 18, 1987, MGM unveiled Norman Jewison’s romantic comedy Moonstruck in theaters, where it would go on to gross $80 million. The film nabbed six Oscar nominations at the 60th Academy Awards, winning best actress for Cher’s performance, best supporting actress for Olympia Dukakis’ role and screenplay for John Patrick Shanley’s script. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
Deck the halls and crack open the eggnog. The already impressive yuletide movie season has hit new heights with the arrival of Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck.
A romantic comedy that doesn’t skimp in either department, Jewison’s celebration of The Family, as captured by the pen of screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, expertly weaves the spell of a Capra or a Lubitsch. With its universal appeal, expect MGM to reap the lion’s share of box-office cheer.
Cher, in her most confident performance to date, is a delight as Loretta Castorini,...
Deck the halls and crack open the eggnog. The already impressive yuletide movie season has hit new heights with the arrival of Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck.
A romantic comedy that doesn’t skimp in either department, Jewison’s celebration of The Family, as captured by the pen of screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, expertly weaves the spell of a Capra or a Lubitsch. With its universal appeal, expect MGM to reap the lion’s share of box-office cheer.
Cher, in her most confident performance to date, is a delight as Loretta Castorini,...
- 12/17/2023
- by Michael Rechtshaffen
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Criterion refreshes a bona fide classic with a new remaster and makes their release especially attractive with some well-chosen extras that give us first-person input from writer John Patrick Shanley and star Cher. The show isn’t technically a holiday movie but it plays really well at family gatherings. Heck, even Cher says ‘she can watch this movie’ which from her is a high compliment. The answer to ‘who needs to see this? is that a lot of people have been born since 1987.
Moonstruck
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1056
1987 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 17, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, Julie Bovasso, John Mahoney, Louis Guss, Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
Cinematography: David Watkin
Film Editor: Lou Lombardo
Original Music: Dick Hyman
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Produced by Norman Jewison, Patrick Palmer
Directed by Norman Jewison
John Patrick Shanley has a...
Moonstruck
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1056
1987 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 17, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, Julie Bovasso, John Mahoney, Louis Guss, Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
Cinematography: David Watkin
Film Editor: Lou Lombardo
Original Music: Dick Hyman
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Produced by Norman Jewison, Patrick Palmer
Directed by Norman Jewison
John Patrick Shanley has a...
- 12/19/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
As the world fights a pandemic, we’ve been reaching out to some of our favorite artists to get their takes on these unprecedented times. Here’s what Faith No More and Mr. Bungle singer Mike Patton — who just released Necroscape, an enveloping and unsettling avant-rock odyssey by tētēma, his collaborative venture with Australian composer Anthony Pateras — had to say in response to a few quarantine questions via email.
What are you doing with your unexpected time at home?
Writing. Writing. Writing. Working on several records at once, which isn’t abnormal for me,...
What are you doing with your unexpected time at home?
Writing. Writing. Writing. Working on several records at once, which isn’t abnormal for me,...
- 4/21/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
“Allen’S 9-1/2”
By Raymond Benson
If one facetiously counted the number of films Woody Allen made beginning in 1969 and throughout the 70s, there would be eight that he wrote and directed (seven of which he also starred in), plus a movie that he only wrote and starred in—Play It Again, Sam, for which I’ll count as 1/2, making Stardust Memories number 9-1/2. Appropriately, this film seems to intentionally pay homage to Federico Fellini’s own masterwork, 8-1/2 (1963), which was about a filmmaker who didn’t know what movie he wanted to shoot next. Stardust Memories, released in 1980 after the huge successes of Annie Hall and Manhattan (with critically-acclaimed Interiors in-between), is also about a filmmaker in search of the picture he wants to make.
It wasn’t well-received at the time. I recall leaving the theater in anger. How could Woody be so contemptuous of his audience? It was as if his character,...
By Raymond Benson
If one facetiously counted the number of films Woody Allen made beginning in 1969 and throughout the 70s, there would be eight that he wrote and directed (seven of which he also starred in), plus a movie that he only wrote and starred in—Play It Again, Sam, for which I’ll count as 1/2, making Stardust Memories number 9-1/2. Appropriately, this film seems to intentionally pay homage to Federico Fellini’s own masterwork, 8-1/2 (1963), which was about a filmmaker who didn’t know what movie he wanted to shoot next. Stardust Memories, released in 1980 after the huge successes of Annie Hall and Manhattan (with critically-acclaimed Interiors in-between), is also about a filmmaker in search of the picture he wants to make.
It wasn’t well-received at the time. I recall leaving the theater in anger. How could Woody be so contemptuous of his audience? It was as if his character,...
- 1/5/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Wednesday, June 10 at 8Pm, 92Y presents Drawing Music - Hyman's Piano Meets Hirschfeld's Pen. Legendary pianist Dick Hyman will perform music inspired by Al Hirschfeld's magically inked images of Broadway shows and music stars, while a selection of these drawings is shown on stage. Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, president of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, and David Leopold, Creative Director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, will discuss the life and work of this original and iconic artist, and the stories behind his drawings. Tickets for Drawing Music at 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Avenue, at 92nd Street are 30. For tickets and information www.92Y.org or call 212 415-5500.
- 6/3/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
From Muppet Treasure Island to Speed, we take a look at the 90s soundtracks that deserve another listen...
Ah, the 1990s. The decade that brought us The Lion King. Titanic. Quentin Tarantino. That wordless bathroom scene in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks. Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. In the Mood for Love.
It was a good 10 years for film music, no doubt.
But scratch the surface of 1991 through 1999 and there are tons of good scores ready to spring a surprise on your ears. Some were attached to sorely underrated movies, others were overshadowed by wildly successful ones, and some have simply been forgotten in the passage of time.
Here, in no particular order, are the top 25 underappreciated film soundtracks from the 1990s.
1. Chaplin - John Barry
Okay, let's start with a big one. Richard Attenborough. Robert Downey Jr. John Barry.
Ah, the 1990s. The decade that brought us The Lion King. Titanic. Quentin Tarantino. That wordless bathroom scene in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks. Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. In the Mood for Love.
It was a good 10 years for film music, no doubt.
But scratch the surface of 1991 through 1999 and there are tons of good scores ready to spring a surprise on your ears. Some were attached to sorely underrated movies, others were overshadowed by wildly successful ones, and some have simply been forgotten in the passage of time.
Here, in no particular order, are the top 25 underappreciated film soundtracks from the 1990s.
1. Chaplin - John Barry
Okay, let's start with a big one. Richard Attenborough. Robert Downey Jr. John Barry.
- 4/28/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Feature Ivan Radford 30 Sep 2013 - 07:03
Ivan gives the soundtrack from Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine a listen, and provides a rundown of the filmmaker's 10 best music moments...
You can tell immediately when you're watching a Woody Allen movie. Not just from the opening credits (Windsor Light Condensed on black title cards) but from the music. Woody loves the stuff - he'd rather play clarinet with his band than go to the Oscars. He loves it so much that he joins the list of directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese who are known for using popular, pre-existing music in their soundtracks. The man has directed an astonishing 43 films in his career. Just seven of those have original scores.
Allen started his career with none other than Marvin Hamlisch, who would go on to score The Spy Who Loved Me. Working on Bananas after Take The Money And Run,...
Ivan gives the soundtrack from Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine a listen, and provides a rundown of the filmmaker's 10 best music moments...
You can tell immediately when you're watching a Woody Allen movie. Not just from the opening credits (Windsor Light Condensed on black title cards) but from the music. Woody loves the stuff - he'd rather play clarinet with his band than go to the Oscars. He loves it so much that he joins the list of directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese who are known for using popular, pre-existing music in their soundtracks. The man has directed an astonishing 43 films in his career. Just seven of those have original scores.
Allen started his career with none other than Marvin Hamlisch, who would go on to score The Spy Who Loved Me. Working on Bananas after Take The Money And Run,...
- 9/27/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
DVD Release Date: April 9, 2013
Price: DVD $24.95
Studio: First Run Features
The life and career of the great Erroll Garner is chronicled in No One Can Hear You Read.
The 2012 documentary film Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read examines the life and career of the ground-breaking musician who pushed the playability of the piano to its limits, developed an international reputation, and made an indelible mark on the jazz world.
Directed by Atticus Brady, the film explores Erroll’s childhood in Pittsburgh; his meteoric rise in popularity while playing in New York, the origins of his most famous album (Concert By The Sea) and his story behind his most famous composition (Misty).
The hour-long No One Can Hear You Read utilizes an array of archival materials interwoven with interviews with friends, family, and fellow musicians, and features from such fans and followers as insights Woody Allen, Ahmad Jamal, Steve Allen,...
Price: DVD $24.95
Studio: First Run Features
The life and career of the great Erroll Garner is chronicled in No One Can Hear You Read.
The 2012 documentary film Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read examines the life and career of the ground-breaking musician who pushed the playability of the piano to its limits, developed an international reputation, and made an indelible mark on the jazz world.
Directed by Atticus Brady, the film explores Erroll’s childhood in Pittsburgh; his meteoric rise in popularity while playing in New York, the origins of his most famous album (Concert By The Sea) and his story behind his most famous composition (Misty).
The hour-long No One Can Hear You Read utilizes an array of archival materials interwoven with interviews with friends, family, and fellow musicians, and features from such fans and followers as insights Woody Allen, Ahmad Jamal, Steve Allen,...
- 3/21/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Chicago – Just as Groucho Marx refused to join any club that would have him as a member, Woody Allen would most likely turn down any invite from an adoring fan club. He’s repeatedly voiced his belief that he doesn’t have a high regard for his own work, and recently told documentarian Robert B. Weide that he could live a life devoid of cinema as long as there was a sports team to follow. This may sound like a curious statement from a filmmaker who averages one picture a year, but it speaks to the compulsory spirit of a man trapped within the boundaries of his perfectionism. He can’t bear watching his own films once they’re completed because all he sees are the flaws.
As a longtime admirer of Allen’s work, I’ve been able to savor the sublime moments in even his most problematic pictures,...
As a longtime admirer of Allen’s work, I’ve been able to savor the sublime moments in even his most problematic pictures,...
- 6/27/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
On Saturday March 14, at 8 Pm, the Riverdale Y will present a quartet of internationally known jazz performers. Nicki Parrott, jazz bassist and vocalist is making her second appearance at the Y. She will be joined by Derek Smith, the world's most recorded commercial/jazz pianist; Randy Sandke, noted trumpeter, composer and arranger, whom The Wall Street Journal dubbed "the greatest trumpeter nobody knows"; and Joe Ascione, who has joined the three in concert on his birthday! Ms. Parrott, who plays regularly with legendary Les Paul at Manhattan's Iridium Club came to New York from her native Australia in 1994 on an Arts Council Grant to study with acclaimed bassist Rufus Reid. She has performed all over the world with jazz greats like Ken Peplowski, Bucky Pizarelli, Skitch Henderson and Warren Vache. She appears at major jazz festivals throughout the Us and abroad and is a favorite on the cruise ship circuit.
- 1/27/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Woody Allen breaks out into song, brandishes special effects and celebrates love in this delectably light and uplifting divertissement from his usual zany gloom. With a spring in his cinematic step and a song in his heart, Allen steps out in surprisingly giddy fashion in Miramax's "Everyone Says I Love You", a holiday chestnut whose appeal might extend even to audiences who didn't do postgrad studies at Columbia.
Undeniably, it's not one of Allen's weightier endeavors, which may hamper it with his more dour fans, but this zesty amusement, with song, dance and plenty of nuttily smart comedy, says a whole lot that you can't put into footnote form.
Once again, Allen puts on his cultural anthropologist's helmet to lay out the tribal rituals of his chosen people, New York's ritzy Upper East Side. And, as ever, Allen's depiction of these upper crusties is unabashedly affectionate.
While Tom Wolfe may have lacerated this same silver-spoon sect as the "radical chic," or an acidic Luis Bunuel may have venomously noted their "discreet charm," Allen celebrates their privileged peculiarities. It's a world where the "kids" have such names as Holden and Skylar and the adults measure out their days with soirees and culturally correct dabblings.
While "Everyone Says I Love You" may be a leap of optimism for Allen, he steeps it with his usual plot bugaboos of misguided love and the fractured state of modern-day relationships. In this squirrelly scenario, he stars as Joe Berliner, a divorcee with noir-ish, expatriate pretensions who lives a comfy existence in Paris but is only a quick hop back to his beloved New York. In this Allen-esque affaire de coeurs, Joe has returned to his Manhattan womb, nattering about committing suicide after a recent breakup with yet another inappropriate woman.
In the tasteful domicile of his ex-wife, Steffi (Goldie Hawn), and her gentleman lawyer hubby (Alan Alda), Joe pours out his heart to their oh-so-sophisticated sensibilities. Supportive Steffi and new hubby Bob's family den is utterly screwy and frayed at the seams, gyrating around their daughters' romantic genuflections and their own self-satisfied rationalizations. Admittedly, the plot turns in this nimble lark are often sitcom-contrived -- one of the daughters falls in love with an ex-con who ultraliberal Mom has brought home for dinner, for instance -- but in this case, it's no matter. This one's for the frosting, not the cake.
Not to say that Allen has gone completely out of character; the gentle slings and arrows of his comedy are still directed at many of the same targets -- Republicans, Germans, sophisticates -- and his muses are transported by the same conflicted loves. As ever, there are enough scrumptiously romantic shots of Manhattan to fill an airport postcard rack and enough dreamy old standards to launch a big-band label.
The cast is a similar selection of the old and the new, with such vaunted players as Alda once again smartly limning Allen's WASP-y alter ego, and Hawn deliciously alighting as his limousine-liberal ex-wife. In perhaps the film's most inspired casting, Julia Roberts is wonderfully appropriate as Allen's woefully inappropriate romantic ideal, while Drew Barrymore oozes old-movie glamour as the love-skittish Skylar.
The new Woody is once again sagely served by the old Woody's technical team, again highlighted by production designer Santo Loquasto's richly arched conceptions and cinematographer Carlo DiPalma's scrumptiously mounted compositions. Dick Hyman's musical arrangements are similarly bellisimo, and a nod of the top hat goes to the new additions to the technical family, the sprightly visual effects work of Basmeyer & Everett.
EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU
Miramax Films
Producer Robert Greenhut
Screenwriter-director Woody Allen
Executive producers Jean Doumanian,
J.E. Beaucaire
Co-executive producers Jack Rollins,
Charles H. Joffe, Letty Aronson
Director of photography Carlo DiPalma
Production design Santo Loquasto
Editor Susan E. Morse
Costume design Jeffrey Kurland
Co-producer Helen Roth
Choreographer Graciela Daniele
Music Dick Hyman
Casting Juliet Taylor
Visual effects produced by Basmeyer & Everett
Sound mix Gary Alper
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joe Berliner Woody Allen
Von Julia Roberts
Holden Edward Norton
Skylar Drew Barrymore
Bob Alan Alda
Lane Gay Hoffman
Scott Lukas Haas
Laura Natalie Portman
Frieda Trude Klein
Steffi Goldie Hawn
DJ Natasha Lyonne
Grandpa Patrick Cranshaw
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Undeniably, it's not one of Allen's weightier endeavors, which may hamper it with his more dour fans, but this zesty amusement, with song, dance and plenty of nuttily smart comedy, says a whole lot that you can't put into footnote form.
Once again, Allen puts on his cultural anthropologist's helmet to lay out the tribal rituals of his chosen people, New York's ritzy Upper East Side. And, as ever, Allen's depiction of these upper crusties is unabashedly affectionate.
While Tom Wolfe may have lacerated this same silver-spoon sect as the "radical chic," or an acidic Luis Bunuel may have venomously noted their "discreet charm," Allen celebrates their privileged peculiarities. It's a world where the "kids" have such names as Holden and Skylar and the adults measure out their days with soirees and culturally correct dabblings.
While "Everyone Says I Love You" may be a leap of optimism for Allen, he steeps it with his usual plot bugaboos of misguided love and the fractured state of modern-day relationships. In this squirrelly scenario, he stars as Joe Berliner, a divorcee with noir-ish, expatriate pretensions who lives a comfy existence in Paris but is only a quick hop back to his beloved New York. In this Allen-esque affaire de coeurs, Joe has returned to his Manhattan womb, nattering about committing suicide after a recent breakup with yet another inappropriate woman.
In the tasteful domicile of his ex-wife, Steffi (Goldie Hawn), and her gentleman lawyer hubby (Alan Alda), Joe pours out his heart to their oh-so-sophisticated sensibilities. Supportive Steffi and new hubby Bob's family den is utterly screwy and frayed at the seams, gyrating around their daughters' romantic genuflections and their own self-satisfied rationalizations. Admittedly, the plot turns in this nimble lark are often sitcom-contrived -- one of the daughters falls in love with an ex-con who ultraliberal Mom has brought home for dinner, for instance -- but in this case, it's no matter. This one's for the frosting, not the cake.
Not to say that Allen has gone completely out of character; the gentle slings and arrows of his comedy are still directed at many of the same targets -- Republicans, Germans, sophisticates -- and his muses are transported by the same conflicted loves. As ever, there are enough scrumptiously romantic shots of Manhattan to fill an airport postcard rack and enough dreamy old standards to launch a big-band label.
The cast is a similar selection of the old and the new, with such vaunted players as Alda once again smartly limning Allen's WASP-y alter ego, and Hawn deliciously alighting as his limousine-liberal ex-wife. In perhaps the film's most inspired casting, Julia Roberts is wonderfully appropriate as Allen's woefully inappropriate romantic ideal, while Drew Barrymore oozes old-movie glamour as the love-skittish Skylar.
The new Woody is once again sagely served by the old Woody's technical team, again highlighted by production designer Santo Loquasto's richly arched conceptions and cinematographer Carlo DiPalma's scrumptiously mounted compositions. Dick Hyman's musical arrangements are similarly bellisimo, and a nod of the top hat goes to the new additions to the technical family, the sprightly visual effects work of Basmeyer & Everett.
EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU
Miramax Films
Producer Robert Greenhut
Screenwriter-director Woody Allen
Executive producers Jean Doumanian,
J.E. Beaucaire
Co-executive producers Jack Rollins,
Charles H. Joffe, Letty Aronson
Director of photography Carlo DiPalma
Production design Santo Loquasto
Editor Susan E. Morse
Costume design Jeffrey Kurland
Co-producer Helen Roth
Choreographer Graciela Daniele
Music Dick Hyman
Casting Juliet Taylor
Visual effects produced by Basmeyer & Everett
Sound mix Gary Alper
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joe Berliner Woody Allen
Von Julia Roberts
Holden Edward Norton
Skylar Drew Barrymore
Bob Alan Alda
Lane Gay Hoffman
Scott Lukas Haas
Laura Natalie Portman
Frieda Trude Klein
Steffi Goldie Hawn
DJ Natasha Lyonne
Grandpa Patrick Cranshaw
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/2/1996
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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