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Click above to purchase "Alice" at amazon.com
Alice
review by Zach B.
Rated PG-13
Studio: MGM
Running Time: 106 minutes
Starring Alec Baldwin, Blythe Danner, Judy Davis, Mia
Farrow, William Hurt, Keye Luke, Joe Mantegnam, Bernadette
Peters, Cybill Shepherd, Gwen Verdon
Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Retail Price: $19.98
Features: Theatrical Trailer, Collectible Booklet
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Mono,
French Mono, Spanish Mono, English Closed Captions, French
Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles, Scene Selections (16
Scenes)
Woody Allen's 20th film, "Alice" follows Alice Tate (Mia
Farrow), a woman who is feeling empty and not fulfilled by
her husband (William Hurt), her children or her lavish
lifestyle. However, when Alice plunges into deep territory
when she begins to see a herbalist for her back as well as
other things and starts to fall in love with a jazz musician
(Joe Mantegna), Alice has to start to realize where her life
is going, what's going to happen and face exactly what's
bothering her. I'd go into it more, but there's so much to
this movie and a lot that goes on I'd hate to reveal what
happens next.
"Alice" is one of Woody Allen's best films as far as I'm
concerned. The great music goes well with the movie, but
Allen triumphs greatly as a director and writer here. He has
a nice, old time style and feel to the movie, but he also
packs an incredible script that's sure to please. Allen's
central themes here are great. He goes into a lot about
insecurities, about wealth and finally, a key theme of
illusion versus reality. Alice escapes from her life by
daydreaming, but she has a hard time facing and realizing
that her problems are deep inside of her. People can relate
to us as they can easily escape, but they have a hard time
accepting and coming to terms with things around them. It's
an important theme that has been in so many forms of media,
and it's a theme worth discussing. People can't give up
hope, they need to find and realize things within
themselves.
Farrow is incredible as Alice, and she's really the whole
heart of the movie. The rest of Allen's cast is great...
William Hurt, Joe Mantegna and Cybill Shepherd. There's a
lot of characters in this movie that play really key roles,
and here the acting is natural and true to the core. It
works really well as there is good tension and chemistry
between the characters. Overall, this is one of Allen's
finest screen efforts. Don't miss it.
"Alice" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and
the result is terrific. There is some grain and fuzziness to
the image at times, but fleshtones and colors are really
well saturated. Dirt and blemishes pop up here and there,
but nothing major. Overall, a fine transfer.
English, French and Spanish mono tracks are included (as
you'd expect from Allen). They're really good, actually.
Dialogue is clear and crisp, and the background noises come
into play greatly. Fidelity is pretty high and all of it
sounds really well for a mono track, especiall the music. It
brings a nice atmosphere to the movie, actually. French and
Spanish subtitles are included, plus English closed
captions.
The short Theatrical Trailer is included in 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen, and inside there are some nice and
interesting notes in the collectibe booklet.
I think "Alice" is one of Allen's best and unique
efforts. Great acting, great script and directing, if you
haven't seen it, check it out. Allen fans, this is one for
your collection.
 (4.5/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
 (3.5/5)
 (.5/5)
(3.5/5, NOT an average)
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