THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985)

Woody Allen might have listed THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO as one of his favorite of his own films, but it isn't mine.

Set during The Great Depression, lonely Mia Farrow is stuck in a loveless marriage and a waitressing job at a roadside diner.  The only escape she has from her bleak existence is the local movie house.  There she can live a thousand glamorous lives without anybody bothering her.  That is until one fateful afternoon when she's watching a movie, The Purple Rose Of Cairo, when suddenly the main actor (Jeff Daniels) steps out of the screen and starts talking to her!  They run off together and get all twinkly-eyed at each other.  When the studio heads hear about their escaped character they understandably freak out and send real life actor (also Daniels) to go and get his character back in the movie by any means necessary.

Mia Farrow was magnificent, but other that than TPROC left me flat.  The photography was bland, the story's imaginative but still somehow lacking, the movie within the movie was lame, the ending was unsatisfying, Dianne Wiest was underused, I had zero emotional connection with any of the characters.  I just didn't care for it.  Worth watching, if you an Allen fan, but I've tried to watch it a few times now and it never grabs me.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)

Ed: "I'm sorry, Shaun."
Shaun: "It's OK."
Ed: "No, I'm sorry, Shaun."
[Shaun smells Ed's fart.]

When underachiever Shaun isn't hanging out with his idiot flatmate Ed, he's busy disappointing his girlfriend Liz.  Liz is getting tired of this directionless slacker, but when he promises to take her to a fancy restaurant (Fulci's...get it?  Hardy-har-har.) she decides to give him another chance.  Then a zombie outbreak happens.  Shaun and Ed set out to save Liz...and his mother.

I enjoyed the first 40 minutes or so.  It wasn't hilarious, but there were some clever moments and the characters were likable enough.  Then, around the halfway mark, the focus moved away from the romantic-comedy aspect and more towards the zombie survival mode and the whole thing ground to halt.  If you're gonna cut out the clever comedy stuff for zombie action then at least be kind enough to show some zombie action!  Instead, the last 30 minutes of the film was just people running around inside a tavern bickering and getting emotional.   

Also, the entire sub-story about Shaun's mother could have just been cut and replaced with giving Ed a girlfriend to save...or maybe she has to save him!?  That would have provided way more opportunities for laughs than the sad mom storyline did.  But what do I know since I'm sure this film has made a shitload of cash.

Promising first act, low zombie action, very little blood or gore, zero nudity, nice special effects, predictable moments (ohh...let me just stand directly in front of this widow with the zombie horde behind it!), Morrissey on TV, interesting British street scenes, Aphex Twin poster, non-threatening zombies.  Not great, but still worth checking out if you're bored.  Might make an interesting double-feature with BIOZOMBIE.

REPO MAN (1984)

I must have missed something.  I've seen this film three times now over the course of a few decades and each time it goes right over my head.  Hollywood-ized "punk" Emilio Estevez gets fired from his grocery store job and eventually falls in with a car repossession company.  Some minor adventures happen (repossessing cars, getting shot at, getting maced, convenience store shoot-out, banging a cute chick in the backseat of a car, vomiting, etc.), but the main story line is about a 1964 Chevy Malibu with a $20,000 reward on it.  Every two-bit repo man in LA is looking for it!  What the hell could be so special about it that it has such a high bounty?

And that's about it.  Is there some kind of satire or social/political statement that I'm missing?  Who knows.  As it is though, the authentic LA street scenery was the most interesting thing going on.  The story is so-so, but it doesn't go anywhere.  The acting is good.  I especially liked Harry Dean Stanton.  The "punk" aspect is barely even touched out other than a few people having mohawks and couple of punk songs playing in the background.  Other than that, REPO MAN is kind of a bore.  Zero nudity, bland dialogue, unsatisfying ending, low budget distractions, hit or miss pacing, no violence.

I don't dislike REPO MAN, it's just not my bag.  I did notice a few things that were influential in later films, video games, etc., so for that, at least, it's kinda cool.