The Good

The maestro shows why he is still one the of the best filmmakers working today.

The Bad

No extras on a movie that is screaming for them. Darn you Woody!Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a love triangle of the highest order given to us from one of the masters of cinema. Woody Allen's film isn't a tense thriller. There are never any moments of couples hiding out from suspecting spouses, or any of the usual traits that American filmmakers like to offer. Rather this film looks at how life and love sometimes merge in ways that we do not expect. Vicky and Cristina are two women spending their summer in Spain. They meet a dashing artist, each of them has a tryst with him, and we see how this tryst makes them examine their own lives.

Do they love him? Do they love their lives? Can they accept who they are as people now that they know more about themselves? Is it wrong to be in love with more than one person? More to the point, is it almost inevitable?

All of these questions come to the fore in this fine film from one of America's master craftsmen. There is a brilliance at work here that shows us how genius in filmmaking, writing, painting or any other creative pursuit is inherently timeless.

Features

No extras came with this release.

Video

Widescreen Presentation. Presented in a "matted" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of its original, theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for widescreen TVs. This movie looked good on my small, 13" TV, but having seen this film in the theater I think that bigger is better as far as screening it is concerned. Since most people reading this have a bigger TV than myself, I am sure that they won't find it lacking cinematically, the way that I did, in this format.

Audio

Language: English Dolby Stereo. Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH. This movie sounded really good. I loved the fact that Woody wasn't afraid to use a voiceover track for much of this film. I really feel that the sparseness of the audio (and the visual style) lent a lot to this movie's power. There was a strength in the presentation that allowed the acting to take center-stage.

Package

The cover of this movie features the stars of the film and I believe it's the same image that was used on the theatrical one-sheet. The back of the DVD features more images from the movie, a well written description, a critic's quote, technical specs, and a cast list.

Final Word

Sometimes you have to wade through such films as Small Time Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Hollywood Ending, Melinda and Melinda, Scoop and Cassandra's Dream in order to get a movie like Vicky Cristina Barcelona. While I am sure that diehard Woody Allen fans would argue that those movies, even at their most tired or abysmal, are better than anything that a major studio has to offer, I just can't get on board.

The fact that Vicky Cristina Barcelona o good showcases why Woody Allen is the filmmaker he is. He just makes movies. Period. He writes a script, he gets people together, he shoots it and hopes for the best. Sometimes this works out, sometimes it doesn't, but the man has proven so adept as his chosen field that he will always have people like myself going out and seeing his films.