MEMORY FLOGGER - "To Rome with Love"

MEMORY FLOGGER MOVIE REVIEW – “To Rome with Love"

MY STORY

Among the clever little marketing ploys Facebook uses to keep you interested in its monopoly is something like “On This Date in….”, where Zucky pulls up an old posting of yours, and serves it up like a fresh hot buttered croissant each morning as a memory flogger.

As ploys go, these are often cute and fun… (a rare tip o’ the hat to Zucky).

Over my FB career, I’ve written many mini-movie-reviews… and lo and behold, today up popped one from a decade ago. At the time, I was still living in Petersburg, Virginia and probably saw Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love” at the cineplex in Colonial Heights, one I dubbed the “Evil Clown Theater”, because of its gruesome exterior polychromed architectural details.

Lord knows I passed that theater at least 20,000 times as I tooled up and down I-95 from happy Petersburg up to Chesterfield, Richmond, Fredericksburg and even the Yankee Capital. And 20,000 times I’d look over at it, roll my eyes and think, “Evil clown movie theater.”

C’est vrai!

Well now, enough about evil clowns, and a few words about my buddy Woody (ta-dum!).

Yes, I know, I know, I know about the weird stuff…the Roman Polanski stuff…. the Jeffrey Epstein stuff…the Soon-Yi stuff…

…but what can I say?

As a screenwriter, director and actor the guy’s a genius. I doubt there’s a Woody Allen film I’ve not seen and enjoyed thoroughly…each one truly memorable and remarkable.

From Wiki: “Allen has won three Oscars for Best Original Screenplay for Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Midnight in Paris (2011), and one for Best Director for Annie Hall. He has been nominated 24 times: 16 as a screenwriter, seven as a director, and once as an actor. Allen has more screenwriting Academy Award nominations than any other writer; all in the Best Original Screenplay category.”

I remember the first Woody film I ever saw, “Bananas” (1971) at the Nuart Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles…the threadbare carpets and ratty wooden seats.

Even today, here in happy Simi Valley, as I come up with cockamamie ideas to save the planet, I mutter to myself the Pulitzer Prize winning lyrics from that fun comedy, “Rebels are we! Born to be free! Just like the fish in the sea!”

C’est vrai!

OK, OK, OK…so now, after these very, very few introductory words, back to my legendary mini-review of “To Rome with Love”….

?Linas Kojelis

July 8, 2012 ·

Shared with Your Friends:

"(I) was the only patron tonight in a 300 seat theater to watch "To Rome With Love." It's very "current Woody," a happy summer trifle, with some good writing and excellent acting, surprisingly much of it by Woody himself (who is finally starting to act his age on the Silver Screen.) It's just fun and funny; a lot of "missed turns" and naughty romantic hijinks (moderate by today's Hollywood standards), topped by Woody's production of "opera in the shower." Buy a big soda for this one."

Ta-dum!

THE END

?

My name is Linas Kojelis

I am a writer and lecturer

I have lived a life…

…I have stories to tell.

?

July 8, 2022

Simi Valley, California