Magic in the Moonlight

The Prestige in Woody Allen style. Woody, however, does not delve deeply enough into the characters to make it work between them. The sparks between Colin Firth and Emma Stone work perfectly only in a single scene (the observatory) and do not work at all in the crucial last quarter of the film (after the point has been made). The two are incompatible by nature. If Woody himself played the rational wet blanket, the film would at least not be unrealistic and would not strive for an impossible romantic dimension, but it would be a pure cheerful comedy. Poor three stars. (08/07/2014)

Woody Allen shows that although he is getting older and his movies can be a bit long and overly talkative for some, without actually saying much, when he works with great actors like Firth or Stone, the result is still worth it. And this result is worth it not only because I have a weakness for illusions and magicians. (12/02/2014)

This is a nice little film that seems to have actually been made in the late 1920s. By a slight coincidence, it features contemporary actors. Absolutely magnificent. Have I honestly ever not loved something that offered me Berlin in 1928? It would be very foolish to even expect such a thing. Of course, I can also never get enough of Colin, and that surprises me. (08/19/2014)

The equivalent of a garden party clown you know exactly what to expect from. Nothing miraculous, but solidly performed craft where you know and can see through every magic trick, but that’s also what you are expecting from it and that’s what you are getting. But with Woody Allen you might expect him to pull something of Copperfield-type dimensions out of the hat after all and not to satisfy himself with something cute and trivial. Maybe in the next show. (08/09/2014)

It's a magically kind film, with a wickedly funny Colin Firth, the wonderful atmosphere of South France and the 1920s, and the message that "we need illusions to live", which Woody Allen used in Shadows and Fog (and elsewhere), but I don't mind that in the least. That I discovered the point before the movie revealed it? So what? Magic in the Moonlight is neither the pinnacle of Allen's filmography nor a groundbreaking title. It is, however, a cute comedy made exactly in the spirit of "memory" films, which either doesn't offend or delights. But I bet that it cannot disappoint. "He started out as a snake man. An interesting choice when someone wants to get away from reality." (09/02/2014)