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Anything Else is, seemingly, one of Woody's most personal films. He might say something else, but that's how it seemed to me. Especially when you take into account how closely it echoes one of his most successful films, Annie Hall. There are a great many similarities, the young man in analysis, (who addresses the camera), writes material for other comics, is obsessed with death, and has a crazy yet charming girlfriend. Also similar is scenes-we first see Amanda arriving late, just as we first see Annie Hall arriving late. Plus, the motif of Woody's character telling those old jokes, mirroring how Annie Hall begins and ends. And there's a cocaine scene, remarkably similar to the classic one, to boot! Some might take this as Woody simply repeating himself, but it's not that. It's as if the older, more mature Woody is talking to the Woody of old, and saying, "If you only knew what I knew now." This one's really deep, and not just the simple romantic comedy some would make it out to be.

There's a problem I think many of us, sometimes myself, have when it comes to movies like Cursed.It's the burden of expectation.Some of us have incredibly high expectations, expecting every movie to be perfect in every way-expecting every movie to be Citizen Kane. Now, for some films, those made by the elite artists of film, ie Scorsese or someone of that ilk, this is fine. But for films such as Cursed, a goofy horror movie that aims no higher than to have a few laughs and scares, judging them on such a scale, expecting them to meet such high expectations, is just plain ludicrous. For those among us who have such expectations, you know well before you see a movie like this that you won't like it. There's no way you possibly could. As such, there's no real point in calling it a "real travesty of a movie". On the high expectations scale, of course it is. But as far as your average, low-brow B-horror movie goes, it's par for the course. A fun romp, full of blood, guts, loud noises, and cheesy dialogue. Pauline Kael once said it's important for everybody to enjoy a piece of "good trash" every once in awhile. This is the kind of movie she was talking about. It's not the best movie ever made, but it's certainly not the worst. It's too light and insubstantial-it's fun while you're in bed, but you won't remember much about afterwards. That being said, there's no way it could be a real travesty of a movie-if it were, you'd remember it for years to come. You remember a Pearl Harbor or a Matrix Revolutions-movies that should've been great, or at least good, but were, in reality, travesties. You won't remember Cursed-it has modest aims, and if you can enjoy it as it pursues those aims-you'll enjoy it. If not, then you won't. But either way, there's nothing either uniquely brilliant or awful about it, so you won't remember it. So ease up on the harsh words-save 'em for real, honest to goodness crap-the kind of real, honest to goodness crap that aimed to be much, much more than honest to goodness crap.

James Toback's When Will Be Loved has a very, loose, ramshackle quality that it is ill-suited for. As the film opens, it cuts back and forth, jarringly, between Fred Weller rambling on his cell phone, and Neve Campbell taking a shower. The music even changes between each cut..and it's just so sloppily done, and unfortunately, the rest of the film, for the most part, is just as sloppy. Between the music being way too damn loud (whoever mixed the sound on this film did a lousy-ass job!), or certain scenes being more or less pointless, the film is a just a ramshackle, sloppy mess. Does the scene where Neve runs into Lori Singer in the park add anything? Other than perhaps killing time...no. Is the scene with Mike Tyson necessary? No, again it adds nothing, wastes time. And the threesome in the park scene? Not needed either...as we already know Weller is a small-time bum, out for his own gratification. Why is Chianese's character a Count? That's just ridiculous..and it seriously undercuts the believability of his character...and yet his sequence with Campbell is the only one in the film that really works. The rest of it......not so much. This is primarily because of the tired,tired stereotypical small time hustler character that Weller is given to play. Weller does what he can, and is occasionally amusing, but on the whole, we've seen this character too many damn times...we know right away that he has no connections, is a liar, a loser, etc. Knowing that, watching this character is quite irritating, as it offers no surprises, but plenty o' stale crap we have to sit through. This movie is just a mess. Not completely bad, but mostly, a ramshackle mess.