Woody Allen: Day Twenty-Nine

Like Match Point (2005) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (2007) is a story of murder and morality. Unfortunately it often feels too forced and overly cliched. I first saw Cassandra's Dream at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007. I expected a lot more from a cast that features Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson and Sally Hawkins. It is not an awful film but it is a lackluster effort from Woody Allen, who has twice proven he can do a better dramatic thriller.

Ian (McGregor) and Terry (Farrell) are working-class brothers in London. After Terry wins some money at the track they decide to buy a sailboat together, naming it Cassandra's Dream. The brothers are both financially strapped. Ian wants to invest money in hotels in California and Terry has amassed a considerable gambling debt. They turn to their uncle Howard (Wilkinson), a successful businessman, who has his own motives. Howard is in danger of going to prison and he wants his nephews to murder a former associate who is scheduled to testify against him. Ian and Terry must come to terms with their own morals and decide if financial gain is reason enough to commit murder.

Next up: Vicky Cristina Barcelona.


1. Hannah and Her Sisters
2. Everyone Says I Love You
3. Manhattan
4. Bullets over Broadway
5. Annie Hall
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors
7. Radio Days
8. Husbands & Wives
9. Another Woman
10. The Purple Rose of Cairo
11. Broadway Danny Rose
12. Match Point
13. Love and Death
14. Sweet and Lowdown
15. Mighty Aphrodite
16. Interiors
17. Sleeper
18. Manhattan Murder Mystery
19. Zelig
20. Stardust Memories
21. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
22. Take the Money and Run
23. Deconstructing Harry
24. Oedipus Wrecks from New York Stories
25. Bananas
26. Small Time Crooks
27. What's Up, Tiger Lily?
28. Melinda and Melinda
29. Alice
30. Cassandra's Dream
31. Shadows and Fog
32. Don't Drink the Water
33. September
34. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
35. Celebrity
36. Scoop
37. Hollywood Ending
38. Anything Else
39. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion