DVD catch-up

Match Point: I haven't watched a lot of Woody Allen movies, not even the famous ones, so I can't speak at all to how this is similar or different from his other works. It was however, just a pretty weird movie. I'd read some reviews of the movie, and all of them were pretty cryptic about the end of the movie, which I will have to be also, and it definitely was kind of unexpected. It starts off normal enough, a former tennis player named Chris gets a job at a country club and befriends one of the members, who introduces him to his family, which includes a sister that falls for him instantly. Chris romances Chloe, and eventually marries her, but all the while has a thing for her brother's girlfriend, an American aspiring actress played by Scarlett Johanssen. I've liked Scarlett Johanssen in other movies, but in this one I couldn't really figure out her character so I don't know. In fact, I can't really figure out the entire movie. I think it was meant to be a little unsettling. Definitely not a forgettable one though.

Tristan + Isolde: This got pretty mixed reviews but I'm a sucker for period films and you know, I really liked it. I wasn't very familiar with the story of Tristan and Isolde besides the fact that it's an opera, but it's basically a forbidden lovers story on a pretty grand scale. Tristan is a great knight and adopted son of the to-be king of a united England, and Isolde is the daughter of the Irish king who intends to take over England. Tristan lands in Ireland after being presumed dead and is secretly nursed back to health by Isolde. He later returns to England, where he takes on the challenge of winning a wife for his adopted father, Marke. He wins, of course, only to find out that the wife he won is none other than Isolde. You can guess where this is all going. I liked the love triangle, because there was really no evil party and all three held respect for the others. Sophia Myles was excellent as Isolde, and James Franco didn't say much but they definitely had a lot of chemistry. I'm also a fan of Rufus Sewell and he was great as Marke. The look of the film and all the battle scenes were nicely done too. I really don't know why so many critics didn't like this. I mean, it wasn't extraordinary filmmaking or anything but the story is classic and I thought it was pretty engrossing and believable. I've seen a lot worse...