"Drowning by Numbers" is one of my all-time favorite quirky movies, with an oddball sense of humor, a perverse amorality, and Joely Richardson nude. (You have to get through the first five minutes, which may be the most boring ever filmed, but it's worth it). "Prospero's Books" is technically magnificent, and a movie of great visual and aural splendor, but just pretentious and arty as all get out. I liked it at times, but my mind wandered when I watched it, and Elya practically killed me for making her watch it.

"The Pillow Book" may be the Greenaway film with the most consistent aesthetic. It is about beauty, and violence, and eroticism, and I don't know what all. Fundamentally, it's about a woman who can only get physically excited when her body is used for calligraphy. Sound pretentious? Maybe. I think it got every possible review from one to four stars. In the IMDb, one third of all reviewers gave it a 10/10, and that's a higher percentage of perfect scores than "Raiders of the Lost Ark". On the other hand, a lot of people gave it a 1. It probably sets the all-time record for most male nudity in a non-porn film (including Obi-Wan's light saber), but there actually isn't that much from the ladies.

(#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6)

1) That there hasn't been a decent musical in the last 40 years.

2) That there hasn't been a decent Woody Allen movie in the past 20 years.

You are wrong on both counts. Just a couple of years ago, Woody Allen made a musical called "Everyone Says I Love You". It's funny and touching, it's filmed in NY, Paris, and Venice. It's a terrific musical, heartfelt and sincere, featuring classic songs rather than original music. The Woodman didn't hire professional singers, either. He used actors and let them sing their own songs, because he knows that the essence of a song is its meaning, and actors are good at conveying the emotions involved. Of the people who sang, Goldie Hawn sings and dances at a professional level Edward Norton and Alan Alda are competent singers with so much charm that they can miss a note or two and still carry a song beautifully. Is there anything Norton cannot do? Well, in fairness, he isn't much of a dancer, but I think he did OK.

Woody Allen and Tim Roth can't really sing, but they sang well enough that they didn't spoil the song.

Julia Roberts can't sing, and isn't all that great at the emotional side either, but she didn't seem half bad in context.

Drew Barrymore had big breasts. (She was the only one dubbed )

Here it is.

Before I sign off, let me say that this movie contains maybe the best dance number I've ever seen. Better than Kelly singin' in the rain, better than O'Connor flipping off the wall, better than Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask ....etc. And you know who does the dance? Woody Allen and Goldie Hawn and a lot of special effects. I never thought I'd say that the best dance I ever saw involved Woody Allen, but this scene is really something. To be fair, Woody just manages not to screw up the look of the scene, but Goldie and the special effects are dy-no-mite. There are two or three other dance numbers that poke gentle fun at Hollywood Musicals, and they are all entertaining. At a Funeral, all the corpses start singing and dancing. In a hospital, people dance with their IV's in hand, in full body casts, etc. This one is brilliantly choreographed because it is in the narrow confines of a real hospital corridor, yet includes dozens of singing doctors, patients and others interweaving through the halls.

Great movie that came and went without anybody really noticing it. Amazing that Woody can still make a good movie like this, but also churns out drivel like "Celebrity".