McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

I can't say I've ever been a big fan of the Western. This movie is the classic anti-western, a parody of the classic genre. And it is quite funny, sometimes seemingly unintentionally. Sometimes it is just funny because you don't know what to make of the unusual scene you just saw. The soft songs of Leonard Cohen are a hilarious contrast to the untame, uncouth wild west. And Mrs. Miller's Cockney accent sticks out in the Pacific northwest.

Robert Altman's signature is all over this film. He loves to use zooms, both fast and slow. The slow zooms draw your attention to a small detail that you otherwise would miss. The fast zooms have a comedic effect. They are kind of cheesy at first, but the timing and frequency is perfect as you get used to them. Altman also pioneered complex sound mixing techniques. At first, I thought the sound was bouncing off the walls making it difficult to understand and distinguish dialogue. But that is actually his technique to immerse the viewer in the scene. When everyone is talking over each other, you don't actually hear any of it clearly. Instead, you read the ambiance of the scene rather than the actual dialogue. 

Manhattan (1979)

This Woody Allen classic is a love letter to the great city of New York that so many of his films take place in.  But Manhattan is not just the setting, it is a character in and of itself.  It is a character that Isaac (Allen) "adores" in his quotable opening monologue.    Allen's musings on life and art are narrated over awe-inspiring black-and-white shots of New York and Gershwin's incomparable Rhapsody in Blue.  The shots are timed perfectly with the music, culminating in fireworks exploding on the beat.

The black-and-white photography gives a vintage look to some of the dark scenes, such as the iconic scene by the Queensboro bridge in which the audience sees only in shadows against the night.  The scene in the planetarium is so dark that the viewer can just barely make out the outlines of the characters in a beautifully romantic scene.

Allen delightfully depicts intellectual, upper-class life, epitomized by Diane Keaton's character (a different kind of character than Annie Hall).  But the best performance comes from young Mariel Hemingway, who has the most complex role.  She plays a character more mature beyond her years and it is her performance that keeps the plot grounded