Yeah that's not one of the best... the guy from American Pie is Woody's avatar in that one right? Although WA Is in it himself to supply some light relief as a kind of comedy maniac.The most painful one I watched was Anything Else, mainly because the Christina Ricci character was exactly like an ex-girlfriend of mine, to the point where I was almost climbing under the cinema seat in discomfort.
Ended up watching Manhattan Murder Mystery last night. It was basically Annie Hall, but they're middle-aged and settled down then he chucks in a murder. Anjelica Huston's pretty good in it and it's the first I've ever seen of Alan Alda.We have been working our way through the late Woody Allen films inspired by one being on telly quite recently and us both enjoying it. Allen is a director I've never really loved, I feel his masterpieces are overrated.... but having got into his later stuff I feel a lot of that is underrated. In short my thesis is that far from being a guy who had a period of genius followed by a much weaker second half to his career, I'd argue that he really made films that were pretty much of the same standard all the way through his career (as a rule, I mean there are obvious minor ups and downs but the overall trend is not so clear) and the reviews were better when he was more in favour.
Either way we watched his latest film yesterday A Rainy Day in New York - and it was fucking rubbish. This one really was guilty of all the stuff his last thirty years of films have been accused of, a disjointed rehashing of his old ideas with no guiding arc and some terrible lines (when arguing about whether someone is an escort or a hooker his mum says "let's not split pubic hairs") and sentimental music and shots of NY trying desperately to make up for deficiencies in plot and dialogue and cheat the viewer into feeling some emotion. Don't bother.
Crimes & Misdemeanors is terrific.Crimes and Misdemeanors is the best I've seen of his, although I saw it a long time ago. I liked Midnight in Paris.
I like both, but there's more depth to A Serious Man, imo. Burn After Reading's just a screwball comedy. There's the whole Job thing and grappling with Jewishness in 60s America in A Serious Man. It feels like a much more personal film for the Coens and much richer for it.I suppose that I think that there is less difference between Allen's peaks and troughs than is commonly agreed to be the case.
Coen Brothers are similar, I remember watching Burn After Reading and A Serious Man in fairly quick succession, the former was fairly universally panned and the latter lavished with praise (though I doubt many remember it now) yet I was struck by how they were really much of a muchness in terms of quality, there really seemed to have been a kind of agreement between the critics on how to deal with those two films and i don't think the reviews at the time particularly reflected what was actually going on in the films.
That has an element of truth to it, but I feel that both are squeezed so much through the tight lens of their style that they end up being much closer together - in feel, quality, everything really - than that description you gave would seem to imply. Not that I'm disagreeing with the description, I just think that Coen's (maybe anyone really but them more so) are limited in how varied they can get by the fact of who they are.I like both, but there's more depth to A Serious Man, imo. Burn After Reading's just a screwball comedy. There's the whole Job thing and grappling with Jewishness in 60s America in A Serious Man. It feels like a much more personal film for the Coens and much richer for it.
It's the humour, imo. A lot of their stuff has this offbeat wackiness to it that can feel quite samey. They break out of it from time to time though; No Country for Old Men, True Grit and Inside Llewyn Davis don't feel as Coen-y to me as something like Burn After Reading or A Serious Man.That has an element of truth to it, but I feel that both are squeezed so much through the tight lens of their style that they end up being much closer together - in feel, quality, everything really - than that description you gave would seem to imply. Not that I'm disagreeing with the description, I just think that Coen's (maybe anyone really but them more so) are limited in how varied they can get by the fact of who they are.
I mean they can do totally different styles altogether I guess, but with both of these films I more remember the style than the content.
That's what I mean with saying they can escape by doing totally different styles such as Cruel Intentions or whatever, but when they stay in their comfort zone they can't help but seem samey.It's the humour, imo. A lot of their stuff has this offbeat wackiness to it that can feel quite samey. They break out of it from time to time though; No Country for Old Men, True Grit and Inside Llewyn Davis don't feel as Coen-y to me as something like Burn After Reading or A Serious Man.
I really enjoyed Hail Caesar, much in the same way as I enjoy later WA, I love films in old Hollywood, I love the sets, the feel... the film itself seems as though they just stopped halfway through which is a shame cos I coulda watched it for ages.Have to say, I've gradually gone off them over the years. I haven't gone back and rewatched everything though, so I don't know whether I actually have or whether it's just the idea of them that irritates me - the thought of sitting through Raising Arizona or Miller's Crossing again doesn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm.
Don't really like woody Allen. Find him really annoying, especially as an actor.@catalog He mentions Finnegans Wake at one point in Manhattan Murder Mystery.
Did you get to the fencing scene?After seeing a cliip on here I tried and failed to watch Die Another Day last night, just unbelievably bad from the Madonna theme onwards, the innuendoes are shameful beyond belief, the action scenes are ridiculous, can't believe this got made
CocaineAfter seeing a cliip on here I tried and failed to watch Die Another Day last night, just unbelievably bad from the Madonna theme onwards, the innuendoes are shameful beyond belief, the action scenes are ridiculous, can't believe this got made