Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Woody Allen 'genius' or 'shit'?

Woody Allen: 'Genius' or 'Shit'

  • Total voters
    55
W

warszawa

Gracias y kocham cie todo
Woody Allen has made God knows how many films and I've also watched God knows how many, and it's because I'm a fan. Well, I guess I am.

Woody Allen films poke my mind, amuse and stimulate my thoughts, but all the while, I can sympathise with those who just think he's 'shit'.

Let's face it, his films can drag and maybe because he thinks he's so good that his arrogance will let any drivel pass; and maybe he actually does believe that he himself is funny on screen for more than just the reason that he's funny because he's just not funny; and maybe he does actually place his dweebish self with the beautiful actresses he often employs for the part of his girlfriend and that's not just about humour either.
 
Woody Allen was a brilliant stand up comedian and is an occasionally great filmmaker but over the last couple of decades his work has become repetitive and frequently inconsequential. Annie Hall and Manhattan are among the greatest American films ever made, Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors are not far behind. Then there are a lot of excellent comedies from Take the Money and Run to Bullets over Broadway but I find many of his serious dramas stilted and self conscious. Most of his recent work has been dissappointing, though I liked Match Point better than most people.

Bit of a stupid poll though. Like with most people the term gets applied to these days I don't think he's a genius. I think he is/was an important filmmaker, so he's neither average nor shit.
 
When you conceive, write, cast, act, direct, produce, edit, and make the sandwiches chances are, in a career of 40 plus films over 40 years, even the very best are going to make a few stinkers.

As a simplification, maybe his best work came in the decade that encompasses Annie Hall and Hannah.


Lily doesn't look much like him though, does she.
 
Love and Death makes me laugh like a drain, but the last 10 years' offering have left me cold.
 
I prefer the earlier, funnier movies, but he's also made some really touching later films as well. And the moose story is hysterical.
 
Just barely watchable.

I have a technique

"OK he's Yank, it's funnier than most Yank stuff. And he's a Jewboy so fucking laugh or Mutti Hiemingberg will get you"

Works.
 
There is a 2-part, 4-hour documentary on Woody Allen available to watch on iPlayer at the moment. Watched the first part last night, watching the second half tonight. So far it's been fascinating, tracing his development from teenage gag-writer to standup to actor to director. I never knew he had a Beatles-style residency, where he put in the Gladwell-mandated 10,000 hours of work writing non-stop sketches and plays at a holiday camp. :cool:

He also still writes everything on a 40-year-old typewriter, and copy-pastes using scissors and a stapler. :D

Part 1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...mmer_2013_Woody_Allen_A_Documentary_Part_One/
Part 2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...mmer_2013_Woody_Allen_A_Documentary_Part_Two/
 
I saw most of those programmes and they were very interesting and illuminating. Probably worth starting a new thread for - or are you scared of pogofish? ;)
 
Buddy Bradley said:
There is a 2-part, 4-hour documentary on Woody Allen available to watch on iPlayer at the moment. Watched the first part last night, watching the second half tonight. So far it's been fascinating, tracing his development from teenage gag-writer to standup to actor to director. I never knew he had a Beatles-style residency, where he put in the Gladwell-mandated 10,000 hours of work writing non-stop sketches and plays at a holiday camp. :cool:

He also still writes everything on a 40-year-old typewriter, and copy-pastes using scissors and a stapler. :D

Part 1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...mmer_2013_Woody_Allen_A_Documentary_Part_One/
Part 2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...mmer_2013_Woody_Allen_A_Documentary_Part_Two/
Click to expand...


Great documentary. He was writing gags for New York comics when he was just 14 or 15 years old. Obviously a genius.
 
Yes, the documentary is as good as one could hope and one of the most comprehensive ever put together about a film-maker. It made me look at his career a lot more kindly again, even though I still think most of his films of the last decade and half have been dross.
 
I saw the trailer for his new film yesterday - looked appalling, I don't think even Sally Hawkins and Cate Blanchett will be able to save it.
 
Couple of great films in his older cannon, I loved some of his crazy comedies like take the money and run and bananas.
Lately he just seems to be pretty boring though I did quite enjoy Midnight in Paris, which reminded me a little of The Purple Rose of Cairo, in that something extraordinary happens that is taken in the films stride, letting the film revolve around the people.
 
Reno said:
Yes, the documentary is as good as one could hope and one of the most comprehensive ever put together about a film-maker. It made me look at his career a lot more kindly again, even though I still think most of his films of the last decade and half have been dross.
Click to expand...
im a big woody allen fan - when i was 12 we had just gotten a VHS and there was a woody allen season on BBC2 - my mum taped them all and they were pretty much the only films we had at home for a time, i watched them (the 5 or 6 we had taped) over and over. I loved Love and Death the most at that time, though i had no idea it was a spoof russian literature or anything else, just enjoyed the comedy. Went on to see pretty much all his films, read Eric Lax's biography, all the short stories and prose (which are great), a big fan really.

The thing that changed in the later films is he stopped being in them. His films always had him in the central role (i thought the point made in the documentary on tv this week that the only equivalent was Charlie Chaplin was interesting), and he writes all his thoughts into that one character that used to be played by him. But then he stopped being in his films, probably as he was too old in relation to the age of the characters around him. Different actors played him in the films, the tall bloke from Elf did a few. Its just not the same. The only person who could fill his shoes is maybe Larry David. But yeah all the films without him (apart from the much earlier Radio Days) just don't come close, and on the whole are a bit painful for one reason or another. Still good on him for making them - he's the real deal in that respect.

*One thought i had watching the documentary was that the switch from broad comedy to relationship realism in Annie Hall (1977) was directly inspired by Scenes from a Marriage (1973), which no doubt Woody would have seen as a Bergman worshipper...
 
Just leave's me cold and uninterested .....and hes not funny either !.....which isn't funny to me , just somewhat tedious.
maybe the poll needs a fourth
 
one thing that wasnt mentioned in the doc that is in Lax's biography is that as a teen he was a bit of a hardnut, really good at baseball with a big swing, held his own in fights, did magic tricks on the street corner and was witty in a street smart kind of way... the move from that into putting on those glasses (by choice) and playing into the neurotic and weedy Woody Allen persona is a pretty unexpected and sudden one in the story told in the biog...
 
I am not sure how I feel about him tbh but I watched the first part of the programme and it was very interesting.
I wonder if in the second part they will go in to his dubious relationships with women far too young for him? :hmm:

Arn't all the Imagine series done by Alan Yentob? He is pretty cool.
 
kittyP said:
I am not sure how I feel about him tbh but I watched the first part of the programme and it was very interesting.
I wonder if in the second part they will go in to his dubious relationships with women far too young for him? :hmm:

Arn't all the Imagine series done by Alan Yentob? He is pretty cool.
Click to expand...
Whilst this is badged as part of the Imagine series, as far as I know, it has nothing to do with it. This was released in cinemas last year. It's directed by Robert Weide.
 
kittyP said:
I am not sure how I feel about him tbh but I watched the first part of the programme and it was very interesting.
I wonder if in the second part they will go in to his dubious relationships with women far too young for him? :hmm:
Click to expand...
The second part does cover the end of his relationship with Mia Farrow, his now wife Soon-Yi and the scandal.
 
Maltin said:
It's had very good reviews.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blue_jasmine/

David Thomson reckons it's his best ever.

http://www.tnr.com/article/113818/blue-jasmine-review-david-thomson#
Click to expand...

David Thomson is a tool. I find the sexism, casual misogyny and frequent poor judgment that runs through his Biographical Dictionary abhorrent, so I don't trust his judgement on anything.

For the last decade I've been disappointed with every film the critics have claimed was a return to form. I love me a bit of Blanchett though, so I'll try and keep an open mind.
 
kittyP said:
I am not sure how I feel about him tbh but I watched the first part of the programme and it was very interesting.
I wonder if in the second part they will go in to his dubious relationships with women far too young for him? :hmm:

Arn't all the Imagine series done by Alan Yentob? He is pretty cool.
Click to expand...

It does get dealt with in the second half. When I saw the documentary it was with a Q&A from the directors. They invited Farrow to tell her side of the story with Allen's blessing, but she politely declined via her publicist.
 
ska invita said:
The thing that changed in the later films is he stopped being in them. His films always had him in the central role (i thought the point made in the documentary on tv this week that the only equivalent was Charlie Chaplin was interesting), and he writes all his thoughts into that one character that used to be played by him. But then he stopped being in his films, probably as he was too old in relation to the age of the characters around him. Different actors played him in the films, the tall bloke from Elf did a few. Its just not the same. The only person who could fill his shoes is maybe Larry David. But yeah all the films without him (apart from the much earlier Radio Days) just don't come close, and on the whole are a bit painful for one reason or another.
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed Midnight In Paris; I thought Owen Wilson pitched his part just right.
 
I can't stand him as a person and that is what puts me off most of his films. I did enjoy Purple Rose of Cairo though.
 
ska invita said:
The only person who could fill his shoes is maybe Larry David.
Click to expand...

The comparisons are a bit superficial. Yes they have similar New York Jewish accents, mannerisms and small foibles but David probably owes more to W C Fields and Laurel and Hardy than Allen. His miserable rude old misanthrope in Whatever Works was very much a Larry David persona. Worst stand in was Kenneth Brannagh in Celebrity who just did a bad Woody Allen impression for the entire film. Jon Cusack is a fine actor but felt like a straight man in a comedy. I liked Owen Wilson very much in the Allen role and would like to see him do another picture with him.
 
Annie Hall still is among the greatest films ever made for me and it's one of the most perceptive and wise films about romantic love, while also being among the funniest comedies ever made. I still keep finding myself in situations which instantly make me remember moments from that film.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

danny la rouge
Archaeology programmes on TV (cooncil or streaming).
Replies
14
Views
356
Elpenor
Elpenor
Orang Utan
What’s the grimmest, bleakest or most pessimistic film or tv show you’ve ever seen?
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
174
Views
6K
Plumdaff
Plumdaff
DaveCinzano
Things in the Real World that make you think of TELLY or FILLUMS
Replies
26
Views
594
Orang Utan
Orang Utan
DaveCinzano
Post your FILM REVIEWS for shit movies!
Replies
23
Views
855
furluxor
furluxor
P
$90m Batgirl cancelled because its so shit test audiences were walking out
Replies
21
Views
1K
danny la rouge
danny la rouge
Back
Top Bottom