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Do We Still Care About Woody Allen?

By | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (30)

woodyallen.jpg

Another year, another picture from Woody Allen. The sad thing is the fact that he makes films so consistently might be the best we can say about him these days. I recognize that he has made amazing films and he has a legacy that should be respected, but just look at this trailer for “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger:”

It’s London this time; Woody seems to dig it these days. The part of the neurotic writer will be played by Josh Brolin. I think it’s about the problems that rich white people have. I will say the music is jazzy, at least. Antonio Banderas is in there along with Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and I think I saw Anna Friel from Pushing Daisies (she’ll always be undead to me).
So tell me, kind readers, is Woody still relevant? Better question: Does he have a great film left in him? Discuss.

(via The AV Club)









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Comments

So, unless my computer is lagging waaay behind, there's no comments for this post. Guess that answers the question pertaining to whether or not we still care about him! Done and done.

Posted by: noodlestein at July 9, 2010 6:26 PM

I have zero time for Woody Allen. He's a caricature of himself, and his movies are caricatures of that caricature. Caricature, I say.

Posted by: Brenton at July 9, 2010 6:27 PM

no.

Posted by: roodle at July 9, 2010 6:31 PM

I never cared in the first place.

Posted by: Alli at July 9, 2010 7:10 PM

I still care about Woody Allen!

If he's not being funny anyway. I throughly enjoyed Match Point and Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona but dude doesn't have a funny moment left in his overly neurotic, borderline Parkinson's addled head. My ideal Woody Allen movie is morose, psychotic, and disturbing - all of which are things he is shockingly good at doing if he puts his mind to it.

Please Mr. Allen I beg of you kill some people off or force someone to go thorough some kind of really unexpected or exposing life changing experience. I like that side of you, you schizophrenic bastard.

It's a side you let out rarely, when the moon in just right and your candle has burned down past the point of sanity. I can imagine as you fight loudly with yourself about the worth of a human being and plead to go back to the mundane, sane place you started at. When that conflict comes through you can write some really brilliant stuff, stuff that scares you, stuff that you have spent an entire lifetime overcompensating for but real stuff. You have it inside of you hiding, waiting and as you go into your twilight years its slowly breaking through to murder everything that you were and give birth to the twisted thing you can be.

Seriously though, you're not much for the funny.

I'm not sure you ever were.

Posted by: Dulli1419 at July 9, 2010 7:21 PM

Woody Allen is an example of a performer who was refreshing and hilarious in his early years due to his singular point of view. He was edgy in a low-key way, yet accessible, and just far enough ahead of the societal curve that he didn't have to wander in the wilderness. Unfortunately, as his point of view and attitude became more and more prevalent, his singularity diminished and his personal life made him seem less perceptive and ingenious and more just plain skeevy.

Posted by: alone in the dark at July 9, 2010 7:40 PM

No

Posted by: greer at July 9, 2010 7:47 PM

What was great was when slapstick suddenly came out of nowhere in "Match Point", and there was that second or two of "...is this supposed to be funny?....because I think it's funny....brilliant!".

Posted by: Jay at July 9, 2010 8:11 PM

My favorite Allen movie is Broadway Danny Rose, which has great working class New York characters in it. No rich neurotic whitebreads, no analysts, and no borrowing from Fellini or Bergman. I wish he still made fun movies like this. His obsession with the urban elite is just boring, but then Alfred Hitchcock made a lot of films about the same kind of people (Rope, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Strangers On A Train, etc.)

Posted by: Jonzo at July 9, 2010 8:18 PM

It has been a long time since Woody Allen was relevant or entertaining.
Several of his movies seem creepy in retrospect; Manhattan is an ode to the kind of "inappropriate" relationships with minors for which one hopes
he would now be jailed. I mean seriously, its like a case study in the self-justification efforts of a pedophile: She is so wise beyond her years,
so knowing, and yet so innocent that she can be molded the way you
would like. In Annie Hall, he doesn't even seem to genuinely like Annie,
but in that one I think that may be the point.

Allen has at least one masterpiece, Zelig, and though I believe you are as good as the best thing you ever did, some of his private life "dids" can trump the public triumphs. Whenever I see him, I can hear Mia Farrow taking the
highest road possible when asked if she believes Allen had an inappropriate relationship with his daughter, "All I can tell you is that I have a truthful child." Even if the most cruel and criminal accusations are true, it is clear he is a man of many issues and it is hard not to see them in his more serious films when you go back and watch again.

And if the accusations of child abuse aren't enough, it was for Woody Allen's films that I originally started using the phrase RICH PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. I can't take credit for it and if Ron Geiger was collecting royalties, he would have $19.43 by now from its use.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 9, 2010 9:07 PM

Until Allen makes a darkly autobiographical reimagining of Lolita, I'm not interested.

Posted by: DarthBrookes at July 9, 2010 9:07 PM

I've never cared about Woody Allen.

Posted by: ERM at July 9, 2010 9:07 PM

I don't think he has a great film left in him, but that is hardly a strike against him. He's made some good stuff, some classics and that's enough if we look at him strictly as a film maker.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 9, 2010 9:13 PM

DarthBrookes FTW!

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 9, 2010 9:14 PM

NO!!!

Posted by: madclawmannn at July 9, 2010 9:15 PM

No, but I definitely care about Josh Brolin!

Posted by: badkittyuno at July 9, 2010 9:23 PM

Match Point was five years ago. Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona was two years ago. That's two good to very good movies in five years, which is better than 95% of writers and directors currently making films. If he was taking money or opportunities away from other people, maybe you could make the case he needs to retire, but I think that people with proven track records should get some leeway. Plus Naomi Watts is in it.

Woody probably has a great film left in him, but I would (and most likely will) settle for two or three more good to very good films.

Posted by: Three-nineteen at July 9, 2010 9:45 PM

I think there's been this odd Woody backlash over the last decade (partially perpetuated by Allen himself, of course) that is at least partially unwarrented. Match Point and Vicky Christina Barcelona were both strong films. So he's had a rough ten or twenty years. When the number of his movies which are failures overtakes the number of his movies which work or are at least fun, enjoyable films, come talk to me. Until then, the man has earned a few bombs, as long as he's still making art which speaks to him.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch Sleeper and ignore this thread.

Posted by: ChristianH at July 9, 2010 9:46 PM

Like many others before, I never cared about him in the first place.

I got about two thirds of the way through Vicky Cristina Barcelona before shutting it off when I realized I didn't give a shit about anything going on. Not even Javier Bardem could keep me interested. It's the only one of his movies that I've ever really tried to watch.

And I realized I just didn't care to ever see another Woody Allen movie in my life.

Posted by: figgy at July 10, 2010 12:30 AM

figgy, I'm not a fan at all (I got bored during Annie Hall, not sure I ever finished it), but of all his movies I've seen (which is maybe four or five), Sweet and Lowdown is quite good. Sean Penn's working of the neurotic Allen schtick makes a very different movie than his others, and it is quite funny.

Posted by: Brenton at July 10, 2010 2:07 AM

I live in an alternate reality where Woody Allen stopped making films after Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at July 10, 2010 9:02 AM

I never cared about Woody Allen. Tried to get into his older films, but found them incredibly boring.

Posted by: FabMax at July 10, 2010 9:56 AM

I've no opinion to offer on the prolific Woody Allen's recent body of work, since 'Zelig' (wonderful movie) was probably the last of his films I've gone out of my way to watch.

But 'Love and Death' will remain in my Top 10 Funniest Movies of All Time list.

He gets to make whatever he wants now, and more power to him- I'm just not paying to see it.

Posted by: abliac at July 10, 2010 9:57 AM

I'm with BSlim...I think I suffered through Match Point, but for me, Woody hit his peak with Crimes & Misdemeanors.

Posted by: brite at July 10, 2010 11:43 AM

I will agree with those that say they've never cared about Woody Allen.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at July 10, 2010 12:49 PM

Ultimately where I end up with Woody Allen is he makes films for grown ups and at this point in my life I'm, sadly, a grown up. His best films are behind him, but the films he's making now are still miles ahead of 95% of the rest of what Hollywood churns out.

There are far worse things than being the person that makes droll, beautifully filmed comedies for middle-aged people. Which isn't to say I don't have significant criticisms of him.

Posted by: Abby at July 10, 2010 7:58 PM

Droll? I think you're being too kind.

Posted by: Brenton at July 12, 2010 12:08 AM

It helps to be over 50 to appreciate Woody. He's made 4 world class films and a bunch of very good ones. Sadly no very good ones in the last 20 years. Probably no very good ones in the future either.

Posted by: alan at July 12, 2010 1:08 PM

I'm also a Allen fan from way back. One of my earliest memories is of seeing Annie Hall in a drive-in movie theater. I didn't get all the jokes, but there was something funny about it that hooked me.

Still, just recently I ran across one of his latest films Whatever Works. The Onion could not have done a more stinging satire of how predictable Woody Allen has become. It is important for a director to give up before he becomes a bad send-up of himself.

Posted by: imk at July 12, 2010 5:23 PM

I love Woody Allen , amazing director writer, playwrite and actor.

i like to see all of you haters do better

Posted by: samanthaaa at December 28, 2010 11:35 PM