What's the point of asking it? You don't get him, let it go. Nobody is forced to like what other people like. Besides, each person might enjoy his work for different reasons.Bryan^H said:
The same point as asking any question. He's looking for guidance and insight as to what makes his films so special, from someone willing to provide it. I had the same question about Citizen Kane, until I listened to the Ebert commentary. Greatness can be staring you right in the face but you miss it because you don't know where or how to look.Cremildo said:
You're right.Cremildo said:
That's ultimately the hook for me Steve...music and performance.Yorkshire said:
This is a must for me.Richard Gallagher said:
I'm sure it will be a proper blu-ray release. Sony (and TT for that matter) is very good about not letting garbage transfers hit the streets, and that extends to its MOD line. Almost everything that comes out of Sony these days is freshly remastered from quality elements.AnthonyClarke said:
Nobody, and I mean nobody in the U.S.A.can write dialogue as brilliant as Woody Allan can. Just concentrate on the dialogue when watching his films.Good scriptwriters in the USA are very very rare. This is why most American films suck big time.Dick said:Regarding Woody's appeal, this is just so subjective. Something that makes a lot of people fall down laughing uncontrollably will make other people roll their eyeballs.
Beyond that, the man can write. There is Jewish humor that might pass over a lot of us, but there is also a lot of insight into what makes people neurotic and awkward in our society. Further, the man can write for women. He is one of the best writers of female characters out there, and most any actress who has worked for him would tell you that. He has evolved from an erratic but often brilliant purveyor of nutty, slapstick humor into an erratic but often brilliant writer of modern relationships, often with humor but sometimes not. His films are not all good. Some are pretty awful. But Allen turns out a movie a year and perhaps one in three of them is a real gem, and another is at least entertaining. How many writer-directors with forty-five films in his resume could say that?
There are almost no pretense or bombastic sound and image in his films. His opening and closing credits almost invariably occur as white text black background. He uses (sometimes redundantly) jazz and classic music rather than overblown, wall-to-wall orchestral scores. His directors of photography know he wants simple camera setups and he hold shots of the actors longer than most directors, allowing their performances (rather than a lot of quick cuts and jerky camerawork) to shine.
There are maybe fifteen movies of Allen's I do not care for and will not own, but the other thirty already are or will eventually be in my collection on Blu-ray.
As for the nay-sayers, maybe you really like Michael Bay movies...?
I'd be willing to bet that the percentage of good American movies is the same as good movies out of any other country.cinerama10 said:
Yeah, I have the R2 Buddy Holly Story BD. It's bad. I am hopeful the TT will be a much improved version.AnthonyClarke said:
ANNIE HALL fully deserved the Oscar for best film. Maybe you would have appreciated it more if you had seen it when it was originally released. It was a massive hit Really massive! Woody Allen is the supreme filmmaker in the USA and one of the best in the world. Maybe some people are unable to concentrate when they see films today - using mobile phones - talking and making a lot of noise eating popcorn..Popcorn should be banned from cinemas, like it is in one of my local cinemas. Thanks to today's audiences and their behaviour, I rarely see a film in a cinema. I have only been a few times in the last seven years.Cremildo said:
How many foreign language films have you seen in the past year as against American ? have you seen any Korean (they make some of the best in the world),Japanese or French films lately?.TravisR said:
It's a favourite of mine - was a big hit when first released. Absolutely love it.ahollis said:
I've seen a handful of lousy Japanese horror movies but what I've seen is irrelevant and not the point that I was making. In terms of percentages, I can't imagine that American movies are any worse than French, Korean, Saudi Arabian, South African or any other country's movies. In terms of numbers, it seems like there's more bad American movies because America makes more movies that are seen on a global level (and the dumb ones are the ones that the foreign markets eat up). Meanwhile, the vast majority of bad movies made in, say, India don't get seen outside of that country while the good ones do get seen internationally and that creates a false impression that American movies are somehow substantially worse than what's made in other countries.cinerama10 said:
I'm hoping that Elvis's other Mirisch film Kid Galahad will follow.Robin9 said:
I love his performance in Under Siege. He's hilarious.Richard V said:
