I don't no whether I liked it or hated it
I don't know. I have mixed feelings about the movie.
" Shock me! Say something intelligent."
I have to admit that I actually quite liked this movie. I watched it on dvd last night for the first time in quite a while.
While I admit that it's certainly not the best film he's done, it certainly passes 1 hour 40 minutes in a very entertaining way. I remember when this film was originally released there were one or two quite harsh, and I think quite unfair, reviews about it.
I think that considering his immense body of work over the last 37 years, I think that he reserves the right to make the occasional light hearted comedy every now and again.
A lot of Woody's films have some sort of hidden message or meaning within them - Crimes and Misdemeanours, Purple Rose, Zelig etc. etc., so it's quite refreshing to occasionally sit down and watch one that is just a straight forward comedy.
That is all !
"If they're beautiful, they're crazy" Woody Allen
I agree with you markb. This and Bullets Over Broadway are funny, entertaining movies. I like deep, intense films too, but why do people get so twisted over light romps like this. I also like Small Time Crooks, Love and Death, and Sleeper. All silly, but very funny. I guess if people going in think this is Annie Hall, Purple Rose, C & M's etc thay will be dissapointed.
The first time I saw Raising Arizona, I was like, "what the he** is this"? But then I got into it and loved it for what it is. Entertainment!
Bonbmk
Glad to have your support on this. Like yourself, I also like to watch deep films with a meaning in them. I'm a huge fan of all of Woody's films, whether they have a meaning or a message behind them or whether they don't. Like you say, his "early, funny ones" are just straight forward, and very amusing, comedies. Likewise, some of his later stuff - (eg, Crooks and Jade) would not be out of place in that same group too.
If Jade had been made by someone else other than Woody, I'm sure it would have gotten far better reviews than it did. Also, I thought the idea behind it was really good.
Film reviewers seem to want him to make another Annie Hall, a Manhatten or a Hannah every single time, and genius though he is, that's never gonna happen. Personally, I wouldn't want him to make another film that tries to echo any of those films because I don't think that it can ever be done again (certainly not to the same effect anyway), and I don't think that any of his fans would want him to either.
"If they're beautiful, they're crazy" Woody Allen
We're totally on the same wave length regrding the storyteller that is Woody!
I read your post about Match Point, and I saw it last Friday and really enjoyed it too. I also did not like Anything Else or Melinda and Melinda much at all.
I think Woody is sort of a tortured person in ways (I don't say that sympathetically, just a matter of fact in my opinion) and he put insecure, questioning existentialism etc Woodyish character in those movies.
I'm seeing Match Point again at the end of the month with my brother (huge Woody fan) and husband (not a Woody fan at all) I'm very curious to see their reactions.
I agree with you on people wanting another Annie Hall, Manhattan etc, and I think he was sort of trying with Anything and Melinda and failed.
People forget he made Zelig, Purple Rose, Broadway Danny Rose, Cries and Misdemeanors, Mighty Aphrodite, Decconstructing Harry etc since those movies.
No I'm not the president of his fan club, but then again, I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member ;)
Yes, MP was a very good film. I'm not a huge fan of Anything Else or Melinda either, but I have got them both on dvd. I'm a Woody Allen completist, so I've got everything he's ever directed apart from Stardust Memories and Hollywood Endings (both only available on region 1 - my dvd only plays region 2).
It definitely made a big difference not having the Woody character in Match Point. Other than that, I think the only films that he made that didn't have a Woody character in them were Interiors, September and Another Woman. Three very good films in my opinion, and if you haven't seen them, I can highly recommend them.
It will be interesting to hear what your husband's reaction to MP is. It's weird, because last week, a friend of mine said that she would like to come and see it with me. She's not a fan of Woody at all, and I was most surprised when she asked. In the end though, she wasn't able to make it, so I went on my own, but I told her that I didn't think that she would have liked it anyway.
One other thing that I didn't put in my post about Match Point was my observation about the rather diverse audience that was in the cinema when I went to see it. There were the usual guys on their own (myself included!), a few couples, and then a load of teenage kids. In my opinion, it was quite strange to see kids at a WA film. I'm sure there are teenage kids out there who do like his films, but it was still quite weird to see them there. I wasn't surprised when 4 or 5 left part way through - they must have wondered what the hell they'd walked in to ! I think the reason for that was the fact that the film has had quite a big marketing campaign, plus it has a couple of well known names in it too.
Anything Else was described as an Annie Hall for the 21st century in one review that I read. High praise for what was, in my opinion, a very average film. On a rather shallow note, I did think Christina Ricci looked rather nice in the film !
Like you say, all those great films he's made since Annie and Manhattan, and they never seem to get a mention. My own personal favourite of his is Husbands and Wives and that never gets a mention anywhere !
By the way, love the Groucho Marx (or Woody paraphrasing in Annie Hall !) quote !
"If they're beautiful, they're crazy" Woody Allen
him to make another Annie Hall, a Manhatten or a Hannah every single time, and genius though he is, that's never gonna happenI consider MANHATTEN the unfunny version of ANNIE HALL and that doesn't mean that it is any deeper.
TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN e.g. introduces the genre of Fake Documentary and it depicts the biography of a typical criminal.
Anyways the original poster should have more precisely criticized the film. JADE SCORPION is neither his funniest nor his deepest but it has accumulated almost 7000 votes. Only few of Woody's films got more. share
i definitely agree if this was made with his earlier straight forward comedy pictures it would of been more respected because its still a decently funny allen movie and no one can play the woody-persona greater then himself.
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