To Rome With Love (Woody Allen)

[Kurosawa Fan]

Calling Zelig bad makes me completely disregard the rest of the post. Zelig is Woody's best straight comedy, hands down.

[Grouchy]

I've completely lost touch with Woody Allen. The only thing in the trailer that could make the movie watchable for me is Benigni.

Besides, for a guy who has always been a champion of European sensitivities, he sure has a Yankee way of looking at the Old World. He makes every European capital look like a tourist postcard instead of searching for a personal perspective.

[baby doll]

Besides, for a guy who has always been a champion of European sensitivities, he sure has a Yankee way of looking at the Old World. He makes every European capital look like a tourist postcard instead of searching for a personal perspective.

Didn't he always do the same thing with New York?

[baby doll]

Calling Zelig bad makes me completely disregard the rest of the post. Zelig is Woody's best straight comedy, hands down.

I've only seen it once and that was a few years ago, but I found the device of telling the story as a pseudo-documentary about some one who's already dead way too limiting. (Incidentally, if you want to see something similar but much better and funnier, check out Peter Greenaway's The Falls.)

[B-side]

Didn't he always do the same thing with New York?

Yeah.

[Irish]

I've only seen it once and that was a few years ago, but I found the device of telling the story as a pseudo-documentary about some one who's already dead way too limiting. (Incidentally, if you want to see something similar but much better and funnier, check out Peter Greenaway's The Falls.)

Maybe parts of Manhattan, but the stuff in Broadway Danny Rose and Annie Hall doesn't strike me as picture postcard perfect.

[MadMan]

Despite loving Midnight In Paris, I'm rather unsure about this one. Still I suppose it was about time I saw a Woody Allen film in theaters. I'm not sure where to go next in his filmography-the last two I saw from him are The Purple Rose of Cairo and Paris, both which were pretty great.

[Izzy Black]

Midnight In Paris was such a cool idea. This one just feels like a bad Woody Allen romcom rehash.

[Pop Trash]

Ouch. Most of the other early reviews are lousy too.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/re...with-love/6351

[Pop Trash]

As I tend to prefer his recent flops (Whatever Works, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger) to his recent hits (Vicky Christina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris), I hope this one gets terrible reviews.

This will be baby doll's new #1 of 2012.

[baby doll]

This will be baby doll's new #1 of 2012.

I haven't read any plot synopses, but based on this comment and the title, I'm guessing it must be about Italian fascism (my favorite genre!). Now I'm really pumped.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I've only seen it once and that was a few years ago, but I found the device of telling the story as a pseudo-documentary about some one who's already dead way too limiting. (Incidentally, if you want to see something similar but much better and funnier, check out Peter Greenaway's The Falls.)

The Falls is much funnier than Zelig? Really?

[baby doll]

The Falls is much funnier than Zelig? Really?

Really.

[baby doll]

Ouch. Most of the other early reviews are lousy too.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/re...with-love/6351

I think some people go to Woody Allen pictures with exaggerated expectations--in particular, anybody who saw Annie Hall and Manhattan when they came out is completely unreliable when it comes to assessing the merits of Allen's recent output (especially if they were young and living in New York at the time).

"Allen no longer seems able or willing to surprise and challenge his audience." I mean, come on! At the end of the day, Allen is a pretty traditional filmmaker who works in established genres--including the postwar European cinema of his early adulthood (and by the sound of the Slate review, it seems that this movie owes something to Fellini's The White Shiek). Did Howard Hawks and Ernst Lubitsch challenge and surprise their audiences, or did viewers who went to see Rio Bravo and Trouble in Paradise when they came out get more or less what they expected (namely, a western and a romantic comedy)? Of course, no one expected them to reinvent the wheel each time out, which is what some reviewers seem to be asking of Allen.

[Irish]

"Allen no longer seems able or willing to surprise and challenge his audience." I mean, come on! At the end of the day, Allen is a pretty traditional filmmaker who works in established genres--including the postwar European cinema of his early adulthood (and by the sound of the Slate review, it seems that this movie owes something to Fellini's The White Shiek). Did Howard Hawks and Ernst Lubitsch challenge and surprise their audiences, or did viewers who went to see Rio Bravo and Trouble in Paradise when they came out get more or less what they expected (namely, a western and a romantic comedy)? Of course, no one expected them to reinvent the wheel each time out, which is what some reviewers seem to be asking of Allen.

Allen's prolific output hurts him. He's pumped out one film every year for thirty years.

This leads to a certain repetitiveness in his style and his subject matter. Unlike a lot of other movie makers, he's never seemed terribly interested in experimenting beyond the bounds of light comedy and romance (with the occasional murder/ mystery thrown in).

That's the part that frustrates me about him the most -- the angles and insights he presents in Vicky Christina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris are exactly the same as in Manhattan and Annie Hall.

Meanwhile, the guy that did Rio Bravo was also responsible for The Big Sleep, His Girl Friday, and Thing from Another World.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Really.

:lol:

I foresaw this reply. I like The Falls (and Greenaway in general) but I think it's ludicrous what you've said. It's got that absurd sense of detachment that I like, but there's nothing particularly funny about it.

Man Bites Dog is funnier than Spinal Tap!
Tanner '88 is funnier than A Mighty Wind

[Pop Trash]

I've thought Allen needs some more quality control with his screenplays in the last 10+ years. I don't think he needs to produce everyone he writes. I get the feeling, since he is a living legend, he has too many sycophantic yes men around him blowing hot air up his ass. Luckily, I've been skipping about 50% of his output lately, so when I do see one, it's that much more enjoyable (more or less).

I'm undecided if I'll see this one or not.

[Winston*]

New trailer

Looks good.

[Izzy Black]

:lol: