It’s a conversation I’ve had dozens of times with lots of different smart pals: When did you stop loving new Woody Allen movies? For me, it was after Mighty Aphrodite. I was lukewarm on Everyone Says I Love You, and from there through this past summer, I was on a local train through Bummertown, making all local stops, including Small Time Crooks (bleh) and Match Point (which I hated with the intensity of a million supernovas). Finally, fuh-hu-hu-hinally, there was Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and I was at long last able to experience joy again. Well, I was at least able to think "yay!" after a Woody Allen movie. But…it was a really sincere yay.
Now that Antonio Banderas is on board for Allen’s next movie, I can actually get excited about it, because I think maybe the only way for me to enjoy contemporary Allen fare is for part of it to be in Spanish. ¡A mi me gustan películas de Woody Allen que incluyen español! Pero los que son totalmente en inglés — o, peor, en inglés y en Ingleterra — no me gustan.
Who’s with me, PopWatchers? What’s it going to take for you to get pumped for a new Woody Allen movie? Or are you always in a constant state of excitement when it comes to his work?
Is Banderas being cast in the same movie that Freida Pinto is going to be in?
I still get excited every time Woody puts out a new movie. Sure there have been a few sour notes along the way but he still knows how to make a great movie. His next one has me super excited though, Larry David in a Woody movie! It’s a neurotic’s paradise!
Am I the only one who thought that Match Point was better than Vicky Christina Barcelona (which I hated, a wanted to carpet bomb the entire pretentious, self-involved mess (except Penelope Cruz)).
Aesthetically, Match Point is much better than VCB.
Zoe, you are sooo not alone and so right!
I thought Woody Allen came back into form in Match Point and fell off a bit (or so I presume, I haven’t yet seen Cassandra’s Dream) until Vicky Christina Barcelona. Anyway, all the films between Don’t Drink the Water and Match Point have at least shown that his work had the potential for something more than what the final product came to be. But, year after year, there’s always good reason to keep faith in Woody Allen. If ever Allen has an off-year, for which he’s cursed by human fallibility to have, there’s always DVD’s of The Purple Rose to Cairo or Bullets Over Broadway or Annie Hall or the myriad other brilliant works he’s created.
VCB was mediocre from start to finish. Cruz really won an Oscar for that? Or was that a terrible dream?
If Woody Allen stopped making movies every damn year, he’d have a better good film, bad film ratio.
Cassandra’s Dream was actually pretty decent. If that had come out before Match Point, it would have gotten way more buzz.
This entry essentially says nothing.
Sounds like your “smart pals” are really pretty stupid. And so are you. Please die.
Wow, I’m actually impressed by you above-average Spanish!
Except that after “A mÍ (with an accent, otherwise it means ‘my’ instead of ‘I’) me gustan” there should be a ‘las’: ‘A mí me gustan LAS películas…’. And it’s ‘lAs que son…’ instead of “lOs que son” because ‘película’ is a feminine noun. And it’s ‘InglAterra’ instead of “InglEterra”.
Actually, ‘ingle’ means ‘groin’, so “InglEterra” could be translated as “land of the groins”, LOL.
Margaret Lyons should not be writing about movies. Your little rant about Woody was not funny, nor insightful. One line of his worst film has more wit than you showed. Match Point is an excellent film that was underappreciated only because it was Woody’s. I am excited about every Allan film that comes out because his is a unique voice and his films are always original. You’re only excited because Bandares is in it? Not Naomi Watts or Frieda Pinto? Sometimes, the smugness of EW writers masquerading as wit is a total turn off.
Other than that, it’s perfect: all the other words are written correctly AND their order in the sentences is right and that’s what most people get wrong.
Having said that, like Rose Tyler, I can’t CURB MY ENTHUSIASM (cheap shot, I know) about Woody’s very next film starring none other than SEINFELD’s Larry David. A match definitely made in neurotics’ heaven.
As for his latests, I LOVED “Match Point” and “VCB”, kinda liked “Cassandra’s Dream” and LOATHED “Scoop”.
Other than that, it’s perfect. The words are even in the right order in the sentences which is what most people get wrong.
Having said that, I can’t CURB MY ENTHUSIASM (chep shot, I know, but I’m not ashamed. Not THAT ashamed at least. Well, maybe a little. Whatever.) about Woody’s very next film starring SEINFELD genius Larry David.
As for his latests, I LOVED “Match Point” (you crazy little you) and “VCB”, kinda liked “Cassandra’s Dream” and LOATHED “Scoop”.
Match Point was awful, terrible, tedious. VCB was not bad, but that’s only thanks to Penelope Cruz’s wonderful, sexy performance. Seriously, that woman can act. She and Javier Bardem are terrific.
I will give you Match Point, set , game. BADDABOOM! Seriously, it is weak as my joke. But Small Time Crooks? C’MON! That movie is funny! It was for me, the first Woody Allen I have laughed out loud at in YEARS. Vicky Christina Barcelona was very good, don’t know if it was Oscar-worthy, but I did enjoy it.