donmac
Moderator Emeritus
Beedee Beedee Beedee This Sucks!
Posts: 1,290
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Post by donmac on Jan 15, 2006 21:50:27 GMT -5
I also enjoy his "earlier, funny films" a lot. Zelig is kinda weird because it's obviously about his life and it kinda makes fun of his fans and admires and critic -, though Woody says that it's not (and he's only saying that because some of his fans were outraged by it). I think you mean Stardust Memories, WA's 8 1/2 basically. (The title comes from the scene in which he remembers his perfect moment, which was with one of his girlfriends while a recording of the song"Stardust" was on as performed by Louis Armstrong.) I love that one. (And I'm one who thinks of it as an "official" WA film. I don't care if he didn't actually direct it - he wrote it and acted in it, so it's his film, IMO.)
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Post by Da Worm Fizzle on Jan 16, 2006 2:09:39 GMT -5
I thought The LIfe Aquatic was a big miss. I rented it and felt that nobody in the movie actually cared about what they were doing. It had a bunch of great actors who straight up phoned their performances in.
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Post by Chuck on Jan 16, 2006 9:00:32 GMT -5
For some reason, Stardust Memories is my favorite WA film.
I don't know if it's because his anger gets loose; that aliens like his funny, early films the best, or whether it's just because of Charlotte Rampling's incredible performance.
Definitely WA's 8 1/2.
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Post by losingmydignity on Jan 17, 2006 0:31:55 GMT -5
Stardust Memories holds up really well....both as homage to Allen's hero, Fellini, and as just a great Woody film.
I predict Anything Else will go on to be considered is worst ever.
Many Woody films are virtual remakes of Fellini films....Celebrity is La Dolce Vita, Sweet and Lowdown a remake of La Strada.
And speaking of Fellini....his influence on cinema has been enormous. I fell in love with his films in High School and still enjoy watching them. They're all worth seeing even though some are a bit self-indulgent.
Have to totallly disagree with you, Forrest. I think Fellini's work is very accesible to everyone. It feels very close to something inside of me and I wasn't born in Rome. He started out in the neo-realist vain and then when into his deepest fantasies and fears. With mixed results of course. But not many directors have had the gaul to do what he did.
My feelings about his films have changed over the years.
I now think his early masterpiece is Night of Cabaria not La Strada. Has anyone seen Nights. One of the most moving films ever made.
I used to love La Dolce Vita the most but now find it too schematic and heavy handed. Eight and a half is much better.
Juliet of the Spirits was another favorite that has not stood the test of time for me. Beautiful to watch but a failure to imagine a woman's inner life.
His best work: the two I mentioned above plus the lovely Amacord, the Toby Dammitt episode of Spirits of the Dead, and And the Ship Sails On among his later work.
If you haven't seen those four (plus Dammitt which is a short) films you haven't really seen the best of Fellini.
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