22 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Anthony_NYC, on 24 June 2011 - 08:23 AM, said:

The past, the place and time we are not, in our imagination always seems more vivid and magical than the all-too-real present.

Puts me in mind of The Purple Rose of Cairo, which is one of my favorite Allens.

[dirac]

With all due respect to those here who enjoyed it, I can't say I regret my initial decision not to see this during its theatrical run. A loooooong ninety minutes.Once again, Allen plays off his old conceit from "The Kugelmass Episode" and I'd say his returns are diminishing.  To call these characters stock is considerable flattery, bart. (My heart went out to poor Rachel McAdams.)

[sandik]

I liked it, but much of the appeal for me was in the art direction (though Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein was a treat).  I do think that Anthony put his finger on it, though -- the major theme in the film is about nostalgia, and the conviction that you are late to the party.  Alas, I think many of us are having that experience with Allen as a filmmaker, but I think that he is having that experience himself, and that makes me sad.

[dirac]

Given that this movie has given him his biggest box office hit in decades (maybe ever) Allen's probably not feeling very sad himself.  I don't really see that his attitude has changed much, since, say, Hannah and Her Sisters. Old pop music good, new pop music bad (McAdams wants to go dancing instead of taking a walk in the Paris streets - bad girl), etc. I guess I didn't find the situations or the people believable, and for the most part the laughs that people found in the movie escaped me.

[cubanmiamiboy]

The film mother/daughter duo was like a photocopy of the 80% of my clientèle back when I was a hairdresser in the Bal Harbour area...

[sandik]

dirac, on 18 March 2012 - 11:27 PM, said:

Given that this movie has given him his biggest box office hit in decades (maybe ever) Allen's probably not feeling very sad himself.

Oh yes, I doubt he regrets much about this project, if anything, but I do think he realized quite awhile ago that he's out of sync with current times.  He's made a big chunk of his career out of that disconnect -- but I think he regrets the times he live in.

[kfw]

sandik, on 19 March 2012 - 08:18 AM, said:

dirac, on 18 March 2012 - 11:27 PM, said:

Given that this movie has given him his biggest box office hit in decades (maybe ever) Allen's probably not feeling very sad himself.

Oh yes, I doubt he regrets much about this project, if anything, but I do think he realized quite awhile ago that he's out of sync with current times.  He's made a big chunk of his career out of that disconnect -- but I think he regrets the times he live in.

Yes, quite probably. Then again, judging from this movie he knows he'd be unhappy with any age, that the basic problem is the heart, not the age.

Thanks for mentioning the Kugelmass Episode, dirac. I think I may have read it long ago, but it gave me good laughs tonight.

[dirac]

Allen was once in sync with the times. As a standup comic he was a trendsetter and people are still trying to make the movies that Allen doesn't make any more.  His early comic persona was very much a part of the era and expressed contemporary anxieties. Obviously he would lose touch with the zeitgeist to some extent as he aged but increasingly I don't find his movies grounded in much reality, even those without the magical elements to which he often reverts. Line after line rings false. This picture is a hit and my opinion seems to be in the minority, so what can I tell you....