woody allen

Curious about the Amazon series, especially after seeing Cafe Society over the weekend. First new Woody Allen I've seen since Whatever Works -- and it's a lot better than that. A lot of familiar themes for him, but the acting and dialogue (!) were both good/believable, and for the first time, maybe ever with him, I could actually see another movie with the same set of characters, following them along. Liked the ending too. Wuddya know!

I thought Irrational Man was much better than Cafe Society, but I liked the milieu of the former more. I could go the rest of my life without seeing another movie about the golden age of Hollywood. I love Joaquin Phoenix and he was great in Irrational Man, but I have a huge Jesse Eisenberg problem. He's just the worst.

yea irrational man is the only one of the last ~10 or whatever that I even considered watching

Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine were both great, too, obv widely acclaimed, but Irrational Man is my favorite of this decade. Cafe Society isn't bad, it's just OK, and really the worst thing about it is Eisenberg. If he doesn't bug you, don't worry...

"great" -- you can't meant that

haven't seen Blue Jasmine, but pals advised me that's the first recent one to hit after Cafe Society

I think its respectability makes it a menace. The bad ideas and received wisdom are lethal.

Midnight In Paris was unbearably corny.

the only part I liked about Midnight In Paris was the conceit that everyone romanticizes the past, even the people living in the romanticized past. the rest was p terrible.

Me too, that was a helpful realization when I saw it at 19. Still sticks with me for that point. Blue Jasmine had a despicable man character like Irrational Man, that's why they're my favorites.

*main character...

fortunately the rest of the movie was despicable

there's absolutely nothing original or deep in something like Blue Jasmine, it's a lazy old man's movie (that nevertheless has some pleasures, like Sally Hawkins and Dice Clay).

i am psyched for 6 episodes of Elaine May tho

Blue Jasmine was terrible anyone recommending it hates freedom

I was really not interested in the main character of Blue Jasmine and thought the performance was very much "a" "performance". but I liked the surrounding stuff okay.

I liked all the blue collar new jerseyans living in SF

Hasn't seen a shrink in years, buys $100 in lottery tickets each week.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/25/woody-allen-traumas-in-life-weaken-us-cafe-society-amazon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1waIIZ0pu-E

fuck woody allen

No thx

Why. The. Fuck. Would you release a trailer and not have it available in every country? Fuck you amazon, go to fucking hell. I'll never ever pay for anything you'll bankroll, I'll steal each and every show you send out.

That's what you're mad about huh

something else?

actually the last good thing of Allen's before Deconstructing Harry was his TV remake of Don't Drink the Water, so...

lotta slurring and loose teeth in that trailer

Lotta Slurring and Loose Teeth is my favorite Alex Chilton bootleg

Yeah, his voiceover on Café Society is very slurry too.

I really liked some things about "Cafe Society". This new series looks like a mummy convention viewed through an amber lens. Yikes.

First use of rock music by Woody?

Yep, unless you count the "look at these wacky 'punked' 'rocksters'" bit in Hannah.

Woody was interviewed in Musician a few years ago, and he talked about how he could never get into rock, and how people like Diane Keaton were constantly trying to foist shit like CSN records on him. He said that beyond his standbys of Armstrong and Bechet, he could get into Ornette and Cecil, or at least understood what they were doing, but for whatever reason he just couldn't get into what The Kids Today were digging.

Always wondered what happened to that band.

yeah their song in the film is great!

how people like Diane Keaton were constantly trying to foist shit like CSN records on him.

do you blame Woody

touch your children

Just watched the first episode of his Amazon show. Seemed a bit boring -- stiff, stage-like dialog (ie, not how people actually talk), wooden characters, set in the 60s for no apparent reason. Not even very funny. It was about to queue the next episode, but maybe I'll save it for later...

stiff, stage-like dialog (ie, not how people actually talk)

weird

yes naturalism is the only way to go. jeezus what year is it where you live D? is the Group Theatre putting up something new?

still, reviews hv been tepid

i was just joking about the late style, not rebuking dominique -- i like e.g. david lynch stilted, but late-woody stilted is a lot of stilt. often reminds me of the play at the end of annie hall.

can't rly imagine this being good, but looking forward to it.

Is there any way to watch this without forking out $ for amazon prime?

we're going downtown to see some folk music

there was a massacre of civilians in vietnam

we're living in such exciting times, when things are constantly changing

woody allen in this is an apolitical postmodern novelist whose life's ambition is to be j.d. salinger despite having been born, evidently, around 1888

elaine may and miley prove timing will not save us

Peter Labuza
‏@labuzamovies

Many are comparing Allen's CRISIS IN SIX SCENES to Roth's American Pastoral but better is Kaufman/Hart's You Can't Take It With You.

Both are essentially one house domestic comedies about how political rhetoric gets exchanged on the margins from conviction to fashion.

yeah, cute, those had writing, tho

Vadim Rizov
‏@vrizov

CRISIS IN SIX SCENES: sure, this has value. Imagine Woody forced to make a 2.5 hour film, leading to weird new places.

He's not used to working that long, so he has to scramble for new ideas and things get interesting. Predictably, some of this is dull.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd hear Frantz Fanon quoted in a Woody Allen movie.

but that's what woody allen movies do, quote

get wilder dreams imo

elaine made me lol at "who's... sherman mayo"

that's abt as politically sophisticated as we're getting

woody's char keeps talking about being 4F, i guess in ww1? unclear if the movie knows it'd be ww1. don't think that classification system was used in ww1 but while making your roth-esque historical satire why should you have to look up anything that's not on the back cover of the wretched of the earth or inside your tiny head

Woody's character could be a hard-living 60yo?

hope to watch this in next 2 weeks, btwn baseball

(i don't expect much besides Elaine)