Woody Allen On Bergman and Antonioni

While I realize not all of my Moon In The Gutter readers share my love for Woody Allen, I thought this link was well worth posting. Here is a really nice new interview with Allen from Time.Com where he discusses the recent passing of both Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. It's humorous, heartfelt and an honest look at both men through the eyes of a fellow artist and major fan.
On a totally unrelated note I recently came across this great little quote by filmmaker Neil Labute on Allen's MANHATTAN, from thereeler.com, which is why I am posting this picture. MANHATTAN might be my favorite Allen picture with Mariel Hemingway's turn as Tracy being one of my favorite performances of the seventies. Anyway, I liked the quote and I liked this little interview with Woody on the passing of two giants. Give it a look:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1648917,00.html

Directed by Woody Allen: Twenty Personal Favorites

I hope everyone is watching the excellent American Masters two-part episode dedicated to Woody Allen that is concluding tonight on PBS. While watching this wonderful documentary I thought I would attempt to post the kind of favorites list I haven't done in awhile.
I decided to narrow this list to just twenty-films, mostly so I could torture myself for leaving out so many I love. This list would have been slightly different yesterday, and will probably change tomorrow, but I think all twenty of these films are brilliant works by one of our great artists so I am happy to present it. If you missed the American Masters special, do yourself a favor and track it down as it is extraordinary, as is the artist it is dedicated to.





***A behind the scenes shot from Annie Hall (1977).


1. Hannah and her Sisters (1986)

"I wandered for a long time on the upper west side, it must have been hours. My feet hurt, my head was pounding, and I had to sit down I went into a movie house. I didn't know what was playing or anything I just needed a moment to gather my thoughts and be logical and put the world back into rational perspective. And I went upstairs to the balcony, and I sat down, and the movie was a film that I'd seen many times in my life since I was a kid, and I always loved it. I'm watching these people up on the screen and I started getting hooked on the film. I started to feel, how can you even think of killing yourself, I mean isn't it so stupid. Look at all the people up there on the screen, they're real funny, and what if the worst is true. What if there is no God and you only go around once and that's it. Well, ya know, don't you wanna be part of the experience?"


2. Manhattan (1979)

"Not everybody gets corrupted. You have to have a little faith in people."


3. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

"Cristina, on the other hand, expected something very different out of love. She had reluctantly accepted suffering as an inevitable component of deep passion, and was resigned to putting her feelings at risk. If you asked her what it was she was gambling her emotions on to win, she would not have been able to say. She knew what she didn't want, however, and that was exactly what Vicky valued above all else."


4. Stardust Memories (1980)

"Just a little while back, just before I died in fact. I was on the operating table and I was searching to try to find something to hang onto, you know, cause when you're dying your life really does become very authentic and I was reaching for something to give my life meaning and a memory flashed through my mind: It was one of those great spring days, it was Sunday, and you knew summer would be coming soon. And I remember that morning Dorrie and I had gone for a walk in the park and come back to the apartment. We were just sort of sitting around and I put on a record of Louie Armstrong which was music I grew up with and it was very, very pretty, and I happened to glance over and I saw Dorrie sitting there. And I remember thinking to myself how terrific she was and how much I loved her. And I don't know, I guess it was a combination of everything, the sound of the music, and the breeze, and how beautiful Dorrie looked to me and for one brief moment everything just seemed to come together perfectly and I felt happy, almost indestructible in a way. It's funny, that simple little moment of contact moved me in a very, very profound way."


5. Annie Hall (1977)

"After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs."


6. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

"If you want a happy ending, you should go see a Hollywood movie."


7. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

"And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows."


8. Deconstructing Harry (1997)

"All people know the same truth. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it."


9. Husbands and Wives (1992)

"See, I will always have this penchant for what I call kamikaze women. I call them kamikazes because they, you know they crash their plane, they're self-destructive. But they crash into you, and you die along with them."


10. Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

"You know what my philosophy of life is? That it's important to have some laughs, but you gotta suffer a little too, because otherwise you miss the whole point to life."


11. Anything Else (2003)

"Since the beginning of time people have been, you know, frightened and, and unhappy, and they're scared of death, and they're scared of getting old, and there's always been priests around, and shamans, and now shrinks, to tell 'em, 'Look, I know you're frightened, but I can help you. Of course, it is going to cost you a few bucks...' But they can't help you, Falk, because life is what it is."


12. A Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy (1982)

"It's nothing serious - just an arrow in his heart."


13. Sleeper (1973)

"I'm always joking, you should know that about me; it's a defense mechanism."


14. Love and Death (1975)

"And so I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Actually, make that 'I run through the valley of the shadow of death' - in order to get OUT of the valley of the shadow of death more quickly, you see."


15. Scoop (2006)

"I'm a would-be investigative reporter who has fallen in love with the object of her investigation."


16. Another Woman (1988)

"I wondered if a memory is something you have or something you've lost."


17. Every Thing You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972)

"Before you know it, the Renaissance will be here and we'll all be painting."


18. Whatever Works (2009)

That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works.


19. Bananas (1971)

"We fell in love. I fell in love - she just stood there."


20. Midnight in Paris (2011)

"Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in - its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present."

...

Woody Allen Ten Years After The Deconstruction

This year marks the tenth anniversary of one of Woody Allen's fiercest and most confessional films, the caustic DECONSTRUCTING HARRY. I thought that with the recent announcement that he was going to be making another film with Scarlett Johansson, that this would be a good time to look back at one of America's most influential and controversial directors and his much maligned last decade.
1997's DECONSTRUCTING HARRY is one of the great Woody Allen films but it wouldn't be one that would be embraced by everyone. A surprisingly profane and dark autobiographical film that featured Woody working with Elisabeth Shue, Amy Irving and Mariel Hemingway among others, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY is, with the possible exceptions of STARDUST MEMORIES (1980) and INTERIORS (1978), the darkest film Woody Allen has ever made. It is also a very funny film and it would get him yet another Best Screenplay Academy Award nomination.
After wrapping up DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, Woody quickly started work on the flawed CELEBRITY (1998). Even though it features a great early performance by Charlize Theron, CELEBRITY remains one of my least favorite Allen films. I just can't warm up to it and the film felt like a major let down after the stunning DECONSTRUCTING HARRY. Kenneth Branagh's irritating turn as the Woody Allen like Lee Simon is a real low point in Allen's canon and at nearly two hours the film really drags and it isn't very funny. It's one of the weaker films in Allen's career in my opinion.
1999's SWEET AND LOWDOWN was a real winner though and offered up one of Sean Penn's greatest performances as the jazz guitarist Emmet Ray. This sweet and very effective film would garner Penn a much deserved Oscar nomination and would also contain appealing performances from Gretchen Mol and Woody himself. The film is a real stirring tribute to the jazz music that Woody loves so much and remains one of his best since DECONSTRUCTING HARRY. Woody's fine screenplay was surprisingly ignored by the Academy that year but the film did get him some of his most solid reviews of the past ten years.
Woody's next three projects are three of the slightest films he has ever made. SMALL TIME CROOKS (2000) is a pleasant little film that has some solid laughs but is never substantial enough to be included among the best of Woody's straight comedies. It was a lot better though than the follow up, 2001's unfortunate CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION. Unfortunate, in that it could have been one of the great films but the writing is among Woody's dullest even though Helen Hunt, Wallace Shawn and Chalize Theron give it all they can. The most notable thing about CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION is how good SHOWGIRLS star Elizabeth Berkley is in it. She provides the film with some of its best moments in a winning little performance and it's a shame that it is in possibly the worst film that Allen has ever delivered.
HOLLYWOOD ENDING (2002) feels like a masterpiece compared to SMALL TIME CROOKS and CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION but in retrospect it is just a gag heavy film that is consistently funny if little else. George Hamilton gets perhaps the funniest moments in the film and Tea Leoni is always a pleasure to watch, but the film is ultimately a little too lightweight for its own good.
With these three films it seemed that Woody had hit some sort of creative wall but 2003's ANYTHING ELSE was one of the most surprising films he had made, at least since SWEET AND LOWDOWN. A flawed but engaging film, ANYTHING ELSE tells the tale of a struggling twenty something couple and the neurotic older mentor who attempts to help them through the troubles. Jason Biggs seems a little lost in the film but Christina Ricci is fantastic and in the role of the odd David Dobel, Woody gives his best screen performance since DECONSTRUCTING HARRY.
ANYTHING ELSE wasn't the great film Woody needed at this point but it was a step in the right direction. MELINDA AND MELINDA (2004) though was nearly a masterpiece and is one of the great modern Woody Allen films. Featuring an astonishing turn by Radha Mitchell (one of my favorite performances of the decade) MELINDA AND MELINDA is Woody firing on nearly all cylinders. With it's split narrative and stellar supporting cast MELINDA AND MELINDA is frame for frame probably the best film Woody has made in the past ten years. Mitchell's pitch perfect double lead role performance is one of the greatest in any Woody Allen film, the equal of anything that Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow ever delivered for him which is no small feat.
MELINDA AND MELINDA seemed to re-energize Woody Allen but no one would have guessed his next move. Abandoning New York City for one of the first times in his career and signing on possibly the best young American actress in modern cinema, Woody would travel to London to make a cold thriller about class and adultery that would garner him his best reviews since CRIME AND MISDEMEANORS (1989).

Woody's first collaboration with Scarlett Johansson, MATCH POINT (2005) seemed to split critics and fans immediately. Roger Ebert would call it a masterpiece and label it one of Allen's greatest films while Tim Lucas called the film "bland." I must admit to liking the film a lot although I don't think it is one of Allen's greatest works. MATCH POINT is an incredibly cold film and it does have a certain lifeless quality that Tim seemed to pick up on. Whatever ones opinion of it is though there is no denying that it was a break from the near rut Allen had gotten himself into around 2001.
While MATCH POINT does contain good work from everyone involved, it ultimately belongs to Johansson who has more presence than almost anyone on the screen today. There is a real strange physicality to her deliberately monotone performance in this film. The breakdown she has towards the end, where her perfect calm exterior snaps, is jolting and one of the great moments in both her and Woody's career.
Even better to me though is the much maligned SCOOP from last year. I might be one of the only film fans in the world who prefers this charming old fashioned and warm film to the cold and cynical MATCH POINT. I have watched SCOOP several times since I first saw it last year and it makes me laugh harder than anything Woody has done in nearly twenty years. The film is again shot in London with Johansson and again she makes the film work. Her performance here is the polar opposite of the MATCH POINT, as the neurotic and near sighted young reporter Sondra Pransky, Scarlett is a combination Myrna Loy and Carole Lombard and is incredibly funny throughout the brisk film. I've seen a lot of people question Scarlett Johansson's acting ability, I would suggest watching a double feature of MATCH POINT and SCOOP to see just how diverse and talented this young actress is. While neither match her work in GHOST WORLD or LOST IN TRANSLATION, her films so far with Woody Allen will one day be looked back on very fondly in tracing her career.

SCOOP, for me, returned Woody to the top tier of American filmmakers. While he will probably never again reach the heights of ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN or HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, I think the aging Allen has a few more surprises left up his sleeve.
Up next for Woody Allen is CASSANDRA'S DREAM, another London based film, this time starring Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor.
Even more promising is the intriguing 'Spanish Project' that Woody is cooking up. Working once again with Johansson as well as Allen newcomers Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem and currently shooting in Spain, I have a feeling this will be a very special film in Woody Allen's canon. Of course it could be another CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION. Masterpiece or miss, I will be there opening day, cheering on one of America's most iconic, troubling and legendary filmmakers.

The Art of the Movie Poster: A Double Feature from '83 (Zelig and Wargames, Polish Versions)

Whatever Happened To Tisa Farrow?

The title of this particular post is a bit rhetorical because apparently Tisa Farrow is now a nurse in Vermont, at least according to the IMDB (so maybe the question isn't so rhetorical). Either way, I have been re watching some of Tisa's films as of late and felt inspired to write a little bit on her.
I always thought it must have been hard professionally having Mia Farrow as your sister, as it would be extremely hard for anyone to live in the shadow of someone so iconic and talented. While Tisa never came close to reaching the heights of her famous sister, I think her career has been unjustly neglected and is all but forgotten by most film fans.
Tisa was born in 1951 to John Farrow and Maureen O'Sullivan. She made her film debut at the age of 19 in the pretty well received HOMER. This coming of age drama, featuring an early soundtrack appearance by Led Zeppelin, found Tisa as the female lead and she would receive some strong notices as a talent to watch. Like several of Tisa's earliest roles, I have never been able to track down a copy of HOMER. It remains rather elusive and I hope to someday score a copy as the photographs and posters I have seen from it, as well as things I have read, make it extremely enticing.
Tisa's second film was helmed by none other than the great French director, Rene Clement, and it would find her working with some of cinema's top talent like Jean Louis Trintignant and Aldo Ray. While not among the great works by Clement, AND HOPE TO DIE is a solid entry in his filmography and Tisa is memorable in it although the film ultimately belongs to Tringtignant.
Among the films with Tisa that I most want to see is SOME CALL IT LOVING, a 1973 feature by James B. Harris and co-starring Carol White and Richard Pryor. The descriptions I have read over the years of this film make it sound like some sort of wild tripped out near masterpiece. Whether or not it can live up to my expectations remains to be seen but I would certainly love to find out.
After appearing in a film called ONLY GOD KNOWS in 74, Tisa's next film would be hugely important one to her career as it would mark the first Italian thriller she appeared in. Known by many different titles, with STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM being my favorite, Alberto De Martino's 1976 feature is a film that I saw on a poor quality VHS years ago that has really stuck with me. Martino had just directed the very odd and memorable THE ANTICHRIST when he directed Tisa, along with genre favorite John Saxon, in this splendid little film. Tisa is lovely in this film, but like many Italian thrillers from this period it has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. I keep hoping that No Shame or Code Red might pick it up in the future for a dvd release as I would love to revisit it.
The 1978 tv film THE INITIATION OF SARAH was up next for Tisa and it would feature her in a smaller role working with a large ensemble cast including Shelley Winters and Morgan Brittany. This is one of the easier to locate of Tisa's early roles and is worth a look although it isn't that special. 1978 would also provide Tisa with what would prove to be her greatest role in James Toback's astonishing FINGERS.
FINGERS is one of my favorite films from the seventies and I will be covering it in more detail in the future but I will say for now if there is a role that proves Tisa could have developed into a fine actress, then FINGERS is it. Playing opposite acting heavyweight Harvey Keitel and an intense Jim Brown, Tisa more than holds her own in a strangely effective performance. Tisa would be the first of many actresses that Toback would pull something extraordinary out of, and in her own way she is one of the most devastating parts of what is still Toback's greatest film.
The action flick SEARCH AND DESTROY was up next and that was quickly followed by a tv film on Patty Hearst that would find Tisa playing one of the SLA kidnappers. She would make a quick cameo in Woody Allen's masterpiece, MANHATTAN, and had a bit part in WINTER KILLS before landing what has become her most famous role in late 1979.
Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE (ZOMBI 2) is one of the most legendary Italian gore films in history and it cemented a major cult status for Tisa among Italian Horror fans. Fulci's unofficial follow up to Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD in truth isn't one of the maestro's greatest films. It doesn't have the style or emotional pull of his early work and it isn't as good as the astonishing group of films that he would film in 1980 and 1981, but it is still one of the most infectiously fun Italian films of the period. Tisa is again lovely in the role but she doesn't seem totally engaged with the material. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that FINGERS had more than hinted to the fact that Tisa could have become a really great actress that she doesn't seem totally there in ZOMBIE. I'm not trying to be overly critical as ZOMBIE is a film that I love very much but Tisa seems a bit trapped under Fulci's penetrating camera. I was very disappointed when Tisa wasn't among those interviewed for Shriek Show's exhaustive documentary a few years back, I have always wondered what her thoughts were on Fulci and the Italian Horror genre in general.
ZOMBIE was a huge worldwide success but it probably more than just slightly pigeonholed the talented Farrow.
Tisa would appear in just two more films after ZOMBIE before retiring from the screen entirely. THE LAST HUNTER, just released on American DVD, is a solid and entertaining Antonio Margheriti war film starring Tisa and David Warbeck. While not one of Margheriti's best films by a long shot, the bloody THE LAST HUNTER still works reasonable well and Tisa is just fine in it, as is the always reliable Warbeck.

Tisa Farrow's final film is not only one of her most infamous films, but also one of the most notorious films in Italian Horror history. The Joe D'Amato directed ANTHROPOPHAGUS is a cheaply made but, at times, stylish shocker that manages some truly unforgettable and horrifying moments that have kept it among the most famous of D'Amato's prolific career. Tisa is actually quite good in the film and I think this is her most successful Italian genre performance, even though the film isn't as good as the Martino or Fulci ones. Tisa generates a real palatable fear in the role and the film's final act is undeniably exciting and effective and much credit for it should go to Tisa's performance.
I don't know what made Tisa drop out after ANTHROPOPHAGUS. Perhaps she found that acting wasn't satisfying or maybe she just wasn't happy with the types of films she was being offered. Whatever the reason, I hope that life has given her happiness and that she doesn't regret her brief but memorable film career. It is unfortunate that she never got the chance to build on the promise of FINGERS but I'd rather watch her in the few genre films she made much more than most modern bland mainstream Hollywood actress. There was something very memorable about Tisa Farrow, something very real.

30 Years Of Annie Hall

Annie Hall isn't my favorite Woody Allen film, although I don't think it is a bad choice as one. I would probably take Hannah and Her Sisters or Manhattan over it but Annie Hall is the one film Woody Allen has made in his career that everyone seems to agree on. It is also the film that introduced me to the wonderful, and sometimes frustrating, world of Woody Allen.
This ode to a failed but ultimately memorable relationship won 4 1977 Academy awards including Picture, Screenplay, Director and Diane Keaton won for Best Actress. Woody Allen was even nominated for Best Actor but lost to Richard Dreyfuss.
It is fitting that some of my finest, and most vivid, memories of Annie Hall involve girls in my life. I have found that inevitably my love for Woody Allen will always come up in a relationship and Annie Hall is always the film I show as an introduction and explanation. I have yet to have shown the film to someone that didn't love it as it almost plays like a virtual greatest hits movie. Annie Hall is a film with so many memorable moments that I am always struck upon each new viewing by a moment where I will think, "wow, that scene is from this film too". Everything from the Marshall McLuhan cameo to the lobster scene to the subtitled thoughts moment to the Christopher Walken and Shelly Duval sections are here. The film almost feels like part of my DNA and has come to play a major part in my life, it is almost like pulling out an old family photo album to show someone where I came from.
I think one thing that makes Annie Hall so special is that it is the film where Woody Allen perfectly melds together his more 'serious' cinema with his earlier 'funny' films. It is a more grown up work than Bananas but it isn't as bitter as Stardust Memories. It marks a perfect moment for not only Woody Allen but for many of its fans.
Putting all of its most famous moments aside the film fittingly belongs to the enigmatic Diane Keaton. It is often forgotten just how wonderful an actress Keaton is, consider the fact that she made Annie Hall the same year as the viciously disturbing Looking For Mr. Goodbar. Annie Hall is also the character that she has never quite recovered from, for many of us and perhaps for Ms. Keaton herself she will never be more sublime and perfect as she was in this film. The moment towards the end where she sings Seems Like Old Times is one of the most moving and cemented images in film history, and it still tears me up every time I see it.
Many film fans think that Star Wars should have won best picture for 1977 and I have had several arguments with some of them over the years. I still love Star Wars but for all that film meant to me as a youth Annie Hall has meant even more to me as an adult.
Woody Allen has made many films since Annie Hall, some great and some not. Annie Hall remains, if not his great work, his most endearing. For her 30th birthday I send her good wishes and thanks for a dream she continues to whisper.

Images From My All Time Favorite Films: Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979)

Recently I was honored to be named as one of the influences on a new series at Ed Howard's fantastic Only The Cinema blog. Introducing the series, Ed pointed out that he doesn't spend a lot of time necessarily writing about his favorite films, and I was reminded me that I often overlook many of my personal top picks here as well.
The reason for these exclusions is simple for me, as I would much rather write about a more obscure work that hasn't been written on endlessly rather than something like The Godfather that has already been covered in every possible way. I've battled a bit with myself here before on this because this does cause me to leave out many of my favorite filmmakers and films simply because I don't feel like I have a lot to bring to the table in regards to them.
To rectify this a bit I thought of this new series that will operate like my Images from the Greatest Films of the Decade where each week or so I will pick a classic work that happens to be among my favorite films and present ten screenshots from it. I'm actually pretty excited about it because it will give me the opportunity to salute classic, and usually much discussed, films without rehashing thoughts that have been said a million times over by much better writers than myself.
This of course doesn't mean that my selections don't deserve more writing on them...not at all...it just means that I don't feel I am the person to do it. For whatever reason, I only feel like my writing is at all successful when I am able to write on something a little left of center which is of course a failing on my part, but one that I can admit.
I hope the series proves enjoyable and that some of Moon in the Gutter's readers might share some of my favorites as well. These won't be in any kind of order, and they will just reflect my moods each week. Here's my first pick from someone who will always be one of my favorite filmmakers:

A Few Recent Viewings

While I keep a running list over to the right of films I have seen theatrically this year, I don’t often write on them here, as typically reviewings on DVD alter my opinion of them at least a little bit. However I thought with the thankful arrival of fall I would give a quick run through of a few films I have seen on the big screen in the past couple of months. Thankfully I am planning on moving to a more foreign friendly area within a few months so this time next year my viewing lists will surely be much more interesting.

THE GREAT:

Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Put simply, Woody Allen’s newest film is my favorite of the year and to my eyes his best in over fifteen years. A stone cold Rohmeresque classic.

Tropic Thunder: Landing in at number two so far is Ben Stiller’s savagely funny satire that as far as I am concerned places him amongst the smartest and most daring American filmmakers around right now. In a perfect world Robert Downey Jr. would get an Oscar nod for this and Iron Man.

Pineapple Express: I’ve climbed on board twice and am already ready for another trip. Fall down funny, exciting and oddly very profound.



THE GOOD:

Ghost Town: While he might never reach the heights of The Trigger Effect and Stir of Echoes, I continue to find a lot to admire in the films of David Koepp. This sweet and moving little work offers up a terrific Ricky Gervais and the best role Tea Leoni has had since Flirting With Disaster more than a decade ago.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People: I suspect it has been toned down from the book, but I quite enjoyed this Simon Pegg-Kirsten Dunst film and am a bit baffled by the critical pounding it has received.

Death Race: Speaking of critical poundings, Paul Anderson’s film gave me exactly wanted I wanted…a great big adrenaline filled ass-pounding mindless modern action film that I will take over any recent Michael Bay pic you care to name.

The Duchess: A nicely composed, slightly overlong, period piece that goes another step forward in establishing Keira Knightley as one of the great actors of her generation.

Quarantine: Surprisingly well done and honestly I found it more enjoyable than Cloverfield. I would like to punch the studio though for including the film’s final bracing moment in the trailer, surely one of the biggest marketing missteps in recent memory.



THE SO-SO:

The Appaloosa: I know this deliberately old fashion Western from Ed Harris is really doing it for a lot of folks but it left me cold…really cold. Shame, as I greatly admire both Harris and Viggo Mortenson.

Righteous Kill: Jon Avnet’s tv-movie of the week isn’t as bad as I feared but it is downright tragic that this is the picture that two of our biggest icon’s finally substantially landed in together.

HELP ME GET OUT OF THIS THEATER:

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: I can’t remember the last time I hated a film as much as this one. Badly written, terribly acted and poorly directed, if this is what the ‘modern New York film’ is going to look like then I hope they start shooting everything in Ontario. Seriously there is a moment in this film when Michael Sera mumbles something about not washing his jeans because he wants to keep the night on them that actually made physical violence seem a viable option to me.

There were a few more but I won’t go into them right now. All in all not a bad summer but I must admit that I am looking forward to soon landing in a town that isn’t terrified of showing more independent and international productions.