Paging Woody Allen, and German Accents...

IMPORT-

Why do aging artists who consistently come out with more and more material each get credited with coming out with their latest masterpiece. Bob Dylan comes to mind, so does Bruce Springsteen recently, and don't get me wrong that both had fine work that has come out. But nothing compared to some of the masterworks they had in the past. Another artist like this is Woody Allen. His last few films have all shared this publicized hype when they came out, and all of them I didn't care for. Sure they may be well made films, that may not be denied, but they are just not very good. Not very interesting, not entertaining enough. 

The latest would be VICKY CRISTINIA BARCELONA, filled with hype of return to form, one for his cannon, and great performances. And viewed by me as rather boring. I don't know what else to say, the story was a bit understated, the performances were acceptable, the scenery was great, but it was just boring. The one thing I must say is that I don't see how Penelope Cruz got a Oscar for this movie. If anything her performance in Elegy should have gotten more attention. 

I guess for the time being we should just all go watch ANNIE HALL, or MAHNHATTAN again.

I also just today watched VALKYRIE. Why no German accents? I would really be interested in that choice. It didn't lose me, but I think having the accents would have made it more real for some reason. This is a amazing true story, and a rather large one to tell. The movie did not totally succeed in telling the story of the Germans during Hitler's reign who wanted him out. It was more a story about the action and happenings of one particular instance, of 15, that they tried to assasinate Hiter. They went into the life of Cruise's character a bit, but seemed to only go half way. I'm not sure why they only chose his character to do this with. It may have been more effective to see this insurgence from the German people all the way up to the high ranking officials.

The cinemaphotography in this was amazing. But overall the grand scope of the history was a bit lost. This is another movie where I think everyone knows how it ends, and in movies like that it's essential that the journey is captivating and brings you right to the ending with understanding what it took to get there. Valkyrie didn't quite do that. German accents probably wouldn't have helped, and neither would casting another lead actor. Both of which would have been welcomed by me however.

Put it on the bottom of your rental list.