sundance

Video game deaths & Woody Allen

As a bookend to my previous entry highlighting an archive of classic video game title screens, Boing Boing put together this YouTube video montage of digital deaths from popular video games of the 8- and 16-bit era (or in the case of Pong, 1-bit – Oh snap!). The editing and the accompanying soundtrack to this video lends it a certain tone that suggests a rumination on the meaning of death, which is the not -so-perfect segue to briefly proselytize about the terrific, two-part American Masters documentary on PBS on Woody Allen, a must-watch for fans, writers and cinephiles alike.

Woody Allen having fun at The Met

I absolutely love this photograph taken of Woody Allen at The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Ruth Orkin in 1963 for so many reasons. How do I love thee? Let me blog the ways.

Woody Allen’s SHADOWS AND FOG turns 20

2011 marks the 20th anniversary of Woody Allen’s SHADOWS AND FOG, meaning, among other things, that the prolific filmmaker has made 20 films since (actually, he’s made 21, but who’s counting?). In 1989 Allen made the much-loved CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, followed by the slightly less loved ALICE, and then SHADOWS AND FOG, which was, unfortunately, even less of a hit amongst audiences. The early 90s New York Times film critic Vincent Canby actually ended his review with a ridiculous “note of caution: SHADOWS AND FOG operates on its own wavelength. It is different. It should not be anticipated in the manner of other Allen films.”

Allen’s MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and the Mysterious Floating Master

In my own filmmaking education, the term ‘floating master’ was floated my way during one fine day of learning, uttered by an esteemed and respected editing teacher. I remember sitting in the classroom thinking … “Huh?” It sounded more Buddha-on-a-lily-pad than technical film coverage term. I believe she referenced the phrase – which is really ‘floating master shot’ in the same breath as the name Woody Allen, and as I watched MIDNIGHT IN PARIS this week, I harkened back to this particular method of working and its effects on narrative. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, by the way, is a finely charming narrative indeed. And Woody Allen does, by gum, utilize the floating master over and over and over.

Woody Allen’s Paris Adventure

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, Woody Allen’s latest film starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard, opened in the U.S. on Friday May 20th. The film, a romantic comedy set in Paris, is Allen’s forty-first feature film and his sixth film shot in Europe since 2005.

In MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, Gil (played by Owen Wilson) is on vacation in Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents. From the outset, their polar opposite views on Paris are apparent: Gil, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, has a romantic view of the city while Inez, more comfortable with her California lifestyle, sees it as just another place in the world. After dinner with Inez’s overbearing friends Paul (Michael Sheen) and Carol (Nina Arianda), Gil calls it a night as they hit a club. Lost and a little drunk, Gil finds himself on a quiet street as the bells strike midnight. When a car pulls up filled with English speaking revelers, Gil is pulled into their party and circumstances that he never could have imagined.

This is Allen’s second film in Paris, the first “Everyone Says I Love You,” included Paris in only a portion of the film, but MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is Allen’s cinematic love note to the city.

From the film’s press kit, “Of course I’m partial to New York because I was born there and grew up there,” he says, “but if I didn’t live in New York, Paris is the place I would live.” This feeling echoes the sentiments of the film’s main character, Gil, who looks back with regret on an opportunity he had to move to Paris twenty years earlier but didn’t take. Allen himself had a similar opportunity during the filming of WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT in the 60’s. “It was an adventure that was too bold for me at the time. In retrospect I could have stayed, or at the very minimum taken an apartment and divided my time – but I didn’t and I regret that.”

Allen sat down with reporters to discuss MIDNIGHT IN PARIS at a press conference for the film on May 17th in New York.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Born in the wrong time: Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Ever since he got his start with the dub-tastic farce WHAT’S UP TIGER LILY in 1966, Woody Allen has written and directed a new film ever single year with only one exception – he took two years to make ANNIE HALL. With that kind of turnaround it goes without saying that not every single film is going to be a keeper. Still, the man is on a 45-year spree. He’s not only prolific, he’s a New York institution, only lately having traveled overseas to make his last several films. So when I say that MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, his latest annual cinematic exercise, is great fun but probably not a great film, it’s with the deepest respect.

Woody Allen’s SLEEPER house in foreclosure

It’s called the Clamshell House, the Star Trek House, the Jetson House and the Flying Saucer house, but you might know it best as the Sleeper House, featured prominently in Woody Allen’s 1973 sci-fi comedy SLEEPER. Taking the form of a huge, oblong flattened sort of sphere, the windowed-side juts out over the wooden pedestal it rests on, making it look weird and different from every angle. Sadly, the house, built in 1963 by architect Charles Deaton, is up for foreclosure auction today as the owner is reportedly delinquent on $2.8 mil of his $3.1 mil mortgage. If no one buys it, it will be boarded up and left unpreserved, a depressing finale for Deaton’s best known work, as well as the home of SLEEPER’s Orgasmatron, where Diane Keaton spent two seconds in heaven. Rent SLEEPER today as the proverbial gavel seals the fate on its former home (trailer below).

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER

Anthony Hopkins as Alfie, with his PYT

After 2008′s VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA and 2009′s WHATEVER WORKS, Woody Allen’s latest release, YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER marks a return to the classic tragicomic films about couples in flux that he’s best known for. You know the ones I’m talking about. Like HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986) or CELEBRITY (1998), YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER is a story about a man who seeks refuge from his lifeless marriage in an exciting stranger. Sally (Naomi Watts) is married to Roy (Josh Brolin), a struggling, some might say failed writer who spends his days gazing out his bedroom window at his gorgeous new neighbor, Dia (Freida Pinto). Sally is too absorbed with her new boss, Greg (Antonio Banderas), to notice her husband’s wavering attentions. Their bickering is frequently interrupted by Helena, Sally’s mother, who drops by to impart the wisdom gained from her weekly psychic readings, her only source of comfort after her husband Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) divorced her after 40 years and married Charmaine (Lucy Punch), a blonde, gum-smacking actress/call girl.

Woody Allen Meets A Tall Dark Stranger

Woody Allen Talks About His Latest Film Photo Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics Woody Allen’s latest film “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” starring an ensemble that includes Gemma Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, and Josh Brolin, opens in U.S. theaters tomorrow,  September 22nd. On September 8th,  Kultur Kritic excitedly attended a press screening [...]

Jean-Luc Godard interviews Woody Allen, 1986

In this 26-minute mini-documentary from 1986, the great French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard interviews Woody Allen. This is from the days when Allen was still making important, hilarious movies, so it’s well worth watching. Meetin’ WA (1986)by Tomsutpen [via Khoi Vinh.]

Whatever Works

After reading the reviews for Woody Allen’s latest, I was less than hopeful going into the theatre, and even though I think much of the criticism the film received is true, I liked it anyway.

Alvy Singer forever and ever? Welcome to transmedia

Transwhat? Transfat? Transgender? No, transmedia. Have you heard of it? It’s one of the latest buzzwords from media guru, Director of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies Program, and Convergence Culture author Henry Jenkins. Jenkins has strong opinions on the future of screen-based storytelling.

In his 2007 article “Transmedia Storytelling101,” he outlines this theory:

Woody Allen’s Chickpea-Sized Soul and Other Sources of Inspiration

Cary Fukunaga (SIN NOMBRE) rode the rails with illegal immigrants in Mexico… Sophie Barthes (COLD SOULS) had a dream about Woody Allen and a chickpea in a box… And Cruz Angeles (DON’T LET ME DROWN) overheard a group of Albanian teenagers in New York City cracking jokes about 9/11…