From: nospam@nospam.net   
      
   I loved Anything Else and Hollywood Ending. I can care less what mainstream   
   critics think of Woody Allen's movies. If these are "bad movies" then hell,   
   I must have "bad taste" because I love them.   
      
   "John Wesley Harding"  wrote in message   
   news:55e3e822.0411141352.741f4a4e@posting.google.com...   
   > Well, unfortunatly as "negative" as it is, it's in part true.   
   >   
   > Considering quotes from Woody recently about his work being much like   
   > a "hobby" rather than art anymore, along with the fact his last 4   
   > films have ranged from horrible to almost decent... and I can't even   
   > begin to count the number of bad reviews or the number of times I've   
   > had to read about Woody being "out of touch"... I would say it's not   
   > that far off the mark.  Unfortunatly.   
   >   
   > There is hope in that Melinda And Melinda, the latest, seems to be   
   > getting great reviews and the plot as known to most seems to be   
   > challenging, fresh and interesting with far more substance than past   
   > efforts.  No word on what the film made in England is like, but   
   > hopefully Woody is making the effort again rather than just going   
   > through the motions.   
   >   
   > Sad to say, Melinda & Melinda might just end up being his last   
   > American - and thus New York City - film ever made.  As mentioned   
   > elsewhere, his seemingly endless stream of support and funds for his   
   > films finally seems to have reached an end with 4 straight medicore   
   > films, and that's the real reason why he's filming in England.  In   
   > fact, if these next two films don't do something, I would bet quite a   
   > fair amount that Woody will pretty much be forced into retirement   
   > rather than choosing to do so.  He'll probably end up returning to   
   > theatre, which is what he's been doing lately anyways.   
   >   
   > Sad, but, unfortunately, true.   
   >   
   > "No One"  wrote in message   
   news:...   
   > > This is a terrible, biased article. We study this sort of bad journalism   
   in   
   > > college. Can the article be any more negative?   
   > >   
   > > What legion of "critics" are begging Woody to leave the stage for good?   
   And,   
   > > why should any director care what "critics" think?   
   > >   
   > > "John Wesley Harding"  wrote in message   
   > > news:55e3e822.0407301153.756eae52@posting.google.com...   
   > > > The Guardian profile: Woody Allen   
   > > >   
   > > > If ever a film-maker represented a city, the Brooklyn boy Woody Allen   
   > > > represented New York. Now he's working in London. Can he achieve one   
   > > > more surprise and confound the legions of critics who are begging him   
   > > > to leave the stage for good?   
   > > >   
   > > > Xan Brooks   
   > > > Friday July 30, 2004   
   > > > The Guardian   
   > > >   
   > > > The 1979 film Manhattan opens with a breathless Woody Allen voiceover:   
   > > > "He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his   
   > > > black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat ...   
   > > > New York was his town, and it always would be." Cue a crash of   
   > > > Gershwin on the soundtrack, a blaze of fireworks over the Central Park   
   > > > skyline, and a rash of romantic misadventures on the Upper East Side.   
   > > >   
   > > > So far, so predictable. Through a 34-film career, Woody Allen has   
   > > > invariably cast the city as his chief supporting star. New York was   
   > > > his town. One assumed it always would be. And yet the director can   
   > > > currently be found at Ealing studios in west London, shooting a   
   > > > British romantic comedy with British money and a cast of homegrown   
   > > > talent.   
   > > >   
   > > > Allen's London visit can be seen as the latest in a series of   
   > > > increasingly desperate manoeuvres to safeguard an ailing career. Ever   
   > > > since Orion Pictures folded in 1991, he has found himself shuttled   
   > > > nervously between studios, from Columbia Tri-Star to Sweetland Films   
   > > > (a consortium of foreign investors) to DreamWorks to Fox, as the box   
   > > > office shrank, the audience dwindled and distribution grew spotty.   
   > > >   
   > > > Despite their modest budgets, many of his recent films (Sweet and   
   > > > Lowdown, Hollywood Ending, Curse of the Jade Scorpion) have struggled   
   > > > to break even.   
   > > >   
   > > > The latest production (snappily billed as "Woody Allen's Summer   
   > > > Project") comes bankrolled to the tune of £9m (peanuts in Hollywood   
   > > > terms, but a substantial sum for a British film). David Thompson, the   
   > > > head of BBC Films, admits that he is taking a gamble. "What we're   
   > > > doing is backing a hunch that the combination of Woody Allen and the   
   > > > UK might be a real treat," he says. "If you're going to take a punt on   
   > > > anything, it might as well be someone with the track record of Woody   
   > > > Allen."   
   > > >   
   > > >  Certainly Allen has earned his place in the pantheon of film-makers.   
   > > > Born Allen Konigsberg to a working-class Brooklyn family, he wrote   
   > > > gags for Bob Hope and Sid Caesar before becoming a standup on the   
   > > > 1960s comedy circuit, where he would fumble with his glasses, gulp in   
   > > > faux-terror and deliver devastating one-liners with a boxer's timing.   
   > > >   
   > > > Shifting into movies, he pioneered a new brand of romantic comedy,   
   > > > installing himself as an emblematic urban everyman; the nerd who gets   
   > > > the girl (and then usually loses her). He pursued a flighty Diane   
   > > > Keaton in the Oscar-winning Annie Hall, romanced a teenage Mariel   
   > > > Hemingway in Manhattan, and fell foul of the Mob in 1984's Broadway   
   > > > Danny Rose.   
   > > >   
   > > > The melancholic Hannah and Her Sisters was galvanised by his turn as a   
   > > > hypochondriac TV producer, while in 1989's peerless Crimes and   
   > > > Misdemeanours he played a luckless documentary maker who laments that   
   > > > "the last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of   
   > > > Liberty".   
   > > >   
   > > > Throughout his 1970s and 80s heyday, Allen's patented blend of   
   > > > borscht-belt comedy, psychoanalysis and the tenets of the European art   
   > > > film was an intoxicating brew.   
   > > >   
   > > > These days it seems to have lost its fizz. Critics say his films have   
   > > > grown complacent and overfamiliar, while a certain peevish quality has   
   > > > percolated his comic worldview. His public image, too, has taken a   
   > > > battering. Over the past decade Allen's films have sometimes played a   
   > > > distant second fiddle to the cacophonous noises off, be they from a   
   > > > protracted legal battle with his former producer and longtime friend   
   > > > Jean Doumanian, his messy break-up with Mia Farrow, or his eventual   
      
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