Article: Tim Grierson on “Hannah and Her Sisters,” the Best Thanksgiving Movie
Woody Allen’s 1986 classic reminds our columnist about the joy and complexity of family during the holidays
Recurring Developments website catalogs every running “Arrested Development” joke
Dr. Tobias Fünke unveils his “sizzling reel”
7 “Arrested Development” reunions you might have missed
Diddy joins “Downton Abbey” cast?
Woody Allen
Article: Louis C.K. and Andrew Dice Clay join Woody Allen’s latest
They’ll star alongside Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Emerson, Sally Hawkins and Peter Sarsgaard in Allen’s latest.
Article: Hollywood’s top 10 maverick directors
Hollywood demands plenty from directors. In a forest of remade classics, “Chipmunks” sequels and other safe, dependable investments, studios want bankable reasons to invest in innovation. Indie filmdom has long been a launchpad for Hollywood careers, but only a select few filmmakers can claim to have gone against the grain with enough force to change…
Article: Golden Globes 2012 recap: “The Artist” and “The Descendants” rule the night
Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams and Martin Scorsese also won major awards.
Article: Happy Hanukkah: Eight Movies That Make Us Say ‘L’Chaim!’
Grab your matches and slap on your yamaka, because as of last night Hanukkah is officially in full swing. In our opinion, there’s nothing better to do after you light the menorah, eat your share of latkes and open countless presents than to sit down in front of the TV and watching a great movie…
Article: The outstanding independent films of 2011
It is impossible to argue against the fact that 2011, though not terribly good for Hollywood, was a particularly smashing year for smaller, specialty films. “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Midnight in Paris” – Woody’s biggest hit to date — “Tree of Life,” “Shame,” “Melancholia,” “The Artist” and “We Need to Talk About Kevin” are just…
Article: Is this the age of fanfiction films?
Last week, film critic Drew McWeeny wrote a really interesting piece at HitFix called “Muppets, Avengers, and Life In The Age Of Fanfiction.” It was inspired by a conversation with his colleague, TV critic Alan Sepinwall, who described the new “Muppets” movie as “the greatest work of fanfiction [he'd] ever seen.” That spurred McWeeny to…
Article: Five underrated Woody Allen movies
The two part Woody Allen documentary on PBS this week has got a lot of people thinking and talking about the prolific filmmaker again. Everyone agrees on his best work — “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan,” “Hannah and Her Sisters” — and just about everyone agrees on his worst stuff — “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion”…
Article: Is Woody Allen a genius?
Every decade or so there is a felt need among the cognoscenti to reassess the value of proto-American indie director Woody Allen’s work. In his “European Period” – or, more accurately, his “European Financing” period — Allen is, at present, enjoying unprecedented success. “Midnight in Paris” has now, against all odds, surpassed “Hannah and Her…
Article: Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, and Alec Baldwin Officially Signed On For Woody Allen’s Next Film
After years of mediocrities, I still haven’t quite come down from the high of “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen‘s best film in years. As a longtime Woody partisan, it hasn’t always been easy defending his work. “Whatever Works” almost made me cry, which would have been fine if it had been designed as a tragedy…
Article: “Midnight in Paris” and the Summer of Nostalgia Movies
The following post contains SPOILERS for “Midnight in Paris.” Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” isn’t just the director’s funniest and most charming film in years, if not decades. The damn thing is relevant too, a movie all about modern movie culture. Given “Midnight in Paris”‘ subject — a man so obsessed with the past he…
Article: Can’t Be At Cannes 2011, Thursday Edition
It sucks not being at the Cannes Film Festival. To keep you up-to-speed on all the latest developments with the minimum amount of pain and jealousy, we’ll be providing frequent roundups of all the biggest news and best reviews. This is the first; future installments, along with all our Cannes coverage, can be found here.…
Article: The Curious Cameography of Woody Allen
With reports out of France that Woody Allen is shooting a cameo for the film “Paris Manhattan,” a comedy from first-time director Sophie Lellouche in which part of the plot revolves around a pharmacist (Alice Taglioni) so obsessed with his work she prescribes DVDs of his films to patients, the 75-year-old filmmaker continues a tradition…
Article: Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” to Open Cannes
Article: New York: Filmmakers Love You
New York City has long been a favorite backdrop for filmmakers. The skyscrapers, famous skyline, renowned landmarks, mountains of garbage, notable mass transit system, beautiful parks, and streets lined with crazy people are an alluring setting for everything from romantic comedies (Weekend at Bernie’s 2), tragedies, (Autumn in New York), mysteries (Desperately Seeking Susan), adventure…
Article: Directors as Swoopers and Bashers
This week sees the release of this year’s Woody Allen movie, “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.” Inspired by a description of writers given by Kurt Vonnegut in “Timequake,” not to mention Allen’s prolific career, in this week’s IFC News podcast we try dividing some of our favorite filmmakers into two categories — swoopers…
Article: Back to the Future with Woody Allen’s ‘Sleeper’
Woody Allen’s futuristic comedy Sleeper is a hilarious look at a future filled with scientific advances, modern gadgets, and strangely oversized fruit. The film is filled with anachronisms including a Dixieland score played by Allen with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and New Orleans Funeral & Ragtime Orchestra. It’s just one of the many quirks…
Article: Have comedies become unfunny? Nah, they’re doing just fine.
In the type of piece that seems calculated to bait the entire internet into yelling “you’re wrong!” (thereby driving traffic), the Independent‘s Ben Walsh has issued a snarky denunciation of the current state of cinematic comedy: “Put simply, Hollywood comedies just aren’t funny anymore.” “The art of sharp, snappy, witty dialogue has vanished,” he sighs.…
Article: “Hey old man, you home tonight?”: Seven cinematic atheists.
Friday sees the release of Alejandro Amenabar’s “Agora” (alliteration!), which stars Rachel Weisz as a philosopher/scientist and courageous atheist suffering at the hands of rabid Christians in fifth-century Alexandria. The Catholic Church, predictably, is not pleased: “Your film is going to awaken hatred against Christians in today’s society,” wrote Antonio Alonso Marcos, president of the…
Article: Let’s Get Physical (Comedy)
“Micmacs,” the new film from “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, may be set in modern day Paris, but stylistically it’s a throwback to older movies — particularly silent comedies and slapstick, with its elaborate, near wordless set pieces. “Micmacs” provided the inspiration for this week’s podcast, in which we talk about physical comedy, apparently both the…
Article: Cannes Review: “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.”
Reviewed at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Woody Allen has preempted criticism of his latest breezy exercise in romantic neurosis by opening and closing his film by evoking Shakespeare’s famous line: “It is a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” While that claim may be facetious — Allen returns here to familiar territory…
Article: The Fandom Menace
Fans keep the movie industry alive: buying tickets, anointing stars, reading magazines and websites. But when movies put fans on-screen they’re often depicted in negative ways: threatening stars, demanding attention, murdering people who threaten their dreams. If a movie features a character defined by their fandom, odds are they’ve got some issues, be they psychological…
Article: At the movies with David Foster Wallace.
Anyone interested in the late David Foster Wallace should think about reading
Article: Did Woody Allen ruin romantic comedies?
In a thoughtful appraisal better than “The Back-Up Plan” deserves, the New York Times‘ Manohla Dargis doesn’t so much review the movie as the entire landscape of the contemporary romantic comedy, one of her favorite topics. She observes a decline from the days of witty banter to “speeches about feelings”: “Freud might have hit Hollywood…
Article: Doug Liman, Woody Allen and Oliver Stone head to Cannes.
“Fair Game,” Doug Liman’s take on the Valerie Plame incident, will play at Cannes this year in a competition that’s otherwise light on Americans. At least for now — as indieWIRE puts it, festival chief Thierry Fremaux has left the door open for more additions to the line-up, and “Twenty films screened in competition last…
