The Woody Allen “Thing”
It’s been a recurring thing here on the blog. It has to be, given the amount of Oscars the man’s films have been nominated for. But I just don’t like Woody Allen movies. Never have. And I feel like I should get it out there as explicitly as possible, just so I don’t have to explain it anymore.
Woody Allen is a filmmaker who means a lot to a lot of people. And as a filmmaker, I have the utmost respect for him. In fact, he has a career I’d love to have. I’d love to be able to churn out one script a year and get it made. That’s incredible that he’s done that for over thirty years. And, as a person, he’s very funny. He’s a very funny man, a good guy (though people attack him for the adopted daughter thing, but whatever. I, unlike most people, can separate a man’s work from his personal life) and clearly likes making movies. So when I say I don’t like his movies, I’m not saying it as an attack against the man — I simply just don’t like his movies.
I have no problem stating this openly because, it’s my personal opinion. What, am I gonna keep it a secret just because everyone else likes his stuff? The man doesn’t like his own movies! He’s openly come out and said that he begged the studio not to release Manhattan because he thought it sucked and told them he’d make a film for them for free because it was so bad. The thing is, though, every time I tell someone else I don’t like Woody Allen’s movies, I’m always met with, “Really?”
So, in the interest of not having to explain it anymore, and to prevent people from saying the same thing over and over again, in the hopes that somehow they’ll be the person that gets me to like this man’s movies, I’m writing this article. The general reason I don’t like Allen’s stuff is because most of it feels like psychoanalysis mixed with discussions of highbrow culture. I don’t need to hear Woody Allen dealing with his issues while also talking about Dostoyevsky and opera for 90 minutes.
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1990
Quite possibly the weakest Best Actor category of all time. This is just awful.
In fact, 1990 as a year is just awful, Oscar wise. Dances with Wolves. Yeah. One of the worst Best Picture choices of all time. Because it’s not a very good film. And I could have accepted it winning Best Picture if Kevin Costner, an actor, didn’t win Best Director for the film (which I talked about here), over Martin Scorsese, for Goodfellas. I think that about says it all, doesn’t it? Then Best Actress was Kathy Bates for Misery (which I talked about here), which is a good decision, albeit one that’s not very memorable historically. Best Supporting Actor was Joe Pesci for Goodfellas (which I talked about here), which is one of the best decisions of all time in that category. And Best Supporting Actress was Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost (which I talked about here), which I hate as a decision, but respect (you can find out why in the article).
So, in all, I really only love one decision from this year. One I like, one I respect but don’t like, one is fine but the product of a weak year (this one), and two are just god awful. So, I just hate 1990. What a sore spot for the Academy.
BEST ACTOR – 1990
And the nominees were…
Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves
Robert De Niro, Awakenings
Gerard Depardieu, Cyrano de Bergerac
Richard Harris, The Field
Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune (more…)
