Category Archives: Auteur of the Week
My Love For Woody Allen: Week 3
So here we are, the last decade of Woody Allen’s directorial filmography (you can see my first three post here, here and here). I am going to be honest right away and say that I pretty much hate and/or dislike all of these films. Okay, maybe not all. There is one that I actually like and three that I thought were “okay,” but the rest I either dislike or downright hate. So my discussions of them are not going to be very long because frankly I don’t want to waste my time writing about them. Feel free to disagree all you want, but that’s just how I feel about it. Also, don’t forget about the Woody Allen Blogathon on Friday!
My Love For Woody Allen: Week 2.5
You can see the first two parts of my look at Woody Allen’s complete directorial filmography here and here and don’t forget about the Woody Allen Blogathon on May 20th. This post covers Allen’s work from 1992 to 2000. While perhaps not the strongest period in his career (especially compared to the previous decade), this decade was far kinder to Allen’s talent than what came after.
My Love For Woody Allen: Week 2
You can read part one of my four-part look at Woody Allen’s filmography here and don’t forget about the Woody Allen Blogathon on May 20th! This post covers Allen’s work from 1982 to 1990. It’s the beginning of his fruitful decade-long collaboration with Mia Farrow and contains some of Allen’s greatest and most memorable films.
My Love For Woody Allen: Week 1
I recently finished watching every single film Woody Allen has ever directed, as well as most of the ones he either wrote or just starred in, but didn’t direct. His latest film, Midnight In Paris, is set to open at the end of the month. Thus I have decided to write a little bit about all of his films up until its premiere. I’m not going to go very in-depth, mostly because of the sheer volume of his body of work. Also, I’m going to start with Take The Money and Run because that’s the first film he wrote and directed (but you should still give What’s New Pussycat? and What’s Up Tiger Lily a watch). Other films I won’t write about but suggest you watch include Play It Again, Sam (based on a play Allen wrote and starring Allen and Diane Keaton) and The Front (a really great look at the Hollywood blacklist). So for this first week I’m going to go through Stardust Memories and then pick up at A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy next week, etc. etc. Also, while you’re at it check out this handy dandy aStore I set up featuring all of Allen’s work.
Auteur of the Week: Hiatus
The Holidays are over hectic and I am behind in full filmographies (I like to have seen all of a director’s work before I write about them), so the Auteur of the Week feature is going on hiatus for a while. It will hopefully be back in time for the New Year. You can always look through the archives here. Oscar Vault Monday, however, will continue to be posted every Monday. If you’re interested at looking at those archives, you can here. I also want to remind you that if you’re doing any shopping on Amazon for the Holidays, I’d be ever so grateful if you went through my aStore. I’ve got several categories set up (including for Auteur of the Week and Oscar Vault Monday), but you can also access your own WishList through my aStore, it’ll just give me referral credit. If you like what you read, going through my aStore is one way to show you gratitude, without costing you any extra than you already planned on spending. I hope everyone has a wonder Thanksgiving! I’ve got a Movie Quote of the Day queued up for each day that I’m gone, so check back to see what they are!
Auteur of the Week: Steven Spielberg (4 of 4)
My four-week look at the complete directorial filmography of New Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg is finally coming to a close. You can look at part one here, part two here and part three here. While the last decade may not be my favorite decade of Spielberg’s work, at least three of his films from the 2000s are among my favorite of his films, as well as of all-time.
Auteur of the Week: Steven Spielberg (3 of 4)
Before my computer died last week, I was set to start on week three of my four-part Auteur of the Week series on Steven Spielberg. Luckily, this week I am able to use a shared computer (my new one should be here in the next few days!) and finally bring you part three! If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can read part one here and part two here.
Auteur of the Week: Steven Spielberg (2 of 4)
Continuing my four-part Auteur of the Week series on Steven Spielberg (you can see the first part here) I’m now going to be talking about the rest of Spielberg’s work in the 1980s. Throughout the 80s Spielberg produced hit after hit after hit, establishing himself even more as one of the greatest directors working in the business. There’s only one film in this era of his filmmaking that I don’t like, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the film. I’ll explain later. I’ve also included a film wherein he only directed a segment – the ill-advised Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Auteur of the Week: Steven Spielberg (1 of 4)
First off may I say that I love Steven Spielberg and I can only think of one of his films that I absolutely did not like, the rest I love to pieces. Second, I’m going to be spending the next four weeks worth of Auteur of the Week discussing Spielberg’s filmography. Thirdly, I’ve seen all but one of his films – A.I.: Artificial Intelligence – but I will get it watched before I get to that part of his filmography, I swear. I know some people who do not like Spielberg at all or who like certain films of his and not others. I think that’s a good thing, to be universally liked would be boring. Part of what I love so much about Spielberg is the diversity of his filmography – you’ll find everything from literary adaptations to dramas to action to sci-fi to biopic and back again. I’m only going to talk about the films he has directed, not the films he’s produced. It would take far more than four weeks if we included Spielberg the producer in the mix. I hope you enjoy this trip through his filmography.
Auteur of the Week: Stephen Daldry
Stephen Daldry is pretty much the John Cazale of directors. (Google John Cazale if you don’t get what I mean by that). He’s directed three films and has been nominated for Best Director by the Academy for all three films. Only two of them were nominated for Best Picture, but it’ quite possibly Billy Elliot was thisclose to getting one of those five slots in 2000. Odds are if the Weinsteins hadn’t had a film out that year (Chocolat) that they aggressively campaigned for, it would have. What I love the most about Daldry as a director, and I think this comes from his background as a theater director, is the strong performances he gets out of his actors. I dare you to find one bad, or even “just okay” performance in one of his films. You’ll be hard-pressed to find one. He has director five Academy Award nominated and two Academy Award winning performances. That’s pretty good for a guy who’s only done three feature films so far.
the diary of a film history fanatic 