Word: cleverer
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Manhattan. Woody Allen's latest is, as perceptive critics in every national publication have pointed out, a gloppy mixture of Annie Hall and Interiors--bits of the former's clever humor sprinkled on top of a stale layer of the latter's unbearable dialogue. Manhattan is black-and-white, entertaining, not quite as good as Annie Hall, but better than most other movies you could choose to see. If Allen ever overcomes the paralysis his years of psychoanalysis have induced in his capacity to write serious dialogue, he may yet emerge as the American Bergman. Until then, he should stick...
...same disease ravaged Allen's last film, Interiors, and laid low his high-serious intentions. In Manhattan, it is less severe, and Allen's clever lines flow as copiously as ever, insuring that Manhattan is an entertaining movie. But the sheer wordiness of its characters keeps them from being engaging and distances them from any emotional contact with the audience. In farces like Sleeper or Love and Death, of course, no one expected the characters to reach out and seize viewers' hearts. But Allen has broadcast his intention to write serious comedies, or funny dramas. Judged by the standards...
...fishing, golf, tennis, hiking, biking, train rides and other forms of exploration and conviviality that do not come with a $100-a-day hotel room. Says Rene Bardy, an official of the French tourist bureau: "What is asked of today's tourist is that he be more curious and clever than he used...
...heads" method: stupid words, short lines, and screaming repetition. Many of the other songs on this album, although not deliberately mimicking punk, are painfully consistent with this style. And they're boring. Zappa lets his compositions ramble in a way that shames his genius as an arranger. Usually a clever and inventive songwriter, Zappa here contrives disappointingly sparse and uncreative lyrics. Only his provoking cynicism remains...
...lovers: two are buffoons, her husband and a stranger he recruited to cheer her up, and one, a thirteen-year-old boy, is sensitive to her need for friendship. The plot is inconsistent, the jokes are obvious, and the direction is heavy-handed. You might find this film a clever and copy French farce--if you're drunk...