Have you ever been turned off of an author's books...

[Joel_Kirk]

Play It Again, Sam isn't a Woody Allen directed feature, though he wrote it, so I can split the difference there. And it's a good movie.

I might suggest starting with the earlier stuff. Sleeper is probably my favorite. Take the Money and Run is great, as is Love and Death. There are a lot of really good Allen movies.

I actually didn't like Annie Hall that much, however. Go figure, right?

But if the Soon-Yi thng creeps you out, stay away from MANHATTAN!

(I admit that one is a little hard to watch these days.)

^ I just watched Manhattan, and it came off as a very creepy wish-fulfillment piece, as did Whatever Works.

Beyond the issues of Ms. Previn's age (thirty-four years younger than Mr. Allen) and her relationship to Mr. Allen prior to their liaison, I think about Ms. Previn's siblings. How did they feel, I wonder, when a girl raised as their sister became involved with a man they considered their father (or in Ronan Farrow's case, a man who actually was his father)?

@Greg and David:

Stacey Nelkin, who was a 17-year old when Allen was dating her, was the inspiration for Manhatten.

Sidenote: I actually added that tidbit initially on Wikipedia when I was doing research on Allen; there should be some references..i.e. biographies listed, where the info came from.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The only people named Ronan should be big blue badasses capable of wielding the Universal Weapon.

At first I thought it was a Stargate: Atlantis reference (i.e. the character 'Ronon Dex') but he's not blue.

 

[Turtletrekker]

^The reference is to Ronan the Accuser from the Marvel comics universe.

http://marvel.wikia.com/Ronan_(Earth-616)

 

[David R. George III]

^ I just watched Manhattan, and it came off as a very creepy wish-fulfillment piece, as did Whatever Works.

@...David:

Stacey Nelkin, who was a 17-year old when Allen was dating her, was the inspiration for Manhatten.

Right, but that doesn't make the film seem any less wish-fulfillment. My point wasn't that Mr. Allen's films portray a particular older man interested in a particular young woman, just older men interested in younger women in general.

 

[thumbtack]

Homosexuality.

It's quite a lot more than just that. He's got a blog that makes Rush Limbaugh seem warm and caring.

 

[JustKate]

Mary Shelley was a teenage homewrecker who ran off with a married man whose wife later committed suicide.

H. P. Lovecraft was a xenophobic recluse with racist tendencies.

Robert E. Howard was a suicidal manic-depressive mama's boy.

And Edgar Alan Poe was not exactly a role model . . . .

Doesn't matter. I still have their books on my shelves.

Yeah, but one difference is, they're all dead and have been for a while.

As I said earlier, I can usually get past the sins and errors of authors who are long dead because their sins are long dead, too. I have a harder time with authors who are alive or not long enough dead. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's harder.

I do have problems with Woody Allen, for example - I could probably get past the "extremely young woman who is also his long-time girlfriend's daughter," but that he could so anything so horrible and mortifying and esteem-crushing to his long-time girlfriend as have a clandestine affair with her daughter and then dump her for her daughter...that I have a problem with. I guess I thought Woody Allen was a nice man - neurotic, sure, but a good person. It turns out that he really isn't.

Actually, now that I think about it, I can still enjoy movies he directs. I just no longer enjoy his amiable neurotic act, but then again, he pretty much played the same role in all of his movies anyway, so perhaps I'm just tired of the act.

But I have a HUGE problem with Roman Polanski. I can't get past it, and what's more, I don't think I should. I don't think that man deserves any of my money.

 

[Myasishchev]

That was one thing I liked about Anything Else, which was not one of his more critically successful films. He actually did something other than the Woody Allen schtick. He played a paranoid, violent asshole. It was pretty awesome, really.

 

[JustKate]

^ Really? I've never seen that one. I am intrigued, so apparently there is some truth to my guess that it's his amiable neurotic act that I'm tired of.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^ I just watched Manhattan, and it came off as a very creepy wish-fulfillment piece, as did Whatever Works.

@...David:

Stacey Nelkin, who was a 17-year old when Allen was dating her, was the inspiration for Manhatten.

Right, but that doesn't make the film seem any less wish-fulfillment. My point wasn't that Mr. Allen's films portray a particular older man interested in a particular young woman, just older men interested in younger women in general.

I think I know where you're coming from; I actually thought he was going to cast himself opposite Scarlett Johanassen(sp?) as a love interest in Scoop, and that would have gotten a out of me...

Just to add: I think the Clint Eastwood film Breezy would fit that wish-fulfillment category as well...

Mary Shelley was a teenage homewrecker who ran off with a married man whose wife later committed suicide.

H. P. Lovecraft was a xenophobic recluse with racist tendencies.

Robert E. Howard was a suicidal manic-depressive mama's boy.

And Edgar Alan Poe was not exactly a role model . . . .

Doesn't matter. I still have their books on my shelves.

Yeah, but one difference is, they're all dead and have been for a while.

As I said earlier, I can usually get past the sins and errors of authors who are long dead because their sins are long dead, too. I have a harder time with authors who are alive or not long enough dead. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's harder.

I do have problems with Woody Allen, for example - I could probably get past the "extremely young woman who is also his long-time girlfriend's daughter," but that he could so anything so horrible and mortifying and esteem-crushing to his long-time girlfriend as have a clandestine affair with her daughter and then dump her for her daughter...that I have a problem with. I guess I thought Woody Allen was a nice man - neurotic, sure, but a good person. It turns out that he really isn't.

Actually, now that I think about it, I can still enjoy movies he directs. I just no longer enjoy his amiable neurotic act, but then again, he pretty much played the same role in all of his movies anyway, so perhaps I'm just tired of the act.

But I have a HUGE problem with Roman Polanski. I can't get past it, and what's more, I don't think I should. I don't think that man deserves any of my money.

^^

No need to apologize for that. He did do a crime, drugging and having relations with an underage girl who told him 'no'...

That was one thing I liked about Anything Else, which was not one of his more critically successful films. He actually did something other than the Woody Allen schtick. He played a paranoid, violent asshole. It was pretty awesome, really.

^ Really? I've never seen that one. I am intrigued, so apparently there is some truth to my guess that it's his amiable neurotic act that I'm tired of.

I'm intrigued about that film myself; I may have to check it out.

 

[snakespeare]

Had a miserable encounter with Ursula K. LeGuin and could never read her again. My loss, I'm sure.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

Wow...

And Miss LeGuin is on my 'to read' list....

 

[JustKate]

In the case of a dislike for the author as a person - that is, where you come to the conclusion that the author is someone you simply do NOT like at all (as opposed to disapproval of his or her ethics or morals or whatever) - for me, I think it comes down to this: As I read the disliked author's books, can I forget who the author is? Does the personality of the author fade away from my consciousness long enough for me to read that book and enjoy it or not based on the merits of the book itself?

And sometimes I guess I can. Sometimes...not so much. I've never had a miserable encounter with an author face to face, but as I mentioned a few pages back, I did read Tennessee Williams' autobiography, and jeeeeeeez, did he come across as a selfish, narcissistic jerk - and what's more, a selfish, narcissistic jerk who believed he should be forgiven for behaving like a selfish, narcissistic jerk because he was such a Sensitive Artiste. It took me a long time to get over that impression enough that I could again enjoy his plays. I did eventually get over it, more or less, although you'll notice that I still believe that Tennessee Williams was probably a selfish, narcissistic jerk.

It might be easier with some forms of fiction than others, though. Not all fiction is quite so drenched with personality as Williams' plays are.

 

[snakespeare]

^^

Wow...

And Miss LeGuin is on my 'to read' list....

Please, don't let me stop you. It was probably my ego that was the problem, not anything to do with her. She is without question a goddess among scientifiction writers, and a must-read!

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

Wow...

And Miss LeGuin is on my 'to read' list....

Please, don't let me stop you. It was probably my ego that was the problem, not anything to do with her. She is without question a goddess among scientifiction writers, and a must-read!

^^

Tks, Snakespeare...