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This is the big difference between old Woody and new Woody:
He always took chances. Only they used to pay off.
His eighties work is golden, classic after classic.
The whole decade starts off with STARDUST MEMORIES. Love it or hate it, it was a risky film to make.
Then there's:
MIDSUMMER
ZELIG
B DAN ROSE
PURPLE
HANNAH
RADIO
SEPT
ANOTHER WOMAN
CRIMES
(Add some seventies work, and HUSBANDS and BULLETS from the 90s, and it's pretty obvious how damn good the guy really is when he tries.)
It's hard to think of another director who banged out so many great films year after year. For a decade. At least. Amazing.
And they are all what I would call "original."
He still has good ideas: "What if we tell the same story as a comedy and then as a tragedy?"
But Old Woody would've made a great flick out of this concept. New Woody is happy enough to have come up with concept, but can't be bothered to really explore it or squeeze out the potential. I think that explains my frustration with his past two decades of crap-to-mediocre stuff.
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