Celebrity
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Movie Reviews of Celebrity
Movie Review: The flimsiness of celebrityhood
Summary: 5 Stars
This wry and devastating portrait of the cult of celebrityhood is one of Allen's most brilliant--and entertaining--films. It isn't Allen's first effort at deconstructing celebrityhood. "Stardust Memories" was. But "Celebrity" goes way beyond "Stardust" in both depth and self-criticism. For it must be recognized that the chief celebrity at whom Allen is poking fun is himself.
Kenneth Branagh's performance as the ersatz Woody Allen is simply stunning. He's captured Allen's nebbish persona so well that he almost begins to physically resemble Allen by the film's end. Some critics found the uncanny mimicry irritating, but to do so is to miss the whole point. Allen wants to show that there's a flimsiness to celebrityhood, a shallowness that all of the celebrities in the film exhibit to one degree of another. Having Branagh "play" Woody Allen is just a metaphor for the smoke and mirror nature of celebrityhood. It's all surface, and roles are interchangeable. Identity or personal substance isn't what matters. Getting into the spotlight for the requisite 15 minutes of fame is all that counts.
Performances in the film are especially good. It's as if the actors, knowing full well how flimsy celebrityhood is, really relished the opportunity to make the point on screen. Charlize Theron, Leonardo diCaprio, Winona Ryder, and Famke Janssen are fabulous. Judy Davis is less so, having perhaps played the woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown once too often. Joe Mantegna is superb as the only person in the film not obsessed (and ruined) by the lust for celebrity.
Finally, Woody takes aim at audiences--just as he did in "Stardust Memories"--who perpetuate celebrityhood by demanding that stars be larger than life and who wind up focusing on them rather than art. This gentle chiding on his part, if nothing else, makes "Celebrity" well worth seeing.
Movie Review: Deconstructing show business
Summary: 5 Stars
" Celebrity " is one of the best movies in these ten last years of Allen's cinematographic career, a devastating look to the hidden side of the show business and fashion and their cosmetic creations, this is, the world of celebrities. A corrosive satire that goes deep into the anaemic cultural situation of U.S.A and that Allen closes with this very explicit message above the heads of their citizens: Help !!! Shot in a splendid b&w by swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist the film declares openly one of the most painful worries of Allen: the current political and cultural situation of his country and underlined recently to the european press: " The american from U.S.A. is an artificial man victim of his own culture " A worry, for other part, that can be extrapolated to other parts of West.
Widescreen edition.
Movie Review: watch it again-you'll like it
Summary: 5 Stars
Why do people keep expecting everything from Woody Allen to be "funny"? Like "Stardust Memories" or any number of his other movies, I would consider "Celebrity" more of a drama than a comedy. Yes, there are funny scenes, but there's more to it, I think. I didn't love the movie on first viewing, but I enjoy it more each time I see it. If you give it a chance and listen to what the director tells Melanie Griffith at the beginning about the "human condition", and how that relates to Kenneth Branagh (who I did NOT find annoying) at the end; and look deeper than Leonardo DiCaprio's small part, I think you'll find more than just jokes (or the absence thereof).Movie Review: Woody Allen at his best!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a big fan of Woody Allen and have seen about 20 movies created by this great director and for me Celebrity is one of his greatest. So I just can't understand why many people find it annoying.
It`s a kind of reworking of Fellinis "La dolce vita", but with the typical neurotic woody Allen Character, this time played beautifully by Branagh. He walks through New York and his life, slowly losing the grip with reality and himself, and at the end we can watch his pathetic story as he watches a film in the last scene of the movie.
Seems that Allen was getting better and better in the late 90s, peeking with "Sweet and Lowdown". But that`s another one.
Movie Review: Leo is great!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie does go on for abit long but it takes an interesting look at the downfalls of fame and fortune. The highlight of this movie is Leonardo DiCaprio's wondeful performance as a sex, and drug crazed movie star. It is unfair if not wrong to say that he is playing himself though. Anybody who has said that and does not even know what they are talking should think twice. It is very unfair to assume that. The acting is great by everyone who is in this movie. If you are a fan of the cinema and want to see an interesting film than I suggest this.