I'm sitting here watching Julius Caesar, which has Marlon Brando, and is directed by Joe Mankiewicz. It's pretty much word-for-word with the play, which is great, but since I've read it a few times, I'm only half-watching. Hence, a post.

I rewatched Traffic about a week ago. I still don't know which I think is a better movie, Traffic or Gladiator. Both are fantastic, but as we know Gladiator won Best Picture. Traffic won Director, writing, editing, and supporting actor--four huge awards. Gladiator had Lead Actor, costumes, sound, and visual effects (and best picture). I don't get the Academy sometimes (note: all the time). Maybe it's because Drugs (capital D) is a touchy subject matter, and they didn't want a movie about unspeakable activities engraved as a Best Picture (hey, Brokeback Mountain). Gladiator was a much more 'epic' movie, in the sense of crowd-pleasing. It did have huge box office appeal, Gladiator with 187 million domestic, Traffic with 124 (which still isn't bad). I've continually thought Traffic was a slightly better movie, but that's a very, very hard call.

But my original intent of posting was because I recently watched Woody Allen's movie, Sleeper.

Sleeper was released in 1973, which was just after Woody Allen's debut film era (Bananas; Play It Again, Sam; and others), and just before he hit it real big (Annie Hall; Manhattan). He eventually fine tunes a style all his own, but where he draws his inspiration is distinct. On the one hand, there's numerous moments of Marx Brothers- and Charlie Chaplin-like comedy: In the future, giant fruits and vegetables are grown, and while being chased, Allen and his pursuer slip over and over on a giant banana peel. However, Allen has, in almost every movie, used sex as a strong comedic element--not with people having it, but with what revolves around it, and what its importance is to people. When Allen's character finds out his brain will be reprogrammed, he says, "My brain? Why, that's my second favorite organ." Or how there's a machine that allows humans to climax almost instantly, then go about their day. Woody also has typical Freudian jokes, such as, (to put this in context, he was frozen, and wakes up 200 years later) "I haven't seen my analyst in 200 years. He was a strict Freudian. If I'd been going all this time, I'd probably almost be cured by now." Though it's a work of fiction, his charaters seem to always have a semi-autobiographical quality, since Allen has been seeing psychiatrists for many years--all Freudian. The scenes without Allen cracking jokes seem to lag behind the rest. If I want to watch slapstick stories with little dialogue, I'll pop on a Chaplin flick, or anything early Marx Brothers. Allen does a decent job, but his characters' personalities outshine their actions. I'm glad he stayed away from this style after this flick. It was entertaining, but far from his best.