a2k's Woody Allen Appreciation Society

Forums: Movies, Woody Allen, Film, Films, Independent Films
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Because somebody tagged the recent Godzilla thread Need A New Woody Allen Movie that I figured we could use a Woody Allen movie discussion thread.

BTW, the next Woody Allen movie is coming out July 2014:
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2870756/combined

This thread is about his movies not his lifestory of scandal(s). So please keep the trolling to a minimum (though to be fair, I expect the worst from many here at a2k )

What is your favorite Woody Allen movie? What was the last Woody Allen flick you seen? What was the last one you actually liked or even loved?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 12 • Views: 3,181 • Replies: 23

[+3] - firefly - 05/21/2014[quote] What is your favorite Woody Allen movie? What was the last Woody Allen flick you seen? What was the last one you actually liked or even loved? [/quote] I always look forward to seeing a...

@tsarstepan,

My brother-in-law once whacked Woody Allen on the rear end with a plank of wood. That's about all the appreciation I've ever been able to muster up for the whiny and neurotic Mr.Allen.

I guess my favorite Woody Allen movie would be Annie Hall. Of course that is also the last Woody Allen movie I ever saw in its entirety. Come to think of it, it's also the only one I ever saw in a movie theater...

It might not be that he's a bad actor/director/producer/etc. it's just not a brand of comedy which appeals to me.

2 Replies

@tsarstepan,

Annie Hall = favorite. Diane Keaton played her part very well, that in my opinion reflected a transplant to New York that just was a fish out of water in the big city. The scene of her grandmother only seeing a red bearded chassidic rabbi (at the dinner table), when they visited her home in Wisconsin, struck me as a bull's eye, aside from the comical effect.

In my opinion, the movie was skirting the truth too much when Diane Keaton wanted to know why Woody wouldn't get serious with her, and she asked, "Is it because I am not smart enough?" I felt that the movie might have been letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak. Not good for intergroup relations.

However, the music (Prokofiev) in Love and Death was enjoyable. The scene at the end of the grim reaper chasing him was good. When he introduced his sister, coming out of the horse drawn carriage, as, "Meet my sister Meeskite," (spelling is phonetic) only those in the audience that knew that that name is the Yiddish word for "the ugly one" got the joke.

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Take the Money and Run and Zellig would top my list of Allen movies (with him in them).
Radio Days is my favorite one hich he directed.

1 Reply

@Sturgis,

I've liked some of his; I remember liking Sleepers but have no memory of what it was about. I liked Annie Hall and maybe Manhattan. Haven't seen much of his later work, much less the latest. Interiors, but I wasn't very interested.

0 Replies

@Sturgis,

I couldn't agree more.

0 Replies

@tsarstepan,

Almost hate to say this, because I am probably gonna get a lot of heat for it...but Midnight in Paris was a delight for me.

Hope everyone else enjoyed it.

1 Reply

Take the Money and Run was and is my favorite. Just outright funny. My two favorite scenes: Virgil playing the cello in the school marching band. He schleps a chair along in the parade. Virgil tries to rob a bank, but there's a debate about his handwriting on the robbery note. "I have a gub." Remembering this years later. It must have made an impression.

BTW: I once encountered Woody three times in one week. He was crossing the street, he was sitting on a bench in Central Park talking to a goil, and I don't remember the third encounter.

1 Reply

@Roberta,

that "I have a gub" on the note was copied by so many comedies later.
Pure good comedy

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

Almost hate to say this, because I am probably gonna get a lot of heat for it...but Midnight in Paris was a delight for me.

Hope everyone else enjoyed it.

Not sure where the heat would come from considering that would that movie did very well at the box office and critically well-recieved.
IMDb rating:
7.7/10 228,483 votes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/combined

Rottentomatoes.com rating:
93% All reviews/96% Top critics
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/midnight_in_paris/

It's not as divisive as his last movie, Blue Jasmine (2013). In terms of box office, it's (with inflation adjustment) his no. 7 top box office earner.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/how-does-woody-allens-blue-jasmine-box-office-stack-up-against-his-other-movies

Without the adjustment, it's his highest earning film (and he did that without the premium of 3D priced tickets).
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Director&id=woodallen.htm&sort=gross&order=DESC&p=.htm

In my opinion, it's his best movie he made in the past 10 years.

0 Replies

@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Take the Money and Run and Zellig would top my list of Allen movies (with him in them).

I haven't seen either film but I'm pleasantly surprised to see Take the Money and Run in second place in my ... it was in second place ... now its in fifth place:

So you're robbing a bank?
Who would you LEAST WANT as a partner(s) in a bank robbery?
http://www.imdb.com/poll/Iv3dCM8VMJQ/results?ref_=po_sr

0 Replies

"Annie Hall" may be one of my favorite five movies. I actually try not to watch it as many years as I can, so I don't ruin my enjoyment when I finally do. "Interiors" was an oddly serious film - that I loved intensely. I liked how he examined his major characters by how they dressed, talked, decorated their homes... The tight ass had the straight page boy and thin lips, empty cheated-on Geraldine Page's high ceiling'd Manhattan apartment was starkly done in beige, eggshell... I'd been consumed with writing and film in high school, and reveled in this oddly different film of the master.

I've hated nearly everything he's done since that first effing musical.

I think "Sweet and Lowdown" was horribly underrated. Grudgingly wow'd by Sean Penn's performance and as always Woody's writing and direction.

"Deconstructing Harry" was funny, and "Husbands and Wives" was especially harrowing since production had to be halted as Woody and Mia dealt with charges that Woody had diddled with their daughter. First scene when lawyers convinced Mia to return to the set? The break up scene. I think Woody wrote closely to life. I think "Manhattan" was one way he dealt with his penchant for young women. Great movie, I thought.

0 Replies

My top five favorite Woody Allen films:
1. Annie Hall (1977)
2. Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
3. Love and Death (1975)
4. Midnight in Paris (2011)
5. Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

0 Replies

@tsarstepan,

Quote:

What is your favorite Woody Allen movie? What was the last Woody Allen flick you seen? What was the last one you actually liked or even loved?

I always look forward to seeing a new Woody Allen film, even though I have found many of his more recent movies, done in the last ten years, somewhat, or very, disappointing. And that includes the last, and most recent, Allen film I saw, "From Rome with Love."

My favorite Woody Allen movie is "Hannah and Her Sisters"--simply because I think it's a perfect movie in every aspect a viewer could ask for or demand. I just like everything about that movie, and, no matter how many times I've seen it, I find it very satisfying. "Annie Hall" is a very good movie, but I think, "Hannah and Her Sisters" is even better.

I tend to love Allen's earlier, and more zany comedies, much more than his recent ones--films like, "What's New Pussycat?" (f0r which he wrote the screenplay), and "Love and Death" and "Take the Money and Run". I find those hilarious, and they're among my all-time favorite comedy films. The same goes for Allen's segment in the film, "New York Stories".

Even his more disappointing films always have his unique touch, and he always assembles a great cast, and there is always something that makes my time spent watching them worthwhile. So, of course, I'm looking forward to seeing, "Magic in the Moonlight"--I can't wait to see it.

2 Replies

@firefly,

Yes. "Hannah,,," deserves mention. Great performances, good story.

0 Replies

@firefly,

firefly wrote:

Quote:

My favorite Woody Allen movie is "Hannah and Her Sisters"--simply because I think it's a perfect movie in every aspect a viewer could ask for or demand. I just like everything about that movie, and, no matter how many times I've seen it, I find it very satisfying. "Annie Hall" is a very good movie, but I think, "Hannah and Her Sisters" is even better.

Aside from the very nice scenes in the pre-WWII Manhattan apartment, the movie seemed to really focus on the woman's world of sibling relationships.

It seemed a little sad to me, since it exposed the fact that so many women view their respective existence as a personal story all about them. In effect, many women waste their time just thinking about themselves. Men at least can be concerned about sports teams.

1 Reply

'Play it Again Sam' is my favourite because Bogart keeps popping up to give Allen advice about how to handle dames-

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/play-it-again_zpsec48126a.jpg~original

0 Replies

@Foofie,

Quote:

In effect, many women waste their time just thinking about themselves. Men at least can be concerned about sports teams.

That's a very funny statement. It almost sounds like Woody Allen. I don't know if you meant it to be funny, but thanks for the laugh.

1 Reply

OMG, I don't know how I could have forgotten how much I love Woody Allen's film, "Crimes and Misdemeanors". I think that's a wonderful movie, that also looks at the darker side of human nature, and moral compromises. I think it's one of his best.

0 Replies

@firefly,

firefly wrote:

Quote:
In effect, many women waste their time just thinking about themselves. Men at least can be concerned about sports teams.

That's a very funny statement. It almost sounds like Woody Allen. I don't know if you meant it to be funny, but thanks for the laugh.

Sorry that I botched up the quote further up.

0 Replies

a2k's Woody Allen Appreciation Society

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know