[candymoan]

woody allen is one of the american geniuses that shaped 20th century..

"zelig" was great..



and the personal life is a personal life that shouldn't be involved in discussing one's work...

[bucklebone]

Yes, his personal hobbies of rape and pedophilia should be completely ignored as long as he makes funny and compelling movies. We should not judge him on his anti-social, disgusting, perverted behavior. We should only judge him on things that directly affect us, like, did his movie make us laugh???

BTW, Hillary for Prez in '08.

[Everyneurotic]

woody allen?

ewwww!!!!

[atari 2600]

top 10

Crimes and Misdemeanors
Annie Hall
Broadway Danny Rose
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Take the Money and Run
Sleeper
Love and Death
Match Point
Zelig
Shadows and Fog

[atari 2600]

Small Time Crooks was an all-time low.

I liked Cursed of the Jade Scorpion & Hollywood Ending though.

 

[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

GOOD 2011 INTERVIEW WITH ALLEN: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/...ole-cadwalladr

[atsonicpark]

his newest film was complete garbage. Actually, he hasn't made anything good in like 7 years. WHATEVER WORKS starts out okay -- like a lost episode of CURB or something -- but doesn't amount to much.

I've seen every film he's ever made. He's one of my favorite directors, definitely one of rthe best of all time, despite not making mny great films this decade.HUSBANDS AND WIVES, CELEBRITY, STARDUST MEMORIES, ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, CRIMES AND MISEAMEANORS, LOVE AND DEATH, and so on and so on. I even like HOLLYWOOD ENDING a lot, as far as his somewhat recent films go. My main criticism with Woody is that so many of his films feel EXACTLY the same; I have scenes that blend together, if you get my drift... like, some scenes from some movies seem like they could've been in other movies.. it's cuz he often uses the same cast, e directs every film the same, every film LOOKS the same, all the films have the same musical score... hell, even the title sequences are always EXACTLY the same..

for those not familiar with his works, I reccomend his black and white films (especially CElebrity, which is just godlike, though a lot of people don't seem to like it), deconstructing, and annie hall.

Dude's obviously a genius, and writes some of the best dialogue ever, if not THE best. He's probably the best mainstream director of all time, next to Hitchcock.

[Derek]

MANHATTAN is my favourite.

Woody is genius.

[evollove]

TAKE THE $ AND RUN- Technically inept, but some very funny gags.

BANANAS- Classic, and the flirtation with saying something political showed a promise fulfilled in SLEEPER

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED- Essentially a riff on film, not sex. Demonstrates he had figured out how to make a polished piece.

SLEEPER- Brilliant social satire, a mode he doesn't work in often enough.

LOVE AND DEATH- A wet dream for English undergrads

ANNIE HALL- A misunderstood film. It's brutally cynical. An anti-romance. Shockingly well written and directed.

INTERIORS- Moving in parts, but Allen ain't no Bergman. All the actors shine despite the soggy material. And this might be the point to mention how, with very few exceptions, the performances in his films are excellent.

MANHATTEN- About as romantic as a movie can get, from the look to the soundtrack to the climax of Allen running to his true love.

STARDUST MEMORIES- There are about a million filmic ideas in this one, only about a forth of which are Allen's. I like it, but I can easily see how anyone would loath it.

MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT- Light and breezy enough. A mash up of several other sources (Renoir, Chekhov, Bergman). It's interesting to note that despite Allen's professed athieism, magic and the supernatural pop up in his films a lot.

ZELIG- Breathtaking. Painstakingly complex technically, pretty simple thematically.

BROADWAY DANNY ROSE- Chris Rock's favorite comedy! It's essentially a film about ethics, a topic Allen loves to explore in films. Whether he explores the topic in real life is up for debate.

PURPLE ROSE- Simply one of his best.

HANNAH- Tolstoy in New York. How Allen managed to create AND develop so many characters is a testament to his powers when he puts them to full use. And damn near every beautiful shot could be put on a wall.

RADIO DAYS- Full steam ahead into nostalgia. With so many characters and plot threads and gags, some fail, some are a knockout. A breezy little flick.

SEPTEMBER- If autumnal colors get you off, keep a box of Kleenex handy. Not one single joke. I'd kill to see this on a stage. As a film, eh.

ANOTHER WOMAN- More involved than September, but still in full drama mode. Gena Rolands has perhaps never been better.

"Oedipus Wrecks"- A return to his "early, funny ones." Harmless fun and not at all insulting.

CRIMES- His masterpiece. He'll never top this one. All his great themes are here; the characters are delicious; the conclusion is terrifying.

ALICE- Again, magic pops up. And let's here acknowledge how fucking funny Mia can be.

SHADOWS- The first sign of big trouble. His early play, DEATH, is stretched way too thin. Looks cool, and it's fun to play "name the very famous actor," but otherwise really boring.

HUSBANDS AND WIVES- Pitch black comedy. God, some scenes in this one HURT. I love it, even if the pseudo-documntary thing doesn't always work (how'd the camera capture a sex scene?) Judy Davis is a force of nature.

MANAHTTEN MURDER- Allen dusted off an early version of Annie Hall for this. A few good jokes, a few stupid scenes. Same filmic technique as HUSBANDS for some bizzare reason.

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY- The last truly great film he made. Check it out. Now.

DON'T DRINK THE WATER (T.V.) Again, an old script. WTF? Really fun stupid comedy though.

MIGHTY APHRO- Clever conceit, half-baked execution. Get used to it.

EVERYONE SAYS- Ditto.

DECONSTRUCTING HARRY- Ditto. Plus, it makes me a little sick.

CELEBRITY- Again, Judy Davis is a genius! Fast foward through the rest of the shit and just watch her scenes.

SWEET AND LOWDOWN- A riff on LA STRADA. A few good jokes. Good performances. Short, yet way too long.

SMALL TIME CROOKS- Play the game: "where'd he steal that joke?"

CURSE- I think he wrote in the time it takes to watch it.

HOLLYWOOD ENDING- This is just insulting.

ANYTHING ELSE- Allen's great in this one. Otherwise, really tedious.

MELINDA AND MELINDA- A continuation of the "clever conceit, half-baked execution" curse.

MATCH POINT- WAY the fuck over-rated. Very very well made, but it reaches the same conclusion as CRIMES, so who cares?

SCOOP- I kinda liked it. I'll never watch it again. AGAIN WITH THE SUPERNATURAL! ALLEN IS NOT A STRICT MATERIALIST!

CASSANDRA'S- High on the praise for Match Point, Allen shows how he's now a master of fucking up.

VICKY- Am I the only one who hated this?

WHATEVER WORKS- Again, an old script. Improves slightly on second viewing.

YOU WILL MEET- Tons of characters. I could give a fuck about any of them. I just watched it two weeks ago, and I can barely remember what it's about.

[atsonicpark]

Haa good stuff. I agree with a lot of it, except I thought SCOOP was one of the worst films ever made.. though YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER is somehow even worse. Not a good decade for Allen. And yeah I HATE MATCH POINT, I HATE VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA............ I think CASSANDRA'S DREAM isn't as bad as a lot of people make it out to be, nor ANYTHING ELSE (this had Ricci and Biggs in it right? They were also in PROZAC NATION together.. odd).

There's a film he acts in but didn't write/direct called THE FRONT I quite like. Have you seen SCENES FROM A MALL? It's pretty terrible.

The only thing about MANHATTAN is Allen dates, like, a 12 year old in it. Found that kinda odd, since he's like 40 in it. The opening 10 minutes might be his best ever though.

And yeah Judy Davis is so awesome in his movies.

[Derek]

She's supposed to be 17 but it is kind of eerie... art becomes life.

[atsonicpark]

39gb allen filmography torrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

http://www.demonoid.me/files/details/2407737/

[atsonicpark]

This is completely unrelated, but did you al know ISABELLA ROSSELINI was married to Martin Scorsese?! Wow. She also dated Lynch and Gary Oldman. Wild.

 

strange. They never did any movies together, either. Though she was in THE ADJUSTER with atom egoyan, probably her weirdest/best role. Her worst of course is that fuckin maddin film that sucks.

 

Uh.

[dirty bunny]

I've enjoyed many of his films. The only ones I've watched twice is probably Everything You Always... and it didn't have much replay value. So yeah.