Woody Allen

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Right, so I'm going to guess that a lot of people on here are fans of Woody Allen.

Favourite films? Or short stories?
The last one I watched was 'Sweet and Lowdown', which was pretty good. A lot better than I expected for the late nineties.

I've gone as far, even, as to get the WA Comic Strip from the 70s. Which, it turns out, is not that great. But it's cool to have as a sort of artefact.


*On being rejected and handed back a love letter*
"It's probably just as well... I plagiarised most of it from James Joyce. You were probably wondering why all the references to Dublin."

I like his earlier, funnier films...

Wishful thinking?

Ha. Yeah, maybe it's just me and pakled.

I think his meditations on life are good. As long as you don't take his relationship advice too seriously.

To be honest, Woody Allen is one of my hit-or-miss directors/screenwriters. Some of his stuff gets a little repetitive, such as the fact that he plugs the same discontented character traits in whoever's playing the lead. While I have absolutely nothing against classical music, just once I'd like to see him use something more contemporary if only for the purpose of shaking things up. And I don't know what I'm missing out on, but I'm lost while watching his two biggest films (Annie Hall and Manhattan). I know they're classics and I love some of the actors in them, but I just can't get into the story.

With all that said, I still respect him as a filmmaker/writer though. And to his credit, there are occasions when I come across a film of his that I actually like. I was amused by Sleepers, liked the mockumentary concept of Take The Money & Run and Zelig, and even liked the more grim drama he did with Match Point. As for Midnight In Paris, I was blown away by it. Everything just seemed to fit for me in this film. It's almost as if it was I was hoping Annie Hall would be.

To summarize, slapping the label of "a Woody Allen film" doesn't make it an instant classic for me even if the film holds classic status within the film ranks. But whenever Allen can put all the pieces together in the right place, it makes for a very good film.

Midnight in Paris was very good.

I know what you mean about the repetition. Pervasive in his works is a mistrust of academics and intellectuals, glorification of self-education, disillusionment with traditional relationship models, the city, classical and jazz culture, and so on.

I enjoy all these things though. I respect that he doesn't follow filmic trends, and just does his own thing. While he can be a bit hit and miss (especially in the last fifteen years), it's nice to have his familiar style to come home to after enjoying all the more progressive cinema elsewhere.

I didn't love Manhattan myself. It's good, but I can't really relate to it like I can with Annie Hall, or Hannah and Her Sisters.

I recommend one of his early collections of short stories. They're quite a bit more like his "early, funny films" in their surrealism, and well worth it. His more recent collection, Mere Anarchy, I thought was quite weak however.

There are parts of Annie Hall I absolute loved and parts I fell asleep through.

I didn't enjoy Midnight in Paris.

Crimes and Misdemeanors is one of my favorite films.