Celebrity is definitely one of his weakest films. If you're into drama, he did one called Interiors, which he's not in and it is very reminiscent of an Ingmar Bergman film, stark and beautiful and bit emotionally taxing.
Crimes and Misdemeanors has always been right up at the top of the list for me, if you liked Match Point, a lot of the same themes are explored but with more humor.
And if you just want a truly weird experience, Stardust Memories is out there, way, way out there
Woody is a true genius. Watch this great documentary about him, it was streaming on Netflix but looks like it's been taken off, sadly:
Yep.Originally Posted by pablo
I was a huge fan of Hannah and Her Sisters and Mighty Aphrodite too. His recent films like Midnight In Paris and Blue Jasmine are just as good. Woody Allen is the Elton John of movies...he can just pump out quality film after quality film for decades.
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He even did a great musical called Everyone Says I Love You, due for a rewatch soon.
Can you imagine what a Woody Allen horror film would be like?
So obviously I love Woody's films but I do have a couple of complaints. For one, try as I might, I cannot think of more than two black characters in all of his movies and one was a prostitute. Two, I really cannot think of any gay characters at all. I'm not suggesting he is racist and/or homophobic but rather those types of characters are simply outside of his comfort zone. I feel that artists should grow as they get older and explore new territory, which he definitely does but I do wish he would stretch a bit and try to create more gay and black characters. I think the more diversity film makers can show in their films, the closer what they make gets to resembling real life.
I'd be able to take your posts more seriously if you provided logic instead of just a list of awards from Wiki or opinions presented as facts, like this one above.
Just sayin!
I think this might be it for me. Like I mentioned earlier on here, I really liked the films he only directed, and not starred in.Is it Woody himself you do not like, which considering his private life it is understandable how someone would be turned off by him or his films, the ones he stars in I mean? I know a few people who LOVE his films, that is the ones he is not a star in. A close friend owns Midnight in Paris and says it is one of his favorite films ever but when I show him Woody's films where he is the star, he doesn't like them because of Woody.
My main problem with Annie Hall was Allen himself. The situations he and Diane Keaton found themselves in were ripe for comedy, but everything from his character just came across as pompous and annoying and the film reeked of thinly veiled self glorification.
It was an unremitting barrage of Allen complaining about night life, and complaining about love life, and complaining about crowds in theaters, and complaining about know it alls (ironic), and complaining about people that do drugs, and complaining about parties, and complaining about people's driving skills, and complain complain complain. It just got to be too much. And of course every character in the film is an idiot and not up to his intellectual standards. Then you have grandiose dialogue like "having sex with you is Kafkaesque". Ugh, gimme a break.
I don't want to say that I'll never enjoy a film starring Allen, but at this point I'm leaning toward seeking out films he directed, and not starred in.
Thanks for sharing your opinion in a well-thought-out manner instead simply referring to it as "shite"I'd be able to take your posts more seriously if you provided logic instead of just a list of awards from Wiki or opinions presented as facts, like this one above.
Just sayin!
I think this might be it for me. Like I mentioned earlier on here, I really liked the films he only directed, and not starred in.Is it Woody himself you do not like, which considering his private life it is understandable how someone would be turned off by him or his films, the ones he stars in I mean? I know a few people who LOVE his films, that is the ones he is not a star in. A close friend owns Midnight in Paris and says it is one of his favorite films ever but when I show him Woody's films where he is the star, he doesn't like them because of Woody.
My main problem with Annie Hall was Allen himself. The situations he and Diane Keaton found themselves in were ripe for comedy, but everything from his character just came across as pompous and annoying and the film reeked of thinly veiled self glorification.
It was an unremitting barrage of Allen complaining about night life, and complaining about love life, and complaining about crowds in theaters, and complaining about know it alls (ironic), and complaining about people that do drugs, and complaining about parties, and complaining about people's driving skills, and complain complain complain. It just got to be too much. And of course every character in the film is an idiot and not up to his intellectual standards. Then you have grandiose dialogue like "having sex with you is Kafkaesque". Ugh, gimme a break.
I don't want to say that I'll never enjoy a film starring Allen, but at this point I'm leaning toward seeking out films he directed, and not starred in.
Why use 200 words to describe something when 1 is sufficient? LOL!Originally Posted by Tommy
Thanks for sharing your opinion in a well-thought-out manner instead simply referring to it as "shite"*
In an overall way, I'd say my top five are
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Deconstructing Harry
Hannah & Her Sisters
Manhattan
Annie Hall
There are different ways of splitting up his body of work for special consideration, though. For example, I could talk about his early farces on a whole level of appreciation aside from those highest matters of overall theme.
I've got the DVD's of Manhattan, Sleeper and Match Point here but I just haven't gotten around to watching them yet.
You described the things I loved about the film. He's narcissistic man with an inferiority complex, so he complains and insults everything, being very wordy and pompous about it, all to mask the fact that he dislikes himself so much. What makes the scene with him waiting in the movie line so great is he gets mad at the guy for pontificating the way he is, when he himself is prone to doing the exact same thing, just in a different way. That's why I love the usage of the Groucho Marx quote, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member", as Woody Allen's character lives and breathes that quote, feeling that anyone would would accept him obviously isn't up to his own standards since he thinks so little of himself. Funny how you can hate what I love and vice versa lol
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I wouldn't have minded if that was just one (seemingly large) facet of his character, but when it becomes the entire fulcrum around which his character's ethos orbits, it becomes too much.
I did like the Groucho Marx bit too. That's a very um, interesting self assessment.
What Allen should I watch next?
I don't like or identify with the man personally and I disagree with his philosophy on most points, but I respect doing philosophical comedy at all and I can certainly distance myself enough to acknowledge how clever his writing is.
Bananas. Plain and simple farce, super funny, not off-putting in the later ways; should restore your basic interest.
Noted, thanks!
Sleeper is the same. Maybe even better if you don't want to bother much about his personality or cultural references. For someone who doesn't mind him, though,
is a great film. I think you'd be glad you watched it, Matt.
Match Point is fantastic.
It doesn't say much that he didn't say 15 years before in Crimes and Misdemeanors. It's more clear on the one idea, I guess, perhaps a cleaner package. I just felt that revisiting a point like that after so long shows how he doesn't really progress over his life; he has his outlook, and sophisticated as it may be, that's it, that's who he is.
Because it was nicer.Why use 200 words to describe something when 1 is sufficient? LOL!Originally Posted by Tommy
Thanks for sharing your opinion in a well-thought-out manner instead simply referring to it as "shite"*
My top 10 besides Annie Hall would be (no order):
Match Point
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Manhattan
Radio Days
Broadway Danny Rose
Stardust Memories
Deconstructing Harry
Everyone Says I love You
Midnight In Paris
The Purple Rose of Cairo
ask me on another day and it might be slightly different (like right now I'm thinking about Blue Jasmine and Another Woman moving up closer to the top 10)
I'm a huge fan of Mighty Aphrodite. Mira Sorvino definitely deserved that Oscar.
Came close for me just now, It is very a-mus-ing!
haha see what I did there?
No. What? LOL
All that's left of what we were is what we have become.
In Mighty Aphrodite, Woody uses a chorus of Greek Muses style theater to help tell the story, amusing - muses, get it?
The Trouble with Harry was one of the first Hitchcock films I ever saw, so good!
Hope it makes it on.
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