I think we should have several members here who have an opinion on the Woodman. Until a few years ago, I would have ranked him as one of the most consistently entertaining filmmakers in history. Even though he's pushing 70, he still turns out a film a year, but the quality has dropped, not so far as to become lousy, but still very disappointing.

My wife, who'll watch every film at least once, has a hard time dealing with Woody because she describes him as "a self-absorbed, lecherous old man, who's funny sometimes."

So, does anyone have some opinions on the man, his films, his forays into drama or his "earlier, funny" films?

I think Woody is very hit and miss. Of his older, well-regarded stuff, I thought "Sleeper" had it's moments, but the humor was all pretty obvious. I also wasn't born when it came out in the theaters, but still. Of newer stuff, I thought "Deconstructing Harry" was absolutely hilarious, probably because he was poking fun at himself. Great cast, too.

Nobody has ANY comments AT ALL about "What's Up, Tiger Lily?", "Take the Money and Run", "Bananas", "Play it Again, Sam", "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*", "Sleeper", "Love and Death", "Annie Hall", "Manhattan", "Stardust Memories", "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy", "Zelig", "Broadway Danny Rose", "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Hannah and Her Sisters", "Radio Days", "Crimes and Misdemeanors", "Alice", "Shadows and Fog", "Husbands and Wives", "Manhattan Murder Mystery", "Bullets Over Broadway", "Mighty Aphrodite", "Everyone Says I Love You", "Deconstructing Harry", "Sweet and Lowdown" or any other Woody Allen movie?? I FIND THAT DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

I saw Woody Allen at a Knicks game once and got his autograph Although he can be annoying at times, He seems to be an overall talented, funny guy. I recently saw Annie Hall for the first time and I have to say that I was a bit dissapointed. Being that it won Best Picture and is ranked #31 on the American Film Institutes 100 best list, I was expecting a really great movie. And although some parts were very funny, the rest of the movie was lacking something. I usually dont particularly like character studies, unless they revolve around an interesting plot or contain interesting details. But i just think that Annie Hall is overrated. Not to mention, that seeing Shelly Duvall in any movie after watching The Shining scares my socks off.

You didnt get his autograph, I did. (Me and Kraftdeluxe are brothers) Woody Allen has made so many movies. I think some were good but many, in my opinion werent.

Although I'm not a big Woody Allen fan, I saw "Annie Hall" when it came out (I was in high school), and I still will say that's my all-time favorite movie. To kraftdeluxe who has seen it only recently, I can understand why you were less impressed. I don't think the movie holds up very well over time...partly because most of what Woody did in that picture was considered bold/cutting edge at the time it was released, and has since been ripped off by just about everyone else who has made a film in that genre...the most famous rip-off being "When Harry Met Sally..."

Since "Annie Hall" is/was so well-received, there is much written about it, and I won't go into that much here. But what I find interesting, is that one of the jokes in the movie did not wear well over time. In the movie, Keaton finds Woody's "Impeach Ronald Reagan" button. However, this was made BEFORE his presidency! It was of course a joke made about his governorship, and comparing that to all the Presidents that he wanted impeached.

As for his other films, I'd say my second favorite is "The Purple Rose of Cairo."

Unfortunately, his personal life with Soon Yi Previn has really turned me off to him as a filmmaker, and I haven't liked too much of his stuff since his relationship became public. Yes, I know it shouldn't matter, but it still does. That, and the fact that it's the same whiny character in all his films. Enough already!

Woody Allen is a riot. I'm only 16 and I think he's brilliant. His one liners are crazy. His best movies are Annie Hall and Sleeper.

"I would never join a club that would have me as a member."

"Cheap Japanese flying packs."

Woody Allen is very much a love-him or hate-him filmmaker I think. Personally, I'm a big fan of his and he is, in my opinion, a genius.
His films are always fresh, clever and funny and even though his later films haven't been masterpieces (with the exception of Deconstructing Harry and perhaps Mighty Aphrodite) they are still very good indeed. I actually really like the underrated Anything Else and Melinda and Melinda.
Woody is a unique filmmaker and American cinema would be boring without him. My favourite film of his is probably Annie Hall, with Play It Again Sam, Manhattan, Deconstructing Harry and Broadway Danny Rose just behind. I love all of them anyway, in my opinion, every single Woody Allen film is worth seeing, there are always flashes of genius to applaude.
Keep on truckin' Woody.

Another one of his recent films I liked was "Sweet and Lowdown". A rare chance to see Sean Penn do comedy, which I haven't seen since "Fast Times at Ridgemont High".

I am interested to see his new one called Match Point. Everything I have read is calling it his best in a long time.

I guess I'm excited for Match Point too, then, because I have long been a fan of his. Not to say he hasn't disappointed me recently, but most of his movies are brilliant.

I saw "Manhattan Murder Mystery" last weekend, always one of my favorite Woody Allen films. The only Allen film I don't care for was the musical from the 90s, I forget the title now, the one where they sang the dialogue. I've been trying to rent "Melinda and Melinda" for the last couple weeks but the dvds are always checked out. So when is "Match Point" in theatres?

The one you don't like is Everyone Says I Love You, which I do like, even though nobody can sing (they only sing the songs, not the dialogue--it's not The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ), but it's got other assets, especially the feminine cast. The scene with Drew Barrymore and Tim Roth on the balcony is unreal.

I saw Melinda and Melinda in an airplane flying home from New Zealand in August, but they may have cut something. I thought it was a tad better than his most recent flicks.

Match Point is already playing in some European countries, but it won't commercially play in the U.S. until the end of December (for Oscar eligibility), with a wider release early 2006.

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Originally posted by mark f:
The one you don't like is Everyone Says I Love You, which I do like, even though nobody can sing (they only sing the songs, not the dialogue--it's not The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ), but it's got other assets, especially the feminine cast. The scene with Drew Barrymore and Tim Roth on the balcony is unreal.

I like Everyone Says I Love You, too. I think the fact that none of the actors could sing is one of the things I enjoyed most. In addition to the great female cast, I'm also a sucker for Alan Alda.

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Originally posted by PRG:

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Originally posted by mark f:
The one you don't like is Everyone Says I Love You, which I do like, even though nobody can sing (they only sing the songs, not the dialogue--it's not The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ), but it's got other assets, especially the feminine cast. The scene with Drew Barrymore and Tim Roth on the balcony is unreal.

I like Everyone Says I Love You, too. I think the fact that none of the actors could sing is one of the things I enjoyed most. In addition to the great female cast, I'm also a sucker for Alan Alda.

Maybe I judged too quick. Next time I run across it on tv, I'll give it another view. After all I only saw it once and an Allen film is definately worth a second chance.

Yep, definitely. I like Everyone Says I Love You, the first time I saw it I was like "hey, none of these guys can sing, what's the deally-o?". But I enjoyed it nevertheless. Afterwards, the songs stayed with me and I just had to see it again, the second time I enjoyed it even more. Woody didn't want to the songs to be sung by professionals, he wanted a musical where the characters sing as if they were actually bursting into song, in a more realistic way. I heard he didn't even tell the actors it was a musical until they had signed up, lol.
Drew Barrymore is the only one who got dubbed because she convinced Woody that she really was a terrible singer. My favourite bit in the film is the last scene where Goldie Hawn and Woody dance, it's just very magical.

Like Russell Crowe I struggle to separate Allen's private life from his movies. Still, Crowe is a great actor and Allen is one of the most brilliant directors of smart, witty comedy. "Take the Money and Run," "Annie Hall" and "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex but Was Afraid to Ask" are among my favorites. It would be a shame to allow their lack of self-control to hinder people from good quality films. Few rival Allen's genuius in revealing the neurotic in the routine of day to day life.

I don't know if you can equate Russell Crowe's boorish behavior with Woody Allen's. Woody bordered on being a pedophile.

In any event, I'm a huge Woody Allen fan but find there has been a huge drop off in his work in the past decade or so. I thought he might have been back on his game with MATCH POINT, but that looks like it was just a late career aberration. SCOOP, which just came out, was a real stinker.

My favorite Allen film is ANOTHER WOMEN. I just love that movie. I like his serious movies more than his comedies. People criticize his efforts as Woody being a Bergman wannabe, but I thought INTERIORS was a terrific film.

Another film of his, which kind of came and went to middling reviews that I liked, was SEPTEMBER.

Woody is an ersatz of Ingmar Bergman. This is not a negative statement, however, this is visible through his distinction of focusing on women, men, and dialogue in his movies. Much as if the audience is led to watch an Ingmar Bergman movie, the viewer expects to be dominated for two hours by men and women in logorrhea.

This is his movie: a man attempting to have sex with a woman, yet he is tragically accompanied by his unique neurotic persona. Woody’s focus is on how it affects the man’s personal illusion of life, and the lady he is with.

Woody has directed some of the finest comedic, tongue-in-cheek American movies. As an actor he excels in the singular principal of being a comedic actor: humor. Whereas other ‘70’s/‘80’s mascots have proven to be inferior actors of comedy, who depend on camp, slap-stick, and various forms of humility upon themselves to obtain laughs. Allen blurts some witty dialogue and as a viewer you will laugh (slightly with tears.) His objective is not to have his viewer be hysterical, but merely to enjoy his movie, to be delighted, and to simply laugh. Much as how Bergman and radio shows affected his comedic sensors.

His finest pieces are inarguably his earliest. His latter movies are redundant, incoherent messes that are far superficial and insipid than Allen’s earlier movies. They appear as if another director filmed them. Besides 2005’s Match Point, which is a Jarmusch/Lynch mystery—a work of high intellectual breadth, woven in with poignancy and nuances—his films often involved hokey characters, doing—not saying—hokey things. His ear for dialogue quickly disappeared. By metamorphic transition he became the new age Allen. This new Allen relies on clichés, actions and caricatures to “spice up” his movie. This new Allen dominates his movie by casting himself as lead actor—an obtuse, incoherent, babbling dotard. Allen has two genres of films, the ‘70’s dive into auteurism, and the ‘90’s dive into conventionalism. Both categories do have exceptions and this is not startling. Farrow and Keaton always told Allen, “You are never moving out of New York.” They were all mistaken due to their sexual lust and Allen proved them incorrect. He seems to be settling fine in Britain.

Enjoyable Allen Cinema:
Manhatten
Annie Hall
Zelig
Sleeper
Hannah and Her Siters
Husbands and Wives
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Sweet and Lowdown

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Originally posted by mark f:
Nobody has ANY comments AT ALL about "What's Up, Tiger Lily?", "Annie Hall", "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Broadway Danny Rose", "Bullets Over Broadway",

Works of a genius.

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"Take the Money and Run", "Bananas", "Play it Again, Sam", "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*", "Sleeper", "Love and Death", "Manhattan", "Stardust Memories", "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy", "Zelig", "Hannah and Her Sisters", "Crimes and Misdemeanors", "Alice", "Shadows and Fog", "Husbands and Wives", "Manhattan Murder Mystery", "Mighty Aphrodite", "Everyone Says I Love You", "Deconstructing Harry", "Sweet and Lowdown"

Not so much so the works of a genius ...