@Irene Adler - It seems we have a few favorite movies in common. Yeah Woody Allen's films are great. I've seen 41 feature films he's directed (all but WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY?), including the TV movie DON'T DRINK THE WATER. From movies he acts in but haven't directed I've seen THE FRONT, PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM, and PICKING UP THE PIECES. I think his best movies are SLEEPER, MANHATTAN, ANNIE HALL, RADIO DAYS, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, HUSBANDS AND WIVES, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, MATCH POINT and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. I wrote a post in my blog awhile ago called "12 reasons why I dig Woody Allen's movies" and I thought I'd copy/paste it here. I would also like to comment on some of your favorite movies but since this is going to be a long post already, I'll leave that to a later time.

1. He’s directed only his own scripts ever since he was dissatisfied how What’s New Pussycat? turned out . There are exceptions of course but when you make a movie based on a story and characters you’re written yourself you can really bring them alive. Kevin Smith is a prime example of this. Clerks and Chasing Amy are brilliant movies and sadly Cop Out sucked big time. Then again so did Red State. So maybe Allen is like Smith, a master only in their most familiar genre. It might be interesting to see a horror movie or something from Woody someday. And since Woody’s into italian directors, he could try something similar to Dario Argento or Lucio Fulci.

2. He doesn’t do sequels. Sure some of his movies have very similar premises (Crimes and Misdemeanors/Match Point) but they’re always still original stories with original characters.

3. He puts no explosions or needless nudity in his movies. Yes, nudity is very nice but his movies and stories just don’t need any.

4. He barely uses any special effects. There are some but they are always crucial to being able to tell the story. E.g making a character appear blurry in Deconstructing Harry.

5. He educates us and maybe gets some of us into the masters of art that we haven’t really checked into before. Dostoyevsky, Bergman etc.

6. He doesn’t make movies that are overlong. I’d say the average length of his movies is around 95 minutes. His longest movie is Match Point at 124 minutes.

7. He’s gotten a lot of great actors to act in his movies for a very little money. And many of these thespians have won Oscars for their performances. Has also worked with a lot of great cinematographers over the years such as Gordon Willis, Sven Nyqvist and Carlo di Palma.

8. He likes to try new stuff in his movies. The split-screen conversation in Annie Hall made directors to realise it’s potential in story-telling.

9. He doesn’t make movies for the money. He doesn’t change his style just because it would gross more money in theaters. Has been loyal to his own thing for four decades. Match Point was the first movie to be released in America in 19 years to make profit. The previous one was Hanna and Her Sisters.

10. He gets new sides out of actors. Have you heard Edward Norton sing before in musical style like he did in Everyone Says I Love You? Doesn’t tell his actors too much how to act or what to do in the scene but let’s them try things out themselves.

11. He always puts the characters first. The story is written through their lives and it’s about the relationships of the characters. You don’t need super fast editing or pompous techno music and other fluff to present the story. It’s the simplicity that makes the movies work so well.

12. He doesn’t change his style or revamp his passion accoring to the times. He still uses the same Windsor font against a black background like he’s done for decades. He doesn’t need today’s music hits to make his movies great but uses his own music or jazz classics.There’s a couple of directors and movies that have somewhat a Woody Allen feel to their movies that I like. When Harry Met Sally is a great movie directed by Rob Reiner. Also Edward Burns has directed several Woodyesque movies that I liked for example The Brothers McMullen, She’s The One and Sidewalks of New York. If you’re into Woody’s movies you might want to check into those. To me Woody is a true auteur that many directors since have tried to copy with not that good results.

Myself included. When I graduated from film school I wrote and directed this short film that was named after my home town, it was shot in black & white and the opening titles had white text against a black background. This other short film I did in that school had Django Reinhardt over the closing credits. What can I tell you. You are what you eat.

I live just up the road, literally, from where Anne Boleyn's sister and husband lived in real life. It is a very attractive moated manor house. We have a local pub named after Anne Boleyn herself. The family name was Bullen originally, but that sounded a bit too DULL and so they made it sound more exotic by changing the spelling.

My favourite comedy film at the moment is The Hangover. It is a bit of a lads' movie but it is very, very funny and extremely well acted.

Davina wrote:

I live just up the road, literally, from where Anne Boleyn's sister and husband lived in real life. It is a very attractive moated manor house. We have a local pub named after Anne Boleyn herself. The family name was Bullen originally, but that sounded a bit too DULL and so they made it sound more exotic by changing the spelling.

wow  yur so lucky davina!! I  didn't know that abt their surname.  A lot of families did that,  back then,  and when they came to America through Ellis Island.    Mine did.   and I love english manor houses.   I  have yet to see one in real life.    Mostly I see them just on the telly.   


Oh...comedy---  I  LOVE  the bob hope/bing crosby road movies.   ALL of them!!     Also  I  have The Paleface   and I've got Fancy Pants, which  is sort of a retelling of The Paleface.    Hee hee hee!!

Hm, I don't care for Woody Allen :/ (don't hit me!)

Well, what movies do I like...
very big Sci-Fi and Fantasy fan here. I especially love everything that's dystopian... or (post-)apocalyptic.
I generally don't like musicals or rom-coms, though I might make some exceptions.
And also historical movies. They tend to be boring.

The Hangover is very funny, I agree. But not so much the second movie.. :/

Uhh, and... Danny Boyle anyone?

Dramagod wrote:

@Milkomeda - we have a somewhat similar taste in movies, especially in sci-fi movies. I forgot Zemeckis' CONTACT from my list. Have you seen it? It's brilliant..

I vaguely remember something from this name, but with the description of the movie, I don't think so...

I love dystopia too Sammy! Have you read or saw 1984? It's the dystopian classic.

Last edited by Milkomeda (June 21, 2012 9:13 pm)

I like The Road, more post-apocalyptic than dystopian though, the movie 1984 was great, a lot like the book: slow and grey. I like Gattaca and 12 Monkeys too, but I never thought of Blade Runner as a dystopia. I'll have to re-read the book! I already heard about Metropolis and it sounds interesting, it's a movie I'd like to see someday.

Surely, you're right, it just a long time I haven't read it. I love the book, I don't know why I haven't watch the movie.

Never watched the movie? Never? Never! Oh you don't know what you've been missing. Make sure you watch the director's cut though.

Dramagod wrote:

You definitely should. I on the otherhand have the book but haven't read it. I'll read the book and you'll watch the movie. We got a deal?

Why not? I'm sure it's as good as the book!