Well, due to the 70th birthday of Woody Allen, several movies of him will air on German TV over the span of the next two weeks and since I realized how few of his movies I have actually seen so far I plan on a Woody Allen film marathon in the upcoming days. It starts today with his film September.


Here's the schedule for the flicks that I will see:


November 29th - September
November 30th - Stardust Memories
December 1st - Small Time Crooks, Crimes and Misdemeanors
December 2nd - Everyone Says I love You
December 3rd - The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
December 4th - Sweet and Lowdown, Annie Hall
December 9th - Bananas



I have only seen Everyone Says I Love You of the ones above and I didn't like it, but I am willing to give it another chance. Those are 9 movies. I will try to rent Melinda and Melinda between the 4th and the 9th, to make it 10 Allen flicks. And on December 22nd I am seeing Match Point in theatres.


I will try to post my opinions on each of these movies in this thread. Of course I would also like if anyone joined in the marathon (even if with other Allen flicks than those above) or just commented on the Allen movies he/she have seen. I think personally after this marathon I should know Allen's works well enough.

I'ven't seen nearly enough, either. Stardust Memories is pretty fantastic. Annie Hall is probably one of my top 10 favorites of the 70s. (though I've only seen it once. :/) Otherwise, cant comment on any of em.

Sadly, that's a pretty poor representation of Allen's work. Damn you, German TV! Lecter wants to see the good stuff. This is a few of his later, lesser works, coupled with at least two classics and some other random choices.

September stands as one of two Woody Allen flicks I haven't seen.

Stardust Memories is a very polarizing movie. I find that those more familiar with the Wood-Man's work tend to like i more. I love it.

Small Time Crooks is pretty unimpressive. Same for Curse of the Jade Scorpion, but there's some good one-liners and it's a pleasant little trifle. But there are so many movies to see before either of these. These just aren't very good.

Crimes and Misdemeanors is a classic, one of his (and therefore cinema's) best. Match Point looks like it could be its thematic cousin.

Sweet and Lowdown is the other one I haven't seen. Not sure why.

Annie Hall is Annie Hall. IMO, one of the 20 or so greatest films ever made.

Bananas is just funny, funny, funny. My personal favorite of his "earlier, funnier ones."

If when this is over, Lecter, you think "whats the big fucking deal?" I assure you that there are much, much better flicks.

But Annie Hall and C&M can't be beat. No, sir.

Lecter, of those I'd say four you should watch for the breadth, though that line-up is sorely lacking in depth.

Bananas: Because its just off the wall. It and What's Up Tiger Lilly are his two quirkiest works, imo.

Small Time Crooks: Cute, lighter newer fair. Didn't love it much, but its an indicator for where his recent works have been.

Annie Hall: The #1 you must see of that line up if you haven't. I don't think there is any way not to love this movie.

Sweet and Lowdown: Very interesting look at the sort of lesser known musician whom Allen was raised listening to his records. This is really a collaboration between Allen, Penn and Morton. Vaulted Morton into the American limelight, and was her first Oscar nom. Penn got a nom too. Clearly an indication of how much attention he spends on them (and Thurman) and how much free reign he gave to their interpretations. Music in the background, setting, everything is very good, and while Penn may harbor some Allen-type nuerosis here, its really one of those movies that is more about a charater than a character study, imo. It doesn't feel like his other movies do, as he bound himself a little bit to telling the musician Emmet's life.

If there are other ones, or you can rent, I'd add Hannah and Her Sisters, and Bullets Over Broadway.

are those the only ones showing on the tv? or ones you've picked out cos you haven't seen them? there's so many he's made, but if you haven't seen it, i'd highly recommend sleeper most definitely!

Matt.

Welcome Matt!


I'm with dolce, where's Bullets Over Broadway???

Have you managed to catch any of these, Lecter?

Yes, I have all of them so far, but I am leaving over the weekend (while taping the others), so no time for comments right now.

And to answer the question, these are the only ones being shown, not because I picked them myself.

Annie Hall was today in Swiss TV. Its a long time ago I saw that. You should really check that. I didnt remember that its that good.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Small Time Crooks are very bleh, it's a shame things like Hannah and Her Sisters and Interiors were not played instead.

I'd like to have myself a little Woody Allen marathon of my own.

I've seen Annie Hall and Manhattan (both of which I love, especially Manhattan). And I've also seen Small Time Crooks. And parts of Love and Death. But I haven't seen any of his other stuff.

Thank you for the inspiration, Lecter.

Lecter, you have not reported back on the marathon. Hook me up, man!

The marathon was extended a little since they have shown Love & Death today which I just caught. First reviews in the next post. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Woody Allen, I just rewatched "What's Up, Tiger Lily?"



That bizarro movie now got me craving some huevos.

Here are my thoughts on some of movies I have seen during the marathon. I haven't seen all of them in the order I have listed them as I taped about half of them and still have a couple to see.


Sweet & Lowdown


This was one of the first I have seen during the marathon and from what I have gathered it is not quite like most Woody Allen movies as it is definitely not so much on the quirky side as the dramatic side. The movie is a biopic of a fictional jazz guitarrist Emmet Ray (Sean Penn) who is irresponsible, arrogant and an alcoholic with weird hobbies (like shooting rats or watching trains) above that.

Like other Woody Allen films it still has quirky elements (see Emett's hobbies), but it does not really fall on a comedic side. Also, just like most (or all?) Allen films, it is pretty short for a biopic (even a fictional one) as it clocks at around 90 minutes. On the one hand it benefits the movie as it never drags, on the other hand you feel like some development of the main character is lacking. I was also not sold on the movie being a "fake" documentary with Woody Allen and several others narrating the "story" of Emett Ray. That didn't quite work for me. As for the storyline itself it was good, but the movie was certainly not among Allen's best written works. The pace is good, but the dialogue is not on-par with many other Allen works I have seen during the marathon.

What really makes this movie worthwhile are the performances. Sean Penn is as great as ever as the usually drunken and freedom-loving Emett Ray. He lives his character and the Oscar nomination was certainly well-deserved. The true highlight of the movie, however, is Samantha Morton's brilliant turn as Hattie, a mute and shy girl who really fell in love with Ray and was the only woman who ever got deeper to his heart than any other. In that year, Morton lost the Best Supporting Actress to Angelina Jolie who deservingly won it, but Morton would definitely be a close second as it was her career-best performance. Uma Thurman delivered a nice turn as well, but her character was ultimately wasted.

The movie steadily improves in its second half and leads to a sad, but very well-done ending. This movie also is an epitome for Woody Allen's love of jazz music, I think and as for that I should note that the movie's soundtrack is really really good.


My grade:


B

Bananas


Seriously I have never expected a Woody Allen movie to be as funny as this one. This is not only a really funny and well-written movie on its own, it is also one of the five funniest films I have seen in the past 12 months. It truly shows Woody Allen's strengths as a screenwriter. I must admit that now, after having seen several Allen movies during the marathon I finally understand why Allen is one of the most acclaimed screenwriters ever. He is a good director, but writing is where his true strength lie in. He took was could be made into a stupid farce with cheap jokes and what did he make out of it? An intelligent farce with hilarious jokes that is not only funny, but also very honest in its approach to many issues that are important right now in our time just like they were back then.


The basic premise of the movie is that a young neurotic (i.e. typically Allen-like) guy, Fielding Mellish, who works as a consumer products tester gets involved with a young political activist Nancy. As she leaves him for the lack of a strong leading personality he leaves the country and heads off to the fictional banana republic (which very obviously represents Cuba) San Marcos which is ruled by a dictator. Once he arrives there, he joins the rebel forces and bigger things start to unfold.


The premise sounds pretty stupid and as a matter of fact it is. But it is amazing how Woody Allen could still spin a hilarious and yet poignant movie with this plot. The best thing about it is that many issues parodied in the movie, especially those involving policies on dictatorship-reigned countries and the way we deal with them are as actual as ever in our world, The same goes for his satire on American media. One of the best and funniest quotes in the entire movie comes up in a scene in which American GI's are shipped to San Marcos for a war:

"Are we fighting for or against the Government?
CIA is not taking any chances this time. Some of use are for and some of us are going to be against them."

As sad as it is to admit it, not much has changed since then, despite the movie being over 30 years old. Certainly not everything in the movie is still as present in our cutlure as it was back then as Allen takes jabs at many things, among them politics, media, sex, the state of church (New Testament cigarettes, anyone?) and others. Some of them are somewhat outdated, but the central themes of the movie are certainly not. Here comes another funny scene to my mind which I won't spoil in which Woody Allen#s character is trying to buy a sex magazine.

I can't stress enough how well this movie is written for a parody and how it is actually one of the few intelligent parodies to come our way that is at the same time surprisingly funny. The one-liners (for which Allen is famous as well) are simply great. Allen's acting is good, but to be frank he is just playing himself as usual (and he is good at it too). The movie loses some steam in its final 20 minutes or so as the final media criticism seems a bit forced and not so funny. The courtroom scene is still very well-done. By far the best stuff in the movie takes place in San Marcos and I think this movie is certainly quite rewatchable.

For everyone who doesn't like Allen and writes him off as a boring filmmaker should check out this one as this movie is very much of a lightweight, it is fun and it is funny: I would seriously recommend it to anyone, those looking for some meaning behind the humor and those simply looking for some humor. I was throughly satisfied on both accounts.


My grade:


B+


PS: Watch out for Sylvester Stallone's short appearance!

Love & Death


I have just watched this some hours ago and I was once again well-entertained. It was not one of the best Allen works I have seen, but I have already seen worse as well. The plot is of a Russian, Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen), who must go to war when Napoleon invades Russia and despite his cowardly and pacifistic nature he becomes a hero. After that his wife persuades him to kill Napoleon in order to end war...


This movie represents the second of seven Diane Keaton/Woody Allen collaborations (if you don't count Play it again, Sam, which Allen wrote, but did not direct). Keaton plays Allen's wife Sonja. The acting by both is good, but not outstanding. The very same goes for the rest of the movie. It is, once again, superbly written with many great one-liners ("I have thought about it for a long time and I have come to the conclusion that the best thing is blonde twelve year old girls" ), but it is very similar to Bananas in nature (which preceeded it by three years) and it is just...a little worse, less poignant and less clear about its motives than Bananas. Once again Allen sets out on a quest to take shots at sex, religion, war and plitics and the movie is still throughly amusing and goes by pretty fast (gotta love Allen for the fact that he manages to get his movies under a running time of 100 minutes!), but it certainly did not have such an impact as Bananas and didn't have so many ridiculously, outrageously hilarious scenes. Many ne-liners, however, have been great.


Another thing I wasn't a big fan of, however, is the somewhat obscure sub-theme of the movie dealing with death. Didn#t really work for me.


My grade:


B

Feel free to comment and discuss all you like.

I'll be back soon with my comments on September, Stardust Memories and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.


More people should join in in discovering Allen!

Yes, i own the soundtrack actually. I have a few points where I differ from you, but overall you have a good eye for the film. It did, never drag. He kept Ray's small run with characters flowing in and out of his life fairly quickly. I did find the end very depressing, and Morton's character a true highlight. Thurman was not wasted, she was meant to be someone unattainable. Someone flighty, wealthy, who comes in and moves out, but is the aspiration of any man who is blind to what is before him with eyes turned towards the distraction.

Emmet Ray's story is quite convincing of the dustbowl jazz. He goes around, barely making ends meet, and his performance hall appearances are all second rate, dingy and perfectly in style with the economy. How he keeps "using" the amatuer performance competitions, and his inability to think he's not better than everyone else, even though he;s really an uncharismatic, unsuccesful man. He spends all this time thinking he's better than his envirnment, when he's not, and that is why his quirky habits fit so perfectly into the mockumentary drama.

I think the painring of soundtrack and film style was also great, as were all the production and design elements of the movie.

I think this is one of his overlooked gems. Even though its not perfect.

Thanks for your comments, Dolce.

I think that despite being a more serious movie, it still had quite a couple of Allen-elements. Like Emmet's weird hobbies and the way he actually gets a lot of "money".

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion


Admittedly, this is not one of Allen's strongest written works, but I liked it a lot. The interaction between Helen Hunt and Woody Allen's character is priceless and this movie has some of the best one-liners ofd all Allen flicks, seriously. I laughed out loud quite a couple of times.

Of course, ultimately the story is cheesy and the ending is pretty corny, but it is still quite an enjoyable movie with a nice twist to it and as I mentioned above, Hunt and Allen are great and the way Allen parodies film noir (with Charlie Theron's femme fatale) is great too. The movie lacks the social commentary of most Allen films, but it does very well without it, being the pure fun flick it is supposed to be.



My grade:


B

I'm finally here, Lecter!

I think you nailed JADE SCORPION. It's not very good, but there's enough one-liners in there to keep it funny. And the noir-aspects are solid. I can't help but think, however, that had Woody tried a noir homage like this say, 20 years ago, he would have churned out a masterpiece.

LOVE AND DEATH and BANANAS are my two favorite of the "early, funny ones." (Sorry, SLEEPER....I love you too, but give me these two any day). I think I prefer L&D though. There's just a fatalism to the humor that I absolutely adore. And while it does get lumped in (I just did it myself) with the "early, funny, insignificant" ones, the philosophical questions here are as potent as they've ever been. And, again, the laughs. "It's no bother" might be the greatest four syllables ever uttered in one of the Wood-man's flicks. The "execution" scene at the end. Plus, you've got Diane Keaton instead of Louise Lasser in BANANAS. I just love watching Woody and Diane together.

Not to disparage BANANAS, which is pretty much every bit as funny. LOVE & DEATH just has an extra "oomph" for me. Wow, Woody Allen mayhave been the greatest joke writer who ever lived.

Review some more! I'm dying to know what you thought of CRIMES and EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU.

Arthur, did you see any more?

I have to say, I rewatched Love & Death for the first time in far far far far too long, and while I don't think it's necessarily his best film, it's far and away his funniest. I wish I'd had it on that top 100 list a while back. The Seventh Seal-esque finale is one of the best conclusions I've ever seen. One of Woody's 3 or 4 best. Amazing.

"If it turns out there IS a god, I don't think he's evil. I think the worst you could say is that he's an underachiever."