Woody Allen

[lazarus]

It's just outside of a decade, but I think Magic in the Moonlight is a largely unsung modern classic, and one of my favorites.

I always go to bat for this one, really love the variation on Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, and I thought Emma Stone was hilarious.

If there's one thing I've learned discussing movies online for decades, is that it's impossible to form any kind of consensus or pattern as to what post-2000 Woody Allen films people will like or dislike, it's about as particular a taste as I've ever seen with no rhyme or reason. Yes, there are a few stinkers that have very few defenders and some that appear to have wide acclaim, but one can see right on the last two pages that Match Point has a number of detractors despite getting good reviews at the time.

The other one I'm probably in the minority on (although someone else praised it above) is Scoop, and that's because I was really won over by Scarlett Johansson and how she went from her dramatic role in Match Point to the very neurotic Allen-type character there. I thought her and Woody were great together and it's nice knowing they've stayed friends even after his scandal went viral again. A shame they haven't worked together since the trio they did in the mid-2000s.

I loved Coup de Chance and thought it went beyond the novelty of being in French; clever and entertaining in its own right, and there's always Storaro to make it look good. Lou de Laâge was fantastic and Woody's eye for good actresses certainly hasn't flagged since she was so well-praised in the TV show Etoile earlier this year.

One last thing is that it's nice to see some admirers of Shadows and Fog, because it wasn't well-received when it came out. The ending is sublime and one of Woody's best.

[bearcuborg]

Boy, I really enjoyed that Woody Allen interview with Bill Maher. I was worried when I saw the Youtube comments making jokes that was nice of Woody to interview Bill - but I don't think he interrupted him too much. Bill was excited and clearly had great affection for Woody. Much like Woody wanted to emulate Bob Hope on his dates, and not Alan Ladd. I found myself wanting to be Woody Allen and not Stallone in my young adulthood. I never knew Woody didn't care so much for Casablanca, something I was always ashamed to admit. Even now, Woody makes me feel that it's okay to not be like everyone else.

I hope Woody does more interviews.

[mfunk9786]

Would've been a lot better if not for Maher. He asks Allen if he's seen certain films, and chooses stuff like Twilight, which is nearly 20 years old by now and might not have even been on his kids' radar as a result. Maher doesn't seem to really keep up with what's actually going on in popular culture, so the notion of him bridging some kind of gap between what is current and what Allen keeps up with was lost pretty early on. Wouldn't be shocked to hear if he's not seen one of Allen's films in years, either, so why bother? It bothers me when interviewers have big enough names to get these people on but then don't really use that clout in an interesting or illuminative way. Reminds me of when he had Chris Rock on his HBO show around ten years ago for a 'sit down interview' type format and said "No sex in the champagne room... is that true?! What's that all about?" - dude, lol, at least try

[bearcuborg]

There’s a history of Woody potentially saying interesting things about movies, other than his own, in interviews, but shortchanging us. In the Richard Schickel doc about Charlie Chaplin, Woody didn’t think much about Chaplin dancing with the globe in The Great Dictator-but being the hack that Schickel was-he didn’t follow up on that.

I would have loved to listen to Woody on Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast.

[beamish14]

Would've been a lot better if not for Maher. He asks Allen if he's seen certain films, and chooses stuff like Twilight, which is nearly 20 years old by now and might not have even been on his kids' radar as a result. Maher doesn't seem to really keep up with what's actually going on in popular culture, so the notion of him bridging some kind of gap between what is current and what Allen keeps up with was lost pretty early on. Wouldn't be shocked to hear if he's not seen one of Allen's films in years, either, so why bother? It bothers me when interviewers have big enough names to get these people on but then don't really use that clout in an interesting or illuminative way. Reminds me of when he had Chris Rock on his HBO show around ten years ago for a 'sit down interview' type format and said "No sex in the champagne room... is that true?! What's that all about?" - dude, lol, at least try

Per Jason Biggs, he did love American Pie. At least the original. Woody does seem to watch a large swath of Hollywood and less commercial fare

[Maltic]

Well, American Pie is about highschoolers having sex...

[Swift]

Debut novel due out this fall

It's pretty much what you would expect a Woody Allen novel to be. The main character is a frustrated writer in a dying marriage who is intensely jealous of the success of his handsome novelist stepson, who is the talk of the town and the apple of his mother's eye. The stepson (named Thane for some reason, is that a name?) brings over his latest gorgeous girlfriend and Baum instantly feels a connection and falls heavily for her.

Of interest to fans, there is a subplot hinting at some autobiographical details. Baum makes a clumsy pass at a journalist after an interview and is caught up in a MeToo scandal with his publishers dropping him after the young staff there refuse to work on his book. Unfortunately this thread is never followed up on and disappears for much of the rest of the book without much of a resolution. (It is tempting to also read Ronan Farrow into the stepson character and Mia Farrow into the wife, but I don't know if that holds up. Also weirdly, the journalist is mentioned multiple times as being Asian. Again, maybe grasping at straws here)

Ultimately it's very light and an enjoyable read but honestly very forgettable. Unfortunately his dialogue doesn't have the same impact when not delivered snappily on screen, and I think I only had a couple of little snickers overall while reading.

[pistolwink]

I can't help but read the publisher's promotional copy as cryptically tongue-in-cheek: "This comic novel will set the literary world on its ear." Uh huh.

[hearthesilence]

Patrick McGilligan ran a poll in his excellent new book on Woody Allen - not everyone agreed to participate, but 104 did (with at least Jonathan Rosenbaum posting his response online). When asked to pick their five favorites (with each pick getting scored equally in the final tally), the top vote-getters were:

1. Annie Hall (84 votes)
2. [tie] Crimes and Misdemeanors (54); Hannah and Her Sisters (54)
4. Manhattan (46)
5. Purple Rose of Cairo (26)
6. Midnight in Paris (24)
7. Zelig (21)
8. Broadway Danny Rose (20)
9. [tie] Radio Days (18); Match Point (18)
11. [tie] Vicky Cristina Barcelona (13); Blue Jasmine (13)
13. Bullets over Broadway (12)

This was meant to be a top ten, but with the ties, it's really a top 13. He also mentions that Husbands and Wives (11 votes) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (10) just missed the cut, though he doesn't mention if any films prior to 1992 garnered the same number of votes. (He only specified those two while making a point about his later films still doing well in the poll despite many claiming he became to prolific down the stretch.)

Also, Woody Allen has written an extensive appreciation for Diane Keaton in the wake of her death, but it's behind a paywall and it's published by the Free Press. Variety, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter have details though.

[agnamaracs]

but it's behind a paywall and it's published by the Free Press.

Uh, that's not very free.

[hearthesilence]

but it's behind a paywall and it's published by the Free Press.

Uh, that's not very free.

In more ways than one!

[okcmaxk]

Un-paywalled by someone

[beamish14]

Kind of shocking that Sleeper isn’t there

[swo17]

Or Love & Death

[The Curious Sofa]

I guess they didn't like his "early, funny films". But yes, it's a worthless poll without Sleeper and Love & Death.

[hearthesilence]

Some notes on that poll:

"The bulk of the votes in this poll were collected in 2020–2021, with many tallied after the broadcast of the Allen v. Farrow documentary. The respondents were voluntary, and some people, when initially contacted by the author, opted out of participation because of the hostile climate surrounding the filmmaker and his oeuvre. More than one admitted a wariness of expressing any sort of approval of Woody Allen...

"An effort was made to balance the sampling in terms of age, race, gender, and geographic representation (half the 104 respondents are men and the other half women)..."

"Woody Allen haters were welcome in the poll, and a small number of participants said they had sworn never to watch or review another Allen picture..."

McGilligan points out that since several dozen people declined to vote or did not reply to his queries, the ties (particularly the one for second place) could have gone either way.

"39 pictures were cited as being among his five best by at least one poll participant. The early, silly comedies Take the Money and Run, Bananas, Sleeper, and Love and Death received numerous votes, threatening to sneak into the top ten [missed this fact - hts]. There were random votes for What’s New Pussycat?, What’s Up, Tiger Lily? [Jonathan Rosenbaum voted for this], and Play It Again, Sam—not Woody Allen films, per se—for New York Stories [again Jonathan Rosenbaum], Alice, Another Woman, Shadows and Fog, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, Celebrity, Hollywood Ending, Scoop, and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

"It’s easier, in fact, to mention the omissions. They include Interiors, the Bergmanesque ultra-drama nominated for five Oscars in 1978, which did not elicit a single vote as someone’s 'best' or favorite. All the others passed over by the voters can be found among his post-2000 credits: Small Time Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Anything Else, Melinda and Melinda, Whatever Works, To Rome with Love, Magic in the Moonlight, Irrational Man, Café Society, A Rainy Day in New York, and Rifkin’s Festival."

[domino harvey]

I would prob have voted for Magic in the Moonlight. The problem is his methodology: five choices are too few and will invariably reinforce the status quo, but a top ten would have produced more interesting results

[hearthesilence]

This is probably true. I know The Curse of the Jade Scorpion probably would've gotten one vote from Rosenbaum if it was a top ten, but he's always been a deep skeptic of Allen so his ballot was going to look unusual. (He posted it here FWIW. I don't know anyone else who has posted their ballot.)

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, to possibly reinforce the point, if I had voted, I definitely would've picked three that landed in the top ten (i.e. what should've been a rigid top ten, not the expanded one to thirteen) and at least one more that either made it into the top ten or nearly made it in.

[domino harvey]

Looking at my top ten from our forum list, I would have rescued a few orphans or also rans he highlights

01 the Purple Rose of Cairo
02 Love and Death
03 Magic in the Moonlight
04 Radio Days
05 Broadway Danny Rose
06 Deconstructing Harry
07 Husbands and Wives
08 Alice
09 Everyone Says I Love You
10 Melinda and Melinda

[hearthesilence]

Thinking it over, I think Manhattan Murder Mystery would've been the lowest vote-getter in my ballot of five, and as he mentioned, that would've tied for 13th (or "tenth") if it had gotten 12 instead of 10 votes. My other four already landed in the top ten with Match Point having the lowest vote total of those four.

[The Curious Sofa]

Midnight in Paris, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Blue Jasmine would have no place in my top ten.

[hearthesilence]

I think they were okay, but in their defense, I remember Midnight in Paris being fairly entertaining if lightweight from end-to-end, and the scene with the Surrealists has one of my favorite exchanges in any Woody Allen movie:

Spoiler

Gil: You guys are going to think I'm drunk, but I have to tell someone...I'm from a - different time. Another era. The future. Okay? I come from the 2000 millennium to here. I get in a car, and I slide through time.

Man Ray: Exactly correct! You inhabit two worlds. So far, I see nothing strange.

Gil: Well...yeah, you're surrealists!

And Cate Blanchett stands out in Blue Jasmine, though I also saw her in the production of A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Liv Ullman that was at BAM several years before Blue Jasmine, and comparisons to the play only remind me how much richer that experience was compared to Allen's film.

[hearthesilence]

Looks like Annie Hall will play at AMC theaters for one week. This must be the 4K restoration that hasn't been issued on Blu-ray yet, but I guess we'll see.

[Aunt Peg]

It is so hard to do a top ten for Woody Allen because he made so many great films that I love so dearly.

From Play It Again Sam (I know Herbert Ross directed it but I'll count it anyway) through to Bullets Over Broadway is probably the best run any director had and in Allen's case writer/director. All very good to great films across the board. And that also includes Oedipus Wrecks which I consider the best film made as part of an anthology film, of which many have been made over the years.

Sadly Mighty Aphrodite was a step down from that great long period but it still is good and from there the quality is all over the place. Small Time Crooks is the standout film by far and a couple of others are very charming but 1995 onwards it no match for the quality of what proceeded.