Poll

Your Favorite Woody Allen Film Is:

haven't seen any
1 (3.3%)
don't like any
1 (3.3%)
other
0 (0%)
What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
0 (0%)
Take the Money and Run (1969)
0 (0%)
Bananas (1971)
0 (0%)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1971)
0 (0%)
Sleeper (1973)
0 (0%)
Love and Death (1975)
0 (0%)
Annie Hall (1977)
11 (36.7%)
Interiors (1978)
1 (3.3%)
Manhattan (1979)
2 (6.7%)
Stardust Memories (1980)
2 (6.7%)
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
0 (0%)
Zelig (1983)
0 (0%)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
0 (0%)
The Purple Roise of Cairo (1985)
1 (3.3%)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
1 (3.3%)
Radio Days (1987)
0 (0%)
September (1987)
0 (0%)
Another Woman (1988)
0 (0%)
Oedipus Wrecks (from New York Stories) (1989)
0 (0%)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
3 (10%)
Alice (1990)
0 (0%)
Shadows and Fog (1991)
0 (0%)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
0 (0%)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
0 (0%)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
0 (0%)
Don't Drink the Water (TV) (1994)
0 (0%)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
0 (0%)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
0 (0%)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
0 (0%)
Celebrity (1998)
0 (0%)
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
0 (0%)
Small Time Crooks (2000)
0 (0%)
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
0 (0%)
Hollywood Ending (2002)
0 (0%)
Anything Else (2003)
0 (0%)
Melinda and Melinda (2004)
0 (0%)
Match Point (2005)
2 (6.7%)
Scoop (2006)
0 (0%)
Cassandra's Dream (2007)
0 (0%)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
1 (3.3%)
Whater Works (2009)
0 (0%)
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
1 (3.3%)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
2 (6.7%)
To Rome with Love (2012)
0 (0%)
Blue Jasmine (2013)
1 (3.3%)
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
0 (0%)
Irrational Man (2015)
0 (0%)
Café Society (2016)
0 (0%)
Wonder Wheel (2017)
0 (0%)
A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 25

Author Topic: Allen, Woody  (Read 23070 times)

pixote

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #100 on: July 07, 2015, 03:15:18 AM »
Beginning a long, long journey through the films of Woody Allen:

What's Up, Tiger Lily?  (Woody Allen, 1966)
Dubbing over a Japanese spy comedy with new dialogue and a new story is a great conceit. But this is some lazy, lazy filmmaking. There are, I'm pretty sure, more laughs in the average Bad Lip Reading video on YouTube. And the reinvention of the spy film story isn't nearly clever enough. The running gag that the microfilm Macguffin is really an egg salad recipe — that's the kind of joke your dad whispers to you in the middle of the movie and you give him a sympathy laugh even as your cringing inside because your dad is a horrible whisperer and you know everyone else in the theater is rolling their eyes. But you love your dad, so it's all good. There are, of course, some jokes that land — "Name three presidents" is an example from early in the film that provides the perfect sort of random joy — but there are way more that don't. The total number of jokes even attempted, successful or not, is a shockingly low number. It's almost no wonder the studio felt the need to edit in some extra footage to pad the length. But that extra footage certainly doesn't help matters. From what I can tell, it was a mistake for Allen to reedit the original film in the first place. The result is such a jumbled mess. Sure, Allen appears in the middle of it all to tell us, "Of course it's a jumbled mess! That's the point!" But explaining that particular joke doesn't make it any more funny.
Grade: C-

pixote
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 03:17:24 AM by pixote »
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MartinTeller

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #101 on: July 07, 2015, 02:33:39 PM »
Aw man, I have a soft spot for that one.  Yeah, it's old hat now, but it was pretty clever for the time.  Comedy is very subjective, of course, but I think the ratio of good jokes to clunkers is pretty good.  The inserted bits with the Lovin' Spoonful are a huge mistake, though.

mañana

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #102 on: July 07, 2015, 02:36:00 PM »
That's a good point about the low number of jokes attempted. There are stretches that are oddly without jokes at all. But generally I'm with MT; I think of it fondly except for the Lovin Spoonful scenes.
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MartinTeller

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #103 on: July 07, 2015, 02:47:12 PM »
That's a good point about the low number of jokes attempted. There are stretches that are oddly without jokes at all.

Yeah that's true. Looking back at my last review: "Spy flicks aren’t inherently talky, so you’re left with a lot of dead space where you’re just actually watching the original, unaltered material.  Fortunately the replacement storyline — about the battle over a secret egg salad recipe — is actually entertaining enough in its own right that these scenes aren’t dull, but what you really want is wall-to-wall gags."

pixote

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #104 on: July 07, 2015, 02:57:22 PM »
That's a good point about the low number of jokes attempted. There are stretches that are oddly without jokes at all.

Yeah that's true. Looking back at my last review: "Spy flicks aren’t inherently talky, so you’re left with a lot of dead space where you’re just actually watching the original, unaltered material.  Fortunately the replacement storyline — about the battle over a secret egg salad recipe — is actually entertaining enough in its own right that these scenes aren’t dull, but what you really want is wall-to-wall gags."

That line from your review really stood out to me, making me wonder how the film might have worked around that problem. The first two options that came to mind were to maybe add a narrator; or to use (more) animation over the scenes to work in gags that way.

pixote
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chardy999

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Re: Allen, Woody - Directors Best Poll #2
« Reply #105 on: March 16, 2016, 10:24:16 PM »
Midnight in Paris
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Crimes and Misdemeanors

Match Point
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Blue Jasmine
Magic in the Moonlight

The Purple Rose of Cairo
Hannah and Her Sisters
Husbands and Wives
To Rome With Love
Mighty Aphrodite

Stardust Memories
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #106 on: March 16, 2016, 10:34:44 PM »
I just realised I don't have a full ranking in here.

Manhattan
Annie Hall

Match Point
Crimes and Misdemeanours
Midnight in Paris
Whatever Works
Blue Jasmine

Magic in the Moonlight
Hannah and her Sisters
A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy
Bananas
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Irrational
Man
Celebrity
Melinda and Melinda
Alice
Scoop

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
To Rome With Love


I may be forgetting a couple. What's the one where he plays a director who becomes blind ?
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mañana

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #107 on: March 16, 2016, 11:15:02 PM »
Hollywood Ending
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Corndog

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #108 on: March 29, 2016, 01:08:21 PM »
1. Annie Hall (4)
2. Manhattan (4)
3. Midnight in Paris (3.5)
4. Whatever Works (3)
5. Blue Jasmine (3)
6. Vicky Christina Barcelona (3)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (3)
8. Bananas (3)
9. Cassandra's Dream (3)
10. Crimes and Misdemeanors (2.5)
11. Match Point (2.5)
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Teproc

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Re: Allen, Woody
« Reply #109 on: May 15, 2016, 04:57:12 PM »
Match Point
Annie Hall

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Café Society
Manhattan

Wonder Wheel
Irrational Man


I should see more.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2018, 12:26:45 PM by Teproc »
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