These rankings are great, both these and Alexpop's. I like some of these more than you two and some of them less, but that is part of the fan of being a fan and being in a fan community.
My Top Eleven (in release order for some reason): Love and Death Annie Hall Manhattan Broadway Danny Rose The Purple Rose of Cairo Hannah and Her Sisters Radio Days Crimes and Misdemeanors Husbands and Wives Sweet and Lowdown Midnight in Paris Bubbling Under: Bananas Sleeper Zelig Bullets Over Broadway Deconstructing Harry Match Point Blue Jasmine
Top eleven : all perfect “10”? His entire oeuvre is brillant. But.. certain films resonate more. ( all subjective).
Interesting stance, as they are a resort town, tourism is their main industry, and their economy has apparently been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Oh well...
Think it’s more to do with Covid 19.. they don’t want film crews there .. or anybody bringing in the virus from another country.. which is ironic as Spain is now the worst European country for Covid fatality.
Understood. I live in the US and personally, I try to stay home as much as possible. And living in the DC area, where we usually have so many tourists year round but particularly over the summers, there are so many leisure-based businesses that are really hurting. What a mess... I've been trying to find video of Woody introducing the movie at the premiere (via Zoom or whatever). No luck so far.
Okay, I know that this is me just moaning a bit, but even though everything that I've read about Rifkin's Festival has been positive (even if some of it begrudgingly so), I'm a little sick of the "he keeps making the exact same movie" theme. If you look at his last six projects or so, it seems even more inaccurate: A Rainy Day in New York: the adventures of a callow young douche Wonder Wheel: trying to do 30s style tragedy about an aging woman Crisis in Six Scenes: farce about radicalism in the 60s Cafe Society: okay, so, kind of a callow young douche again, but a different plot from Rainy Day Irrational Man: existential drama/mystery/thriller Magic in the Moonlight: period romantic comedy
I prefer his scripts read with older actors. I think twenty somethings have their own philosophical jargon.
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Wikipedia My pick for best 21C Allen film, probably along with Match Point. All the other ones rank way lower for me. I’m quite partial to Whatever Works, so maybe I’d put that one in 3rd place. But Tall Dark Stranger and Match Point are the only latter-day ones I’d put in the same company as his 1980s filmography.
I'm a late viewer of Blue Jasmine. I really like it and think it is one of my favorites this century.
So, Tall Dark Stranger definitely seems to have its fans...I may have to re-watch it soon! Personally, I'd include Midnight in Paris in the same company as his earlier classics...
Okay, if you could do a re-watch RIGHT NOW of any Woody Allen movie, which would you choose? And why, if you feel like making your case...
I would have rated Tall Dark Stranger as one of his worst, but I haven't seen it since it was released. I need to try and watch it again. Some of these I have seen very recently and some it's been a while, but these are the movies I rated on IMDB after my latest viewing. Opinions change over the years, and I have seen all the movies, but hard to rate a movie if I haven't seen it in a few years. A good example is Midnight In Paris which I just watched a few weeks ago again. It didn't hold up for me as much as the first time. Is it really worse than Cafe Society? Probably not, as that opinion could change on my next viewing. Most of the latest ones I watched in the theater and I may be being a little generous. Hard to say without watching them again. I did a ranking of all his movies a few years ago, but I would already change several things about it. It's such a huge list to rank all of them! As of today, It looks like my favorites in the last 20 years are Small Time Crooks, Blue Jasmine and Wonder Wheel. Take The Money and Run- 10/10 Bananas-10/10 Play It again Sam- 10/10 Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex 10/10 Sleeper- 10/10 Love and Death 10/10 Annie Hall 10/10 Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy 8/10 Broadway Danny Rose 10/10 Purple Rose of Cairo 9/10 Hannah and Her Sisters 7/10 Radio Days 9/10 Crimes and Misdemeanors- 9/10 Shadows and Fog 8/10 Everyone Says I Love You- 8/10 Sweet and Lowdown- 9/10 Small Time Crooks- 8/10 Match Point- 7/10 Scoop- 6/10 Casandras Dream- 7/10 Midnight In Paris- 6/10 Blue Jasmine- 8/10 Irrational Man- 7/10 Cafe Society- 7/10 Wonder Wheel- 8/10
So, this is great...I really should watch Wonder Wheel again. I didn't care for it when I saw it in the theater but I do have the Blu-ray so I will be checking it out again. But lists like these are always interesting and always valid. I'm interested in your relatively low ranking for Hannah and Her Sisters. Sometimes a film just doesn't hit everyone the same way.
My top end would be... Annie Hall 10 Manhattan 10 Crimes and Misdemeanors 10 Hannah and her Sisters 10 The Purple Rose of Cairo 10 Radio Days 10 Manhattan Murder Mystery 10 Deconstructing Harry 10 Bullets Over Broadway 10 Take the Money and Run 10 Husbands and Wives 9 Zelig 9 Sleeper 9 Stardust Memories 9 Shadows and Fog 9 Everyone Says I Love You 9 Midnight in Paris 9 Sweet and Lowdown 9 I'd need time to think about the rest (and I've probably missed some already...)
I was also surprised to see I rated that only a 7/10. I may have to watch again and see why. I love the colors and the lighting in Wonder Wheel. Really fantastic cinematography on that movie. I also think Kate Winslet was great in it.
Helen Bonham Carter‘s the latest to say something about Woody. “ he’s not a good kisser “ apparently on set / filming .. he doesn’t like wet kissing, prefers the old forties noir.. just lips touching kissing scenes. So hardly a condemnation for a change.
Anything Else! Woody's small part is quite good, but it can't make up for the rest of that disaster. My top ten (in no order) Play it Again, Sam (I don't care that he didn't direct it!) Annie Hall Manhattan Stardust Memories Purple Rose of Cairo Hannah & Her Sisters Crimes & Misdemeanors (#1) Husbands & Wives Deconstructing Harry Midnight in Paris Near misses: Broadway Danny Rose Sweet & Lowdown Match Point Blue Jasmine (points deducted for being too much of a C&M re-write)
Everyone always says this, but I remember liking it. I would love to see it again and see what I think. I remember Woody and Stockard Channing being amusing and working well together. Jason Biggs is probably unbearable, but I like Christina Ricci. I haven't seen it in probably 15 years so I would be curious. I remember disliking both films that surround it (Hollywood ending and Melinda and Melinda) and would probably say those are some of his worst, but I also have not seen them in 15 years. I need to reevaluate all of these movies. Of his more recent films I really didn't like Magic in the Moonlight.
This is great...and yeah, Anything Else may be at the bottom of the list for me too. I'm going to re-watch Whatever Works pretty soon, and I remember not digging that one the first time around. I do think that our Forum Founder had strong feelings about Alice being the stinker of all stinkers...it might not even be in the bottom five for me. I'm currently really in the mood to watch Sweet and Lowdown again. Though if I'm sticking to my plan of a chronological order re-watch, it's time for Scoop!
I have found, in re-watching them, something to appreciate in all of them. I did like Anything Else more the second time around, I really enjoyed Woody's performance and thought that it looked gorgeous. Jade Scorpion was a little better than I remembered and Hollywood Ending a little worse. I still really enjoyed Match Point the second time around, but was surprised that I'd forgotten so much of the plot twists and the timing of events in the story.
