Oldies Movie Review - Manhattan

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 96 minutes
Year: 1979
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Murphy, Anne Byrne Hoffman   
 
I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 43: A MOVIE WITH A RATING HIGHER THAN 8 ON IMDB
 
Description: The life of a divorced television writer (Woody Allen) dating a teenage girl (Mariel Hemingway) is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend’s mistress (Diane Keaton)

Review: Some of Woody Allen’s work I really love: “Scoop” was fun, “Annie Hall” is one of his best and “Midnight in Paris” is my absolute favorite. “Manhattan” is probably considered his best, but I don’t really get that.

Most of Allen’s movies are just a bunch of people talking about everyday life. And the city it’s set in it often a very important element of the story. In most of his early work that’s New York, here focusing on Manhattan. And although I always enjoy the funny dialogue Allen writes, there are some elements in this movie that I found troubling.

People are actually okay with a 43-year-old man dating a 17-year-old girl. One character even says 17 isn’t to young. And this girl, Tracy, is totally mesmerized by this man, Woody Allen’s Isaac. Which I don’t understand either, because Isaac is not that special (and he has his fair share of relationships with pretty women). With that, we are supposed to be rooting for characters committing adultery. Isaac’s friend is cheating on his wife and Isaac cheats on Tracy with that same woman. I know it’s a fictional story, but with movies like this you are supposed to sympathize with the main character. I simply couldn’t.

Because I loved the dialogue and the setting, and the way Allen shows his love for New York, I still think it’s an okay film. But there were too many red flags for me.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 76: Annie Hall

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 93 minutes
Year: 1977
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Christopher Walken

Description: Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) falls in love with the ditzy Annie Hall (Diane Keaton).

Review: At first sight “Annie Hall” is just another romantic comedy. But if you look closely you can see that this film inspired a lot of films.
Woody Allen has a gift for observing and analyzing people and in his big break through film it’s fully exposed. And the day to day relationships aren’t dated in this film, because not a lot has changed through the years. It’s still relevant.
Woody Allen is a master in telling a story in an original way, without thinking out of the box too much.
Alvy Singer is one of the best characters I have seen in a long time. And the reason he spoke to me this much is because it was like watching myself. I’m Alvy Singer’s long lost sister. Neurotic, humoristic, overthinking ever day situations, being annoyed by people who talk to loud, not very comfortable in a car.
“Annie Hall” is an absolute gem, I love this movie and I can honestly say this is one of the best romantic comedies ever made.

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 72: New York Stories

Director: Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 1989
Starring: Nick Nolte, Rosanne Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Larry David, Mike Starr, Chris Elliot, Adrien Brody, Kirsten Dunst, Talia Shire

Description: A middle-aged artist (Nick Nolte) obsessed with his pretty young assistant (Rosanna Arquette), a precocious 12 year old living in a hotel, and a neurotic lawyer (Woody Allen) with a possessive mother make up three Gotham tales.

Review: I always like movies with multiple storylines, so I was excited to finally see this. Well, that was a disappointment.
The first story, “Life Lesson”, is about a middle-aged painted who has an obsession with his young assistant. It stars Nick Nolte and Rosanna Arquette. This story was very boring, nothing interesting really happened. And although I love the song Shade of Pale by Procol Harum, there is such an overuse of this song that I didn’t want to hear it anymore after this segment. This story was directed by Martin Scorsese.
The second story, “Life Without Zoë”, follows young girl Zoë. She is a schoolgirl who lives in a luxury hotel. She helps return to an Arab princess a valuable piece of jewelry that the princess had given to Zoë’s father. This story felt so childish and silly. I couldn’t believe that this was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
The final story, “Oedipus Wreck”, is about lawyer Sheldon. He has trouble with his overly critical mother Sadie. During a magic show, Sadie disappears. At first furious, Sheldon eventually realizes that it better that way. This story was actually fun. I loved Woody Allen in it and he also directed it. It was funny and actually kept me watching. They saved the best for last.
Overall “New York Stories” was really disappointing. That last story saved the movie.

Rating: 2/ 5

Movie Favorites: Midnight in Paris

Synopsis: Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents' business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil's daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he's about to marry.

Unique Selling Point: The movie is magical, I fell in love with it right away. It manages to show Paris in the most beautiful way possible. And the perfect leading man was chosen for the role of Gil Pender: Owen Wilson.

Most Valuable Player: Director Woody Allen. His unique way of telling a story, and showing the beauty of a beloved city, worked really well.

Best Moment: At the end, when Gil sees Gabrielle again. He tells her that he’s going to stay in Paris and Gil invites her for a cup of coffee. It starts to rain. Gabrielle tells Gil she doesn’t mind getting wet and that Paris is at its best when it’s raining.

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 4: To Rome with Love

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Woody Allen, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin, Penélope Cruz, Roberto Benigni, Greta Gerwich, Alison Pil, Judy Davis, Alessandro Tiberi, Alessandra Mastronardi, Flavio Parenti

Description: The intertwining stories of a worker who wakes up to find himself a celebrity (Roberto Benigni), an architect (Alec Baldwin) who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student, a young couple (Alessandro Tiberi, Alessandra Mastronardi ) on their honeymoon, and a frustrated opera director (Woody Allen) who has a talent for discovering talented singers.

Review: For director Woody Allen it has become the recipe: pick a famous city, choose a couple of interesting characters, add some storylines to it and finish it off with some witty comedy. Where he’s taken on Barcelona (“Vicky Cristina Barcelon”), London (“You Will Mee a Tall Dark Stranger”) and Paris (“Midnight in Paris”), he chose Rome for his décor this time.
I always like movies with multiple storylines, but it’s a bit too much here, even for Woody Allen. It’s very hard to make four completely different stories, which absolutely no relation, interesting. Which make some of the storylines feel a bit incomplete. For instance the story op Leopoldo, an average citizen who becomes a celebrity all of a sudden. It’s a good concept but doesn’t have the humor it should have. None of these stories are above average and the characters are all superficial and easily replaceable.
“To Rome with Love” does have some interesting moments, like the story of Jerry who discover that Giancarlo is a fantastic opera singer. But it also appears that he can only sing this well in the shower. This storyline is funny at times. The music that was used for the film is very characteristic and makes you think you’re in Rome. But the city of Rome isn’t used the way Allen did with Paris in one of my favorites “Midnight in Paris”, which was a hit. Is “To Rome with Love” a miss? Not completely, but it’s definitely not one of his best movies.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

Movie Tip #46 - Scoop

Director: Woody Allen

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Woody Allen, Hugh Jackman, Romola Garai, Ian McShane

Description: In the funeral of the famous British journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane), his colleagues and friends recall how obstinate he was while seeking for a scoop. Meanwhile the deceased Joe discloses the identity of the tarot card serial killer of London. He cheats the Reaper and appears to the American student of journalism Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), who is on the stage in the middle of a magic show of the magician Sidney Waterman (Woody Allen) in London, and tells her that the murderer is the aristocrat Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Sondra drags Sid in her investigation, seeking for evidences that Peter is the killer. However, she falls in love with him and questions if Joe Strombel is right in his scoop.

Review: When I first read the plot of this film, I didn't really expect much. I'm not a Woody Allen fan and it seemed a little bit too standard. But this movie actually made me want to see more of Allen's work. I really enjoyed myself here. Scarlett was good, I liked her. I know a lot of people critisize her, but I always appreciated her work. She managed to lose her sexyness and be an avarage and spirited girl. The humour in "Scoop" was great and I loved Woody Allen in this film. He kinda made me nervous a little, but in a good way like Inspector Clouseau makes me nervous. And Hugh Jackman is charming as ever. "Scoop" has a nice light-hearted feel to it and is a very consistent. Johansson and Allen work great together. I think this movie was overlooked by many people and it's definitely worth watching, because you might like it.