Category Archives: Comedy

Day 172: Shadows and Fog

Posted on by
Reply

51MJ3DB536LShadows and Fog, the 21st movie Woody Allen directed, boasts another huge cast.

And a very strange plot.

And Mia Farrow, who was in every one of Woody’s movies since 1982’s A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy.

According to its entry on Wikipedia,

Shadows and Fog (1991) is a black-and-white film directed by Woody Allen and based on his one-act play Death. It stars Allen, Mia Farrow, John Malkovich, John Cusack, Madonna, and Kenneth Mars. It was filmed on a 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) set at Kaufman Astoria Studios, which holds the distinction of being the biggest set ever built in New York. It was also his last film for Orion Pictures.

Shadows and Fog is an homage to German Expressionist filmmakers Fritz Lang, G.W. Pabst and F.W. Murnau in its visual presentation, and to the writer Franz Kafka in theme.

Shadows and Fog is almost absurdist in its execution. Lots of misunderstandings, non sequitur dialogue, and bizarre characters.

All wandering around a city at night, in the fog, with a killer Continue reading →

Day 166: Radio Days

Posted on by
Reply

41E6BFRBHMLRadio Days, the 1987 movie written and directed by Woody Allen, is “one big stroll down memory lane” (my wife’s words) told through witty and poignant voice-over narration provided by Woody, and visuals of a young boy growing up in the years just before and during World War II whose constant companion is the radio.

There are many guest stars in Radio Days, some of whom appeared in previous Woody movies.

This is an interesting movie from a nostalgia perspective. But I couldn’t get wrapped up in the story.

Radio Days isn’t a bad film. It’s just not one of my favorites.

Next up: September.

Day 163: Broadway Danny Rose

Posted on by
Reply

41ETZ0P9X7LBroadway Danny Rose, the 13th film directed by Woody Allen, is the story (told mostly in flashbacks) of Danny Rose (Woody Allen), a failed-nightclub-performer-turned-ne’er-do-well theatrical agent who now handles clients like balloon folders, bird acts, and a has-been nightclub singer named Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte, 1938- ) who finally gets a chance to perform for Milton Berle – but only wants to if Danny can get Tina Vitale (Mia Farrow, 1945- ), his lover, to attend the show.

When Danny tries to convince Tina to go to Lou’s show, Tina’s would-be suitor, a member of the mob, thinks Danny is Tina’s lover and puts a hit on him.

Danny and Tina run for their lives.

Do they survive? Does Lou? Does Danny ever make it big? Who ends up with Tina Continue reading →

Day 162: Zelig

Posted on by
Reply

41AFRGT4F7LZelig out-Forrest Gumped Forrest Gump – a full 11 years before that Oscar-winning movie.

The story is about a man named Leonard Zelig, a person who – out of an intense need to be liked – can take on the characteristics and even the appearance of those around him. Doctors refer to him as “a human chameleon.”

One of the doctors is played by Mia Farrow.

Zelig goes from obscure and unknown to national celebrity, but then falls out of favor and becomes an outcast again.

Told in documentary format (complete with narrator), Zelig is a combination of the aforementioned Forrest Gump and a movie called Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, a Steve Martin movie that takes film clips from classic old films and seamlessly weaves them into the noir-ish story of a hardboiled detective. Zelig does that, too, using vintage film clips, black and white footage made to look old and contemporary interviews (in color) with people today who were supposedly part of the story back in the 1920s and 30s. Even Scott Fitzgerald makes an appearance, in the clip of him sitting outside at his writing desk.

If one didn’t know this was a Woody Allen movie, one might think it a real documentary of a historical figure.

Not quite.

But that’s the overall effect.

Zelig, released in 1983, is inventive, creative, and just strange enough to make it riveting.

It’s an excellent film.

Day 161: A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy

Posted on by
Reply

514cuF-lA0LIn this, Woody’s 11th turn behind the camera, we are introduced to Mia Farrow (1945- ), the actress who becomes Woody’s muse for the next several films.

There’s no jazz music in A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. But there is Classical music. It opens with Mendelssohn’s Wedding March. And closes with another Classical piece the name of which escapes me.

The cast is probably the most attractive and consistent of any Woody movie to date.

Woody Allen … Andrew
Mia Farrow … Ariel
José Ferrer … Leopold (as Jose Ferrer)
Julie Hagerty … Dulcy
Tony Roberts … Maxwell
Mary Steenburgen … Adrian

Wood was 47 in this film. It’s a much happier movie than his last one. Of course, World War II was happier than Stardust Memories.

“Marriage is the death of hope,” says Maxwell (Tony Roberts).

It’s odd to see a movie in which Woody (who plays a quirky inventor in this film) is more positive than other characters. In Midsummer Night’s he’s practically a ray of sunshine, a regret-filled ray of sunshine. But still.

Essentially, this 1982 movie is about Continue reading →

Day 157: Annie Hall

Posted on by
Reply

51vM7IV5W5LI love this movie.

In fact, I’ll go far as to say that Annie Hall is my #1 favorite Woody Allen film.

This romantic comedy is easy to explain on a thematic level. It’s the story of a couple (an insecure, neurotic comedian named Alvy Singer, played by Woody Allen, and an actress named Annie Hall, played by Diane Keaton) from first meeting to break up, told with incredible pathos, such sublime insight into the human condition, that it still resonates deeply with audiences nearly 40 years after it was released in 1977.

What’s harder to explain is the leap in quality between Annie Hall and Love and Death, which was released just two years previously. And it’s incomprehensible to me that Annie Hall comes a mere 10 years from Woody’s first turn behind the camera in What’s Up, Tiger Lily?, one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen (albeit not as bad as Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Sex*).

Annie Hall marks a turning point in Woody’s career, an Oscar-winning turning point.

According to its entry on Wikipedia,

Annie Hall won four Oscars at the 50th Academy Awards on April 3, 1978. Producer Charles H. Joffe received the statue for Best Picture, Allen for Best Director and, with [Marshall] Brickman, for Best Original Screenplay, and Keaton for Best Actress.

Keaton is amazing in his movie. Not only is her wardrobe noteworthy (it touched off a fashion trend in the mid-1970s) but so are her mannerisms, including the way she delivers her lines.

For example, when Annie and Alvy first talk after a tennis match, she utters the phrase “La-di-da, la-di-da, la la” in such a cute way that it’s one of my favorite lines from the movie, and the scene one of the best.

Ever since the recent story about one of Woody’s adopted kids accusing him of Continue reading →

Day 156: Love and Death

Posted on by
Reply

51S3BR0E4TLLove and Death (1975) is Woody Allen’s sixth outing as director.

This movie breaks from tradition in that it doesn’t open with Dixieland jazz playing over black-and-white credits. This time around it’s Mussorgsky’s The Great Gate at Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition over black-and-white credits.

But not breaking from tradition are two of Woody’s favorite cinematic themes: love and death.

My favorite parts of the movie are:

  • Woody’s voiceover narration, which is witty and clever. As usual.
  • Woody as a child: “I recall my first mystical vision. I was walking through the woods thinking about Christ. If he was a carpenter I wondered what he’d charge for book shelves.” (Suddenly, the young lad encounters Death.)
  • The philosophical debates conducted in earnest seriousness despite the incongruity of the setting.
  • The opera scene with Woody flirting with Countess Alexandrovna, played by Olga Georges-Picot, a French actress who committed suicide on 19 June 1997. She was 57.

Death is a recurring topic in Woody Allen movies. So is a protagonist with Continue reading →

Day 154: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*

Posted on by
1

51J3JAjYH7LFirst of all, this is a terrible transfer. The picture is very grainy and dark. The sound is so-so.

Second, even if the transfer were pristine, it would still be one hell of a shitty movie.

The film opens with credits rolling over images of rabbits. (Get it? Rabbits and sex. Yeahhh.) And jazz music: Cole Porter’s “Let’s Misbehave.”

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (But Were Afraid to Ask) is adapted by Woody Allen from the bestselling book of the same name by David Reuben (1933 – ).

The movie is divided into seven mini episodes:

“do aphrodisiacs work?”

Setting: England Middle Ages.
Cast: Woody is a bumbling court jester.
Lynn Redgrave (1943–2010) is the queen.

The fool wants to bed the queen. Be she refuses his advances. So he seeks out a sorcerer who brews a bubbling potion that the fool gives to the queen. She drinks and becomes insatiable for the bespeckled jester. Unfortunately (for them), the queen is locked in a chastity device that requires a key that is in the possession of the king. The fool gets his hand stuck in the chastity device and the king finds them together. Woody is beheaded.

It was about as funny to watch as it was to read just then.

“what is sodomy?”

Gene Wilder (1933- ) is a doctor. One of his patients – Mr. Milos (Titos Vandis, 1917–2003) – admits to having a sexual relationship with a sheep. The patient insists that Dr. Ross (Wilder) see the sheep. He does. And falls for the wooly creature. Eventually, Continue reading →

Day 155: Sleeper

Posted on by
Reply

416YXJA6TWLSleeper, the 1973 comedy, marks Woody’s fifth turn behind the camera.

This is a better DVD transfer than his previous steamer, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*. And, frankly, it’s a much better movie.

But that’s still not saying much. These early Woody Allen movies are way too frenetic for my tastes. It’s like watching Keystone Cops films. Slapstick doesn’t even begin to describe them.

This picture marks the start of his Diane Keaton (1946-) phase. It also continues his love of starting films with Dixieland jazz music. And for smoking. There’s somebody smoking in virtually every Woody Allen movie.

Sleeper is the story of a Woody Allen-like character named Miles Monroe who is put under for a minor operator in 1973 and discovered two hundred years later in a capsule in the woods and awakened. The country is American but a post-war America run by an oppressive government. (Sounds a lot like 2014 to me.) His existence has to be kept secret, however, because if those in power discovered him, he’d have to have his brain scrubbed.

After a bit, the scientists admit they defrosted his capsule to use him to penetrate the government in the Western District to get the lowdown on the Aries Project. In short, the scientists, knowing Woody’s character has no identify, no fingerprints on file, and no way to be traced, want him to aid the revolutionary movement against the government.

The humor really gets rolling when Continue reading →

Day 153: Bananas

Posted on by
1

51YEKNWN8HLAnother film that begins as a mockumentary – this one about a banana republic in which the president is to be assassinated on live TV.

With Howard Cosell providing color commentary.

Huh?

The first five minutes are about as funny as What’s Up, Tiger Lily?

Bananas was written by Woody Allen and Mickey Rose and is Woody’s third turn behind the camera.

Mickey Rose died in 2013 at the age of 77.

According to his entry on Wikipedia,

Michael “Mickey” Rose (May 20, 1935 – April 7, 2013) was an American comedy writer and screenwriter. A lifelong friend of Woody Allen, the two boys met in high school, and later co-wrote material for Allen’s stand-up routines, and several of his early motion pictures. Rose wrote for other comedians and contributed scripts to several television series.

He and Allen, then known as Allan Stewart Konigsberg, first met at their high school, and became close friends, frequently skipping school, and playing jazz and baseball together. They together matriculated at New York University, from which Rose earned a bachelor’s degree in film, although Allen dropped out. After Allen had become a stand-up comedian, Rose co-wrote “The Moose” routine with him. Around this time, they collaborated with others on the English adaptation of a Japanese spy film, which was turned into What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (1966), Allen’s first film as director.

“The Moose” is a hilarious routine.

I’m sad to hear that Rose died last year.

One scene that doesn’t play as well today Continue reading →