We live in a world where more people know who Michael Bay is than who Woody Allen is and have seen more brash movies from Bay than intelligent movies from Allen, we find this to be unfortunate. With the Academy Awards just a few days away we felt that doing a story on Woody would only be fitting being that to us the movie that deserves to win this year happens to be a Woody Allen film, so sit back and read on, Woody is someone you should get to know, he is a brilliant writer and director, and deserves our attention.
If we were to list all the movies Woody Allen has either written, directed, or been part in, this post would take up countless pages for Woody has had a long career with many great successes. One of his first movies that became an instant classic was "Sleeper" which he wrote, directed and stared in, it was released in 1973 and depicts what the future might look like, it was very imaginative and won our hearts. We could talk about a lot of other movies here, but we've decided to focus on a few recent ones you might have heard of and if not should check out. Before we do though, here are some movies you should take a look at as well: "Annie Hall" (1977), "Manhattan" (1979), "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), "Hannah And Her Sisters"(1986), "Mighty Aphrodite" (1995), "Everyone Says I Love you" (1996), "Small Time Crooks" (2000), "The Curse of Jade Scorpion" (2001), and "Anything Else" (2003), we could put all his movies within this list, but alas this is our selection.
Woody Allen has always had this motto of pushing the audience to see the world in a different light, to embrace someone else's perspective on life, and of course he also gives a cultural critique within most of his movies. One could argue that all of his movies offer social critiques about life, love, the meaning of living, the purpose of work and the delight of creativity, which are all great topics rarely discussed by others and thus is addressed by our friend Woody. This is what sets him apart from other writers and directors, Woody will have a very real philosophical theme throughout the movie that will be expertly sown in within the story, so that the story in itself will be engaging but the philosophy and questions that the story sprouts forth will catch you by surprise and thus Woody's brilliance is seen.
A few of his latest movies that show this phenomenon are "Match Point" (2005), "Scoop" (2006), "Cassandra's Dream" (2007), "Vicky Christina Barcelona" (2008), "Whatever Works" (2009), and "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" (2010), all of which are brilliant and should be watched. Not all of these movies will win your heart, that's a simple fact, to us the best three up there are "Match Point", "Vicky Christina Barcelona" and "Whatever Works". The cast within all these movies are amazing, and are sporting big names here like, Jonathan Ryes Meyers, Emily Mortimer, Scarlet Johansson (she's been in a lot of his movies as of late), Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Collin Farrel, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, and Naomi Watts, this does not even begin to cover the amount of good actors that have worked for him, but here are a few so that a picture of Woody's awesomeness begins to take focus.
It is said to be a high honor to be within a Woody Allen film, very few actors have turned down an invite to be within one of his pictures, being able to be in one of his films is a career making choice and all those that have been a part of the magic have never regretted it. One thing to note if you haven't already is that Woody has released a movie per year since 1982, meaning not only does this guy write and direct his own movies, he also does it once a year and does it well. He has done this so well in fact that he has been nominated to various awards throughout his life, to the point of being nominated by the Academy around 23 times, here is a man that deserves your attention.
This Academy Awards has put Woody's latest movie "Midnight In Paris" on the race for best movie, art direction, directing, and writing (original screenplay), all of which he could win. The movie takes place in Paris just in case you didn't get that from the title, and shows a story about a man who is about to get married and thinks that he is happy, a man who cannot see beyond what he has always known, but is taken up and his eyes opened, to the beauty that life possesses. A story about a struggling writer played by Owen Wilson, his fiance played by Rachel McAdams, and an incredible cast consisting of many fantastic actors including Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Michael Sheen, Tom Hiddleston, and Corey Stoll. This is a movie that everyone should see, a great movie about thinking outside the box, loving life and recognizing the beauty around you.
If you get a chance to watch some of Woody's work we recommend that you do, and if nothing else do take a look at "Midnight In Paris", it is a delightful movie with something for everyone in it.
We hope this week has been going well for you, and pray that it might finish even better,
Love from your humble blogger,
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