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To celebrate the release of hilarious Blockbuster exclusive Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Marshall Julius selects his top twenty favourite movies from writer, director, star and all-round comic genius Woody Allen.
A filmmaker whose work is so distinctive it's a genre unto itself, Woody Allen has made a movie virtually every year since he began his filmmaking career in the late Sixties. "I'm not trying to achieve immortality through my work though," says the veteran funny man. "I want to achieve it by not dying."
This year Allen gave us Vicky Cristina Barcelona, an instant classic that's available to you lucky people exclusively from Blockbuster, and to celebrate his latest release, we've picked our top twenty favourite Woody Allen films for your list-building pleasure.
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Vicky: You're trying to lose yourself in empty sex.
Juan: Empty sex? Do you have such a low opinion of yourself?
On holiday in Spain, self-involved girlfriends Vicky ( Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) fall for the same charismatic artist (Javier Bardem), unaware that his ex-wife, sharply played by Best Supporting Actress Oscar-winner Penelope Cruz, is about to walk back into his life. Beautifully played, shot and observed.
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CW: It's a match made in heaven... by a retarded angel.
Hypnotised by a crooked magician ( David Ogden Stiers) into stealing jewels they're supposed to be protecting, an old-fashioned insurance investigator (Woody Allen) and a highly strung efficiency expert ( Helen Hunt) trade insults in Forties New York. Silly, sassy fun.
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Emmet (to his date): I had a wonderful evening. I don't need a genius to have a good time.
The tale of a fictional jazz guitarist ( Sean Penn), the second best in the world, as he confronts gangsters and falls in love with a sweet-natured mute girl ( Samantha Morton) who sticks with him despite his many flaws. A love letter to jazz from lifetime devotee Allen.
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Doris: You have no values. With you it's all nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm, and orgasm.
Harry: Hey, in France I could run for office with that slogan, and win!
A neurotic author (Woody Allen) suffering from acute writer's block reflects on his past as characters from his life, both real and fictional, come back to haunt him. Caustic and clever with a million funny lines.
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Sheldon: Hey, look who's here. The big Broadway success. I don't write hits. My plays are art. They're written specifically to go unproduced.
A struggling playwright ( John Cusack) is forced to make endless artistic compromises after a mobster agrees to produce his work in this sparkling, Twenties-set period comedy. Dianne Wiest won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a grand theatrical ham, but really this is one of those movies where every role's a gem, and every line's a corker.
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Larry: There's nothing wrong with you that a little Prozac and a polo mallet can't cure.
A middle-aged couple (Woody Allen and Diane Keaton) enliven their relationship when they begin to suspect their next-door neighbour of foul play. A modern film noir with silliness instead of shadows and genuine affection between the characters.
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Gabe: I will always have this penchant for what I call kamikaze women. I call them kamikazes because they crash their plane, they're self-destructive. But they crash into you, and you die along with them.
A brilliantly balanced comedy/drama which sees a professor and his wife (Woody Allen and Mia Farrow) re-evaluate their relationship after their best friends ( Judy Davis and Sydney Pollack) break up. The ups and downs of love, lust and friendship, explored as only Woody can.
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Clifford: I don't know from suicide, y'know? Where I grew up in Brooklyn we were too unhappy to commit suicide.
Two separate stories, one solemn, one silly, reveal what it means to be human. On the serious side, a man ( Martin Landau) considers murdering his mistress, while on the comic, a documentary filmmaker (Woody Allen) falls for a much more suitable woman (Mia Farrow) than his wife. Dramatic, involving and when it needs to be, extremely funny.
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Abe: He's a ventriloquist on the radio - how do you know he's not moving his lips?
A warm, amusing and unashamedly nostalgic look back at the golden age of radio focusing not only on the stars of the day, but also a typical New York family who live their lives with at least one ear glued to the wireless at all times. The kind of movie that makes you wish you were alive in the Forties.
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Evan: At lunch she got drunker and drunker and finally she became Joan Collins!
Winning Oscars for Best Writing, Best Supporting Actor ( Michael Caine) and Best Supporting Actress (Dianne Wiest), this wonderful relationship comedy focuses on the lives on three very different sisters (sensible Mia Farrow, sexy Barbara Hershey and flaky Wiest) and their friends, family and romantic partners. One of Woody's best.
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