Woody Allen (born 1935) is included in this blog site because he's a famous and outstanding director, but he's actually multitalented, as he's also a screenwriter, actor, comedian, author and musician. Woody Allen's movies are usually considered comedies, but they are "smart" comedies that rely more on subtle verbal humor than on funny images or ridiculous scenes. They often deal with serious themes, especially the relationships between men and women. If you see a Woody Allen movie, you must be prepared for a lot of dialog. Very little actually "happens" in a Woody Allen movie. The entire movie is only the words that characters say to each other and the ironies and contradictions that are found in the lives of people interacting with one another.
In Allen's early movies, he often appeared as the lead actor. He was not a typical movie hero, as he was small, thin, homely, and weak looking. His character was often insecure, as he worried aloud about his relationships with women. Interestingly, in his movies, he was often paired with young, beautiful leading ladies. In Allen's recent movies, he seldom appears as the lead character. On the other hand, his lead male actors can often be imagined as a younger substitute for Allen. An example would be the character played by Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris (2011).
Woody Allen has been nominated for Academy Awards 24 times, winning 4, including Best Director for Annie Hall (1978). He has been nominated for his screenwriting more times than any other screenwriter. Interestingly, he never attends the Academy Awards presentations, and never collects his awards.
Although Allen is popular all over the world, he is especially appreciated in Europe, where his intelligent comedies seem to connect well with European sensibilities. Some of his most recent movies, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Midnight in Paris (2011), and Magic in the Moonlight are set in Europe. The majority of his movies, however, are set in New York City, where Allen lives.
* Woody Allen plays clarinet in a professional jazz band every Monday evening in New York City.
* Allen created a scandal when he began a relationship with the daughter (Soon-yi Previn) of his long-time girlfriend, Mia Farrow. Allen was 56 and Soon-yi was 19 when the relationship began. The two have now been married for 25 years and have two adopted children.
* Actress Diane Keaton, who appeared in several of Allen's movies, started a women's fashion trend with the clothes she wore in the movie Annie Hall (1978). The trend was to wear masculine-looking clothes with a vest and a necktie.
Several of Woody Allen's movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.
[My personal thoughts and recollections about Woody Allen and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]
Woody Allen biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com
Links to trailers and clips from a few of Woody Allen's movies:
[Note: Woody Allen has made over 60 movies; the movies below (with the exception of Annie Hall) are from his recent releases.]
Annie Hall (1978) - trailer
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - trailer
Midnight in Paris (2011) - trailer
Blue Jasmine (2013) - trailer
Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - trailer / PDF exercise ⮜
Irrational Man (2015) - trailer; starring Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix
Wonder Wheel (2017) - trailer; starring Justin Timberlake and Kate Winslet
A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
Make Beliefs Comix
Here's a comic I made with Make Beliefs Comix, an online comic building site. The scene is from 'Annie Hall,' Woody Allen's most famous movie. Here's the original scene from the movie.
Here's another comic from the same movie, but after the character, Alvy, has become an adult. And here's the original movie clip (at 1:40 in this scene).
EdPuzzle - Annie Hall
5) Do the Word Families grammar exercise (form below)
- Is it complete?
- Did you capitalize the title?
- Is the title in italics in the content of your review?
- If your movie is part of a series, which number is it? For example, "It's the third movie in the ___ series."
- Is the spacing perfect? (One line space between paragraphs; no space before the first word; one space after a period or comma.)
- Are all words spelled correctly?
adjective | adverb | verb | noun |
free | freely | free (freed) | freedom |
calm | calmly | calm (calmed) | calm, calmness |
quiet | quietly | quiet (quieted) | quiet, quietness |
perfect | perfectly | perfect (perfected) | perfection |
deep | deeply | deepen (deepened) | depth |
creative | creatively | create (created) | creation |
decisive | decisively | decide (decided) | decision |
lost | lose (lost) | loss | |
special | specially (especially) | specialize (specialized) | specialty |
influential | influentially | influence (influenced) | influence |
He’s a free man. He spoke freely. He freed the birds from the cage. I like my freedom.
She’s a calm person. She spoke calmly. She calmed the crying baby. I am enjoying the calm.
Word Families Grammar Exercise
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