Searching the Sundance Lineup

Michael C from Serious Film here.

This Tuesday the Sundance Film Festival announced its 2011 Dramatic Competition lineup. It's ironic that a festival devoted to independence and originality has me looking over the list of films like the crassest studio boss ever to chomp down on a cigar behind a giant desk. You can't help but gravitate towards big stars and familiar concepts. "You've got fifty words, kid. Wow me!"

One can't help but run over the list trying to spot the future of filmmaking somewhere in there. Last Winter's festival had Blue Valentine, which is still a big part of the conversation, and Winter's Bone, which gains momentum by the day. In fact, the roots of the current awards season goes all the way back to the 1998 festival where Darren Aronofsky was awarded for directing Pi and Lisa Cholodenko won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Prize for High Art.

History has shown that festival hits come out of nowhere and can't be predicted. The flick that was supposed to be the hot ticket ends up barely limping into release, while the film no one had their eye on ends up with lines that resemble the run on the bank scene from It's a Wonderful Life.

That said, if I were filling out my dance card now here are three films that I would make a point of catching based on nothing but their capsule summary and my gut instinct. We can check back in a few months to see how sharp my intuition is.

Terri: (Director Azazel Jacobs; Written by Jacobs and Patrick Dewitt) Described as a story about an orphan "mercilessly teased by his peers and roundly ignored by his teachers" Terri has echoes of previous festival winner Welcome to the Dollhouse. The fact that it goes on to describe an unlikely friendship between Terri and a vice-principal played by John C. Reilly suggests it doesn't follow too closely in that films emotionally bruising footsteps. Still, films that can accurately capture the hell of high school life are few and far between, and for all his familiarity I am still not immune to Reilly's goofy charms. Mark me down as curious.

Higher Ground: (Director Vera Farmiga; Written by Carolyn S Briggs and Tim Metcalfe) Vera Farmiga has been one of the most welcome presences in movies in the past few years. I was one of those who thought she deserved a nomination for The Departed for the way she made a somewhat thin role three-dimensional and plausible. The fact that she is transferring that powerful perception to the director's chair is reason enough to pique my interest. That the story of a mother trying to break free from a religious fundamentalist community sounds topical and rich with potential seals the deal. The presence of current Oscar dark horse John Hawkes (go John Hawkes!) doesn't hurt either.

On the Ice: (Directed and Written by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean) The film with the briefest description of any in competition: "On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder." It features unknowns in front of and behind the camera, but then the first Sundance Film Festival was won by two unknown brothers from Minnesota and their efficient little murder story Blood Simple. I'm always a sucker for lean and mean thrillers that strip suspense down to its essential elements and this one looks like it has a unique setting to boot. On the Ice has my attention.

Here's the complete lineup from Sundance.org
Which film grabs your attention?

Anne Hathaway, 'Next' Cover Girl

This is a gay rag here in NYC. Anne was on the holiday weekend cover promoting Love and Other Drugs, and though the inside article is dependably slim, she once again proves herself not just a wonderful celeb but a cool person and major friend of the gays.

"I was at the Empire State Pride Agenda dinner a few years ago," she recalls. "And Margaret Cho put it perfectly. She said, 'I can't believe we're still dealing with this shit!'" If a class act like Hathaway is cursing, you know she means business.

Love her. How beautiful are these photos by twin photographers The Riker Brothers?

The Kick-Off! NBR Favors "The Social Network", Shuns "127 Hours"

God, they get us every time! The National Board of Review has haters all over the internet but despite endless attacks on their legitimacy claiming that their choices are nothing but studio banquet-table-buying driven ... we (collectively speaking) still always let them kick it off.

Sometimes we get a kick out of it. Sometimes we just get kicked in the gut. It's totally an S&M relationship. But through it all we admire the way they've maintained their enviable kick-off mythos well despite the growth of movie awards in which they can no longer shouting "first!" like monosyllabic screen-refreshing trolls. (Gotham, EFA, BIFA, Satellite and Spirit Awards nominations have already come and gone after all... though most of them are not dealing with the whole pool of Oscar hopefuls the way the NBR does.)

The NBR prizes are usually a mix of "awesome! well done" and "aren't you embarrassed to publicly state that?" ...and this year? There's arguably more "awesome!" than "wtf" this time 'round including major boosts for Another Year, Animal Kingdom and The Social Network.

BEST PICTURE
The Social Network
BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, The Social Network

• Four major prizes to The Social Network undoubtedly marks this as the film to beat for Oscar. I know that people are saying "The King's Speech!" But I believe that in the end, that film's appeal will be shorter-lived. Just my hunch as to how it plays out (though I expect the Globes and the BFCA will give The King's Speech a major boost very soon) There's still nearly two months before Oscar nominations let alone the time of full stop campaigning after that. Contrary to popular belief, the NBR Best Picture prize does not doom your Oscar chances. It's not totally correlative either but so what. To each (group) their own.

BEST ACTRESS
Lesley Manville, Another Year
BEST ACTOR
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network (performance review)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom (performance review)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter

• Of the acting prizes the NBR favor provides a major boost for Eisenberg and Weaver who are both difficult sells for traditional Oscar choices in some ways: Eisenberg because he's young for the category and the character is abrasive, Weaver because she's in a small film from overseas. But great choices by the NBR here. May this push at least a few dozen more AMPAS members towards careful consideration of these star turns.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Chris Sparling, Buried

• This will have to count as the biggest shock, yes?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
FOREIGN FILM
Of Gods and Men, France
DOCUMENTARY
Waiting For Superman 
ANIMATED FEATURE
Toy Story 3


ENSEMBLE CAST
The Town

• I enjoyed this movie alot and it's just the type that wins these "ensemble" prizes, given that it's a big cast of recognizable faces. But I prefer movies with more group interaction for these prizes -- a personal thing. This film has mostly one-on-one scenes other than what is for me the standout scene: that great accidental lunch meeting between Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner and Ben Affleck. Awkkkkkwward.

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
SPOTLIGHT AWARD (DIRECTORIAL DEBUT)
Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington Restrepo
SPECIAL FILMMAKING ACHIEVEMENT (writing, directing and producing)
Sofia Coppola, Somewhere
WILLIAM K EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD
Leonard Maltin
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Fair Game, Conviction, Howl

And finally... the Lists.

Top Eleven Films (because a top ten isn't good enough for the NBR!)
(alpha order): 
Another Year
, The Fighter
, Hereafter, Inception
, The King’s Speech
, Shutter Island, 
The Social Network, 
The Town
, Toy Story 3, True Grit and 
Winter’s Bone

• Tolda that Hereafter would be here, though it wasn't a difficult call at all. Despite the film's tepid reviews, NBR voters are ever faithful to their Eastwood. This is his 8th consecutive film to be so honored.

Top Ten Independent Films
(alpha order): 
Animal Kingdom, 
Buried
, Fish Tank, 
The Ghost Writer
, Greenberg, 
Let Me In
, Monsters
Please Give, 
Somewhere
 and Youth in Revolt

• Another snub for Blue Valentine, which is having a rough week given the lack of Spirit Awards love, too. Either they withheld the film too long, the stupid MPAA rating scared people off or the film is just too brutal emotionally for ballot love. Shame. It's such a good movie.

Top Six Foreign Films
(alpha order): 
I Am Love, 
Incendies, 
Life Above All
, Of Gods And Men
, Soul Kitchen
 and White Material

• The buzz on Incendies is still just a low hum but the humming is fiercely tuneful. I keep hearing words like "astounding." So perhaps it's the film to beat for Oscar's foreign film competition. Note that Biutiful did not make their list.

Top Six Documentary Films
(alpha order): 
A Film Unfinished, 
Inside Job, 
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, 
Restrepo
, The Tillman Story and 
Waiting For “Superman”.

BIGGEST SNUB STORY: Black Swan, 127 Hours and The Kids Are All Right, which have all been winning major attention, were completely shut out. No prizes for any of them. Other films that maybe weren't destroyed but certainly weren't boosted by today's announcement were Rabbit Hole, Blue Valentine and all of those one week qualifying releases that were hoping for last minute attention (The Way Back, Barney's Version, Biutiful, Frankie & Alice).


BIGGEST BOOSTS: The Social Network (which was a gimme anyway), but more importantly Mike Leigh's Another Year (1 prize, 1 list) and David Michôd's Animal Kingdom (1 prize, 1 list)


MOST BORING DEVELOPMENT: The endless fawning over Waiting For 'Superman'. With so many fine documentaries this year, why that one? The Lottery, on the very same topic, is more focused and convincing (though it comes without any bells and whistles), if you must reward this topic.
*

Randomness: Menacing Cologne, Chained Actress, Bloodied Benjamin

Oh hello there. You're back? I'm just basking in the beauty that is this new Rabbit Hole poster. I loved the first one, too. What is happening? Posters are supposed to be terrible and they keep doing right by this film. This one visually gets at the disconnect between two people who are still very much connected,  physically, legally, experientally and emotionally. I love it.

We're down to the finish line on major Oscar hopeful 2010 releases now.

• Dec 3rd: Black Swan
• Dec 10th: The Fighter
• Dec 17th: Rabbit Hole
• Dec  22nd: True Grit
• the dread last split second of eligibility strategy: Another Year, Blue Valentine

I'm still awaiting The Fighter and True Grit (both within the next week). [Silly tangent: People were making fun of me mistyping Rabbit Hole on twitter and facebook. I keep typing Rabbit HOle or Rabbit Hold --- wtf? -- squeeze those slutty bunnies! [/tangent]

 Earlier this year I wrote a Best in Show column for Tribeca Film on the wonder that was John Hawkes in Winter's Bone. Now that he's up for a Spirit Awards, can he become something more than a longshot for Oscar? Why is it that some terrific performances have such difficulty getting traction and other adequate ones sail through to Oscar nominations? Let's not give up hope yet. Matt Singer at IFC wrote up a fine tribute to Hawkes

The man wears menace like cologne.

Beautifully put. Go read it.

VYou "What Shall I Draw" fufilled my request to draw an actress winning an Oscar, but managed to impugn my actressexuality at the same time. Check it out...

"If it weren't for Nathaniel R and his support, I don't know where I'd be right
now. Probably not chained in his basement..." LOL.

Oh relax, WSID, I only keep them in chains for a week or two, tops. After the actress has dutifully read her latest script pile and chosen her next project I release her back to the studios to provide all of us with more cinematic pleasures.  Everyone thank me!

P.S. If you haven't checked out vyou yet, you should. A lot of fun over there. I have an account but I'm having trouble with my mic. I shall answer your questions as soon as I fix. Or maybe I shall have to learn mime.

Finally, ... Broadway.com reports that Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, the irreverent historical emo rock musical political satire (yes all those things) is closing in just one month on Broadway. A lot of shows are closing actually - tough season. If you're in NYC during December try the lottery for BBAJ. That's how I saw it. You end up front row, way too close to the flying spittle but it's very funny and fast. Major selling point: Meryl Streep's future son-in-law Benjamin Walker has total star charisma. He turned down the role of Beast in X-Men: First Class to stay with Bloody Bloody so see him before he gets more famous. If casting directors are wise (always a risky "if") he'll be flooded with offers once he quits with the live bloodletting.

The Gluttonous Golden Satellites

You guys. I really can't be bothered to talk about the Golden Satellites (a.k.a. The International Press Academy, who can't even be bothered to update their own website) and here's why: When you nominate everyone* under the sun, it's hard to take you seriously. The Satellites have more categories than any of the important precursors and then, as if the orgy of categories weren't enough, they have 7 to 10 nominees in every category. I kid you not. It's... insanity. I can't care. But if you must, Awards Daily has the list.

*Even when you nominate 7-17ish people per category (some categories are doubled up between types of genre) you will still, rather amusingly, be snubbing people who are noteworthy. How do you have 7 comedy actress nominees, for example, and not include Emma Stone in Easy A? Her movie may be a frail invalid but she is its primary caregiver, its walker, its equilibrium, its lifeblood, its court jester, its boss, and its whole goddamn raison d'etre. And whenever her movie starts death rattling she performs CPR. Shunning her in a category of 'let's nominate everyone!' is S-T-U-P-I-D. I don't expect Emma to win favor with the Golden Globes either exactly, but since they'll only have 5 nominees the shunning won't be as tough to take. I'm expecting that we'll see: Bening, Hathaway, Hawkins, Moore, and ??? as the five girls walking the red carpet as "comedy" nominees once the Globes roll into town. But I sure wish someone would recognize the "comedy" in the comedy category and throw Stone a bone.

Grammy Nominations and Film Star Nominees

Though I don't much care about the Grammys --even when I was a teenager when you're supposed to care a lot, I didn't as my favorites were rarely nominated -- I do always cast a curious eye over their choices in case a favorite of mine was accidentally nominated or in case I hear about a record that piques curiousity. The nomination I'm happiest about tonight is Best Dance Recording. That really really needs to go to Robyn's "Dancing On My Own."

I'm been itching to download some new music though so I would love to hear your surely more musically astute recommendations in the comments. My phone needs updating in the worst way.

After the jump the three major categories, film related stuff, and the music video nominees; they're short films, after all.

Album of the Year

• The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
• Recovery - Eminem
• Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
• The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga
• Teenage Dream - Katy Perry

Record of the Year (Performer)

• Nothin' On You - B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars
• Love The Way You Lie - Eminem featuring Rihanna
• F*** You - Cee Lo Green
• Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
• Need You Now - Lady Antebellum

Song of the Year (Songwriter)

• Beg Steal Or Borrow - Ray LaMontagne, songwriter (Ray LaMontagne And The Pariah Dogs)
• F*** You - Cee Lo Green, Philip Lawrence & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Cee Lo Green)
• The House That Built Me -Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
• Love The Way You Lie - Alexander Grant, Skylar Grey & Eminem, songwriters (Eminem, featuring Rihanna)
• Need You Now - Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott, songwriters (Lady Antebellum)

I highlighted my favorites in red but I'm not deeply committed. Now that we've dispatched the top three categories let's talk movies.

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album

• Crazy Heart 
• Glee: The Music, Volume 1
• Tremé
• True Blood, Volume 2
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Best Score Soundtrack Album

• Alice in Wonderland (Danny Elfman)
• Avatar (James Horner)
  
• Inception (Hans Zimmer)
• Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)
  
• Toy Story 3 (Randy Newman)

Um... have the Grammys ever nominated a score soundtrack from a non-gajillion grossing movie?

Best Song Written For...

• Down in New Orleans (The Princess and the Frog)
• I See You (Avatar)
  
• Kiss Like Your Kiss (True Blood)
• This City (Tremé)
  
• The Weary Kind (Crazy Heart)

Guess which film actors are nominated for Grammys this year?

"Best Spoken Word Album for Children" pits Julie Andrews (Julie Andrews Collections of Poems, Songs and Lullabies) against  Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee Returns) and... Selma Blair? (Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl). No really it does.


"Best Spoken Word Album" has your usual assortment of comedians up against Michael J Fox (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future...) and Woody Allen (The Woody Allen Collection: Mere Anarchy, Side Effects, Without Feathers, Getting Even). You can get nominated for a box set? Wouldn't you have been eligible in previous years?

And finally...

Best Short Form Music Video

"Aint No Grave" (Johnny Cash)
"Love the Way You Lie" (Eminem & Rihanna)



"Stylo" (Gorillaz, Mos Def & Bobby Womack)

 

"F*** You" (Cee Lo Green)



and the obvious correct vote... Lady Gaga's magnificent gargantuan instant classic of the form "Bad Romance."




How are you feeling about the nominations and do you have any music to recommend for a barren iPod?

*

Unsung Heroes: Kirk Douglas for Producing Paths of Glory

Hey everybody. Michael C. from Serious Film back again. This week is all about Kirk Douglas, and although his acting career has enough high points to fill this blog for a month, today we're here to honor the hand he had in launching one of the most important directorial careers of the last century. 

One fact everyone in the film business seems to agree on is that it is incredibly difficult to get anything made and borderline impossible to produce something good. When quality movies somehow miraculously find their way into theaters it is most often because a star got involved who believed in the project and had the clout to get the money men to cough up the loot. Kirk Douglas was such a star in the mid-1950’s when he came across a script named Paths of Glory being shopped by a young Stanley Kubrick. Douglas had been a big fan of Kubrick’s previous film, The Killing, and was so impressed with the new script that he decided his company, Bryna Productions, would produce the film with him as co-producer. Douglas did this even though, as recounted in the gorgeous new Criterion edition, he was convinced the film was unlikely to be a commercial hit.

Of course, it wasn’t a completely altruistic endeavor on Douglas’s part. It did give him the chance to play one of the greatest (for my money the greatest) roles of his career. Douglas’s Colonel Dax is a more clearly heroic character than in the original novel, an oasis of courage and decency in a world warped by war and corruption. They even work in a moment for Douglas to take his shirt off, which legend has it was contractually stipulated in all his movies.

So what raises Kirk Douglas above the typical star scouting out opportunities to look noble? The fact that he sought out the opportunity to make a film with Kubrick, that’s what. Douglas did what we always hope politicians would do with power, which was to surround himself with smart people who will stand up to him. Kubrick was no yes-man, and Paths is no Kirk Douglas vanity project. Kubrick elevates the material above the typical star vehicle into one of the most shattering anti-war statements ever put to film.

Viewers of the film don’t remember Douglas's heroism; they remember the stark, horrifying black and white world of trench warfare, a world where the execution of innocent men is found to be an acceptable idea. Douglas’s Dax is strong-armed into leading an attack he knows to be doomed, and his attempts to preserve justice in the fallout prove to be a futile, almost naïve, exercise. His famous late in the film explosion at the obscenely corrupt General Broulard is less a moment of triumphant defiance and more a choked howl at his own powerlessness in the face of insanity. My reaction to his character has always been less, “Hooray for Colonel Dax!” and more, “That poor bastard.”

At the end of the day Paths of Glory is Kubrick’s film and Kubrick’s success, but it’s fair to say it is unlikely it would have occurred without Douglas’s support and leadership. There are accounts that the idea of using a happier, more commercial ending was suggested and that Douglas fought against it (Kubrick’s position in this debate varies between versions). Generations of film lovers are grateful that Douglas prevailed and the heartbreakingly perfect ending won out, but the instinct behind the idea wasn’t wrong. Despite being a critical success that launched Kubrick into the top tier of working directors it fizzled at the box office. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on the new disc of Paths check out some of the bonus interviews with Douglas and witness the pride on his face when the film is mentioned. He doesn’t seem to be mourning those lost box office dollars. 

Check back next week for the first season finale of Unsung Heroes where I will shine some attention on a 2010 release.

Red Carpet Lineup: Swan Break

The New York premiere of Black Swan was held last night at the Ziegfeld which is the theater for premiere's here in Manhattan. I have so many fond memories of the place. All the stars were in attendance including Darren Aronofsky, Vincent Cassell and Barbara Hershey. Plus the deliciously dark rival ballerinas Mila, Natalie and Noni.

I think it goes without saying but I'll say it: Winona Ryder is still one of the most beautiful women on the planet. Those eyes. That coloring. Gah.

Why Noni is wearing a tux we can't be sure but we love that she did. Why Aronofsky refuses to shave that Flynn mustache we can't be sure but we wish he would. Why Natalie is carrying around Nabokov's Lolita* we... wait, what?

There's got to be a story there. I hope it does not involve obsessive fans of The Professional.


*Okay, it's apparently a clutch by Olympia Le Tan  - thx Dom - fashioned as a replica of the literary classic. The replica costs only $1,321.00 more than the real thing. But can the real thing hold your lipstick, keys and money?

Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman

Spirit Awards. What They Do and Don't Say About Oscar.

Now that I've had a day to think over the Spirit Awards (nominee discussion) and what they reveal and obscure about the Oscar race, here's a deeper look for my Tribeca Film column.

Eligible "Best Feature" Snubs
Blue Valentine, Get Low, Somewhere, Rabbit Hole
Not eligible for "Best Feature" or Acting Prizes
The King's Speech, I Am Love, Another Year, Animal KingdomNot eligible for anything
Toy Story 3, The Social Network, True Grit, The Town, Etc...

Remember last year when Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire swept the Oscars, becoming the first... oh, no, wait, that didn't happen at all. That was the Film Independent Spirit Awards. They take place the day before the Oscars each year. And they take place in a tent. We don't know the square footage, but it’s safe to say that it’s got nothing on the Kodak Theater. 

Generally speaking, the Spirit Awards are a looser, rowdier event. You can even wear jeans. As a group, they’re much more likely to honor African-American abuse dramas (Precious) or intimate character studies of "broken down pieces of meat" (The Wrestler) or teen pregnancy comedies (Juno) than the mainstream Academy is. In fact, in their entire 25-year shared history with the Oscars, the “Best Feature” and “Best Picture” prizes have only gone to the same film once.

...read the rest in my weekly Tribeca Film column.
*

Actors on Actors: SAG Buzz

Have you read the Variety feature where SAG card holders are essentially campaigning for other actors for awards season? Sometimes the admiration is surely talent-based and not about who they're friends with or have worked with and sometimes it's clearly a mixture of the two.

Nicole Kidman, marvelous again in Rabbit Hole.

Marion Cotillard worked with Nicole Kidman on Nine, for example, but her tribute has one very insightful observation. She's talking about how, in the first moments of Rabbit Hole you know nothing about Becca's (Kidman) story but you're instantly drawn in despite her abrasiveness.

"Becca" is so far and yet so close at the same time. The space that is created between her and the audience is simultaneously delicate, strong, violent and full of life. A part of her is gone and will always be gone, yet you feel nothing but life.

Marion & Nic' last year

And when Marion concludes her tribute with...

She is simply one of the world's best actresses.

You have to say "amen." That's too true and a half, whether or not the actresses hit it off on musical soundstages.

Reading all the articles is a pain since Variety takes such measures to hide their content but read we must. Helen Mirren loves the theatricality and imagination of Lesley Manville in Another Year, Alec Baldwin was wowed by the authenticity of the duet in Blue Valentine. And a few actors cite the cast of The Kids Are All Right. Laura Dern calls Mark Ruffalo one of her acting heroes and delivers an astute read on why he's so magical in that very difficult part (which, alas, probably won't look difficult enough to voters less discerning than Dern). Amy Ryan gives props to The Bening, particular in the Joni Mitchell scene (her obvious Oscar clip, yes?) and Colin Firth's ode to Julianne Moore (his co-star last year in A Single Man) is wonderfully expressed. His conclusion gives me hope that The Kids Are All Right will get that "Ensemble" nomination it so richly deserves at the SAG Awards.

All of the actors in this film are on the same formidable level. I kept thinking what a joy it must have been for them to all play off of each other.

Colin & Sally. She moves him.

But my favorite might be Colin Farrell's ode to Sally Hawkins in Made in Dagenham since he admits their offscreen friendship right up front but is clearly bowled over by the talent of the friend in question. Here's the fun intro.

Sometimes I see a film. Sometimes I see a film that moves me. Sometimes I see a film that has a friend in it. Sometimes that friend's name is Sally. When I see a film with a friend in it and that friend's name is Sally, that film moves me.

I can't say that I know the feeling exactly as I have few close friends that I regularly just happen to catch on the silver screen. But I can say that I know the feeling; when I see a film with a stranger in it and that strangers name is Sally, that film moves me.

Related Posts: 

• Sally 'I Beat Meryl' Hawkins
• 7 Word Review: Rabbit Hole
• Nine thoughts on Nine
• SAG Live Blog Jan 2010

*

Woody Turns 75. Undoubtedly Writing 43rd Feature Film.

What you're looking at below is a screenshot from the new Film Experience site (opening in a couple of weeks) in the "top tens" section... which is more like a "top 1" for each year from 1920-1979 (until I see or revisit more films from those years).

Woody Allen made my favorite films of 1977 (Annie Hall), 1979 (Manhattan) and 1985 (The Purple Rose of Cairo) and came very close to doing so in 1986 (Hannah and Her Sisters) and 1992 (Husbands and Wives). I haven't done the math but he's way up their under "most represented filmmaker" in my personal bliss lists. Other repeat #1 champs are Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks and William Wyler. But you'll see those lists soon enough.

Though I've expressed concern about Woody Allen's qualitative if not quantitative decline in various posts (I've nearly hated the last two films, Whatever Works and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), he has given us so much great cinema over the past four decades that today on his 75th birthday I only want to sing him "Happy Birthday". Or maybe play it for him on the clarinet. If only I could play.

10 Favorite Woody Flicks

1. Manhattan (1979)
2. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
3. Annie Hall (1977)
4. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
5. Husbands and Wives (1992)
6. Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
7. Interiors (1978)
8. Match Point (2005)
9. Stardust Memories (1980)
10. Sleeper (1973)

Disclaimer: This list is constantly in flux after the top 5 which are inarguably my favorites. I should probably rewatch some of the older ones. I've been meaning to take a good long look at Crimes and Misdemeanors and Another Woman again especially. The only ones I haven't seen: Bananas (1971), Love and Death (1975), Zelig (1983... I've been meaning to watch this one forever. It's like a strange mental block for me), and Cassandra's Dream (2007)

Weird Oscar Trivia: This is little commented on but I think it's worth noting. Though it's well known that Woody Allen is Oscar's #1 screenwriter (14 nominations, 2 wins) and among their 10 favorite directors of all time (6 nominations, 1 win) isn't it bizarre that, given the intensity of that AMPAS love, he's only ever had 2 Best Picture nominees (Annie Hall & Hannah and Her Sisters)? Strange.

Next? Woody's 42nd feature film Midnight in Paris which is about an engaged couple travelling to Paris on business and cheating on each other. I'm guessing on that last part of that sentence but it doesn't take a psychic. Will the film be another goodie like Vicky Cristina Barcelona or a mess like Whatever Works? The new film stars Rachel McAdams and Michael Sheen (now a real life couple). Marion Cotillard plays a character referred to as the 'Muse' -- an Allen staple. When it comes to the new cast, we're most excited to see Mimi Kennedy join the Woodyverse. She seems ideally suited for it, yes? She was so gutbustingly funny in In the Loop (2009).

Woody directing Kennedy and McAdams in Midnight in Paris (2011)

 All of them are newbies to the Woodyverse but he doesn't repeat his cast members that much anymore (sigh). Still no Dianne Wiest in sight. Since Paris is done filming he's undoubtedly writing Untitled Woody Allen Project i.e. the 43rd due in 2012. That how he do.

Wish Mr. Allen a happy 75th in the comments, and tell us your favorite of his films!
*