Make Your Voice Heard!

by Jason Whyte

Jan 25, 2000

It's the actual film that beat "Star Wars" for best picture. In a year when both "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" were released and were big hits, society kind of assumed that one of them was going to walk off with the best picture. Big, popular films usually always win this statuette ("Titanic", anyone?).

But thank GOD the little film, the Woody Allen film, took home the gold. "Annie Hall" is 1977's best film (Oh, but "Smokey and the Bandit" is just the most fun!) on my list, and I am ever so glad the film got the attention it deserves. It looks at love and couplehood in the city where Woody never leaves, New York.

Allen is unforgettable as Alvy Singer, a comedian who loves living in New York, and is hard in love with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, in her best performance that also got her an Oscar), a musician. They share the same taste in movies, chatting, wine, etc. Allen's plot doesn't really matter in his films, its the way his characters talk and interact with each other that really keeps me hooked.

And its the ways that Allen tricks you with what he is doing. There is a hilarious scene that has both Alvy and Annie deep in discussion, and the subtitles at the bottom of the screen tell you what they are really thinking. And a scene where both Alvy and Annie are trapped in a movie line with a guy who talks about movies like poetry, but he doesn't know what he is talking about. Oh, and how about the scene where Alvy is animated in one scene! I could go on.

This is one of Woody's best films, its right up there with "Everyone Says I Love You", "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters", among many others. I like it when Allen is just himself in a movie, and here he gives a nice, subtle performance that is a far cry from his extremely neroutic characters in "Mighty Aphrodite" and "Deconstructing Harry". "Annie Hall" is a mix of comedy, touching drama and great character study.

Grade: A

Tech Review

Picture: 2 A muddy picture that is dated with poor colors and contrast; some scenes look reddish.

Sound: 2 Every Woody Allen film will get this score, since every Woody Allen film is 1 channel mono.

Photography: 3 The usual 1.85:1 job by Allen, with his good and still original camera angles. His only Panavision job has been "Manhattan", and I miss it greatly.

Length: 94 minutes. Rated PG for some language.

 

by George Jobson

Nov 16, 2003

One of Woody Allen's best movies that came from the year 1977. The film also has a fashion statement that came loud and claear from Diana Keaton. Her fashion statement not only dominated the film, but dominated the late 1970's. I can't think about "Annie Hall" without thinking about one of the dresses that was worn by Keaton. "Annie Hall" is a stroke of masterpiece. Allen wrote (with Marshall Brickman) and directed the film which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, beating out favorite "Star Wars." "Annie Hall" is a comic that changed direction of comedy films forever.