My Friend and I Played a Movie Game Modeled After A New Podcast In An Effort to Determine the Best Woody Allen Film
I am a completist. If I love a handful of films by an actor or director, I will soon see all of that person's films. This has paid of in a lot of ways and sometimes I regret the time spent. John Schlesinger for instance ended up having a so-so filmography.
I found this podcast called The Incinerator; the creator/host is named Billy Ray Brewton. The premise is two people make individual lists of the 20 best films on any given topic (for instance vampire films). The host takes a look at these lists and sees which films both individual lists and notes what if any films the players have in common. Let's say both players have eight common picks. Each player must now pick 6 of the 12 they do not have in common and submit those. That makes up the top 20 list. There is then an Engineer who adds 5 films that the engineer feels are lacking from the list. That makes the list a top 25.
The players then eliminate films one by one, until only one is left standing. But the engineer gets to add landmines to certain films. 3 out of 5 of his picks. And 4 of the in common picks. Going back to the vampire example, if Near Dark was on the in common list and had a landmine attached to it (only the host and the engineer know what films have landmines attached) that landmine might be You cannot eliminate this film at the spot. Please eliminate a film made by a male director instead.
In addition to landmines, the engineer has the ability to place any one film on the top 25 safe until the top 3. And there are saves. A player can sacrifice one of the picks on his unique list to save any film for the next round. (Saves are good at spot 20, spot 10 and spot 6 in the Podcast version; when I played, it was slightly different). The host also gets one save. Hopefully, I did not make this game sound too simple or two complex. The podcast is great even if the picks and outcomes are often frustrating.
I feel like this game lends itself to large filmographies. So far the episodes have been genre specific. Filmographies I am particularly proud that I got through include the films of Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Audrey Hepburn, Jean Luc Godard, Spike Lee and Woody Allen. Woody is to my mind our best living American filmmaker. He has made 50 films (counting Oedipus Wrecks, which we did not for this game). 43 are anywhere from very good to masterpiece. Six are merely okay and 1 is outright bad. I am not going to give away all my tastes here in case I decide to play this game again with someone down the road. It seemed a long shot that Incinerator would do an Allen episode so I decided to do my own game version on Messenger.
I know a lot of people who have seen most of Allen's films and a few who have seen them all. I reached out to my buddy Steve Pulaski. He works on the radio in Iowa and runs a film review website (https://www.stevepulaski.com/). I know he saw all of the films and even remembered four of his opinions and those may have colored by choices just a touch. Why put something if you for sure the other person will eliminate it quickly? Steve is a generation younger than me and was a very good choice to play this game.
My lovely wife agreed to play host and we sent her our individual top 20 lists. The Woody Allen Pages (https://www.woodyallenpages.com/) website and podcast agreed to play the part of engineer and add 3 landmines with their 5 picks and pick a safe at top 3 choice. In the first deviation of the podcast version, my wife picked the 4 landmines for the common picks.
And We Ended up Having a List of 10 Common Picks
Manhattan (1979)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Radio Days (1987)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
We then had to add 5 unique picks. Here are Steve's:
Love and Death (1975)
Annie Hall (1977)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Shadows and Fog (1992)
Anything Else (2003)
Here are Mine:
Stardust Memories (1980)
Another Woman (1988)
Alice (1990)
To Rome with Love (2012)
A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
And here are the 5 The Woody Allen Pages brought to it:
Sleeper (1973)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Match Point (2005)
Blue Jasmine (2013)
So here is the full list of 25 with all of the rules attached.
Woody Allen Pages Choices (3 of these 5 choices have landmines attached. In addition WA Pages picked one of these as an automatic top 3)
Sleeper (1973)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Match Point (2000)
Blue Jasmine (2013)
My Unique Choices (which can be used for saves)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Another Woman (1988)
Alice (1990)
To Rome With Love (2012)
Steve's Unique Choices (which can be used for saves)
Love and Death (1975)
Annie Hall (1977)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Anything Else (2003)
In Common Picks (4 of these have landmines attached)
Manhattan (1979)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Radio Days (1987)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
The podcast picks who starts by playing a cinema game. Steve was nice enough to insist I start because I put the game together. But here is how that went.
I saw this game not as a ranking game but as an only one can survive game. I wanted to start with a bold move. I like to love all these films. I decided on what I found to be a minor comedy, not set in New York and with a laid back lead. In many ways, not a traditional Woody Allen film.
Midnight in Paris. But it had a landmine attached.
Landmine Result: Midnight in Paris was safe and I had to instead pick a film made in New York.
My next attempt was Mighty Aphrodite. I did not feel strongly about it and was surprised to find Woody did not much care for it in his autobiography.
Mighty Aphrodite had a landmine attached.
Landmine Result: Mighty Aphrodite is safe. You must eliminate a film that also won an Oscar.
I went with Hannah and Her Sisters. I like the film very much but not as a number one. I do not like the ending for one. Woody did not either. This did not have a land mine but...
Per Woody Allen Pages Hannah and Her Sisters is Safe at number 3.
I then attempted to get rid of Blue Jasmine. Outside of the location and Dice. I do not have all that much to recommend about it. It is very Streetcar Named Desire.
Blue Jasmine had a landmine. And this one was odd.
Landmine Result: Blue Jasmine is Safe. You must add a film to the list and eliminate that one instead.
I added Zelig and eliminated that at 26. Outside of knocking out some landmines and moving a title up to 3, everything I did amounted to lose a turn because Steve was up next at 25.
At 25. Steve eliminated TO ROME WITH LOVE (2012)
24. Dennis eliminated MIGHTY APHRODITE (1995)
23. Steve eliminated BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994)
This was Steve making a bold move of his own to eliminate a very strong film but one he did not see as a number one.
22. Dennis eliminated SLEEPER (1973)
I like the early funny ones, and I love a few of them. But not for a top list.21. Steve eliminated ALICE (1990)
I love Alice. I think it is the most Mia centered film. I think it is a precursor to the Miramax films that were absolutely star studded. This is his first star after star cast. Steve said this one put him to sleep. And he would have chose it first but forgot it was on the list. My unique pick saves were falling fast, but I still had titles I would chose over this one.
20. Dennis eliminated CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989)
This film is very similar to Match Point. And I like Match Point better. It is not a theme I am high on. In a way, both are opposite Cassandra's Dream.
Here is an updated version of the list.
Woody Allen Pages (one landmine left that is in Match Point since all other titles played)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)-safe at top 3
Match Point (2005)
Blue Jasmine (2012)
In Common Picks (3 landmines left as one was deployed with Midnight in Paris)
Manhattan (1979)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Radio Days (1987)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
Steve Unique Picks (can be used as saves)
Love and Death (1975)
Annie Hall (1977)
Shadows and Fog (1992)
Anything Else (2003)
Dennis Unique Picks (can be used as saves)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Another Woman (1988)
A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
At 19, Steve attempted to eliminate Another Woman. I think that is one of Woody's finest films. So I gave up Stardust Memories which is a brilliant caustic movie so was sad to see it go. This made Another Woman safe at 12. As I stated earlier, the podcast lists all saved titles at this stage safe at 10. I deviated by making the first save safe at 12 then the next safe at 13, etc.
19. Steve eliminated STARDUST MEMORIES (1980)
At 18, I attempted to eliminate Love and Death. But Steve thought it was an important title and chose to sacrifice Anything Else for it.I feel much more for Anything Else than I do Love and Death which was now safe at 13.
18. Dennis eliminated ANYTHING ELSE (2003)
Landmine Result: Purple Rose of Cairo can be eliminated but another Mia Farrow film must be replaced with a non Mia film. Steve chose to switch Broadway Danny Rose with Irrational Man (2015)
17. Steve eliminated THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985)
16. Dennis eliminated DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (1997)
15. Steve eliminated RADIO DAYS (1987)
Mia's work in this was next level. I was sorry to see this go.
At 14, I attempted to play Annie Hall. I knew Steve would not like that since he shows Annie Hall to people and is a monster fan. I just don't love Annie Hall. It was of the moment and is one of the few films he has that feels dated instead of timeless. He sacrificed Shadows and Fog for Annie Hall. I would not have minded if Shadows and Fog had gone a lot further. But Annie Hall was now safe for the top of the next round at number 6.
14. Dennis has eliminated SHADOWS AND FOG (1992)
Hannah and Her Sisters (safe at 3)
Match Point (has a landmine attached)
Blue Jasmine
....
(two landmines within these 6 agreed upon picks)
Manhattan (1979)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
Irrational Man (2015)
....
(Our unique picks can be used as Saves)
Annie Hall (safe at 6)
Love and Death (safe at 13)
A Rainy Day in New York
Another Woman (safe at 12)
13. Steve eliminated MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011)
12. Dennis eliminated LOVE AND DEATH (1975)
At 11, Steve attempted to play Husbands and Wives but a landmark was attached.
Landmine Result: This title cannot be eliminated. Please eliminate a title from the other players unique list.
Steve then attempted to play A Rainy Day in New York but I used my last save and sacrificed Another Woman in its place. Rainy Day safe at 7.
11. Steve has eliminated ANOTHER WOMAN (1988)
Husbands and Wives (which was almost eliminated at that turn) means a great deal to me. I was new in high school when that came out and functionally illiterate. I saw Husbands and Wives and immediately after got a tutor from the library to help me better understand the fundamentals. I wanted to learn enough that I could get the jokes and references in the film. I never missed his films theatrically after that because for a poor kid that grew up in anti intellectual circumstances, the world depicted seemed very different. I bombed high school regardless because I got caught up in the beat writers instead of what was being taught, but by the time I went to college, I waited until I was 21, I excelled. Certainly, I owe my intellectual beginnings to Woody's films.
At 10, I was ready to say goodbye to Match Point. There was a landmine.
Landmine Result per WA Pages: Match Point can be eliminated if I can answer this question: Who did Scarlett Johansson replace for the lead role in Match Point? I knew the answer was Kate Winslet.
10. Dennis has eliminated MATCH POINT (2005)
09. Steve has eliminated BLUE JASMINE (2013)
08. Dennis has eliminated HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1992)
I am going to recap the top 7. It is worth noting for anyone who says Woody's best days have been well behind him, 3 of our top seven are from the last 10 years. And I want to say that Woody in those years has worn his inspirations on his sleeve. Jasmine is very Tennessee Williams, Wonder Wheel is very O'Neal, Crisis in Six Scenes (a TV project with some of his very best and very worst work) tips a hat to JD Salinger. And so does a Rainy Day in New York. In fact, Rainy Day is Catcher in the Rye in a lot of ways. It also houses some of Woody's best one-liners and has stellar performances and a banger of ending.
Top 7:
Annie Hall (safe at 6)
Manhattan
Hannah and her Sisters (safe at 3)
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Magic in the Moonlight
Irrational Man
A Rainy Day in New York
07. Steve has eliminated A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK (2019)
06. Dennis has eliminated ANNIE HALL (1977)
Everything changed when we got to the top 5 as it does on the podcast we are emulating. On the podcast, the players guess the engineer to win pick 2 and decide the winner. I named the engineer while we were setting up. I had to ask him to participate after all. And Woody Allen Pages did an amazing job. As Steve joked, they were (at least during this game) better than WAP. So to decide who gets picks 5 and 2 and who gets picks 3 and 4, we had Woody Allen Pages supply a trivia question where whoever gets close without going over wins. And at this point all landmines were defused,
The question was how many WGA nominations does Woody have? I went with 16. Steve said 19. The answer was 21. I got picks 3 and 4.
05. Steve has eliminated IRRATIONAL MAN (2015)
04. Dennis has eliminated MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (1993)
03. Dennis has eliminated HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
This left Steve to decide between Magic in the Moonlight and Manhattan. I was fine either way. He told a very funny story about Moonlight being one of his favorite films. He was into a girl and got her to watch it. She ghosted him after that. To be fair, I am not sure she would have liked Manhattan better.
He ultimately chose Manhattan saying that it is essential cinema and essential Allen whereas Moonlight is just essential Allen. And I am happy with that choice. I love the opening where he is talking about having the bravery to save a drowning man and how he never had to face that question because he cannot swim. And the scene where he is listing his favorite things. And Keaton being pretentious after being so likable 2 years earlier as Annie. And the skeleton scene and the black and white and the end which reminds one of City Lights. Vincent Canby called Manhattan the only truly great film of the 1970s and that is a lot, but it is way up there.
02. Steve has eliminated MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (2014)
01. The Winner is MANHATTAN (1979)
This game is complex to set up. But I recommend it as a party game. And thanks for reading.
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