Join Jeff Steve and Myself as we take a trip back to 1977 to watch “Annie Hall” the movie that put Woody Allen on the map as a film maker in the late 70’s early 80’s. Has the 4 time Oscar winning glow faded from this movie or does it still hold up to today’s society? Next up we jump to the present to see the knock down drag out dramatically charged brawler “Warrior” Did Steve enjoy it for more than just Tom Hardy? Or did this one suffer a one punch knockout in the first round? Finally we slide into the not so distant future and look at “Dream House” the upcoming thriller starring Daniel Craig. Is this one a must see? Join us for all that plus some quick thoughts on Siamese butt twins! Netflix and Qwikster on this reel of COL Movies! “What we have here is a dead shark”!

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News:

• Netflix/Qwikster: An Explanation and Some Reflections
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• Netflix for streaming
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• Netflix split to set up Amazon streaming merger?
• Netflix DVD spinoff adds to woes (roundup)
• Thor 2 Details?
• Oscar Predictions from Cinemablend

The Past: Annie Hall 1977

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% Fresh 92% Audience
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Director: Woody Allen

Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

Trivia:

• Alvy’s (Woody Allen’s) sneezing into the cocaine was an unscripted accident. When previewed, the audience laughed so loud that director Allen decided to leave it in, and had to add footage to compensate for people missing the next few jokes from laughing too much.
• Woody Allen originally envisioned this movie as a murder mystery, with a subplot about a romance. During script revisions, Allen decided to drop the murder plot, which he and Marshall Brickman later revitalized in Manhattan Murder Mystery.
• During the lobster-cooking scene Annie runs and retrieves a camera to take pictures of Alvy dealing with the crustaceans. Later, when Alvy runs over to Annie’s house to smash a spider, the series of photos Annie took is on the wall in the background.
• Diane Keaton’s real name is Diane Hall and her nickname is Annie.
• Sigourney Weaver’s screen debut, in a non-speaking part as Alvy’s date near the end of the movie.
• The jokes that Woody Allen tells in front of the audience at the University of Wisconsin and on The Dick Cavett Show are from his stand-up comic days.
• Annie’s outfits, which caused a brief fashion rage, were Diane Keaton’s own clothes.
• In the scene where Alvy questions people on the street about what makes a relationship, a large crowd can be seen in the background watching the filming.
• Ben Stiller comments how he likes the scene when Alvy has to meet Annie’s family in AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies: America’s Greatest Movies and how it relates to him personally because he always was very apprehensive meeting his girlfriends’ parents. Stiller starred in Meet the Parents, which revolved around that very idea.
• The film’s working title was “Anhedonia” – the inability to feel pleasure. United Artists fought against it (among other things, they were unable to come up with an ad campaign that explained the meaning of the word) and Woody Allen compromised on naming the film after the central character three weeks before the film’s premiere. Other titles suggested were “It Had to Be Jew”, “A Rollercoaster Named Desire”, and “Me and My Goy”.
• “That was the most fun I’ve ever had without laughing” is a reference to the quote by H.L. Mencken in 1942 (and later Humphrey Bogart).
• The first rough cut ran 2 hours and 20 minutes. Among the scenes later eliminated were: segments showing Alvy’s former classmates in the present day; Alvy as a teenager; a scene in a junk-food restaurant (featuring Danny Aiello); extensive additional scenes featuring Carol Kane, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst and Shelley Duvall; and a fantasy segment at Madison Square Garden featuring the New York Knicks competing against a team of five great philosophers. Christopher Walken’s driving scene was also cut, but was restored a week before the film was completed. New material for the ending was filmed on three occasions, but most was discarded. The final montage was a late addition.
• One scene cut from the film is a fantasy sequence of Annie and Alvy visiting hell. This scene was rewritten 20 years later for Allen’s Deconstructing Harry.
• Marshall McLuhan was not Allen’s first choice. Federico Fellini and Luis Buñuel were asked first.
• Alvy never says “I love you” to Annie. The closest he comes is when Alvy says love isn’t a strong enough word for how he feels.
• During the classroom flashbacks, one of the teachers writes, “Tuesday, December 1” on the chalkboard. December 1 is Woody Allen’s birthday, and Tuesday December 1, 1942 was his seventh birthday, tying in with the school setting.
• On Late Night with Conan O’Brien (28 February 1995), Harvey Fierstein revealed that both he and Danny Aiello had bit parts in this classic, but their scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.
• Woody Allen originally filmed a scene in which a traffic advisory sign “urges” Alvy to go to Annie in California. Editor Ralph Rosenblum wrote that Allen was so disgusted by the scene’s cuteness that he took the footage and threw it into the East River. The traffic-sign motif was later used in Steve Martin’s L.A. Story.
• The passerby Alvy refers to as “the winner of the Truman Capote look-alike contest” is in fact Truman Capote, who appears uncredited.
• June 2008 Ranked #2 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest films in the genre “Romantic Comedy”.
• The movie’s line “Hey, don’t knock masturbation – it’s sex with someone I love!” was voted as the #78 of “The 100 Greatest Movie Lines” by Premiere in 2007.
• Premiere voted this movie as one of “The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time” in 2006.
• An early appearance by Jeff Goldblum playing the party guest who “forgot his mantra”.
• At 93 minutes, it is the second shortest film to win the Best Picture Oscar. The shortest film to win the Best Picture Oscar is Marty at 91 minutes.
• The house under the rollercoaster where Alvy grew up is actually the Kensington Hotel in Coney Island, Brooklyn which was located underneath the Thunderbolt rollercoaster. Allen discovered it while searching locations during filming. The hotel and rollercoaster were demolished in 2000.
• Average shot length: 14.5 seconds
• Kay Lenz was offered the title role but her boyfriend David Cassidy made the offer turned down.
• Shelley Hack’s film debut.
• Shelley Duvall filmed her scenes in two days.
• Alvy makes a joke about the political magazines Dissent and Commentary merging to form “Dysentery.” Dissent is a famous liberal magazine and Commentary is a famous conservative magazine.
• The phrase “La Dee Dah” used often by Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), who grew up in the 1950s, was the title of a 1958 R n R standard – #9 US Pop, by Billy and Lillie and popular on “the oldie’s circuit” at the time of this film’s release.
• The scene where Alvey and Annie are making up stories about people in the park is reminiscent of the Paul Simon song “America”. “Laughing on the bus/Playing games with the faces/She said the man in the gabardine suite was a spy/I said his bow tie is really a camera”. Paul Simon plays Tony Lacey in the film.
• In the lobster scene in the kitchen, the door to the oven in the corner cannot possibly be opened.
• The movie theater line-up scene is done on a long take. The shot starts when the man behind Alvy starts speaking.
• Though based primarily on Woody Allen’s real-life relationship with Diane Keaton, the fact that Annie Hall comes from Chippewa Falls, Wisc. likely was inspired by Allen’s past relationship with folk singer Judy Henske, who was born in Chippea Falls, while Keaton was born in Los Angeles.

Talking Points:

• Won Best Picture, Best Actress,Best Director, Best Writing at the 1978 Oscars.
• Did you feel the movie still speaks true about some relationships? i.e. does it hold up to today?
• Techniques used in filming/storytelling…breaking the fourth wall…omniscient extras..animation use of extremely long shots

What We’ve Learned:

• The universe is expanding, One day it will break apart and that will be the end of everything
• It’s ok to be a bigot..as long as your on the left
• Politicians are a notch below child molester
• Life is divided into the two categories the horrible and the miserable.
• Don’t take any college course that makes you read Beowulf
• A relationship is like a shark.. it has to constantly move forward or it dies.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I think this movie was too clever for me. I didn’t really laugh at all, maybe a heh, here or there but just didn’t get me. Brilliantly put together and acted and everything, it just came off as meh to me. I probably won’t ever watch this movie again.
Ray: I think this is a still relevant, witty look at relationships and how they can evolve or devolve. Mostly holds up to the test of time. If your a Woody fan… and haven’t seen this one you should be ashamed.
Steve: I’m not totally a fan of Woody Allen’s comedy…sometimes he says his punchlines too quickly for me, so I lose focus. However, it is a cute movie…I like the “dreams” he has – they added a lot. And my favorite quote from the movie was “I’m into leather” by the little girl. HEE HEE!

The Present: Warrior
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% Fresh, 93% Audience

Director: Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton

Trivia:

• When the announcer is quoting Koba’s credentials, he states that he is an Olympic Gold medalist in wrestling. Kurt Angle, the actor playing Koba, won two gold medals in the 1996 Olympics in wrestling.
• Co-writers Anthony Tambakis and Gavin O’Connor were introduced by comedian Bryan Callen, who plays himself in the movie alongside writer Sam Sheridan. Callen dated director Patty Jenkins for 9 years. She is now married to Sheridan.
• The role of the promoter, played by director Gavin O’Connor, was originally written for TapouT founder Charles “Mask” Lewis. Lewis was killed by a drunk driver just before shooting began. O’Connor spoke at Lewis’ memorial service on April 14, 2009, six days before principal photography began. The film is dedicated to him.
• The role of Paddy was written for Nick Nolte by Anthony Tambakis and Gavin O’Connor, who is neighbors with the actor in Malibu. The studio was resistant to casting Nolte, but the writers held firm and Nolte’s portrayal has won him universal critical praise.
• Anthony Tambakis and Gavin O’Connor selected The National song “About Today” to close the movie before writing the final scene. The scene was written with the song playing on a continual loop at O’Connor’s house while the writers worked.
• Joel Edgerton tore his MCL in the cage during production, halting fight scenes for six weeks. Tom Hardy suffered a broken toe, broken ribs, and a broken finger.
• Frank Grillo based his character on famed MMA trainer Greg Jackson. Grillo and Joel Edgerton trained and lived with Jackson at his New Mexico gym during pre-production. All of Grillo’s fight scene dialogue while “cornering” Edgerton was suggested by Jackson.
• The original script location for the Conlon family was Long Beach, CA. It was moved to Pittsburgh due to Pennsylvania tax breaks. The scenes set at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City were originally written for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Gavin O’Connor moved the action to New Jersey to fit with the gritty east coast aesthetic of the film.
• Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle played the Russian fighter “Koba,” whose nickname was taken from the moniker given to ‘Josef Stalin’. In the original script, “Koba” was named “King Kong,” but it was changed for legal reasons. The brother of Gavin O’Connor’s assistant, Samantha Ellison, suggested the name “Koba.”
• The location for the scenes in Iraq was actually an abandoned parking lot on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, dressed to look like the desert by Production Designer Dan Leigh.
• Instead of going to his hotel after his flight from England, Tom Hardy appeared at director Gavin O’Connor’s door at midnight the evening before his audition. The pair ended up living together for five days.
• While filming in Pittsburgh, Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis, Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Frank Grillo all lived together at the Cork Factory Lofts.
• On the first day of shooting, the crew gave Nick Nolte a standing ovation after the first take of a scene shot at a local diner. The scene was later cut but appears as a DVD extra.
• Writer Anthony Tambakis portrays a fight official in the film, and Gavin O’Connor plays the fight promoter. O’Connor agreed to play J.J. Riley only after his friend and co-writer Tambakis agreed to make a cameo himself.
• An alternate opening shot at Moundsville State Prison in West Virginia and featuring Tom Hardy’s character cage-fighting in jail, was cut from the film.
• One of the commentator’s references Kurt Angle’s character, Koba, as being a World Sambo Champion. Sambo is a martial art known for leg locks – Angle employed an ankle lock as a signature move during his wrestling career.

Talking Points:

• Some people say this movie was a total cliche? agree?
• Why is it not doing better in the box office?
• Was this what you expected it to be? Comparison to “The Fighter”
• MMA / Newscasts feel too commercial like?
• Performances.
• Who were you rooting for?

What We Learned:

• It’s hard to find a girl who can take a punch these days
• The Dude has 3 Laws
• If you don’t move..you die.
• The Tank don’t hit back

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: “Hello? Oh, Hi Tom. What? Your performance? Okay, yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. Wish you could be here.” Wait for the DVD.
Ray: I really liked this movie, a lot! I thought the story was engaging.. and the performances were top notch! Go see this one!
Steve: I liked it a lot more than I thought I would…and not just for Tom Hardy’s traps! Although he seemed to be channeling Sylvester Stallone, I felt the other performances were solid. Is it the best movie ever, no…but I was pulled in an just enjoyed it. Even found myself really getting into the fights because they were filmed so realistically, just like watching UFC. Still confused about Kurt Angle being the big bad Russian though.

The Future: Dream House

Director: Jim Sheridan

Starring: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts

Summary:

Daniel Craig is set to play a successful publishing executive who quits his job in New York City to relocate his family and two daughters to a beautiful house in a small New England town. They soon learn their home was once the murder scene of a mother and her children, believed to be at the hands of the husband who survived.

Trivia:

• Christian Bale and Brad Pitt were considered for the role of Will.
• Erik Van Looy was originally set to direct.
• Jim Sheridan (the director) supposedly lost control over the movie by the studio and was not pleased with the final result. Stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz were not pleased either, threatening to not make press rounds for it.

Talking Points:

• Above Trivia Item..
• Did they give too much away in the trailer?

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Meh, it’s just another one of those Paranormal Activity/Insidious Movies with it’s own little twist but I’ve seen this before. Love you Daniel Craig, but I think I’d like to pass.
Ray: Somewhat Intrigued.. but feel the trailer is showing me everything in the movie.
Steve: Seems like just another haunted house/Grudge/People Under The Stairs/Sixth Sense kinda movie with high production value. I feel like we’re going to find out they’re already dead and Naomi Watts is a psychic telling them to move on. I would like to think it will be something unique. I’d go see.

Coming Attractions:

The Past
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The Present

The Future

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