5 Awesome Woody Allen Movies and 5 That Sucked

Woody Allen is known for having one of the most industrious work ethics in contemporary Hollywood, turning out a film both written and directed by him almost every year without fail. Of course, while his enthusiasm to work seems unrivalled, this does mean that among his many classics are a number of less-good Allen films. However, speaking as an Allen aficionado and absolute apologist, even his worst films are generally better-written and better-acted than many similar films; they are simply not up to the high Allen standard we came to expect during his so-called "Golden period" of the late 70s and 1980s. The last decade of his work has been particularly inconsistent, turning in both his worst few works, and then, out of nowhere, one of his best in decades (Midnight in Paris). Love him or hate him, here's our run-down of Woody Allen's 5 most awesome and terrible films... 5 Awesome Movies...

5. Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989)

Academy Award nominations: 3, for Best Director (Allen), Best Actor (Martin Landau), Best Original Screenplay (Allen) Never one to take the simple, easy route, Allen's deftly-weaved tale centres on an ophthalmologist - that's an eye doctor - named Judah Rosenthal (Landau), who opts to have his meddlesome mistress murdered, and integrates this with the story of a documentary filmmaker, Cliff Stern (Allen), who is filming a documentary about his loathesome brother-in-law, when he develops feelings for his associate producer, Halley Reed (Mia Farrow). How the two stories meld together is simple but elegant; Cliff's passion project is a documentary about a philosophical survivor of the Holocaust, and his ruminations ultimately go a way to explain Judah's actions earlier on. Indeed, one story serves to inform the other, and in the film's excellent closing scene, Judah and Cliff meet each other at a party, reflecting on their respective situations, whereby Judah has moved on from the guilt associated with his wife's murder, yet Cliff remains jaded at being knocked back by Halley, who instead became engaged to his brother-in-law. It's one of Allen's more simple parables but a fine trading-off of values and ideas; well worth it for a slightly darker, more sombre tone than you might expect of Allen. But it's never miserable or morose.