"Director: Woody Allen"

• Match Point | DVD | (30/09/2013) from £7.23   |  Saving you £-1.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  And so Woody Allen picks up his camera and moves the location of his latest film across the channel to London. In the process? Match Point becomes one of his finer efforts of recent times. Jonathan Rhys Meyers leads the cast as Chris Wilton, a former professional tennis player, who quickly lands himself a job as a coach. As he goes about his business, he meets Chloe (Emily Mortimer), and a relationship soon ensues, much to the delight of her family. With some speed, he quickly finds himself working for her father (Brian Cox), and wedding bells aren’t too far away. Yet there’s a fly in the ointment, in the shapely form of Chloe’s brother’s girlfriend, played by Scarlet Johansson. Johansson’s powers of attraction--and bluntly, she looks terrific here--aren’t lost on him, setting the stage for an intriguing mix of thriller and drama that comes very much alive in the final act. Allen wisely utilises London not just to give his film a different feel to usual, but also to embellish it with a strong cast of primarily British actors. And while Match Point doesn’t deliver the clever humour and wry laughs you find in the majority of the prolific writer-director’s work, this is still very much an engaging film. Ironically, those likely to warm to the film the least are Allen’s most loyal fanbase. Save for the minimalist credits and the jazz soundtrack, it’s hard to tell he’s behind the camera with Match Point, and that has the trade off of making it accessible to those not usually won over by Woody Allen’s talents. And yet still, there’s something for everyone here, and while Match Point is far from the peak of Allen’s work, it’s still a fine addition to an exemplary body of work.--Simon Brew

• Stardust Memories | Blu Ray | (12/12/2016) from £22.52   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  "Doesn't he know he's got the greatest gift anyone can have, the gift of laughter?" Woody Allen stars as filmmaker Sandy Bates, who, like John Sullivan in Preston Sturges's Sullivan's Travels, no longer wants to make comedies. As studio executives threaten to wrest control of his latest film, he reluctantly attends a weekend film-culture festival in his honour, where he is besieged by journalists ("I'm doing a piece on the shallow indifference of celebrities"), groupies ("I drove all the way from Bridgeport to make it with you"), and persistent oddballs ("Can I talk to you about my idea I have for a movie? It's a comedy based on the whole Guyana mass suicide"). After the exhilarating Manhattan, Stardust Memories was a dramatic departure that threw critics and fans for an outraged loop. But out of all of Allen's films, it is perhaps the one most ripe for rediscovery. It poses the same dilemma Stephen King would later tackle in Misery: What happens when a popular artist is held captive by an adoring audience that doesn't want him to change? The answer may come from an extraterrestrial, who in one of the many fantasy sequences advises the comedian, "You want to do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes." The film is impeccably cast with Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, and Marie-Christine Barrault (of Cousin/Cousine) as the three women in Sandy's life. There are also choice bits by Sharon Stone as a fantasy woman on a train, Daniel Stern as an aspiring actor, Louise Lasser as Sandy's overwhelmed secretary, Laraine Newman as an unimpressed studio executive, and Tony Roberts as Tony Roberts. My own aunt, Victoria Zussin, utters the film's most famous line as the patron who tells Sandy she loves his movies, especially "your early funny ones." --Donald Liebenson

• Bananas | Blu Ray | (26/09/2016) from £12.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (38.49%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Woody Allen's second film as a director was a wild, unpredictable and unlikely comedy about a product-tester named Fielding Mellish (Allen), who can't quite connect with the woman of his dreams (Louise Lasser, Allen's ex-wife). He accidentally winds up in South America as a freedom fighter for a guerrilla leader who looks like Castro. Once he assumes power, the new dictator quickly goes insane--which leaves Fielding in charge to negotiate with the US. The film is chockfull of wonderfully bizarre gags, such as the dreams Fielding recounts to his shrink about dueling crucified messiahs, vying for a parking place near Wall Street. Look for an unknown Sylvester Stallone in a tiny role--but watch this film for Allen's surprisingly physical (and always verbally dexterous) humour. --Marshall Fine

• Shadows And Fog | Blu Ray | (03/04/2017) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  One of Woody Allen's strangest films, this studio-bound fantasy turned his Kafkaesque one-act play Death (1975) into a full-blown homage to German Expressionist filmmakers like Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau and G.W. Pabst, brought to life by one of the starriest casts he ever assembled: Kathy Bates, John Cusack, Mia Farrow, Jodie Foster, Julie Kavner, Madonna, John Malkovich, Donald Pleasence and Lily Tomlin, plus Allen himself. He plays the cowardly Kleinman, reluctantly recruited by a vigilante mob in search of a serial killer. When he finds himself involved with a troupe of circus performers whose sword-swallower Irmy (Farrow) and clown Paul (Malkovich) want to leave to start a family, Kleinman thinks that this is a welcome distraction but the killer has other ideas... Described by the New York Times as a brazen, irrepressible original, Shadows and Fog is the most visually and narratively unpredictable of Allen's films. Carlo di Palma's dazzling cinematography makes full use of the title elements, but it's the richness of the multi-layered narrative, with its Shakespearean oscillation between burlesque comedy and poignant tragedy that really sticks in the mind.

• Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask | Blu Ray | (26/09/2016) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A collection of vignettes, loosely based on the book by Dr. David Rueben, written and directed by Woody Allen, Everything contains some very funny moments. It's easy to forget that the cerebral Allen excelled at the type of broad, Catskill, dirty jokes and visual gags that run amok here. It's also remarkable how dirty this 1972 movie really was--bestiality, exposure, perversion and S&M get their moments to shine. The Woody Allen here, who appears in many of the sketches, is a portent of the seedy old Allen of Deconstructing Harry. Although the final bit, which takes place inside a man's body during a very hot date, is hilarious, most of Everything feels like the screen adaptation of a 70's bathroom joke book. Still, a must for Allen fans. --Keith Simanton

• Interiors | Blu Ray | (14/11/2016) from £13.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (28.59%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Although indisputably a film by Woody Allen, Interiors is about as far from "a Woody Allen film" as you can get--and maybe more people could have seen what a fine film it is if they hadn't been expecting what Allen himself called "one of his earlier, funnier movies." An entirely serious, rather too self-consciously Bergmanesque drama about a divorcing elderly couple and their grown daughters, it is slow, meditative and constructed with a brilliant, artistic eye. There is no music--a simple effect that Allen uses with extraordinary power. In fact, half the film is filled with silent faces staring out of windows, yet the mood is so engaging, hypnotic even, that you never feel the director is poking you in the ribs and saying, "sombre atmosphere". Diane Keaton, released for once from the ditzy stereotype, shines as the "successful" daughter. Some of the dialogue is stilted and it's hard to tell whether this is a deliberate effect or simply the way repressed upscale New Yorkers talk after too many years having their self-absorption sharpened on the therapist's couch. Fanatical, almost childish self-regard is the chief subject of Allen's comedy--it's remarkable that in this film he was able to remove the comedy but leave room for us to pity and care about these rather irritating people. --Richard Farr

• Bananas | DVD | (03/03/2014) from £4.19   |  Saving you £5.80 (138.43%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Puny New Yorker and gadget tester Fielding Mellish (Woody Allen) is in love with Nancy (Louise Lasser), a beautiful political activist who is herself obsessed by the battles being waged in San Marcos between the dictator General Vargas (Carlos Montalban) and his revolutionary opponents. Thus, in an attempt to impress his beloved, Mellish makes for San Marcos and in a bizarre and bewildering series of events, ends up the president of the country. An early spoof from Allen, in much the same vei...

• Deconstructing Harry | DVD | (07/07/2014) from £14.49   |  Saving you £0.50 (3.45%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Woody Allen roared back at his detractors with Deconstructing Harry, a bitterly funny treatise about the creative process. Known to mine his often tumultuous personal life for his movies, the embattled writer-director-star didn't bother to make his alter ego likable in this movie: Harry Block (Allen) pops pills, frequents prostitutes and cheats on the women in his life, then writes about their foibles in thinly disguised fiction. No wonder they're all furious with him. As Harry journeys to his alma mater with a hooker, ill pal and kidnapped son, a series of flashbacks unravel, juxtaposing Harry's relationships with their "slightly exaggerated" fictional counterparts. There are amusing cameos throughout, including a humorous turn by Demi Moore as a fictitious ex-wife who "became Jewish with a vengeance" and Billy Crystal as the devil who found Hollywood too nasty for his liking. The humour is dark and caustic but well worth it; Deconstructing Harry is a near-brilliant meditation on the sometimes queasy relationship between art, creator and critic.--Diane Garrett

• September | Blu Ray | (06/03/2017) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Mia Farrow, Sam Waterston and Elaine Stritch star in this drama written and directed by Woody Allen. The film follows Lane (Farrow), who is staying at her childhood home in Vermont as she recovers from a nervous breakdown. She has been having an affair with Peter (Waterston), a writer who lives nearby, but now relations between them seem to have inexplicably cooled. When Lane's mother Diane (Stritch) arrives with unexpected news, and the fate of her relationship with Peter becomes clear, Lane's emotional world is thrown into turmoil once again.

• Woody Allen Collection Vol. 1 - Bananas/Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask/Sleeper/Love | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  This first part of the fantastic Woody Allen Collection brings together five classic films that showcase Allen's madcap sensibility and wickedly funny irreverence. Films Comprise: 1. Bananas (1971) 2. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask (1972) 3. Sleeper (1973) 4. Love & Death (1975) 5. Annie Hall (1977) For individual synopses please refer to the individual films.

• Woody Allen Collection Vol. 2 - Interiors/Manhattan/A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy/Zelig/Broadway Danny Rose | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.99

  The second installment of the Woody Allen Collection. Films Comprise: 1. Interiors (1978) 2. Manhattan (1979) 3. A Midsummer's Night's Sexy Comedy (1982) 4. Zelig (1983) 5. Broadway Danny Rose (1984) For individual synopses please refer to the individual films.

• Iron Maiden - The Legacy Of The Beast | DVD | (25/09/2006) from £2.69   |  Saving you £-0.70 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  'Iron Maiden: The Legacy of the Beast' goes behind the music to discover what it took for this unlikely group of headbangers to remain Kings of the metal scene for over two decades (and counting!). Packed with interviews and backstage footage this documentary brings the full story of how this unlikely group became metal legends. *(Unathorised Documentary)

• What's Up Tiger Lily | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  What better way for writer-star Woody Allen to cash in on the success of What's New Pussycat? than to write a quickie exploitation comedy that makes fun of quickie exploitation films? In What's Up Tiger Lily? his actors dub new dialogue onto a ridiculous Japanese spy extravaganza. Allen's exquisite sense of the absurd is in fine form as espionage professionals pursue a top-secret recipe for egg salad. At one point during the planning of a break-in, a spy unfolds a map of their quarry's residence, explaining that the man "lives here". "He lives on that small piece of paper?" questions one of the henchmen. It's that silly. But it's often uproarious. Louise Lasser, Allen's former wife is among the voice actors. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

• Woody Allen Collection Vol. 4 - Crimes And Misdemeanors/Alice/Shadows And Fog/Anything Else/Melinda And Melinda | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.99

  The final installment in the celebration of one of the world's most revered director's volume 4 of The Woody Allen Collection. Films Comprise: 1. Crimes & Misdemeanors (1990) 2. Alice (1990) 3. Shadow & Fog (1992) 4. Anything Else (2003) 5. Melinda & Melinda (2004) For individual synopses please refer to the individual films.

• Woody Allen Collection Vol. 3 - The Purple Rose Of Cairo/Hannah And Her Sisters/Radio Days/September/Another Woman | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £22.93   |  Saving you £22.06 (49.00%)   |  RRP £44.99

  The third installment of the fantastic Woody Allen Collection Films Comprise: 1. The Purple Rose Of Cairo (1984) 2. Hannah And Her Sisters (1986) 3. Radio Days (1986) 4. September (1987) 5. Another Woman (1988)

• Alice | DVD | (03/03/2014) from £8.90   |  Saving you £2.35 (30.76%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Woody Allen writes and directs this 1990s romantic comedy starring Mia Farrow as a woman who finds new life from an unusual source. Alice (Farrow,) a troubled New York housewife, visits a Chinese acupuncturist in search of relief from back pain and is prescribed a variety of herbs. Some embolden her, one makes her invisible, still others allow her to revisit her past. Most importantly, they allow her to re-evaluate her future.

• Woody Allen Collection - Annie Hall/Manhattan/Sleeper/Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask | DVD | (14/05/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Annie Hall (1977): Starring Allen as New York comedian Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton (in a Best Actress Oscar-winning role) as Annie the film weaves flashbacks flash forwards monologues a parade of classic Allen one-liners and even animation into an alternately uproarious and wistful comedy about a witty and wacky on-again off-again romance. Manhattan (1979): 42-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates a seventeen-year-old girlfriend (Mariel Hemingway) he doesn't love and a lesbian ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep) who's writing a tell-all book about their marriage... and whom he'd like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend's sexy intellectual mistress Mary (Diane Keaton) Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginning of Isaac's quest for romance and fulfillment in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gate to true love... is a revolving door. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) (1972): Woody Allen pushes the frontiers of comedy by consolidating his madcap sensibility and wickedly funny irreverence with his developing penchant for visually arresting humor. Giving complete indulgence to the zany eccentricity of his medium Allen revels himself as a filmmaker of wit sophistication and comic insight rising to the occasion with several hysterical vignettes that probe sexuality's stickiest issues! Aphrodisiacs prove effective for a court jester (Allen) who finds the key to the Queen's (Lynn Redgrave) heart but learns that the key to her chastity belt might be more useful... Sleeper (1973): When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap he discovers the future's not so bright: all women are frigid all men are impotent and the world is ruled by an evil dictator: a disembodied nose! Pursued by the secret police and recruited by anti-government rebels with a plan to kidnap the dictator's snout before it can be cloned Miles falls for the beautiful - but untalented - poet Luna (Diane Keaton). But when Miles is captured and reprogrammed by the government to believe he's Miss America it's up to Luna to save Miles lead the rebels and cut off the nose just to spite its face. Love And Death (1975): Woody Allen reinvents himself again with the epic historical satire Love and Death. A wonderfully funny and eclectic distillation of the Russian literary soul the film represents a bridge between Allen's early slapstick farces and his darker autobiographical comedies. One of his most visual philosophical and elaborately conceived films 'Love And Death' demonstrates again that Allen is an authentic comic genius. Bananas (1971): When bumbling product-tester Fielding Mellish (Allen) is jilted by his girlfriend Nancy (Louise Lasser) he heads to the tiny republic of San Marcos for a vacation only to become kidnapped by rebels!

• You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger | Blu Ray | (11/07/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  It doesn't take a Nostradamus to see that the interconnected lives in Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger are going to be troubled indeed--and yet the clairvoyant hired by newly divorced Helena (Gemma Jones) fails to predict the complications to come. Well, then there wouldn't be a movie, would there? Helena's restless old goat of an ex-husband, Alfie (Anthony Hopkins), has taken up with a loud hooker (Lucy Punch, Dinner for Schmucks), who he somehow believes to be his dream girl. Helena's daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) is enduring her marriage to blocked novelist Roy (Josh Brolin) while growing enchanted by her boss, a gallery owner (Antonio Banderas) with an accent. Meanwhile, Roy is spending too little time writing and too much time mooning over the knockout (Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto) who lives in the apartment across the street. Allen's morose-go-round spreads itself across this collection of potentially intriguing people, yet the individual scenes feel slack and under-rehearsed, and the London locations are basically irrelevant. And while the cast is stocked with talented players, almost everybody looks slightly miscast, so the film doesn't seem to have an anchor anywhere. It comes to an interesting ending, but by then Allen's purpose seems increasingly casual--when what this roundelay really needs is urgency. --Robert Horton