What are some of your best Woody Allen flicks

It’s been a while since i’ve thoroughly enjoyed a Woody Allen movie. I think this (while) started when he stopped playing his own characters and pawned them off to his actors. I particularly cringed at Kenneth Branagh portrayal of what should have been a Woody Allen character.

Yes, that’s it, I stopped enjoying Woody Allen characters when he removed himself from his scripts. He started writing his character (the neurotic-inappropriately-honest-and-insightful-nerdy-older guy) for other people like Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity and Larry David in Whatever Works. And then he completely started writing himself out of scripts and the only way to identify his movies is through the font of the opening titles and less so through the dialogue which he was so amazing at crafting.

I don’t think I have a favourite Woody Allen movie, it is not Annie Hall (that was before my time), and it’s not Match Point nor Deconstructing Harry, nor Mighty Aphrodite. I don’t have a favourite Woody Allen movie because all of them put together, all the conversations and twisted but true observations about relationships in his movies are just one movie really, with different players and plots.

You had me at hello

Romance, or my idea of it anyway, is built from bits and pieces of mushy speeches and memorable moments from some of the greatest romantic flicks, recent and not so recent. Moments that touched the very core of my mushy bone and ruined every romantic moment I would ever have.

Not to say that life is devoid of poetry and romance. In fact, it is everywhere. It’s poetic that we are who we are, where we are in this moment. It is poetic that we make connections that make a meaningful impact in our lives. There’s poetry in moments, there's poetry in spaces, there's poetry in the chaos and the plan. and it extends from a second to an eternity.

But back to the best romantic speeches and moments in celluloid of all time:

In no particular order, (as long as Chasing Amy is number 1) here some of my favourites:

Chasing Amy (where Amy is the one that Silent Bob let get away):

Scene, Alysia and Holden are driving home in the rain after having a meal where Alysia buys Holden a painting to mark their friendship and their moment, Holden can't stand it anymore and says:

I love you. And not, not in a friendly way, although I think we're great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I'm sure that's what you'll call it. I love you. Very, very simple, very truly.

You are the epitome of everything I have ever looked for in another human being. And I know that you think of me as just a friend, and crossing that line is the furthest thing from an option you would ever consider.

But I had to say it. I just, I can't take this anymore. I can't stand next to you without wanting to hold you. I can't, I can't look into your eyes without feeling that, that longing you only read about in trashy romance novels. I can't talk to you without wanting to express my love for everything you are.

And I know this will probably queer our friendship - no pun intended - but I had to say it, because I've never felt this way before, and I don't care. I like who I am because of it. And if bringing this to light means we can't hang out anymore, then that hurts me.

But God, I just, I couldn't allow another day to go by without just getting it out there, regardless of the outcome, which by the look on your face is to be the inevitable shoot-down. And, you know, I'll accept that.

But I know...I know that some part of you is hesitating for a moment, and if there is a moment of hesitation, then that means you feel something too. All I ask, please, is that you just, you just not dismiss that - and try to dwell in it for just ten seconds.

Alyssa, there isn't another soul on this fucking planet who has ever made me half the person I am when I'm with you, and I would risk this friendship for the chance to take it to the next plateau. Because it is there between you and me. You can't deny that.

Even if, you know, even if we never talk again after tonight, please know that I'm forever changed because of who you are and what you've meant to me, which - while I do appreciate it - I'd never need a painting of birds bought at a diner to remind me of.

My other favourite is from the English Patient

ALMÁSY: I claim this shoulder blade - oh no, wait - I want this! He turns her over, kisses her throat, then traces the hollow indentation.

This - what's it called? - this place, I love it - this is mine! (Katharine doesn't know)I'm asking the King permission to call it the Almasy Bosphorous.

And of course Brokeback Mountain:

Jack Twist: Tell you what, we coulda had a good life together, fuckin' real good life! Had us a place of our own. But you didn't want it, Ennis! So what we got now is Brokeback Mountain! Everything's built on that, that's all we got boy, fuckin' all. So I hope you know that, if you don't never know the rest! You count the damn few times we have been together in nearly twenty years and you measure the short fucking leash you keep me on, and then you ask me about Mexico and tell me you'll kill me for needing somethin' I don't hardly never get. You have no idea how bad it gets! I'm not you... I can't make it on a coupla high-altitude fucks once or twice a year! You are too much for me Ennis, you son of a whoreson bitch... I wish I knew how to quit you.

Ennis Del Mar: Well why don't you? Why don't you just let me be, huh? Because of you, Jack, that I'm like this. I'm nothing... and nowhere.

Before Sunrise

Jesse: [stops Celine and positions her in front of him at arm's length]
Celine: What?
Jesse: Uh... I'm gonna take your picture. So I never forget you or, uh, or all this.
Celine: Okay. Me too.

Neither has a camera…