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1977. It was a pivotal year for my movie geek-dom. Yes, I was only 1 year old but it shaped the way I have felt about movies for my entire life. As far as I am concerned, there are only two movies that matter from 1977 (before you e-mail me about all the great movies that year, I do realize there were more than two movies released in 1977). Star Wars and the movie that beat it for Best Picture at that year's Academy Awards. Annie Hall.
  I must have spent every day of my first decade of life thinking about Star Wars in some capacity. Who am I kidding? I still spend at least a few minutes every day thinking about Star Wars. When I was about ten years old, my father called me into the living room with "Get your ass in here, you might like this!" I figured he was watching some sci-fi or horror picture. Turns out he was watching some romantic comedy starring a middle aged Jewish dude and the chick from The Godfather (as an Italian, The Godfather was as essential as Dr. Suess in my early years.) My father was watching some movie I'd never heard of called Annie Hall, but if he said I might like it, that was good enough for me.Most of the jokes went over my head. I laughed at the gag about living under the roller coaster at Coney Island and the lobster scene. It took me a few years to get the vibrating egg and sore jaw bits.
  Despite the lack of space ships and monsters I was hooked. I didn't really understand it, but Woody Allen displayed a sense of self depreciation that spoke to me. When he quoted Groucho Marx's line of "I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member" I knew I had found a kindred spirit. I was a little too young to be a total outcast, but I sensed that was what was coming for me once I entered high school. I made it my mission to seek out every Woody Allen movie ever made.
   I remember watching Hannah And Her Sisters with my mom and trying not to laugh when Woody asked Tony Roberts to donate his sperm to him and Mia Farrow- "You don't have to make love to her, just masturbate into a little cup.", or being swept away by the fantasy of The Purple Rose of Ciaro, or laughing hysterically when I realized that Chazz Palmenteri's Cheech was going to wack Jennifer Tilly's Olive because he was ruining his play in Bullets Over Broadway (the first Woody movie I saw at a theater) I would describe myself as a hard core movie buff.
  For the past 25 years, I have lived on a steady diet of films by Spielberg, Lucas, Burton, Lynch, Tarrantino, Boyle, Anderson-both Wes and Paul Thomas, Scorcesse, Coppola-Francis Ford and Sofia, Cameron, Fincher, Ridley and Tony Scott, The Coen Brothers, Del Torro, Malick, Truffaut,DeMille,Eastwood, Lang,Polanski, Kubrick, Sam Raimi, Spike Lee, Ang Lee, Nolan, Van Sant, Kevin Smith (when he was still good) Jason and Ivan Rietman, Alexander Payne, J.J. Abrams, Jonez,Gondry,Lean, Demme, Zemeckis, Crowe,Biegelow,Foreman, Howard-the list could go on for days, there was always one filmmaker I kept coming back to, for great, good, mediocre or bad films. That filmmaker was Woody Allen.
  I started this blog, Wild Man Blues, as an attempt to watch and review all 43 of his movies from What's Up Tiger Lilly to Midnight in Paris. The list won't be in chronological order, and I won't be side tracked by his personal life. I can't promise objectivity since I love a lot of his movies that have been panned (Scoop and Whatever Works come to mind) or frequent posts. This blog exists as a tribute to and decounstruction of the films of Woody Allen. Shit, I should have called this blog Deconstruction Woody.
  I hope you read and get something out of all 43 entries. You can agree with me, disagree or think I'm a total douche for thinking anyone cares about my opinion. The first review will appear later this week. I'm torn between the movie that started it all for me, Annie Hall, or the first one on my Netflix queue, The Purple Rose of Ciaro. Leave a comment with suggestions. I look forward to your feedback and I hope you enjoy reading Wild Man Blues.