Shadows and Fog

Thematically this is full of disjointed exploration, and for this reason it left many unanswered questions. It was fairly short, but still seemed to drag a little (probably because it was confusing, and a mess at times). The camera work was first rate in parts, a little flat in others. All in all this was interesting in parts, but highly skippable as a whole. I also got the feeling that this was a cheap homage to the work of Franz Kafka.

undeniably riddled with big names, i mean A LOT. woody allen remains a great actor/director/writer, i cant help but feel that whenever he's not on the screen we lose a bit of the magic that he so expertly conveys. when he is on screen though, which is a sizable chunk of the movie, it's damn good. this movie is definately bottom heavy so if your dissatisfied with the begining wait it out, you wont be disappointed.

Criminally underrated gem from Woody. Great cast and a hilarious script.

The most underrated Woody Allen movie in my humble opinion.

The film is spectacularly beautiful, all murk and mystery. The astonishing black and white photography is by Carlo Di Palma, and the claustrophobic sets are by Santo Loquasto. Allen explores mob psychology, personal fear, and the search for inner strength in this brave and masterful tribute to German Expressionistic cinema.

Lots of hate for this around these parts, but the cast is fantastic, the throwback cinematography spot-on, and the script is philosophically dense. Funny, too.

Hate woody allen movies.

Very uneven. The comedy is good, the sentimental subplot bad, and the camerawork shaky.

Pretty typical Woody Allen fare, and pretty enjoyable.

Watchable, if not a little boring. Thematically all over the place. The whorehouse stuff is fun at least. Cool sets and cinematography, and I like seeing guys like Donald Pleasence in a Woody Allen movie. Madonna was only in one scene and Fred Gwynne only got one line? I want my money back.

What I wouldn't give to have Jodie Foster lick my nipple. $700 easy. Great character actors given two tons of bit parts. But cinematography was flat and gives B&W a bad name. Camerawork was painfully mismanaged: I wanted to throttle my TV at one point. All its quaint eccentricities are drowned out by dime store philosophy.

Nice atmospheric Woody Allen film.

Pretty bland, if you ask me. The story is pretty stupid and forgettable. That wouldn't matter if the story were funny, but it's not. I have an instinctive distaste for Mia Farrow, which doesn't help things either. Whatever Allen is doing in this film, I'm not that interested.

Underappreciated ode to expressionism.

Kafka and Murnau with jokes! Shame about 90 percent of the acting. I get that the acting in the era this film pays homage to wasn't so hot, but everyone here seems to prefer mean-spirited parody to challenging themselves with a more limited palette. Woody, Mars, Cusack, Malkovich and Kavner got it right, but they weren't enough to redeem the cast. It is a beautiful film though, and you can tell Woody took great pains in making a stagebound 30's movie the right way.

A decent movie with a pretty big cast. The whole thing seemed very quirky to me, and Woody Allen did a good job of providing that with his character. I felt like the film tried to delve deeper into philosophy, but maybe not enough.

One of the Woodman's rare misfires IMHO. The exchange of dialogue between Woody and Lily Tomlin is priceless (won't give it away), but mostly this is a great cast performing material that just ain't up to standard

Clearly a hommage to German Expressionism this is one of the best looking Allen films. Allen himself provides the comedy with his typical oblivious fool character.

I like the overall concept, but it was kind of boring.

61.000

Woody Allen has finally answered the age-old question, "What would it be like to get John C. Reilly, Madonna, Kruger from Seinfeld and Donald Pleasance in the same film?" It's a fun movie, thematically a mess but I wasn't really giving them much thought, just enjoying the story (and the excellent photography). Also, I wonder how much they paid Jodie Foster to lick Woody Allen's nipple.

The film is full of sharp dialog and wit, with plenty of non-sequiturs ("So you're a sword-swallower, huh? What happens if you get the hic-ups?") that all make it trademark Woody Allen. The cinematography is also of note, shot in a crisp black and white with brilliant, elaborate set pieces. A thoroughly entertaining homage to German Expressionism and the likes of Fritz Lang.

Thematically the film is kind of all over the place: mob mentality, paranoia, anti-Semitism, death, God, family, art, infidelity, morality and filmmaking. Although this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach gives the film a disjointed feel (as do the endless celebrity cameos) it's not nearly as bad as its reputation suggests. Some of the jokes fall flat, but there are some good ones, and the blend of comedy and drama has such an unusual flavor to it.

Though I liked it quite a bit, this isn't a strong entry in Woody's filmography. Worth checking out for some of the visuals and the impressive cast.

My least favorite Woody Allen.

Nicely shot, lots of great actors and a handful of very good scenes. But the movie was dragged down by its lack of any compelling plot points. A visually interesting movie with a severely lacking script.

Good Movie

Offbeat, unpredictable Allen film that is little more than an exercise in expressionistic visual stylings. Although reminiscent of a silent film, Carlo DiPalma's black-and-white cinematography is stunning. Several stars appear briefly throughout this extremely unfocused comedy.

It's murky and moody as hell just like his *insert clever Woody Allen marries his children joke here*

Well, who could blame him? It's a lovely set. I just don't know if Fellini can be that easily transfigured into Lang, or vice versa.

Good acting (except for Woody Allen), production design and cinematography but the story (what there is of one) is all over the place. Rips off Kafka, Fritz Lang and M, Scorsese's After Hours and still manages to be dull. The humor, what there is of it, involves Allen making some tired self deprecating comment. More plot, less fog please.

This film is not a masterpiece of Woody Allen, but is a pleasant movie. It has some good moments of dark humor and a great cast, which already is worth a look.