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Early in “Annie Hall,” Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) gets into an argument with a stranger while standing in line at a movie theater. The argument is about film, and when Singer decides his opponent knows nothing about the work of media scholar Marshall McLuhan, he simply walks McLuhan, playing himself, into the frame to tell off the uninformed moviegoer.

The scene is funny for its sheer absurdity, but it also speaks to how conscious Allen is of his job as a filmmaker – even when making a movie, he can’t keep other movies out of it. The argument escalates when the uninformed moviegoer criticizes Federico Fellini.

Since Allen takes movies so seriously, it’s no surprise that his fans do the same. Of course, by attracting hypercritical moviegoers that see too many movies, Allen inevitably foreshadowed his own tragic fall from 35-mm grace.

But after making “Match Point,” which was released last year, Allen is once again the country’s most intriguing filmmaker. Students had a chance to see the film in Ackerman Grand Ballroom last weekend, the DVD came out Tuesday, and for anyone still wanting to see it in a theater, the New Beverly Cinema will screen it as part of a double feature with Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (1989) on Friday and Saturday.

Combining the two films creates a significant pair, as the two movies are extremely similar. Most Allen fans, in their hardhearted cinematic conservatism in which anything older is better than anything newer, will tell you that “Crimes and Misdemeanors” is the superior film, but they’re wrong. And with the help of some fantastic lines Allen has written over the years, here’s a countdown of the five most important reasons why:

5. “Sex alleviates tension and love causes it.” – “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy”

With female leads played by Anjelica Huston, Mia Farrow and Joanna Gleason, “Crimes and Misdemeanors” just isn’t sexy, especially when compared to Scarlett Johansson in “Match Point.” On the other side of the chromosome scale, comparing Martin Landau and Alan Alda to Jonathan Rhys Meyers will only further prove my premise.

Hiring a cast of younger, sexier actors allowed Allen to tell a more believable story of adultery and cover-up than watching Landau have an affair with Huston in “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Tales of lust work best when audiences feel lust too, and at no point in “Crimes and Misdemeanors” did I lust after Mrs. Tenenbaum.

4. “I’ve re-evaluated our lives; I got a 10, you got a 6.” – “Manhattan Murder Mystery”

In “Match Point,” everything that’s different about Chris Wilton (Meyers) and Nola Rice (Johansson) reinforces the plot’s jarring conclusion, which becomes more and more inevitable the more you think about it. Wilton, a moderately successful professional tennis player, has obviously learned how to think under pressure. Rice, a completely unsuccessful actress, isn’t quite as smart. Of course you don’t recognize this until after the movie ends, which makes its obviousness even more impressive.

Compare that to the characters’ professions in “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Judah Rosenthal (Landau) is an ophthalmologist, Cliff Stern (Allen) is a filmmaker and Lester (Alda) is a TV producer. In other words, it’s like every other Woody Allen movie.

3. “Don’t you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes, and I live here.” – “Annie Hall”

Simply put, New York City has become a cliche in Allen’s films. Allen originally set “Match Point” in Long Island, right outside of the city, but changed the setting to London in a later draft. The new setting helped breathe new life into Allen’s storytelling, even if he shot London with so many water shots along the Thames that you almost think you’re looking at the Hudson River. Posh Londoners are very different than Jewish Upper West Siders, and they presented Allen with a new set of social codes to interpret. There’s a reason he’s filming his next film, “Scoop,” in London as well.

2. “There’s been a mistake! I know, I made it!” – “Love and Death”

Allen is a brilliant comedic actor, but for whatever reason, he can’t perform in a drama without including the kinds of one-liners that make his shtick so appealing. He put himself in “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” and though he tries to stay solemn, he occasionally breaks down and says something funny.

Maybe he kept himself out of “Match Point” simply because he didn’t feel like working on his British accent, but whatever the reason, the film works better with Allen behind the camera than in front of it. The story is clearly outside of Allen’s comfort zone as an actor, and no one wants to watch him try to play tennis and flirt with someone who’s one-third his age.

1. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. I’m 237 years old; I should be collecting Social Security.” – “Sleeper”

Allen’s output of films in the 1970s – which includes, but isn’t limited to, “Bananas” (1971), “Sleeper” (1973), “Love and Death” (1975), “Annie Hall” (1977) and “Manhattan” (1979) – was so consistently impressive that no one could top it, including Allen himself. After a respectable 1980s and what could best be described as a forgettable 1990s and 2000s, his film career looked dead. It’s tough to pinpoint exactly when he hit rock bottom, but I’m going with “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion” (2001), in which at 66 years old he played a romantic lead opposite a 38-year-old Helen Hunt. In many ways, that’s more disturbing than anything related to Soon-Yi Previn.

“Match Point” changed all that. Now at 70 years old, he may be the most intriguing American filmmaker alive. It took Allen another six years to make a good movie (“Mighty Aphrodite”) after “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” I have a sneaking suspicion it won’t take him that long this time. With a new city to film, Allen could become Hollywood’s Lazarus; with his well-known fear of death in mind, that would probably suit him just fine.