At a 1950s Coney Island amusement park, the wife (Kate Winslet) of a carousel operator (Jim Belushi) begins to unravel; she’s having an affair with a handsome lifeguard (Justin Timberlake), and her husband’s daughter (Juno Temple) is hiding from mobsters. Much like cinematographer Vittorio Storaro enchanted us with the look of Café Society (2016), this … Continue reading Wonder Wheel
Famous film director Sandy Bates (Woody Allen) is attending a retrospective of his work, while also recalling the women who inspired him over the years. A lot of people saw a lot of Woody in the director who’s constantly tormented by fans who consider his earlier, funnier movies better than the ones he’s making now. … Continue reading Stardust Memories
ANYONE WHO IS ANYONE WILL BE SEEN AT CAFÉ SOCIETY. In the 1930s, Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) moves to Hollywood where his powerful uncle (Steve Carell) gives him a job at his agency; he falls in love with a secretary (Kristen Stewart), without realizing that she’s having an affair with his uncle. A pleasant but … Continue reading Café Society
After finishing Manhattan, Woody Allen was desperately unhappy with the results. It went so far that Allen begged United Artists not to release it, offering to make another movie for free as long as Manhattan didn’t see the light of day. Fortunately, the studio refused the offer and released what has become one of the … Continue reading Manhattan: Rhapsody in Black and White
One of Woody Allen’s most nostalgic features is a comedy-drama that takes us back to his childhood before and during World War II when radio was in the middle of its golden age. It’s a fictional story but filled with the music and impressions that were part of the director’s New York City upbringing. Some … Continue reading Radio Days
SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF LOVE. In the early 1900s, an inventor (Woody Allen) and his wife (Mary Steenburgen) invite two other couples for a weekend in the country. The director’s admiration for Ingmar Bergman wasn’t limited to earnest dramas, but showed in comedies as well. This enjoyable but slight exercise was inspired by Smiles … Continue reading A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy
YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ANYTHING UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN EVERYTHING. Woody Allen’s parody of David Reuben’s popular 1960s sex manual is divided into seven vignettes with wildly different themes, featuring among other things Allen as a court jester trying to open a chastity belt, a doctor (Gene Wilder) falling in love with Daisy the sheep, a game … Continue reading Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
There’s every reason for Mia Farrow not to enjoy watching this movie. Some of it was shot in her actual apartment, and she has talked about the creepy effect of sitting in one’s apartment flipping through channels and finding a movie that takes place exactly where you’re sitting. Then there’s also the fact that her … Continue reading Hannah and Her Sisters: Saved by the Marx Bros
A NERVOUS ROMANCE. In the film’s first scene, Woody Allen as Alvy Singer addresses his audience, letting us know that he recently turned 40 and that this landmark event has brought on a life crisis. It wasn’t really planned, but I happened to watch this movie for the first time in many years at exactly … Continue reading Annie Hall: This Is 40
After overhearing a conversation about a certain judge in a diner, alcoholic New England philosophy professor Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) decides that killing him is the moral thing to do. Woody Allen returns to familiar territory as similar questions of morality have been treated in films like Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Cassandra’s Dream (2008). … Continue reading Irrational Man
Edited together (with partly new material) from a documentary series, this film examines (in chronological order) the career and films of Ingmar Bergman through the eyes of numerous prominent filmmakers and actors who have been more or less touched by the Master’s work. Some of them also visit the stark island in Sweden where Bergman … Continue reading Trespassing Bergman
In 1928, famed illusionist Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) is persuaded by a colleague (Simon McBurney) to take a closer look at a young mystic (Emma Stone); convinced that she must be a fraud, Stanley tries to resist her charms. Another comedy from Woody Allen that’s light as a feather, which it shares with The Curse of … Continue reading Magic in the Moonlight
After losing everything and suffering a mental breakdown when her wealthy husband (Alec Baldwin) is sent to jail on fraud charges, Jasmine Francis (Cate Blanchett) goes to stay with her sister (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco. When Woody Allen takes on the financial crisis, he naturally sets the story in a world he knows … Continue reading Blue Jasmine
