Woody Allen: Film by Film Thread

Wow - that's shockingly quick. It's still in theatres! Or was, as of last weekend.
Weekend Box Office Results for September 16-18, 2016 - Box Office Mojo »

 

Cafe Society was a great little film and looked great, his best since Blue Jasmine

 

Looks like the DVD/blu-ray release date was set before the film was released to theaters.

 

Looks like we get a (sort-of) poster for this after all:

Some reviews are now out, and a couple mirror the image above. The Hollywood Reporter states "Crisis in Six Scenes isn't very good." IndieWire opines that "To say “Crisis in Six Scenes” is a disaster would be an overstatement." Although, in fairness, the San Francisco Chronicle is pleased with its "inspired silliness", "winning performances" and "wonderful cameo contributions."

As for me, since one of my fellow Woody Allen fanatics will be accompanying me to the Desert Trip concert Oct 7-9, I think I'll hold off a week on this show so that the two of us can watch it together while in CA. Hopefully threadmaster Ray will chime in with more favorable comments about its worth before then!

 

Well, this isn't encouraging, but I'm excited to see it (them?) nonetheless.

And yeah, this one goes to the bottom of the poster list.

 

I like it! It's got the minimalist vibe that I like. It's way better than Bullets Over Broadway!

 

You see minimalist vibe, I see a 6th grader banging it out during lunch period.

 

One of the stupidest pieces about Woody I've read:

From a creepy age gap to an unhappy ending – what to expect in Woody Allen's new TV show »

 

Why a tiny bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Can't write anything with any wit or import? Simply retread the "common knowledge" that makes you feel informed. And by the way - "Irrational Man" actually has a typical Hays Code friendly ending - the villain experiences a just consequence for his hubris and crime.

 

It's dreadful, isn't it? Not even vaguely smart: an embarrassment to the newspaper.

 

"They are almost definitely going to get it on … Allen with Miley Cyrus "

Almost definitely top notch, high class journalism.

 

Clickbait. Simple as that.

 

Glad you two were my "food tasters" on this and I could move on to the next time-waster without pausing at the Guardian's site...

 

Amateur hack job. How on earth a newspaper like The Guardian allowed that, I don't know.

 

Has he started offering cool extra features like chapter entry points so you can start somewhere other than the beginning of the film? And stereo audio perhaps?

 

looks like it makes sense to get a region B Blu Ray ,just to get Woody Allen titles

 

Chapters yes, Stereo - don't be silly.

 

Yes, it would. Here's hoping they do that.

 

I heard the NPR critic yesterday bashing Woody 's tv show. The "critic" brought up the molestation allegations for no good reason and failed to mention that the police declined to prosecute. A real hack job.

 

I managed to watch "Crisis in Six Scenes" twice this weekend. While there is some degree of episodic construction (episode 1 ends on a cliffhanger, so to speak, for example), this mostly feels like a movie cut into 6 pieces. Placed all together, with all but the first opening credits and final end credits trimmed, there's about 2:15 here - a longish movie.

I'm sure many people haven't seen it yet, or are choosing to spread the viewing of episodes out in a more traditional approach, so I will stay away from anything resembling a spoiler.

My impression - if you take away the fact that this is Woody Allen, making what may turn out to be his final sustained performance in front of a camera - this is mostly stale, cliched material in dire need of editing at the writing stage (and again at the editing stage). There are a handful of scenes, moments and lines that are funny or bring a smile, but there are entire segments that bring to mind the worst aspects of "What's New Pussycat?" or "Don't Drink the Water". For viewers/critics looking for the Woody stand-in, how about a nebish with glasses who reads philosophy and quotes poetry?

The plot - the crisis if you will - is there to mostly to hang jokes on. I was never invested in how it might turn out. I found Miley Cyrus to be surprisingly unlikable, which may in part be Woody the writer's fault for giving her cliched dialog that was stale when Larry David was spouting it in "Radio Days" 30 years ago.

My conclusion is this series is worth viewing if you're a longtime Woody fan, but otherwise there is very little to recommend it.

 

I have seen 4/6ths of it so far and agree with most of what you wrote. It would be his longest movie ever though, right?

 

Yes, and it's pretty easy to pick out sequences that could/would be chopped if this was a standard 90-100 minute affair.

 

While this doesn't sound very good I find it extremely hard to dislike anything Woody makes so I'm lucky I guess.


Peace and love✌

 

Finished it now. Yes "Smiley Virus" didn't really work. Thought episode 5 was great though. Nice to see Woody on screen although at times he seemed to be using a teleprompter. Wonder if he will act again.

 

The very first scene - the haircut - was my favorite part of the series. I found it witty and a funny kind of wink to the audience about "working on a sitcom". Now the sleepwalking scene in scene 2 .... booooo.

I fear this is the last we'll see of Woody in front of the camera.