Woody Allen

[Aunt Peg]

At the time of their releases Annie Hall & Husbands & Wives were seen as semi-autobiographical. Annie Hall more so for Diane Keaton than Woody Allen though.

[therewillbeblus]

Allen (in an Instagram interview with Alec Baldwin, of all places) indicates he might retire after his next film, a Paris-set drama

More details revealed: This will be a French-language thriller in the vein of Match Point with an all-French cast. Production is expected to begin shortly

[Blutarsky]

According to blu-ray.com, Allen’s Orion/MGM films are being released now by Sandpiper Pictures.

[Ribs]

Just the TT titles, not all of them - so, once again, it appears the new transfers of Annie Hall and Manhattan are to remain unreleased.

[hearthesilence]

I see Sandpiper's Blu-rays are not only up on Amazon but marked down to $20 (33% off). Still not that cheap, but given what prices were on the Twilight Time editions several months ago, they're all much more affordable now.

[swo17]

All of these titles were included in the Arrow boxes, correct?

[hearthesilence]

I think so. FWIW, they even recycled the same Twilight Time artwork, including the atrocious one for Purple Rose of Cairo.

[starmanof51]

I think so. FWIW, they even recycled the same Twilight Time artwork, including the atrocious one for Purple Rose of Cairo.

lol, that's the only one of this batch I kind of like.

[Finch]

Woody Allen officially retiring, last film shooting in Paris, and entirely in French

[Maltic]

More drama coming up at the Cesar Awards

[HitchcockLang]

That article has since been updated to reflect that Woody is not actually retiring after all.

[Quote Perf Unquote]

That article has since been updated to reflect that Woody is not actually retiring after all.

I know I've written some silly shit on this site, which might cause many of you to think I've experienced head trauma, but this text from the updated article genuinely makes me wonder if I'm having a stroke right now:

...a representative for the director released the following statement: “Woody Allen never said he was retiring, not did he say he was writing another novel. He said he was thinking about not making films as making films that go straight or very quickly to streaming platforms is not so enjoyable for him, as he is a great lover of the cinema experience. Currently, he has no intention of retiring and is very excited to be in Paris shooting his new movie, which will be the 50th.”

[DarkImbecile]

Sounds like a Spanish newspaper rehashed comments he’d already made out of context, slapped an attention-getting headline on it, and Variety picked it up without doing any further checking or reporting.

[Quote Perf Unquote]

TMZ is better written than most of the trades at this point, and probably more accurate as well.

[Dylan]

Lots of new details have quietly leaked in regards to Allen's latest film, which is currently filming in Paris. The Woody Allen Pages have compiled the various updates into three recent posts:

Valerie Lemercier will star and is rumored to have one of the leading roles, or perhaps the leading role.

Niels Schneider, Lou de Laage, Melvil Poupaud and Elsa Zylberstein have been added to the cast.

Various crew members have been reported, including Vittorio Storaro as the cinematographer (his fifth film for Allen). This update also reports that Gregory Gadebois and Guillaume de Tonquedec have been added to the cast.

[hearthesilence]

Maybe I forgot but apparently Allen has an official Facebook page and it's been very active with someone posting images of him working from the set of his new film.

[relaxok]

Call me closed-minded but I just can’t imagine enjoying a Woody Allen film that’s not in english..

I hope this is not his last.

[relaxok]

Finally got around to watching Wonder Wheel. The whole Amazon fiasco left a bad taste in my mouth and I’ve been slow to check out things of that era (still no Rifkin’s Festival), but tossed it on today.

All in all, very disappointing. I feel like this would have worked better as a stage play with a few different nice Coney Island sets, but for the most part they wasted the location entirely - the setting is a beach and boardwalk amusement park and it almost all takes place in a stage-like set in their apartment. The camera barely moved and some scenes went on forever.

By far the worst part of the film was Timberlake. The lifeguard writer character was bizarre to begin with and the script doesn’t do him any favors but he was just woefully miscast. You can tell he’s trying but he’s just not pulling it off.

Juno Temple was serviceable. She doesn’t have much to do besides seem needy.

Jim Belushi was really chewing the scenery which was okay to me for a sort of carny character - but the transition from being furious his daughter showed up to falling all over himself to help her and pay for school etc was on a dime and out of nowhere. It almost felt like some crucial scenes were edited out.

So now you get down to Winslet. Not some of her finest work - especially when you put it up against something as nuanced as Mare of Easttown. She’s pretty one note, a ball of stress and worry and you don’t get any sense that she is even really enjoying her time with Mickey. There are no stakes to their relationship..

It’s rare for WA films to not charm me at all, to evoke no emotions in me and to not feel for any of the characters - but here we are — there was just no nuance and nothing felt real. None of this would ever happen.

Even on the technical side I was not feeling it - it was lit garishly and completely over the top with the saturation.

Feeling around a 3/10, one of his weakest films.

[MichaelB]

Call me closed-minded but I just can’t imagine enjoying a Woody Allen film that’s not in english..

I hope this is not his last.

I’d definitely have enjoyed Match Point more if it had been in French. Or indeed any language aside from my native London English.

[Michael Kerpan]

Early Woody Allen films were fun to watch visually -- and I suspect they might have worked well if made in a language other than English (though I would miss his and DK's voices to be sure).

[Maltic]

I’d definitely have enjoyed Match Point more if it had been in French. Or indeed any language aside from my native London English.

I suppose it would've been la Louvre then

[hearthesilence]

Call me closed-minded but I just can’t imagine enjoying a Woody Allen film that’s not in english..

I hope this is not his last.

I’d definitely have enjoyed Match Point more if it had been in French. Or indeed any language aside from my native London English.

The film actually brings to mind Truffaut's exchange with American reporters about Rear Window (the one in the introduction to his book on Hitchcock). I think Match Point is one of Allen's very best films, but it has little to do with his portrayal of London. That part always seemed awkward, and at least for me it isn't enough to overshadow the film's strengths, but if the cast was more free to jump in and adjust things like the dialogue accordingly, that might've been enough to smooth out those bumps. Then again it can be a little tricky for a performer to recommend script changes, especially when it's a filmmaker who's reputation rests heavily on his writing.

[ianthemovie]

I wish the cast was more free to jump in and adjust things like the dialogue accordingly. That might've been enough to smooth out those bumps, but then again it can be a little tricky for a performer to recommend script changes, especially when it's a filmmaker who's reputation rests heavily on his writing.

I recall reading that he let Penelope Cruz improvise or tweak much of her dialogue in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, partly because he said he simply didn't know Spanish well and deferred to her fluency with the language and its nuances. Maybe he'll allow his French actors to do the same. It seems like he's much more protective of his writing when it's being spoken in his native tongue.

[Roscoe]

I recall reading that he let Penelope Cruz improvise or tweak much of her dialogue in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, partly because he said he simply didn't know Spanish well and deferred to her fluency with the language and its nuances. Maybe he'll allow his French actors to do the same. It seems like he's much more protective of his writing when it's being spoken in his native tongue.

Gene Wilder said much the same thing about working with Allen, that Allen told him point blank to change any lines he didn't like.

[therewillbeblus]

I recall reading that he let Penelope Cruz improvise or tweak much of her dialogue in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, partly because he said he simply didn't know Spanish well and deferred to her fluency with the language and its nuances. Maybe he'll allow his French actors to do the same. It seems like he's much more protective of his writing when it's being spoken in his native tongue.

Gene Wilder said much the same thing about working with Allen, that Allen told him point blank to change any lines he didn't like.

That might have more to do with respecting a fellow comedian early on in his career, plus I don't believe that film's skit has much dialogue and is generally less about the written word than the concept. I wouldn't extrapolate that to his later English-friendly works that rely on Allen's specific style of writing in the script