Woody Allen used to be one of the most exciting, fresh filmmakers working in Hollywood, delivering unique masterpieces like Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters in a very short period of time. But what was once innovative and exciting eventually grew stale, and Allen settled into a groove of mediocrity highlighted by only a few significant exceptions. When coupled with Allen's history of sexual harassment allegations and his profoundly uncomfortable relationship with his stepdaughter, the director has fallen out of favor. Sure, Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for Blue Jasmine and Midnight in Paris snagged a bunch of Oscar nominations, but Allen's films are no longer the events that they once were (it doesn't help that he released one film each year without fail). However, word on the street suggests that Wonder Wheel, Allen's 2017 project, could prove to be one of those exceptions. Kate Winslet is already gaining awards buzz, and the film has a prestigious slot as the closer at the New York Film Festival. Hoping to capitalize on the anticipation, Amazon Studios released the first trailer earlier this week- check it out!
Wonder Wheel certainly looks sumptuous, and I'm sure that cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (who was also behind the camera for Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Apocalypse Now) will be contending with Roger Deakins and Hoyte Van Hoytema in the Oscar race. But this movie also looks absolutely insufferable, and I just don't know if I can do another whiny, melodramatic Allen flick. Last year's Cafe Society had its fair share of charms, mainly thanks to the charismatic performances of Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart and Storaro's cinematographic eye. But Wonder Wheel essentially looks like a more aesthetically appealing version of Blue Jasmine, a loud, grating drama with a depressed protagonist and a murderer's row of thoroughly unlikable characters. I like Winslet and Justin Timberlake, but I don't know anyone who wants Woody Allen's version of a mob movie. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong- we'll find out shortly when the film premieres at NYFF.
Wonder Wheel will debut in limited release on December 1.
Poster courtesy of Amazon Studios
Wonder Wheel certainly looks sumptuous, and I'm sure that cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (who was also behind the camera for Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Apocalypse Now) will be contending with Roger Deakins and Hoyte Van Hoytema in the Oscar race. But this movie also looks absolutely insufferable, and I just don't know if I can do another whiny, melodramatic Allen flick. Last year's Cafe Society had its fair share of charms, mainly thanks to the charismatic performances of Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart and Storaro's cinematographic eye. But Wonder Wheel essentially looks like a more aesthetically appealing version of Blue Jasmine, a loud, grating drama with a depressed protagonist and a murderer's row of thoroughly unlikable characters. I like Winslet and Justin Timberlake, but I don't know anyone who wants Woody Allen's version of a mob movie. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong- we'll find out shortly when the film premieres at NYFF.
Wonder Wheel will debut in limited release on December 1.
Poster courtesy of Amazon Studios
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