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‘Happythankyoumoreplease’ Falls Flat With Unlikable Characters
Rating: 2.0/5.0CHICAGO– Josh Radnor’s “Happythankyoumoreplease” wants to be a new-generation Woody Allen film but misses the mark wildly by presenting characters that aren’t likable in situations that...
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Woody Allen’s Charming ‘Midnight in Paris’ Delights
Rating: 4.5/5.0CHICAGO– Writer/director Woody Allen and the amazing cinematographer Darius Khondji (“Seven,” “The City of Lost Children”) very purposefully open their new film “Midnight in Paris” with...
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Woody Allen’s ‘To Rome with Love’ is Episodic, Choppy
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– Writer/director Woody Allen continues his film travelogues in “To Rome with Love,” touring The Eternal City with four separate vignettes. An all-star cast – including Jesse...
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Greta Gerwig Lights Up the Life of ‘Frances Ha’
Rating: 4.5/5.0CHICAGO– Greta Gerwig is a gift to the type of film acting that dominates the screen. This beautiful, versatile actor gives poignant energy to her latest title character, “Frances Ha,” a...
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‘Blue Jasmine’ Puts Woody Allen Back on Top
Rating: 4.5/5.0CHICAGO– The auteur Woody Allen is one of the most prolific post-studio-system directors, averaging one film a year for close to 40 years. His meditations on life have become part of the...
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Warm ‘Fading Gigolo’ Has Odd Romance, Woody Allen
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– How do you make a Woody Allen-style film? You hire Allen to act in it. Writer, director and lead actor John Turturro channels the soul of Allen’s films by creating a strange and...
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‘Magic in the Moonlight’ is Woody Allen By the Book
Rating: 3.0/5.0CHICAGO– After last year’s powerful “Blue Jasmine,” writer/director Woody Allen’s trajectory seemed destined toward another film masterpiece, but “Magic in the Moonlight” isn’t it. Colin...
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Deep Thoughts, Shallow Characters in ‘Irrational Man’
Rating: 3.0/5.0CHICAGO– At this point in his stellar career, what is fascinating about Woody Allen is basically what he thinks about. He is a successful, family-stable, millionaire filmmaker with...
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Old Hollywood Glamour in Woody Allen’s ‘Café Society’
Rating: 4.0/5.0CHICAGO– In the 1930s, the contrast between the world of Hollywood movie sparkle and the rest of a Depression-era America was as different as peasants and kings. Writer/director Woody...
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Woody Allen Has Run Out of Ideas with ‘Wonder Wheel’
Rating: 1.0/5.0CHICAGO– Woody Allen emptied out his junk drawer of discarded script ideas and somehow managed to convince Kate Winslet to star in it. That’s the gist of the latest “serious Woody” entry...
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