Rating: 
Summary: Truly the Best Of Woody Allen..............
Review: As many of you know, this is the 3rd box set of Woody Allen features to be released on DVD in the past couple of years.
For my money, it represents the beginning of Woody's most imaginative period as a filmmaker. In fact, the 6 films represented here could arguably be called Woody's finest work.
Sophisticated, yet hilariously funny, the plots and dialogue, as well as the peformances, can be viewed again and again without ever becoming stale. (So sue me, I'm a lifelong Woody Allen fan)
Yes, there no are extras save theatrical trailers, but at this price, who cares? Obviously, Woody isn't interested in producing featurettes, etc. and anyway, these films stand on their own as quality adult entertainment. My favorite among this bunch (and this really is a hard call) has to be Hannah and Her Sisters; Woody portrays a crazy hypochondriac who finds out that there may REALLY be something wrong with him. His character in A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is equally funny, an oddball inventor around the turn of the century. Having not actually seen the DVDs, I can't comment on audio/video quality, but if they're anything like the first two box sets, they should be superb. By the way, all of these films will be available separately when the box set is released. A must-buy for all serious Woody Allen fans!
Rating:
Summary: Great Collection
Review: Every movie is good which is hard to beleive considering that he wrote a movie a year. I do not know any other screenwriter as prolific as Woody Allen. I higly recommend this set.
Rating:
Summary: Super collection
Review: I love Woody Allen, so this collection was SUPER for me....
Rating:
Summary: Orgiastic delight!
Review: If there is anything in the world more uplifting, melancholy, happy, genuine, comic, artsy, it must be the comic genuis of Woody Allen. If I had the money, I would madly run after all his work and assemble my basement (i.e., if I had one) with his work. Anyone who doesn't enjoy his movies, his plays or his books, I have nothing but the deepest sympathies. The man is genius, genius, genius. If you have money to spend on a good, funny stuff, spend it on this. I know when I leave school and get a job, I will.
Rating:
Summary: Another collection of great American films
Review: Let me give a quick rundown on my thoughts on each of these films... Broadway Danny Rose: The best thing in this good film is Mia Farrow's atypical performance. Her character brassy and loud as opposed to her usual meek or passive aggressive. It's a great change of pace. The film, on the whole, is a bit slight, but it's a good deal of fun. Woody plays the most loyal talent agent ever. Everything in it works and adds to the humor. The black and white cinematography is great. Hannah and Her Sisters: This is one of Woody's top five films. It's one of his less serious epics as well. Every character in the film feels so much more alive, original, and worthy of our compassion than we see in the average American film. The film stretches over two years of the lives of an extended family, beginning and ending at Thanksgiving dinner. The film is comprised of many small vignettes and all of them work excellently on their own while adding to the whole. The film is wise and funny. Woody himself plays a minor role, allowing his other actors to shine. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy: A well shot, but exceptionally minor film in Woody's ourve. The film seems a bit overrefined, and it never seems to take off as much as some of Woody's other films. Everything in the film is low-key... to the point where it becomes slight and slightly uninvolving. The Purple Rose of Cairo: This is one of Woody Allen's most wonderful films. It's a simple story that takes the conceit of Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. and runs with it. Mia Farrow plays a woman in the depression-era that wanders into a film and literally catches the eye of one of the actors on screen. He leaves the screen and enters the real world. The film deals with the reaction of both the real world (the actor that plays him confronts Farrow's character, her abusive husband is angered) and the world of the cinema (the other characters can't complete the scene without him). The film is exceptionally cinematic, and words (at least my words) don't do enough to justify why you should see this film now. Radio Days: Another episodic film by Allen, this time showing the years of his radio-fuelled childhood imagination. The film's filled with a great period detail as well as a great deal of comedy. There's no strong narrative stringing the pieces together, and maybe that's just as well. Every scene works on its own, but you might want a bit more when it's over. Zelig: An exceptional film that shows Woody at his most creative, Zelig is a mock documentary set in the 1920's that shows that exploits of a chameleon man and the girl that loved him. The film has a lot to say about celebrity and about a sense of self, but it never is less than clever or funny. It's immensely entertaining and a true original. The problems that I have with these boxed sets is mostly that a director like Allen's best works are spread across several of them. This is the third set already, and there's no sign of some of his best films (i.e. Husbands & Wives, Everyone Says I Love You). One hopes this will be remedied, but I would say only a few of these films (Zelig, Hannah & Her Sisters, Purple Rose of Cairo) are essential unless you're, like me, an Allen completist.
Rating:
Summary: ..Finally..
Review: Not only is this an essential addition to the previous 2 box sets it also brings us back 5 movies that have been long Out of Print, and it also marks the first time ANY of these films have come to DVD..(Hopefully they will fork up a few extras this time.. :-)This is not as good a selection of films as the first box set, but it certainly tops the second box!! i'm a bit confused with the way they have assembled these last 2 boxes.. the first box was fine, and had 8 great films, many of which were amoung his best.. But the second box (which contained a few of his best with a few of his average films) was only 5 films, i know they grouped them together because they were mostly ALL serious films, But now we get the third box of 6 films of a completely mixed nature.. i know they should be in the order in which they were made, but why not just release 8 at a time if thats how you start off? if MGM would only join forces with all the other studios they could give us a fourth box set, and also fill the gaps with a fifth box set..!! or they could just re-assemble them, and re-release 3new box sets with maybe 10 each..with close to 30 or so films under his directorial belt alone, Woody is more capable of assembling the most interesting boxes as a whole than any other director alive or dead... (not that his films are better, but as a whole they fit in best together, and provide the most interesting structure.. especially since he himself stars in most of them) and What about (at least) an EXTRA documentary disc like they did for "Stanley Kubrick", or "Oliver Stone"??i'm glad woody is getting the dvd treatment in boxes with respect he deserves, And especially happy to see these 5 great OOP films back in the market, BUT there is enough material left over for at least 2 more boxes like this.. i hope they get around to finishing it off.. And when are Universal/Dreamworks/WB/Paramount/ and Columbia Ever going to release "Special Edition 'Steven Spielberg' box sets"?? i would also kill to have a "Special Coen Brothers Box Set".. or a "Collectors 'Martin Scorsese' Box"or an "Ultimate 'Zucker Brothers', 'Sergio Leone', 'Tim Burton', 'FF Coppola', 'Polanski', Fellini', 'Bertolucci','Bergman', 'Alan Parker',or 'Special Charles Chaplin' Box ??? and what about a 'Garry Marshall' Box?? j/k ;-)These Studios need to get off their butts, and meet the supply for our demands!! its about time.. :-)
Rating:
Summary: Thinking outside of the box
Review: The Woody Allen Collection 3 gathers together six of Mr. Allen's films from the 80's. They are amongst the strongest films of his career and they feature his best work with one time wife Mia Farrow. The set features their first film together, the goofy farce, 1981's A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy as well their best film together, 1986's Hannah & Her Sisters. The latter film very well might be Mr. Allen's greatest triumph. He effortlessly weaves together the story of three sisters (Ms. Farrow, Barbara Hershey & Dianne Wiest) that involves a love triangle and Mr. Allen's brush with death that has him searching for religion among numerous hilarious plotlines. Mr. Allen won the Oscar for Best Screenplay and Ms. Wiest & Michael Caine took home Best Supporting Oscars. Zelig is a hilarious mockumentary that involves a man who has no identity of his own, so he morphs into the type of people he is around. It intercuts grainy black and white footage with color shots of experts taking about the famous Zelig. It is something of a forerunner to Forrest Gump as Zelig is seen in historical footage with numerous famous people. 1987's Radio Days is a fond look back at Mr. Allen's childhood while The Purple Rose Of Cairo has the novel idea of a Depression era woman (Ms. Farrow) who has a character from a movie (Jeff Daniels), breaks the fourth wall and comes off the screen into her life. Broadway Danny Rose is one of Mr. Allen's best acting jobs as he plays a talent agent.
Rating:
Summary: Allen's mid 80's work
Review: The Woody Allen Collection 3 gathers together six of Mr. Allen's films from the 80's. They are amongst the strongest films of his career and they feature his best work with one time wife Mia Farrow. The set features their first film together, the goofy farce, 1981's A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy as well their best film together, 1986's Hannah & Her Sisters. The latter film very well might be Mr. Allen's greatest triumph. He effortlessly weaves together the story of three sisters (Ms. Farrow, Barbara Hershey & Dianne Wiest) that involves a love triangle and Mr. Allen's brush with death that has him searching for religion among numerous hilarious plotlines. Mr. Allen won the Oscar for Best Screenplay and Ms. Wiest & Michael Caine took home Best Supporting Oscars. Zelig is a hilarious mockumentary that involves a man who has no identity of his own, so he morphs into the type of people he is around. It intercuts grainy black and white footage with color shots of experts taking about the famous Zelig. It is something of a forerunner to Forrest Gump as Zelig is seen in historical footage with numerous famous people. 1987's Radio Days is a fond look back at Mr. Allen's childhood while The Purple Rose Of Cairo has the novel idea of a Depression era woman (Ms. Farrow) who has a character from a movie (Jeff Daniels), breaks the fourth wall and comes off the screen into her life. Broadway Danny Rose is one of Mr. Allen's best acting jobs as he plays a talent agent.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful survey of Woody's 80's years
Review: This edition of the Woody Allen Collection is probably the best of the three box sets recently issued by MGM DVD. While Woody is probably best known for his early-70s slapstick comedies ("Sleeper," "Bananas") and his revolutionary reconstruction of the comedy with "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan," three of his absolute best films appear in this set. "Zelig," whose technological advances foreshadow those of 1994's Academy Award favorite "Forrest Gump" by nearly ten years, is easily the better film, and the three years Woody spent making this film seems well worth the effort. About a "human chameleon," Leonard Zelig, whose insecure shapeshifting act ranges from pure novelty to affinities with fascism, is as funny as it is sharp. The best film in the set, "The Purple Rose of Cairo," also foreshadows the postmodern nostalgia films of the late 1990s, particularly "Pleasantville." Set during the Depression, this film is about a woman trapped in an awful marriage and an equally dissatisfying job. She escapes the misery of her life by watching films. She watches the same film over and over, and one of the characters comes off the screen to intervene in her life. A wonderful, complex and poignant examination of the conflation between fiction and reality, "The Purple Rose of Cairo," though a sad and dramatic film, is as powerful as anything Woody Allen has directed. The third wonderful film here is "Hannah and Her Sisters," which won three Oscars, is a return to the ensemble sensibility Woody perfected in "Manhattan." "Broadway Danny Rose" is probably the best of the remaining titles--about a hardworking theatrical manager who is failure at his work specifically because he cares so much about the personal wellbeing of his clients. Mia Farrow gives one of her best performances here. "Radio Days" is a narratively complex film about a Jewish family from Rockaway in the 40s whose lives are informed and entertained by the radio (just as we are entertained by the television and the internet today). The one weak film in the set is "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy," which is very similar to the much better Ingmar Bergman film "Smiles of a Summer Night." It involves three couples together in the country one weekend who all seem to be paired with the wrong lover. This set shows an intoxicating run of quality films by a director at the peak of his powers.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful survey of Woody's 80's years
Review: This edition of the Woody Allen Collection is probably the best of the three box sets recently issued by MGM DVD. While Woody is probably best known for his early-70s slapstick comedies ("Sleeper," "Bananas") and his revolutionary reconstruction of the comedy with "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan," three of his absolute best films appear in this set. "Zelig," whose technological advances foreshadow those of 1994's Academy Award favorite "Forrest Gump" by nearly ten years, is easily the better film, and the three years Woody spent making this film seems well worth the effort. About a "human chameleon," Leonard Zelig, whose insecure shapeshifting act ranges from pure novelty to affinities with fascism, is as funny as it is sharp. The best film in the set, "The Purple Rose of Cairo," also foreshadows the postmodern nostalgia films of the late 1990s, particularly "Pleasantville." Set during the Depression, this film is about a woman trapped in an awful marriage and an equally dissatisfying job. She escapes the misery of her life by watching films. She watches the same film over and over, and one of the characters comes off the screen to intervene in her life. A wonderful, complex and poignant examination of the conflation between fiction and reality, "The Purple Rose of Cairo," though a sad and dramatic film, is as powerful as anything Woody Allen has directed. The third wonderful film here is "Hannah and Her Sisters," which won three Oscars, is a return to the ensemble sensibility Woody perfected in "Manhattan." "Broadway Danny Rose" is probably the best of the remaining titles--about a hardworking theatrical manager who is failure at his work specifically because he cares so much about the personal wellbeing of his clients. Mia Farrow gives one of her best performances here. "Radio Days" is a narratively complex film about a Jewish family from Rockaway in the 40s whose lives are informed and entertained by the radio (just as we are entertained by the television and the internet today). The one weak film in the set is "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy," which is very similar to the much better Ingmar Bergman film "Smiles of a Summer Night." It involves three couples together in the country one weekend who all seem to be paired with the wrong lover. This set shows an intoxicating run of quality films by a director at the peak of his powers.
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