Manhattan

Rating:
Summary: The Stars Are For the Cinamatography
Review: You could watch just the first 5 minutes for the opening monologue and brilliant establishing shots of the city. It's gorgeous. That said, Allen's character's relationship with Hemingway's character is completely creepy. And the normally wonderful Keaton is forced to play an unlikable, neurotic, pretentious woman. There isn't the core of sweetness that I liked in Annie Hall. Maybe this is more realistic, but I hope not.

Rating:
Summary: Only one thing missing
Review: The sound.It's a DVD for heaven's sake.NO English Subtitles?What the Hell?Otherwise, beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: One of Allen's best
Review: While I would have to say that Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" is better than this, "Manhattan" is still an amazing movie. Even if the script was terrible (it isn't), the characters flat (they aren't) and the great moral undertone not present (it is) the cinematography and soundtrack alone would make this movie stand out. "Manhattan" was Woody Allen's love letter to New York, filled with sweeping images of the city accompanied by terrific Gershwin music. It's a good thing he wouldn't let anybody release it unletterboxed.
But, of course, there is more to a movie than cinematography. "Manhattan" is funny (it's a Woody Allen movie, for goodness sakes), poignant, uplifting, and wonderfully intelligent. The scene near the end of the film that depicts the confrontation between Allen and his friend Yale (Michael Murphy) is one of the best scenes I've ever had the pleasure to see. The single shot of Allen, putting his face in the same frame with a vaguely Allenesque skeleton's face, is one of those things that you don't notice the first time around but on repeated viewings recognize as one of the best things about the movie.
The only people I have ever seen give bad reviews to this movie are those who point out that Allen's character is committing statuatory rape. This is true, but it's not necessarily glorified - if anything, it fits into the movie's strongest point about morality. In a world where most people who make accepted points about morality say that it's relative and accuse others of trying to be God, it's wonderful to see a film in which somebody answers to that very argument, "I gotta model myself after someone!"

Rating:
Summary: Allen's world at its most luminously tragic
Review: Woody Allen may never have reached a greater height of personnal achievement than in Manhattan, a rhapsodic urban poem of human relationships in tangles, of love, friendship and betrayal - Allen's world has never found a more beautiful or eloquent expression. More literary in structure and design than Allen's earler efforts (the script was knocked in to shape by Allen's co-writer Marshall Brickman), yet less derivative, the picture is funny without being trivial and serious without being portentous. Allen's decision to shoot in black-and-white removes the picture several levels from reality, and New York becomes a beautiful but de-humanised backdrop against which the human relationships are played out. Allen plays Issac, a 42 year old author with two ex-wifes and a seventeen year old girl-friend, Stacy,whom he is considering dropping in favour of his best friend Yale's neurotic, intellectual mistress ( played by Dianne Keaton). Althogh Allen's characters gravitate towards moral and ethical certainties they can't bring themselves to commit to them fully. It is the admission of of such ambiguity in human relationships and his exploration of them that has always elevated Allen above the level of a humorist - in his own words the picture is about "trying to lead an ethical life in a city de-humanised by drugs, violence and fast-food." And there is genuine tragedy here in Allen's moral tug-of-war over the legitmacy of his relationship with the seventeen-old Stacy (played with heart-breaking sweetness and honesty by a young Mariel Hemingway), whether or not he should also be in love in with his best friend's mistress and indeed in the relationships of all the characters who struggle earnestly to find a connection that is emotional, physical and intellectual. There is humour to, but always at the service of insight rather than at its expense. Sumptuously shot in a down-at-heel 1970s New York, Allen's thoughtful framing immortalises much of the imagery - the picture's most famous image of the figures of Allen and Keaton looking out over the East river under the oppressive shadow of a collosal bridge is at once both romantic yet isolated and cool. It sums up both Allen's views on the city and his character's relationship to it. Thoughtful use of Geroge Gershwin's songs and concert pieces bathe the black-and-white images with a nascent warmth which has a sense of yearning and nostalgia to it. The DVD, transferred from a print much in need of cleaning, marrs some the visual impact of photography, but characters and situtations shine out from the somewhat jaded images to convey Allen's uniquely humanist standpoint in its most potent form.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly Woody's best film
Review: What a unique and great movie this is. Merial Hemmingway and Allen are great and the music and cinemotography were outstanding.

Rating:
Summary: no competition
Review: There is just no way for me to describe how great of a film this is. It is by far the best film Mr. Allen has made to date, others will argue but in the end come up short, and it is just pure magic. Yes that's how I'll describe it, magic.

Rating:
Summary: Crisp , Cool and Easy
Review: What a great movie, with a crisp cool pace and a theme based in the most lively city in the world. The cast looks fresh and young and the superb background Gershwin score, makes this easy to watch more the once. Only wish it wasnt a widescreen edition - you get to see more on a full screen !

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Today, I was wandering the Woody Allen section in my local video store, and noticed that I have seen several Woody movies, but have never seen, what was told to me, to be his best film: Manhattan. So I rented it and was amazed by it. One aspect that held my interest was the camera work. The blue widescreen bars, and the black and white setting fit the film perfectly. So, in closing, I would recommend this to anyone who just hasn't seen it.

Rating:
Summary: CREEPY
Review: the cinematography is beautiful. but THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT A CHILD MOLESTER IN A LOVE TRIANGLE. I found the psuedo-sincere tone and romantic sugar coating to enhance the repulsion caused by the subject matter.

Rating:
Summary: Superior
Review: One of the most beautiful pieces of art of the 20th Century.