Wonder Wheel : I am a lifelong fan and not looking forward to this one.

I will see it. I have, in fact, been lucky enough to see all his films in a theater since Husbands and Wives. The coolest thing about being a lifelong fan (I was 13 when Husbands and Wives came out), I have seen young people and old people at all of the screenings. When Woody started, he had a college student audience. Those students grew up. Many of them are at the screenings, but new college students come too.

I like most of his films. I love many and hate only a few. I am tired of all of the affairs in his films. I think I liked Crisis more than most people simply because it had a long time supportive relationship in it.

I was meh on Irrational Man and Cafe Society had some things that were as good as it gets (Judy Berlin for one), the poor treatment of Lively's character and the unlikeable lead made me lose interest this time. The best actor playing the WA character has always been Mr. Allen but now that he is old, it's a real problem.

I like many of his dramas I like Winslet. I won't skip this for any reason. But I feel a kind of blah attitude for the first time.

Something else you'll probably enjoy as you get older is revisiting some of Allen's films.

I saw "Husbands and Wives" in the theater as well, although I was a bit older than you at the time. I remember people were really put off about the use of handheld camera in that. Now, it's so common that people would likely hardly notice. Anyway, that was one of Woody's more serious ones and it got a lot of press at the time because of his then-current messy breakup with Mia Farrow (they portray a divorcing couple in that, her final appearance with him).

I liked the film at the time, but wouldn't say I related to it nearly as much as I do now! Re-watching some of his films as an older adult has almost been like seeing them for the first time.

You are absolutely right. I am rediscovering his early films and finding more to like (play it again sam and bananas)

You didn't actually give any insight as to why you're not looking forward to this one, and we still don't even know the plot. I suppose if you just don't like the actors involved, I wouldn't let that get you down. When he has used actors in the past that I'm not particularly fond of, I was pleasantly surprised by the great performance he got out of them and I ended up thinking they were ultimately well cast.

I guess I have just become to familiar with certain aspects of the movies that make them predictable and sometimes a slog. The relationships in his films in particular. Few are happy. Most are pining for someone else. I saw that this seems to be a theme in this one too, and this has actually hurt a number of recent films. Cafe Society gave the lead the gregarious Blake Lively than had him pine for someone not half as cool for instance.