Will Cafe Society win Oscar attention? It certainly looks handsome.Woody Allen's Cafe Society is the prolific auteur's 46th full length theatrical feature. He's been so regular a presence at the movie theaters he even makes speedy Clint Eastwood look like a slacker. In fact, though he's got his first television series due in September starring himself, Miley Cyrus and Elaine May (the six episode season will be called Crisis in Six Scenes and debut on September 30th), it won't be slowing down his theatrical output since he's already working on the 47th feature as well (which will star Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake as previously noted).
It's too early in Cafe Society's run to know where it will stack up in terms of success, but it appears to be tracking to be one of his mid-range pictures, the kind that do fine but are neither true hits nor flops. We shall see. But for now let's look back at that highly prolific theatrical career. His pictures have earned a total of 52 Oscar nominations and 12 wins and they were once so popular they finished in the top ten hits of the year (can you imagine? Ah the 1970s when moviegoers were far crazier about what they'd turn out for)
How many of his 47 films have you seen (we're including the omnibus film New York Stories because why not)? All the posters and waves of his career are after the jump...
Act 1 The Early "Silly" Films (1966-1975)
Act 2. Woody Gets Serious and Self-Reflective. But Still Cracks Jokes (1977-1983)
Act 3. Steadily Immersed in Dramedies. Steady Quality. Steady Attrition of Fans, Though (1984-1990)
Act 4 Return to Comedic Focus, Angrier Films, Increasingly Inconsistent Quality, Personal Turmoil (1991-1999)
Act 5. Autopilot (?).
Quality All Over the Place; You Just Never Know If You're Getting Great Woody, Stale Woody, or Lousy Woody Until You're Watching It. Plus a Sudden Wanderlust with New York City No Longer a Given (2000-Now)
So how many have you seen?
P.S. Woody Oscar Trivia. The order of which categories tend to reward his films.
- Original Screenplay (16 nominations / 3 wins -- roughly a third of his pictures get nominated)
- Supporting Actress (10 nominations / 4 wins)
- Director (7 nominations / 1 win)
- Production Design (5 nominations / 0 wins -- this one surprised me)
- Actress (3 nominations / 2 wins)
- Best Picture and Supporting Actor (3 nominations / 1 win each)
- Actor and Costume Design (2 nominations each)
- Film Editing and Cinematography (1 nomination each)
- Score, Song, Sound, Visual FX, Adapted Screenplay, Makeup and Hair (never nominated)