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Woody Allen Sues Amazon Studios Claiming Breach of Contract (wsj.com)
18 points by jkuria on Feb 9, 2019 | hide | past | favorite | 29 comments


Say what you will about Woody Allen as a person. My understanding is that Amazon is holding the rights to a movie that has been created, and refusing to publish it.

Movies are not the product of a single person, but of thousands. It's tragedy to prevent this massive amount of effort from seeing the light of day.


As long as the compensation of any of the workers didn’t depend on the financial success of the movie does it really matter?


Compensation construed broadly includes future work based on your portfolio. If one did stellar work that otherwise would have yielded future opportunities had the work not been shuttered then the answer is "Yes."


A movie doesn't need to be released for the crew to get credits.


It does to count as credits to the most important group: the audiences.


Absolutely. What does the financial aspect of this have to do with anything? A movie created and never viewed is a cost to society with no benefit.


Yes. A lot of the work could have been badly paid but great for one's portfolio.


But Netflix owns it, and likely doesn't see it as a profitable thing to release it.


Actually copyright is given to producers to incentivize them to produce and disseminate creative works. If copyright law is not functioning as intended, we have a moral imperative to abolish it.


It's the thing nowadays. Some person allegedly does something wrong and movies and books get pulled off the shelves robbing us of the opportunity to see sometimes great pieces of writing or art.

Also see Kevin Spacey. Book burning anyone?


I was ready to agree with you but Kevin Spacey was a really bad example.


Kevin Spacey is a tremendous actor and we all had a lousy close for fans of "House of Cards".

One bad example makes my statement incorrect? Even one of the online magazines or newspapers had an article stating the same as I just a few days ago. So I'm wrong?

Here is a bad example but Ted Danson did black face at a party about 20 years ago. I presume he will now lose his TV job and be banned from Hollywood while all episodes of "Cheers" get pulled. I am shocked this hasn't happened already.


Check out “match point” by woody Allen. It’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.


Check out Annie Hall! Very different from match point, and VERY funny


Then you should try its richer forerunner: Crimes & Misdemeanors


I still like his "Love and Death"


"Love and Death" is fantastic. As are "Bananas", "Play It Again Sam" and "Manhattan".


Woody Allen is a comic genius, but I think my favorite movie of his still is his first one, "What's Up, Tiger Lilly." I rarely meet anyone who's seen it.


Have you seen the ghost writer?


that’s not Allen, it’s Polanski but it’s also great


I find it to be very similar to match point, and just as good. It’s a funny coincidence that both directors are who they are isn’t it?


"Whatever works" is his best work imo.


So happy to see this mentioned in several comments. I love the movie so much, but most people seem to dislike it for some reason.


What are the most important Woody Allen movies?

I'm thinking:

    1977: Annie Hall
    1979: Manhattan
    1986: Hannah and Her Sisters
    1989: Crimes and Misdemeanours
    1992: Husbands and Wives
    1993: Manhattan Murder Mystery
    2005: Match Point
    2008: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
    2009: Whatever Works
    2011: Midnight in Paris
    2013: Blue Jasmin
Have I missed anything?


Just watch them all and forget about the duds. The SNR is still high enough the be worth it

Radio Days is my personal favourite, but I haven't seen them all yet.


Zelig.


I think Stardust Memories is his best work.


Play it again Sam, The Purple Rose of Cairo


Sleeper : 1973




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