Amazon.com reviews for
Radio Days (1987) More at IMDbPro »

Radio Days (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: A sweet and clever combination of anecdotes and autobiography, Radio Days draws heavily on Woody Allen's childhood. Fittingly, the unfolding episodes are woven together by music--lovely hits of the 1940s like "In the Mood" and "That Old Feeling." Some episodes are built around radio itself (like the burglars who answer the phone in a house they're burgling and win a radio contest), and others center on the life of a young Jewish boy (Seth Green, clearly playing a version of Allen himself as a child). Though light in tone, Radio Days is an ambitious re-creation not simply of an era, but of radio itself. Nowadays radio is little more than a way to sell pop tunes, but it used to transmit dreams; watching this movie, you get a taste of how inspiring this simpler medium could be. --Bret Fetzer

The Woody Allen Collection, Set 3 (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: This Woody Allen boxed set captures the first half of what could be called Allen's "Mia period," his films from the early 1980s. The lighthearted A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, about the neurotic romping of a bunch of friends at a country house, marks the beginning of Woody and Mia Farrow's film relationship, followed by Zelig, Allen's clever pseudo-documentary of a man who just wants to fit in. Broadway Danny Rose, the tale of a mediocre talent agent who gets involved with a client's wife, is seen as a trifle by some but held as one of Allen's best films by others. But the next two are a pair of undisputed knockouts: The Purple Rose of Cairo, in which the hero of a movie (Jeff Daniels) steps off the screen to help a woeful waitress (Farrow). The ending is at first heart-wrenching, then finds a wistful hope. Hannah and Her Sisters is possibly, after Annie Hall, Allen's most loved movie, with its Chekhovian mix of love and sorrow in the lives of three sisters (Farrow, Dianne Wiest, and Barbara Hershey). Hannah won a number of awards, including Oscars^® for best screenplay and supporting acting for both Wiest and Michael Caine (as Farrow's husband). Finally, the nostalgic Radio Days rounds out the set with a gentle look at entertainment back when people had to dream up their own pictures. These six films represent one of Allen's strongest periods; he moved fluidly from comedy to drama, avoiding big statements but ruefully exploring the foibles of humanity. --Bret Fetzer