I’m hearing that Woody Allen‘s Wonder Wheel is “good but not great”, and that while Kate Winslet might snag a Best Actress nomination for her performance as the tragic Ginny, she won’t win because her performance, fine as it is, doesn’t match Cate Blanchett‘s Oscar-winning turn in Blue Jasmine.

Allen’s latest will screen for NY Film Festival press and Los Angeles press on Friday.

“Yes, there’s that meltdown scene that people seem to be talking about,” a guy tells me. “It’s shot, if I remember correctly, in a single take and is just heart-wrenching. It proved to me that Woody still has a fair amount of cinematic juice left in him. It also upped the entire movie’s quality for me as well.

“Jim Belushi is fine. Not much of a well-sketched character if you ask me, but you do care for him. Juno Temple is better!

“Overall Winslet is very solid, but she won’t win. No way, no how. She doesn’t even come close to reaching Blanchett-level greatness. Possibly a fifth slot awaits her? The fact that she’s already won all but seals it for me. Plus her accent is quite strange here. I’m not sure what she was going for. She’s still a great actress, but some notes didn’t ring true. If people are expecting a Cate Blanchett-level performance, they’d best lower their expectations. She’s really good and deserves that fifth slot, but Winslet is not Blanchett.

“Vittorio Storaro‘s cinematography is incredible. (HE: Deakins loses again?) There are some scenes where he uses the light in a given room so well, and in a way that’s very similar to the way he bright colors to light rooms in The Conformist. This is exceptional work from a true master of the form. He’s basically schooled Deakins with this film. As much as I hope Deakins wins that Oscar, Storaro deserves it way more.

“The scenes involving the mob felt like a mix of comedy and violence. Reminded me of Bullets over Broadway. They feel a little bit distracting, mess up the tone, especially when the soul of the film is Winslet.”