MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011)

[Update 08/24/2021: Need to redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

I think I smiled the entire movie.

I don't want to tell you too much since the most exciting part of the film is having the wonderfully delicious story unfold, so I'll just say that Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a successful but unhappy Hollywood screenwriter. He's on a vacation in Paris with his self-centered fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her constantly belittling parents. He believes that if they move to Paris the beauty and cultural history of the city will inspire him to write the great novel that he feels is inside him. Rachel doesn't want to hear any of this and thinks that he's being stupid. As bad luck would have it they run into some friends of Inez's and this one dude, Paul, is a complete pseudo-intellectual asshole. He believes that he's an expert on fucking everything! He even gets in an argument with a tour guide at a museum! Gil senses that Inez sees Paul as vastly intellectually superior to Gil, like when Gil tries to interrupt Paul Inez shushes him and says "Gil, just pay attention. You might learn something.". Anyway, after yet another torturous evening of listening to Paul drone on and on about how brilliant he is, a very frustrated Gil goes for a walk. He's so deep in thought he ends up getting lost...and then at the stroke of midnight something magical happens.

I loved this movie and it was such a delight to see Woody back in his old form. I enjoyed it so much that I watched it twice!  As of right now MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is the best movie that I've seen from 2011. Highly recommended.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY (1982)

[Update 04/18/2023: Need rewatch this film and redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

Outside of INTERIORS this is probably Woody Allen's most underappreciated masterpiece. It's funny and touching, the acting is superb, the script (which was reportedly written in only 2 weeks!!!) is so brilliant that every time I watch it I'm left speechless, the photography is beautiful, it's the first pairing of Allen and Farrow and it's based on Ingmar Bergman's SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT.

Set in the early 1900's, Woody Allen works on Wall Street, but is currently staying at his summer home with his wife (Mary Steenburgen). They're expecting company but Allen is shocked when he learns that Mary's cousin's fiancee (Farrow) is actually the long lost love of his life that he's secretly been pining away over for years. Naturally this complicates the joyful weekend, but things take an even worse turn with Allen's best friend suddenly decides that he too is deeply in love with Farrow!

In 1982 Woody was right in the middle of his greatest period and AMNSC is amazing. It's so simple, yet deep and no matter how many times I watch it it never gets old. Also, Farrow absolutely radiates.

I cannot recommend this movie high enough.  Double feature it with SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT.

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (2010)

[Update 04/11/2022: Need rewatch this film and redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

*Sigh* Another year, another by-the-numbers Woody Allen movie. It's all here: the three or four main characters; the intertwining of their lives and secrets; a few slightly clever plot twists and the safe ending. No ups, no surprises, no reason to stay awake and pretty much zero resemblance to the vitality and cleverness of Allen's earlier films all the way up to THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION.

The main character is Naomi Watts. She's married to struggling writer Josh Brolin who has a crush on the neighbor, Freida Pinto. Naomi's father, Anthony Hopkins, has divorced her mother, Gemma Jones, and is now married to a prostitute, Lucy Punch. Oh yea, Naomi has the hots for her boss, Antonio Banderas. All the stuff you would expect to happen does and while I did enjoy the film, it was just dead in the water from the very beginning.

Allen hasn't gone completely in the shitter like say Metallica, but he's not helping his legacy by steadily cranking out these lifeless snoozers.

According to Box Office Mojo the budget for this film was $22 million!!! I cannot even fathom why this movie would cost that. The majority of that must have been spent on the actors, cause it's definitely not up on the screen.