Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011)

[DavidSeven]

So, do we still care? Even his poorly-reviewed stuff usually makes for a decent trailer, but damn, this was painfully "meh."

Trailer

[soitgoes...]

I still care. He might not have made a film that's exceptional in well over a decade, but he still hits very good often enough for me to keep watching.

[Watashi]

All his movies are starting to blend together anyway.

I can't even remember his last movie without looking at IMDB.

[Lucky]

Man I'm usually willing to give Woody the benefit of the doubt, but that trailer is awfully dull indeed.

I haven't seen his last movie with Naomi Watts yet, but Whatever Works was alright. I'm anticipating his next movie with Ellen Page and Penelope Cruz in Rome.

[Qrazy]

No, he's shit now.

[B-side]

It looks better than his last two.

[Boner M]

I hope he lives long enough to do Rendezvous in Astana.

[Ezee E]

I won't even bother with his stranger movie, despite it having Hopkins and Watts. Yikes.

[baby doll]

I liked Vicky Christina Barcelona, thought Whatever Works was even better, and I loved You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. What can I say? The heart wants what it wants, and mine wants Woody.

[Irish]

It looks like the same old, same old.

I liked Vicky Christina well enough, although by the second act I wished Allen had cut out the coeds and made the movie about Javier Bardem and whats-her-name.

I couldn't sit through 10 minutes of Whatever Works. Allen keeps retreading this awful dialogue where the characters sound stuck in grad school circa 1974.

This one has that same intellectual defensiveness, the stink coming from a college drop out who's read all the books but never done the work past a first level course.

I remember when A-listers used to hustle to get parts in his movies. Now the bill looks like a list of people who can't get jobs anywhere else. I mean, Owen Wilson? Really?

[Raiders]

I remember when A-listers used to hustle to get parts in his movies. Now the bill looks like a list of people who can't get jobs anywhere else. I mean, Owen Wilson? Really?

You think Own Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody and Michael Sheen can't get jobs anywhere else?

[Irish]

You think Own Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody and Michael Sheen can't get jobs anywhere else?

Let's review: Suicide, Never Was, European, Village Idiot, and another European.

Look at the movies they've been in over the last few years. A string of bombs, almost to a one.

Ten, twenty years ago none of them would have would have had a shot at getting into an Allen film. Being billed in his movies was a prestige thing. It meant you were serious. Now it means almost the opposite.

[Ezee E]

Marion Cotillard sure was in a bomb last year.

[baby doll]

Ten, twenty years ago none of them would have would have had a shot at getting into an Allen film. Being billed in his movies was a prestige thing. It meant you were serious. Now it means almost the opposite.

Ten years ago Allen was making Small Time Crooks and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, both fairly diverting films that aspire to be nothing more than light entertainment--which from the looks of it, is also what Midnight in Paris sets out to be. That's actually fine by me, as Allen's recent European films tend to be superior in craftsmanship to the overwhelming majority of Hollywood product these days, even when the script isn't up to par (as in Scoop and Cassandra's Dream, although I'll grant some rather shocking continuity errors in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger). My only real qualm is Allen's absolute reliance on shopworn clichés for his sense of what non-American women are like (for instance, the dark exotic beauties played Penelope Cruz and Freida Pinto in Vicky Christina Barcelona and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, respectively).

[baby doll]

By the way, whether or not Allen still has the prestige to attract A-list stars, and whether any of the people in this film (including the friggin' first lady of France) qualify as A-list stars, has absolutely no bearing on how good his films are or the talent of the actors involved.

[Melville]

Let's review: Suicide, Never Was, European, Village Idiot, and another European.

Look at the movies they've been in over the last few years. A string of bombs, almost to a one.

Ten, twenty years ago none of them would have would have had a shot at getting into an Allen film. Being billed in his movies was a prestige thing. It meant you were serious. Now it means almost the opposite.

I see you're back with even more crack. They've all been in a ton of movies in the last few years, and many hits: e.g., Marley and Me, Night at the Museum, Sherlock Holmes, Inception, Tron. I don't think these are really lower-tier actors than those in Allen's movies from ten (Curse of the Jade Scorpion) or twenty (Shadows and Fog) years ago, let alone actors that can't get work. And they're all quality actors. I don't really see the relevance even if what you're saying were true.

[[ETM]]

whats-her-name

Why do you keep doing this when it's about someone you don't care for? It's seriously annoying.

[Irish]

By the way, whether or not Allen still has the prestige to attract A-list stars, and whether any of the people in this film (including the friggin' first lady of France) qualify as A-list stars, has absolutely no bearing on how good his films are or the talent of the actors involved.

Sure it does. People with healthy careers smell shit and stay away from it, just like any sensible person would and, well, because they can. People with more limited options take the role.

Also, let's not pretend that Marion Cotillard is a meaningful name to anyone in America.

[Irish]

I see you're back with even more crack. They've all been in a ton of movies in the last few years, and many hits: e.g., Marley and Me, Night at the Museum, Sherlock Holmes, Inception, Tron. I don't think these are really lower-tier actors than those in Allen's movies from ten (Curse of the Jade Scorpion) or twenty (Shadows and Fog) years ago, let alone actors that can't get work. And they're all quality actors. I don't really see the relevance even if what you're saying were true.

You're calling Owen Wilson a quality actor and I'm on drugs? Tee hee.

[[ETM]]

Also, let's not pretend that Marion Cotillard is a meaningful name to anyone in America.

No, people usually forget all about leading role Oscar winners.

[Irish]

Why do you keep doing this when it's about someone you don't care for? It's seriously annoying.

Not trying to be clever with that. I'm typing out a thought and blank on someone's name, I use a generic catch all instead of tabbing out and looking them up. My use of it has nothing to do with my opinion of the person, only with my faulty memory.

[MadMan]

Marion Cotillard won an Oscar, so I'm sure there are people in America who know who she is. Not to mention she was in Public Enemies.

As for Allen, his more modern stuff can wait. I'm still going through the rest of his 70s movies, trying to see more 80s, and maybe I'll get to some of his 60s movies as well. I hear his 90s material is interesting, but I've heard really mixed opinions about his 2000s movies. My current understanding is that Allen's been directing so long, he had the misfortunate to be around for message boards. I imagine that if message boards had existed during the tail end of Hitchcock's career, we'd be saying similar things about him, too.

[Irish]

No, people usually forget all about leading role Oscar winners.

You're making the mistake of believing what's meaningful to you is meaningful to everyone.

I can guarantee you that the average theater goer -- even the avid watcher of Allen's movies -- has no idea who she is.

[MadMan]

Most people actually watch the Oscars, believe it or not.

[Irish]

Most people actually watch the Oscars, believe it or not.

A lot of people watch the Super Bowl every year too. That doesn't mean they remember who was MVP or even who won in any given year, unless they're a sports fan.

You guys are talking as if she's this enormous household name in America, and I'm saying she's not. Far from it, in fact.