Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Midnight In Paris Review

Midnight is Paris was a movie nominated for Best Picture in 2012. It didn't win. The plot is Owen Wilson, Gil, and his finance go to Paris for a vacation and also so Gil can continue writing a novel. While there Gil gets in magic car at midnight that takes him back in time to 1920's Paris. There he meets famous authors and arts of the era such as Gertrude Stien, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and T.S. Elliot just to name a few.

Time travel is NOT new to movies or books. The Back to the Future Series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban, The Time Traveler's Wife; Molly Moon and The Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure all focus on time travel. It is a common realization of the main character in a time travel story to realize that it's better to live in their own present and let life run its natural course than a use time traveling privileges. This is exactly what Gil figures out. So Woody Allen your story is not exactly unique.

After reading A Movebale Feast (AMF)  by Ernest Hemingway it was a little more interesting to see the 20s famous people as it was back when I first watched the movie in 2012. Gertrude Stien seemed nicer in the movie than she seemed in AMF. Hemingway seemed to be more aggressive in the movie than the pushover he portrayed himself as in AMF. It makes me wonder who's point of view is the accurate one: Hemingway's or Allen's? I guess we'll never know.

Upon watching this movie the first time back in 2012 I remember thinking it was cute enough but not something I thought should win an Ocar. And most definitely something I would not watch again. After being forced to watch it in my English Lit Crirical Thinking class a few days back I think I was even less moved than before by the film. Knowing who the characters were in real life did not make me more interested. It actually made me more annoyed. I could not just sit back and passively enjoy the film. I would here a name and think now who was that again? What are they famous for? Not only was it hard to remember what everyone did it was even more annoying because I do not much care about old Paris writers. Needless to say Midnight In Paris is not a movie I would recommend and is one I hope to not have to watch a third time.

That's all for now. Until next time catch ya on the flip side.