Movie Review: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

2011
PG-13


"No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure."
-- Ernest Hemingway

Midnight in Paris is a 2011 romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen that holds a rather fantastical feel. While Gil (Owen Wilson), an accomplished screenwriter but struggling novelist, vacations in Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents, he attempts to craft his current attempt at a novel - a story of the owner of a nostalgia store - into something profound and interesting. One night after a wine tasting, Gil finds himself lost in the city. As the clock strikes midnight, however, an older-style car pulls up to the curb, and the passengers beckon for him to join them. Within moments, Gil finds himself at a lavish party surrounded by literary types from decades before. After a little bit of time, as well as a meeting with the Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), Gil realizes he has been transported into the Parisian 1920s, an era that he truly loves and adores. Gil begins to return to the same curb each night, and he begins to make the acquaintances of the likes of Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and a young woman named Adriana (Marion Cotillard), whom he starts to fancy. His nightly outings become his newfound joy as he tries to balance these magical experiences with his humdrum livelihood in the present day, where Inez seems to be falling into an adulterous affair with pseudo-intellectual Paul (Michael Sheen).

I was fortunate enough to go into this film moderately blind. I've known about the film for some time, and I have been eager to watch it since it opened to fantastic critical reviews. In the past few weeks, Midnight in Paris has been striking it rich with awards nominations, most notably receiving a total of four nominations for the Golden Globe Awards. Most of the critical praise has been for Allen himself, both for his directing capability as well as his well-crafted screenplay. In terms of the film's story, however, I went in completely blind. All I knew was that it was an Allen-directed film that starred Owen Wilson, and that it was receiving great reviews. Sometimes, that's the best way to go into a film.

All that said, this review might make a few of my readers take a step back. I'll just come out and say this now: I did not love Midnight in Paris. That's not to say, however, that I didn't like it. It proved to be an entertaining flick that had me rolling with laughter at times, and some of the references to classic literary and art figures were brilliant. Still, I had a few issues with the movie as a whole.

Let's start with the screenplay, shall we? I do think that Allen has created a very inventive and clever piece here, and as is often the case, his dialogue is the real strength of the film. Some of the rambling quotes from the Hemingway character are simply fantastic, but even our lead in Gil is given quite a bit of room with which to work. I also liked the ultimate revelation that the Gil character learns towards film's end, and the fact that it all comes full circle is a major plus. My issue, however, is that it was all terribly predictable. From the moment that Gil stepped into the past, so to speak, I knew where the film was headed. I immediately picked up on the realization that it took Gil another seventy-five minutes to learn and understand. This predictability doesn't necessarily take away from the statement the film makes, but it does lessen the power of that statement. Had it been hidden until Gil's realization, I think the film could have proven a deep and powerful piece; as it currently stands, however, the predictability ultimately takes away the emotional power.

There's no real way I can knock on the acting in the film, although I didn't find it all that brilliant as a whole. As previously stated, most of the positive critical response has been for Allen's work behind the scenes, but there has been some mention of the cast as well (i.e., Wilson, McAdams and Stoll have all received nominations for their performances from various awards shows and critic groups). Wilson does well as our leading character, but I found it difficult to distance myself from his previous work. In the past, he's done so many lesser comedies that placing him in a film like this made him seem a little out of place. That being said, however, I do think he does well with what he's given, and Allen did a great job with writing his character in a way that Wilson could perform well. McAdams started out well but started to get on my nerves a little bit towards film's end. The two best performances in the film have to go to Michael Sheen and Corey Stoll. From the moment he stepped on-screen, I hated Sheen's Paul, and that was entirely the point of the character. And Stoll, as the legendary Hemingway, offers the film's best performance. He's utterly brilliant, and I only wish the film would have incorporated his character a little bit more. Marion Cotillard does well as the film's other central female character, and we get a good, although severely limited, performance from Kathy Bates. Also be on the lookout for a fantastic cameo from Adrien Brody.

If anything is working exceptionally well in the film, it's the soundtrack. The film's opening scene sets the tone with a montage of shots around Paris, and the background music helps create the Parisian mood and atmosphere. As Gil travels back and forth in time, the music successfully transitions as well, offering something a little bit different so that we know we've been taken to another time. Truly a greatly-pieced together soundtrack.

At the end of the day, Midnight in Paris is a good film that strives to be a great one. The critical consensus on Rottentomatoes.com offers the following insight to the film:

It may not boast the depth of his classic films, but the sweetly sentimental Midnight in Paris is funny and charming enough to satisfy Woody Allen fans.

I have to agree with the statement. It's by no means a bad film, but it just doesn't quite measure up to the Allen films of old. Still, it's a fun romp through the streets and times of Paris, and for that, it should be applauded and enjoyed.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: A-
1.5 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: PREDATORS

PREDATORS

2010
R

You can watch the trailer here

In case you haven't noticed, the lack of original thought in Hollywood has led to a slew of sequels, remakes and reboots, which probably led to the eventual green-light for the production of Predators. Although I'm not a die-hard fan of Arnie's 1987 original - I've seen it before, but it's been ages - I remember finding it at least moderately entertaining, and it had a rather clever premise. In crafting this semi-sequel, semi-reboot, director Nimród Antal tried to capture some of that entertainment.

Sparing any type of a prologue, the audience is immediately thrust into the action as we see a man plunging towards the earth but managing to activate his parachute just before he hits the highest peaks of the treetops below. Once he lands on terra firma, we meet this unnamed soldier (Adrien Brody) as he watches more people fall from the sky. Once everyone is accounted for, we find eight people - four soldiers, one drug cartel henchman, one Japanese mob guy, one death row inmate, and a doctor - now stranded in a jungle they do not recognize. The only female in the group, a similarly unnamed soldier (Alice Braga), suggests that the group stay together because there's strength in numbers. And so, the crew sets out, trying to figure out where they are. However, they soon realize they are no longer on Earth and instead have been taken to another planet that's used as a type of game preserve, and they are now the game. Action - and a bit of unwanted hilarity - ensues as the group does their best to compete against the "predators" hunting them around the planet.

I think it goes without saying that there's not much of a screenplay to talk about here. It's basically your standard action flick with a few good fighting sequences that are much too seldom and too far in-between. The dialogue isn't anything to applaud, but it suits the context of the movie. Of course, there will always be the one guy who seemingly and inexplicably knows everything - enter Adrien Brody, everyone - and as a result becomes the unwilling leader of the group. Some people live, most people die; I think you know how these types of movies go by now.

At least there's a little redemption from the characters. The acting is "action movie good," but if you put this level of performance into a drama, I'd laugh it out of the theater. All of the characters are distinct and different from one another, but there's so many different people that you never really get a good insight into any of them, aside from Brody, Braga and Topher Grace. (By the way, I just want it to be publicly known that I'm not a fan of Mr. Grace. I couldn't tell you what it is about him that I don't like, but something just doesn't rub me the right way about him. I mean, aside from the fact that he's a terrible actor. He's not quite at the Shia LaBeouf level of hatred, but he's close.) We do get a small role from Machete himself, Danny Trejo, but when he's -- SPOILER ALERT -- out of the film in the first twenty minutes, -- SPOILER ALERT -- you know you're not in for much of a quality flick.

It's not that the movie is bad; in fact, it's even entertaining at times. But there are quite a few scenes that will leave you a little bit bored, wondering when the next predator is going to rip some guy's spinal cord from his body. If you're a fan of the original, I'm sure it's worth watching this installment, but it's not going to blow you away. For what it is, it's a decent flick, but it's not really going to stick with you for a long time.

Movie Review Summary:
Grade: C
1 Thumb Up

Movie Review: SPLICE

SPLICE

2010
R


You can view the trailer here

Splice was one of the major hits coming out of the Sundance Film Festival, so it was only a matter of time until it got its due release to the public. It tells the story of a young pair of scientists striving to push the moral and ethical boundaries in relation to human genetics and cloning. The two genetically splice human DNA with animal DNA, and a new organism is born. However, nothing can be assumed, and things quickly turn for the worse. I won't say any more lest I give up the ending!

Let's start with the screenplay: it's innovative and original, and it really draws you into the story. There hasn't been a movie quite like this before; yes, there have been other films referencing the ethics of human cloning, but this puts a very different spin on the idea. As the two scientists progress with their study (and affection) of this creature (aptly named "Dren," the reverse of "NERD," which is the acronym for the lab at which they work), we see their relationship with Dren develop as well as their continued concern for whether this experiment was right or wrong. I did, however, have a little bit of issue with the film's climax; however, it does stick with the thriller genre in that regards.

The acting throughout is good, for lack of a better word. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are just fine as our leads, but they don't really stand out as much as I would have liked. Delphine Chanéac is very good as Dren, giving partial life to the creature (I say partial in that a lot of the creature is created through CGI). There are a few ancillary characters as well, but they're so seldom seen that it's really a bother to even mention them.

Now, Splice does have two pieces that truly work. The first is Vincenzo Natali's direction of the film, which is simultaneously dark and brooding as well as thoughtful and thought-provoking. Natali does a very good job here, and if anything, that's what brought me into the movie even more. The second lies with the film's special effects. It's not the CGI-overload that many big-time blockbusters have become accustomed to using; instead, we see a very limited, but extremely effective, use of computer-generation. Dren, in all of its evolutionary stages, is quite a sight to behold, and the ability for the actors to interact with these special effects is at times mind-boggling. My hat goes off to the special effects crew; they did an astounding job.

Movie Review Summary:
Grade: B-
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