Midnight in Paris

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An engaged man from the present day (Owen Wilson) falls for a woman from the 1920s (Marion Cotillard), who dreams of living during the Belle Epoque. The one thing they can agree on, Paris is the only place to be.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, Corey Stoll, Alison Pill, Tom Hiddleston, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Lea Seydoux, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo, Adrien Brody, Gad Elmaleh

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Personally, I could’ve sat and watched this movie for another 2 weeks. It has everything I love: Paris, Owen Wilson, Paris… But unless you’re a very well-read and highly cultured individual, many of the references will be over your head, and the storyline’s not enough to make up for it. Then again, you’ll always have Paris.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Michael Sheen’s pretension had me giggling through every one of his scenes.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: I felt sad that I wasn’t inside the picture.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Anyone who gives me this much Paris to dream about has my vote!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Owen Wilson plays a great Woody Allen. And he may even be the first to do it without losing himself. At the same time, it’s kind of unsettling to see a Texas good ol’ boy embracing his love for a place that is sooo not Texas. In retrospect, I'd like to add that I can't stop thinking about Alison Pill, who is an absolute stand-out as Zelda Fitzgerald.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Never been Woody Allen’s forte, but Paris’ beauty is impossible to miss.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Scripting is Woody Allen’s forte, and while the dialogue remains witty, this script has several amateur mistakes. Rachel McAdams’ character has so few redeeming qualities, that even the Mean Girl herself can’t infuse any charm into her. The fantasy element is fun, but it doesn’t build beyond the one note joke of getting to hang out with famous dead people. Once you’ve established that, a professional screenwriter is supposed to do something with them. I’m assuming Woody Allen doesn’t know this, because he never went to see Night at the Museum. Then again, I can’t stay mad at him for throwing together a script whose sole purpose seems to be to showcase Paris.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: I've always thought Ernest Hemingway was one of my favorite authors. Between you and me, I've only actually read one of his books, but I read it like six times, so I think I get a lot of cred for that! But my point is, after seeing Corey Stoll's interpretation of Hemingway's speech patterns, which so cleverly mimic his writing style, I remember all the more clearly why I love Hemingway so very much.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Midnight in Paris Trailer

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Easy Virtue

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Set in the UK in the 1920s, the prodigal son (Ben Barnes) of a rich family returns home with an older woman (Jessica Biel), whom he's already married, and who is American. And so his mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) sets to breaking them apart.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall, Charlotte Riley, Christian Brassington, Pip Torrens

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Based on a Noel Coward play, the fast paced farcical tone gets off to a good start, but about 20 minutes in, you realize that this movie has no plot, and the story element that would've made the catty goings-on more interesting is not revealed until 20 minutes before the end.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The dialogue is quick witted, but you might want to brush up on your proper English listening comprehension skills, because in some parts it is so fast and thrown away that you completely miss what they're saying.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Maybe, if you've ever had in-laws. But probably not.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Can you imagine how insulted Kristin Scott Thomas must have been when she found out she was going to be acting up against 7th Heaven's Jessica Biel? Apparently she put all that anger into this role, and it served her well because she has already won a couple of acting awards in Great Britain for this film.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Jessica Biel is pretty, but she's completely miscast as the older woman. Not only does she not appear to be older than her husband, but in real life, she's several months younger than Ben Barnes. The whole movie would have made a lot more sense if they had gotten Charlize Theron or Angelina Jolie. Another reason those actresses would've been more impactful, is that they wouldn't look so ridiculous trying to act next to top tier professionals like Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth. On a positive note, I'd like to ask you all to look out for Kimberley Nixon, a fairly newcomer, who really does hold her own next to these old pros. I see a big career in her future.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Even though it is an adaptation of a play, and takes place primarily all on one giant estate, it never feels too small or boxed in to be a movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The script, on the other hand, does not escape the play-to-movie transition unscathed. A play and a movie don't have the same format. In a play, the audience is more patient, and you can leave certain key plot points and underlying emotional motivations until the end. But in a movie format, the audience is accustomed to knowing why a character is being unreasonably cruel much earlier, so that they can feel deeply for both the villain and the victim, and experience the moral dilemma of choosing sides. If the screenwriters had introduced the pivotal plot piece twenty minutes into the film instead of twenty minutes from the end, they might have had a movie. But as it sits now, they have a very cinematic play.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/easy%20virtue/trailers

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