After Midnight

A few more thoughts on Midnight in Paris...

About my first point in my last post:
The film is flat-out flattery of its audience. Allen is telling us spectators repeatedly how smart and in-the-know we are. Besides our protagonist, the characters in this film are broad caricatures. The "pedantic" guy who we can feel contempt for. The stifling fiance we can resent. The neanderthal almost-in-laws we can sneer at. The cute junk shop girl who likes Cole Porter who we can crush on. All of the '20s characters we can be affirmed by. Jason is right to call this film a fantasy, but I'd argue that it's a simplistic art nerd's wet dream. Really, Midnight in Paris is the Transformers 2 of art-house Summer Cinema. It's entertainment that reinforces all of our cultural notions of how great we are as persons without being in the least bit challenging. Welcome to the art-house circle jerk.

Sorry, guys. I think I hated this movie.

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On to other conversation...

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Brandon,

You only disagree about 2011 because your dating system sucks.

By your system, I'm going to maintain that King Kong is the best film of 2011. Never mind that it played elsewhere in the world at an earlier date. Um, 1933. Nah, I saw it in 2011 so it must be a 2011 film. It reached Binghamton in 2011 anyhow. I'm sure that Rohmer's The Green Ray will be high on my list, too, later this year. And all those Joel McCrea Westerns I've been watching. Great 2011 films. This IS a great year after all.

Brandon and Jeff,
Agreed on Ace in the Hole. Definitely much better than Network. But not nearly as good as A Face in the Crowd. You both need to see Kazan's A Face in the Crowd. It's definitely the best thing that Andy Griffith ever did. If you only know him from Maybury or Matlock, then you're missing out.

Ben,
I didn't make it to game night. You've probably already figured that out.

Lisa,
Two things.
1) A Scanner Darkly is my favorite Linklater film. School of Rock is a close second. I haven't seen Sunrise or Sunset and have no plans to do so any time soon. My complete disinterest is likely to get me roughed up around here before your respectful dislike is going to rile anyone up. Now, if you don't like The New World, there may indeed be a ruckus. :)

2) My stereotype of indie films isn't exactly that they "all deal with adultery." It's more like they "all deal with infidelity" and rarely truthfully deal with it as something damaging to all involved.

Jason,
Yup. I'm not interested in this summer's Blockbusters. I'll have to look at the Dryden schedule and make you up an alternative summer schedule. As you can see from my Midnight in Paris post, though, I guess I'm not all that interested in this summer's Art films either. I guess it's back to watching 60-year-old Joel McCrea westerns for me. Or 80-year-old action movies with giant gorillas. Or maybe I'll even re-watch those two great Westerns from LAST year, True Grit and Meek's Cutoff.

Peace.