BY MIKEY MIGO
I’m not going to just come out and say Woody Allen is the best filmmaker of all time. I’m going to just let it linger out there. You’re wondering if I’m saying he IS the best filmmaker of all time or if the statement was a bold fact. The truth of the matter is that Woody Allen isn’t the best filmmaker of all time, he is the best filmmaker so far. To say “of all time” would be to assume it covers the future as well. We don’t know that for sure, but what I do know is that no one comes close to glamorizing glamour, loving love, and just really exploring the human nature in that way only Woody Allen does. If you like things like comedy, independent cinema, acting, great stories, even greater rants, love, and the simplicity of chaos then you either A.) love Woody Allen or B.) you’re lying.
I’m a fan. I hope I’ve made this obvious. Woody Allen is an icon. He has made dozens of films and is a true artist. He’s not making big blockbusters or typical Oscar bait type of projects. He’s exploring his own being each and every time he puts a movie out there. It’s an extension of who he is and I think we can all relate if we allow ourselves to look past our tolerance level of neurotic surrealism. I’m pretty sure the higher the tolerance, the higher the appreciation you’d have for Woody Allen’s films.
He’s no perfect. Some projects are better than others and some are pretty forgettable. The point is that he keeps going and going regardless of public opinion. He’s still making human nature comedies about love and passion. His later work is arguable. A lot of people are really quick to dismiss movies like Scoop, You’ll Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Whatever Works, Cassandra’s Dream, and the others. I’ve enjoyed more of these than not, but I understand it. Compared to his older work, it feels flat and a little drier. It’s still Woody Allen. A dry and flat Woody Allen movie is still better than anything by Michael Bay.
The latest Woody film is “Midnight In Paris”. Off the bat, I’ll say you should see it. It’s EASILY the best Woody Allen movie of this millennium. The movie stars Owen Wilson as a screenwriter who is trying to clear his head and find himself in the midst of what seems a little like a mid-life crisis. His self-involved wife, a very hot Rachel McAdams, and her tea party parents are there with him on vacation. She bosses him around, drags him around, and doesn’t seem interested in his thoughts. She is more concerned with a pretentious friend of hers, Michael Sheen, and the landmarks. Wilson romanticizes 1920’s Paris and at midnight finds himself there. It’s weird. It’s like a time travel movie, but it’s not. It’s like a bad acid trip, but it’s not. It’s surreally surreal. When he’s there he meets all of his literary and art heroes. We get Cole Porter, S. Scott Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, Salvador Dali, TS Eliot, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. Some surprise casting there, but it’s all fun. It’s enjoyable as hell to see this kind of world. It’s obvious that Woody put a lot of love into the script and you can tell Owen Wilson fully embraced it. While “in the 20’s”, he meets a lovely woman played by Marion Cotillard. They get along better than his “real” partner so that’s where we all go, “yeah, it IS a Woody Allen movie… isn’t that how they all go?”. You’re right. But trust me, this movie is great. At this point, I have no problem saying this is one of the top five movies I’ve seen in 2011 so far. A
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