Oscar Watch! Midnight in Paris returns to theaters -

By Tommy Bond, Film Critic

Have you ever had an experience that was just so wonderful, something that just hit all of the right notes, something that made you appreciate all of the things around you? It’s those moments where everything feels right, and everything is cast in that warm orange glow, and when you’re not laughing you’re smiling. Woody Allen’s latest film was one of those moments for me, actually it was more than that. It was 90 minutes worth of great moments, characters, dialogue…ah Parie!

Owen Wilson is perfect as the lead guy, Gil, an accomplished screenwriter who is ready to make his big novel, his breakthrough into the world of great literature. Paris, he believes, is where it all happens, but as he and his fiance walk the streets, he begins to feel otherwise. He cannot see the beauty through the cloud of everything that is happening in his life, he yearns for a simpler time. He dreams that he could have lived in the roaring 20’s, with the likes of the Fitzgeralds, and Hemingway, and Picasso, andDali, and the list goes on. Looking for inspiration late one night, Gil rests on some stairs, and as the clock strikes midnight, a car rolls up and a man steps out, inviting him in. Where the car takes them on that, and many subsequent midnights, is where the magic of this film lies.

Gil experiences what he yearned for most, and in doing so is not only inspired by the past, but is rejuvenated in the present. He walks the streets of Paris with fresh eyes, and we are right beside him, taking it all in.

There are moments in this film that combine wonderful dialogue, acting, timing, and a little bit of old fashioned back-lighting to give us scenes that demand to be watched more than once.

This is a film that you can get lost in, and you’ll walk away from it with that Paris twinkle still in your eye.

Of the films released so far in 2011, this is one of the best!