Woody Allen and me...

Woody Allen and I have had quite a tumultuous affair over the years.
His sense of humor has dazzled me and sent me into fits of hysterics. Then sometimes I was bored so senseless that watching paint dry would have been preferable.
Manhatten Murder Mystery - LOVED IT!
Annie Hall - uh no thanks.
Sleeper - great!
Love and Death, Zelig, Radio Days - J'Adore!
Manhattan, Everyone Says I Love You and Mighty Aphrodite - BLECH! I never want to see them again.
But now..., this strange moment in time, this exact place in space, where my thoughts and Allan Stewart Konigsberg's thoughts intermingled for a blissful 94 minutes.
Midnight in Paris.
Ebert liked it with 3 1/2 stars.
Peter Travers gave it the same.
Pete Hammond of Box Office Magazine gives it 4.5 stars!
Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 93%, not so rotten.

I give it a 10 out of 10.

I was completely and utterly blown away.
And not for the reasons that everyone else was.
Yes, it was a "Valentine to Paris..." and it was a "daydream of American Lit majors."
It was also the most fleshed out story about someone who thinks "if only I lived THEN!"
I have been guilty of this most of my adult life... whether that time be a time of the past or possibly a time of the future (Thank you Douglas Adams for sending me in that direction!)
Midnight in Paris is superb in every respect.
Owen Wilson, whom I usually disdain, was perfectly fine in this lead role. I didn't have to so much become invested in him and his ideas since this IDEA was not foreign to me in the least, quite the contrary. This idea of living in another time, via a portal of sorts, is a lover to me.
I can remember the very first time travel movie that started this intrigue, or should I say obsession.
Planet of the Apes. The sight of the Statue of Liberty's head still gives me goosebumps.
I remember each movie or story that sparked the tiny ember that turned into a towering inferno in my brain.
Time After Time
A Christmas Carol (the book)
Somewhere in Time
Dr. Who
The Final Countdown
Time Bandits
Quantum Leap
The Time Machine (Books and Movie)
Back to the Future
Slaughter House 5
Peggy Sue Got Married (where she was going to CHANGE things!)
Frequency
Timeline
Even Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
This list can go on and on!
Of course The Restaurant at the End of the Universe allowed me to view time travel in a completely different light.
But my own ideas about being able to slip away and live two lives, one in the present and one in the years that I prefered (and yes, like Woody I have dreamed of the 20's but mostly I lived my fantasy in the 40's.)
This movie sang to me. A loud and playful song about dreams, desires and reality.
This movie didn't preach to me, it prodded me in the right direction.
I highly recommend this movie, as I feel it will be something different each of us.
And for anyone who had their bag packed with spare clothes and a towel (because you really have to know where your towel is!) should see this film.