TOP 10 SHOTS from "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

Welcome to "Top 10 Shots", our weekly spot to talk about some of the most beautiful, or else daring, shots of cinema present and past, and be alerted of SPOILERS. I wouldn't want to spoil the beauty of a film. We're back in place on Fridays, after a two week displacement due to "extraneous circumstances", but we're in full force now. There is nothing stopping us now, and this week is something of a departure from the norm, not least of which because this isn't the most attachable film to this week's release of "The Five-Week Engagement", a film which I quite honestly don't have as much enthusiasm for as I once did. I love Jason Segel, but this quite simply looks too attached to stereotypes than taking advantage of them. We all know Segel can do drama, but this just looks like no fun at all.

Transcending that, this week's film was originally going to be "The Muppets", but on further thought, not only is that film somewhat difficult to dissect, but it may even be better left for a different occasion. The film we have is connected loosely through the mutual cinematographer, Javier Aguirresarobe, whose work isn't exactly spectacular, but I felt this would at least be a fun excuse to get back to seeing "Vicky Christina Barcelona". It may have been hard for me to say if I liked "Midnight in Paris" better than this one a few months back, but on revisiting, Allen is in much greater form here, as well as less overtly inquisitive in his musings.

"To Rome with Love" Trailer

I'm always under the assumption that a Woody Allen film isn't going to be that great, which is an assumption that usually proves correct. I'm speaking of these days, obviously, since he usually has one hit per two or three misses. In that schema, I'll always consider "Vicky Christina Barcelona" far better than "Midnight in Paris", though his last film was undeniably a hilarious romp worth taking. I'm not so certain about "To Rome with Love", which has already been deflated by two name changes from the more witty "Nero Fiddled" and the even wittier "The Bod Decameron". Based on the ensemble nature of the package, I think we're in for an average exploration of a city, not full hearted in its attention to characters as his last film.

QUICK TAKES: "Mad Men", "Annie Hall", "Immortals"

"Mad Men: A Little Kiss"

Created by Matthew Weiner

It seems like an odd occasion to praise a television premiere, but I never saw the need to explain my love for the series that I choose to express adoration over, least of "Mad Men". Arguably the most anticipated return of the season, the new season quickly asserted that the devastated waters of Season 4 had not calmed, and in fact consequences could no longer be avoided for actions. The civil rights era is clearly upon us, and rather than take it seriously, they throw an ad in the paper as a joke on their opponents. And to all their surprise, people actually take it seriously, a prologue and epilogue that shows how unavoidable the events of the outside world have become.

But even in intimate terms, the consequences for the mistakes these characters have made are coming. The fact that Joan's husband is still in Vietnam is a haunting omen for what he has to share when he comes back. Joan suddenly cares about her status as a strong woman in the workplace, and Lane is similarly questioning his place. The simple fact that he had sexual desires for a black but wasn't willing to leave a wallet in the care of one shows how difficult and implacable a person he is, and I don't imagine anybody without the insightful grey areas as Jared Harris would be able to make him work. Oh, and Harry is wicked skinny now! I would have sex with him in a minute!

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Director

I know that not a lot of people want Michel Hazanavicius to win, but setting aside their love for any number of the other directors below, did any of them do really extraordinary work? Not in the slightest. Woody Allen has never been one of directorial brilliance. His films are often reliant on his writing and the actors at work. Terrence Malick comes close, as you can't help but respect the ideas he has being thrown around, even if they don't align specifically with you. Scorsese's direction, though often lovely, is utterly inert this time around, and we don't get any of the flare he gave us in the past. And Alexander Payne? Seriously? Do we even have to discuss this? It's Hazanavicius' relatively extraordinary and playful direction that takes the championship here.

AWARDS 2011: DGA Does Directors Good

I haven't done too well to keep up with the pace of the Guild awards, and in fact this awards season has been an uncharacteristically weak one for me. I guess I'm just not that invested in it. I rather respect all of the directors on the list of Directors Guild nominations, but two of them just don't deserve to be here. I'm not at all talking about Woody Allen or David Fincher, as both earned their stripes pretty well this year by my standards. I'm talking about Martin Scorsese and Alexander Payne, who are both rather fine directors who misfired drastically this year. Payne seemed to lose any strong and dramatic bone in his body with "The Descendants", and Scorsese's passion was diluted by a supremely lacking story in "Hugo". This is quite a strong list of directors, but they just shouldn't be here now.

• Woody Allen ("Midnight in Paris")
• David Fincher ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo")
• Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist")
• Alexander Payne ("The Descendants")
• Martin Scorsese ("Hugo")

Film Review: "Midnight in Paris" (***1/2)

Please take a look at the film ratings I've given out recently, and you'll see they've been scaled back, because exceptional work deserves to be seen as just that. I thought I might be kind enough to give Super 8 a complete three stars, but still chipped off 1/2. I thought 1/2 more might be deserving of Kung Fu Panda 2, but it was ultimately not too special. Midnight in Paris was just the right film to knock me back into reality, as it was the first film this year that truly defied my expectations going in. We set such specific standards going into films, and without seeing them it is entirely too easy to make calls on certain features.

It starts out with a series of images documenting modern day Paris from morning to nighttime, and the immediate impact is as something hollow. People walking idly by, shelling out cash in stores, rushing through rain under cover of umbrella, and ultimately not taking advantage of the beauty of the place around them. Wasted potential is a good way of putting it. Then the credits roll, and we hear Gil Pender, played earnestly by Owen Wilson, raving about the beauty of Paris, and how much he wishes he could live there. His fiance Inez, played by Rachel McAdams, is not as convinced.

Gil is a former Hollywood screenwriter trying to punch out his first novel, and he has a decidedly more idealist view of the world than Inez and her parents. Inez comes from the viewpoint of survival rather than passion, much like most of us. She's fascinated with Paul Bates, portrayed by Michael Sheen, a cynical and pedantic pseudo-intellectual who tries his utmost to best anyone else, even to the point of factual disconnect. After a day of sightseeing and wine tasting, Gil walks home drunk on his own and ends up being picked up by an old style car that takes him to the Paris of his dreams.

For Your Anticipation: That Rabbit Hole in Iraq

Suddenly, now that we have some conceivable idea of what Midnight in Paris is, it looks like something considerably more than just your regular Paris travelogue. If I wanted to marvel at the beauty of Paris, I'd either take out my copy of Ratatouille or I'd go to Paris myself. Unfortunately I don't get paid to make deliveries to France, so the transportation of cinema will have to do. However, as beautiful as Paris may be, there's some intriguing story behind Woody Allen's latest. It's not just a look at Paris, but a look at Paris in the 1920s, and I find it so much more rewarding when a film references the period it's set in. With reviews pouring out of Cannes, it's easy to lose your own critical footing, and I remain interested but cautious in terms of this film.

Cannes Coverage 2011: "Midnight in Paris"

Cannes has officially kicked off, and I'm wasting no time in getting to the main attraction. Midnight in Paris, the film releasing in May that I've been most anticipating, opened the festival on a pleasant note. I refrain from noting it as a high note, because that could easily be misleading. The majority of reviews I have read thus far have been positive, which is something of a relief for those worried that Woody Allen would be dishing out another failure. That being said, I don't detect the same sort of emphatic euphoria that many had for Vicky Christina Barcelona. That being said, if reviews aren't stellar, they are favorable.

Brad Brevet (Rope of Silicon): "Like any film dealing with the troubles of a writer, you look for connection to the screenwriter of the film and comparisons are easy to make as you can see where Allen's career itself was inspired by the writers Gil, and seemingly Allen, both hold in high esteem. Midnight in Paris is also not without Allen's jabs at portions of society that may ruffle his feathers. Republican Tea Party comments stirred laughter from all corners of the Cannes international audience and Michael Sheen playing the role of Paul, a pedantic know-it-all friend of Inez's, is a consistent source of amusement, and Sheen absolutely crushes the part."

Teaser Trailer: Midnight in Paris

Still not a fan of Owen Wilson, and I'm not going to start anytime soon, but I actually didn't mind him too bad in this trailer for Midnight in Paris. I thought that he'd be just a small part of an ensemble cast in the film, but it turns out that he's the main character. After I let that initial sense of melancholy get past me, I was able to respect this trailer as a potential return to form for Woody Allen. I obviously don't expect him to pull off an achievement similar to Vicky Christina Barcelona, but this actually seems like a pretty likable crowd-pleaser. That's something that you can't exactly say about most of Woody Allen's films. Maybe it's the wonderful cast, aside from Wilson, or maybe it's Paris' natural charm. In any case, I liked this trailer moderately enough, and it's hard for me to discount a film with Michael Sheen and Marion Cotillard in it.

Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" to Open Cannes

I thought there was something to sudden questioning of what film was going to open Cannes Film Festival this year. Over the past few years, it has generally gone to a commercial release, the best case scenario being Up, and the worst case so far being Robin Hood. I half expected this year's film to be The Hangover: Part II, but it looks like they're going in the opposite direction and premiering Woody Allen's latest film, Midnight in Paris, as the kickoff event. Allen has been a lot more miss than hit lately, with his last two films failing to impress in the way Vicky Christina Barcelona did. He averages a film each year, and I certainly hope that Midnight in Paris turns out to be a real winner. I have my doubts, but also my hopes. He's working with Marion Cotillard, so I expect some sort of quality, even if it's only minimal, which it probably will be seeing as he also has Owen Wilson. From here on out, I'm tallying Wilson as an omen of death.