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In this so-called superhero summer, Thor and X-Men have nothing on Woody Allen.
With mega-budget movies dominating screens, it’s wonderful to see Allen’s delightful film, “Midnight in Paris,” becoming a genuine hit that has grossed a total of $6.9 million in just three weeks in a limited number of theaters.
Those seeking alternate cinematic fare during this flood of warm-weather action epics should embrace the charming and disarming PG-13 picture about love, longing and art.
The delightful romantic comedy/fantasy follows an engaged couple (Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams) who go through major changes during a visit to France, where he wants to be creatively inspired while writing a novel about the owner of a nostalgia shop and she wants to sightsee and grows tired of his excuses that keep them apart.
Wilson’s character, a successful screenwriter who dreams of being a serious author, fantasizes dreams about Paris when it was populated by major talents.
Through a time-travel twist that happens each evening at midnight, the American ends up sharing drinks and conversations with legendary talents such as F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.
The easygoing Wilson, best known for his work with talented director Wes Anderson (“The Royal Tenenbaums”) and lightweight comedies such as “Wedding Crashers” (which also co-stars McAdams), isn’t the obvious choice for playing Allen’s alterego in “Midnight in Paris,” but he does a marvelous job creating an eccentric character seeking a spark that will change his creative life.
In the latest issue of Film Comment, Allen readily admits that Wilson brought something surprisingly special to the material.
“(The work by Wilson) completely surprised me,” the 75-year-old filmmaker says in the cinema magazine. “When I wrote this movie, I did not think of Owen Wilson. The character was an Eastern intellectual, who would have been more Ivy League.
“If I was younger, I would have played it — not that I’m intellectual, but I look intellectual. And I couldn’t find anybody who was really right who was available and Eastern.
“And then I was talking to (casting agent) Juliet Taylor and Owen’s name came up. I started to think, ‘I bet if I rewrote this’ — because Owen seemed like a blond, beachcombing guy with a surfboard — ‘and made it more of West Coast problem, a West Coast character, he could really do it well.’
“So I rewrote it, and we sent it to him, and he was eager to play it. I never had to give him any direction, he knew just what to do, and he played it exactly the way I wanted it.”
VOD enters awards age
To celebrate its 20 billionth Video on Demand view, Comcast has launched the Xfinity on Demand Awards to recognize the most-viewed movies and artists since the system began eight years ago.
“On Demand was the first technology to give millions of our customers instant access to entertainment choices to watch on their schedule,” Marcien Jenckes, general manager of video services, says in a news release. “The service has been a major influence in the adoption of time-shifted viewing, which has now become more mainstream.”
The 10 movies receiving the most views in the Philadelphia market are:
1. “The Hangover”
2. “The Blind Side”
3. “Couples Retreat”
4. “Knocked Up”
5. “Gran Torino”
6. “The Break-Up”
7. “Twilight”
8. “Four Christmases”
9. “He’s Just Not That Into You”
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