Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 5/2 - X-Factor

I finally caught up to Woody Allen’s ode to the city of light, Midnight in Paris (2011), courtesy of Netflix. It was about what I’d expected: beautifully shot, well-written, amusing, and featuring a great ensemble espousing a continuation of the auteur’s worldview, minus the grimness that characterizes many of his films. It never fails to be pleasant even when things go wrong for the players. It also has a fantasy aspect, time travel to the golden era of the late 1920’s and the Belle Epoch, 1871-1914. Many great artists, French and expatriate, appear throughout the film. The soundtrack is sublime, a perfect fit. Of the luminaries, I found Kathy Bates the most convincing as Gertrude Stein, and Adrien Brody’s brief, flamboyant take as Salvador Dali great fun. The best line comes when Ernest Hemingway, played well by Corey Stoll, asks the protagonist, played by Owen Wilson, if he does any hunting. “Only for bargains,” is the reply. A lot of Hemingway’s ideas, not yet committed to paper in the time frame, are spoken by the author. The funniest bit occurs when  a detective hired to follow Wilson’s character finds himself stuck in time and walks in on, I believe, Marie Antoinette. I give Wilson credit for putting his own stamp on the role and not imitating a young Allen. The best thing in the movie is Marion Cotillard as a mistress of Picasso and other artists, who prefers the Belle Epoch to her own era. She is one of those rare actresses loved by the camera despite not being a classic beauty. My old college buddy, Jim, referred to it as the x-factor. As for me, I believe there’s no time like the present, despite its often scary prospects, and no place like America. To coin a phrase from W.C. Handy’s Beale Street Blues: “I’d rather be here than any place I know.” Who would return permanently to the Europe of the late 20's knowing the horror that would begin in a few years? Allen won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The 466 contributors who have rated the film at IMDb forge to a consensus of 7.7 of ten. On a scale of five, I rate it 3.25. In Allen’s impressive body of work, I’d say Midnight in Paris is above the middle of the pack. Typically, it comes in at a tidy 94 minutes. Allen never overstays his welcome. Here is a pic of the lovely Cotillard as she appeared in the film:

There is a great article about the Donald Sterling controversy in today's NY Post by the fearless Phil Muschnick. He calls out the NBA for its hypocrisy. Check it out here: http://nypost.com/2014/05/01/nbas-zero-tolerance-hypocrites-feast-on-sterlings-carcass/

It was a slow day at the floating book shop. My thanks to the three kind folks who made purchases.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx