I like his movies, except for that nervous fella who's always in them

Finally got to see Woody Allen's latest, Midnight in Paris, at the cinema. It's the first time my wife and I have been able to go see a movie without the kids since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. It was an amusing romantic fantasy that the word charming might as well have been invented for. Owen Wilson does a good job as Allen's surrogate, a writer who is able to fulfill his nostalgic fantasies when he finds a time portal that transports him to Paris in the 1920's. The film takes a simple premise and uses it to illustrate how no matter what era people live in, the past always looks rosier. Allen's camera is clearly in love with Paris and shows it off to beautiful effect. The supporting cast is full of wonderful comic turns, especially Michael Sheen as the pretentious bore moving in on Wilson's fiance, Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway and Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali (the more you know about the real life artistic figures featured in the film, the better). The conclusion may not be profound, but it's a fine resolution to the feel good movie of the summer.