It’s something of a sport among movie lovers to debate where the inflection points in the long arc of Woody Allen’s career are to be found, but it’s a hopeless enterprise, in my book. Yes, ‘early’ Allen is better than ‘late’ Allen, but this kind of a distinction doesn’t really mean much; I think it’s a big question whether or not films like “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan,” or even “Hannah and her Sisters” could even be made today. Even if they were, how would they be received and reviewed?
Better to just enjoy a good film when it comes along. Allen’s latest, “Midnight in Paris,” isn’t perfect (I think it’s unforgivable to make Rachel McAdams into such an unlikable character), but there are plenty of good jokes, not least of which is the one Allen makes at the expense of Christopher Nolan’s baroque-epic “Inception”, a movie which I loved but whose utter lack of humor diminishes it in my mind, as time goes on.
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