Paris, je t'aime

Paris, I love you. Movie, you are wonderful too. Back in 2006 Tristan Carné got the idea to combine stories from a variety of talents to show what a great city means to a variety of people. Paris was first on the list. New York came later in 2009. We'll soon see Shanghai and Jerusalem and I hear Rio is in development.

There were so many great names in this I will list only the ones American audiences will be most familiar. Apologies to my many French readers. here are a few reasons to watch this movie:

Steve Buscemi in a subway scene many of us have dreamed of or feared.

Miranda Richardson in a hot red trench coat.

Juliette Binoche who finds a cowboy (Willem Dafoe) to look after her son.

Nick Nolte surprises everyone.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, and Elijah Wood in 3 very odd relationships.

Olga Kurylenko as a very hot vampire.

Natalie Portman best sees Paris though the eyes of a blind man.

Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara show us how exs should get along.

Rufus Sewell and Emily Mortimer get a little help learning to laugh together.

There are truly too many other great performances to list here. Be patient and watch all the stories. The point is that everyone we see has an interesting story. And, from time to time our story lines cross.

Watch this with someone who has been to Paris and will delight in seeing it again.

The Notebook

Maybe not the greatest love story ever told, but certainly one of the best told. If you are a fan of the before and after love story, this is one of the best.

Director Nick Cassavetes uses just the right amount of sentiment and art to spin this tale of who-they-were and who-they-are-now. You may find yourself drawn in so tight to this wonderfully played out story that you are tempted to fast forward. Don't. Take it all in like fine warm rain.

Jame Garner (Maverick series, Rockford Files series, and Murphy's Romance) plays the role of an older gentleman reading a story from a notebook to an aging Gena Rowlands (I don't even know where to start listing her great roles) who's memory comes and goes. As the story is read, it is played out by a second cast.

I know, I know, there is no first and second cast. There are however, two stories unfolding as this movie progresses. Therefore, I employ a concept of first and second cast, and assume you know what I'm talking about. Okay?

So, first cast is in a nursing home, and second cast acts out the story being told by first cast.

Bottom line, both casts do a super job, and the writer and directer did a very smart job of keeping the stories just close enough, yet just far enough apart, to keep this movie interesting. Both of the stories. And when they come together near the end, as predictable as we think it will be, it is done with class, art, and good movie magic.

Ryan Gosling (Remember the Titans, and Lars and the Girl) plays the young man in the story opposite Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls, and The Wedding Crashers). These two have more chemistry than DuPont.

Watch this movie with someone who will not hog the tissues.