3. Midnight in Paris
Thats right, even Woody Allen is at it indeed, he could also lay a founding claim on the whole thing with his early work, particularly Manhattan. However, for the sake of demonstrating the current trend I'm going with his most recent effort. Owen Wilson plays Gil, an author trapped in an unhappy relationship who unwittingly travels back in time and mingles with the artistic circles of 1920s Paris - Hemingway, Picasso, Fitzgerald. During his temporal odyssey Gil meets Adriana (Marion Cotillard, continuing her great line in portraying magnetic and enigmatic women), and their tentative romance is played out with a lot of style against the nostalgia and graceful homage to the romanticised past. It might seem a fairly weak link to the subject matter, but it seems to me that all the signs are there, with Wilson's nervous everyman coming to terms with his own place in the world through his relationship with a powerful love interest. Plus, this time the comedy friend happens to be Ernest Hemingway, which is awesome. The curious premise makes for a really enjoyable exploration of love and indealism, and constitutes Woody Allens best work for a long time.