Pinko Marx
Banned
So...Wes Anderson, he's a name I've known and heard thrown around for a bit. Before last year I had just seen The Royal Tenebaums but thats it. So I knew of him, but didn't really know his work that well.
But then I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel about 2 months ago, and I loved that movie, so I started looking into this Wes Anderson cat.
Fast forward to this past week, in which I've been watching 1 or 2 of his movies a night. Last night I just finished the last movie I needed to see, Moonrise Kingdom. See here are my thoughts on each movie, and how I rank them.
8) Rushmore
This movie sucks. Its about a two miserable scumbags stalking and manipulating some lady that is too dumb to tell them to stop.
Max Fischer is the most annoying little shit of a kid protagonist I've seen in my entire life. Always sticking his nose somewhere it doesn't belong. He's a chronic liar, and he damn near sexually assaults a teacher, gets her fired, takes other people's money to do things to impress her, and so on. Hated this kid.
Bill Murray's Character isn't any better either. He's a miserable sad old man who doesn't even have enough backbone when to tell a kid to fuck off.
And the poor teacher lady. She's not completely innocent because she keeps talking to these two people. After a while she should have started calling the police because they would not leave her the heck alone. Ough. Just terrible all around.
Fuck Rushmore.
7) Moonrise Kingdom
Eh. Its a cute movie. Other than that I have no strong feelings for it. I did like Edward Norton's character.
6) The Darjeeling Limited
The 3 brothers didn't really click or seem like brothers to me. Owen Wilson's character was annoying. Adrien Brody was cool. jason schwartzman was jason schwartzman. It moved a little slow, and didn't really go anywhere. I get the subtext of the movie and blahblahblah, but overall the movie didn't do anything for me. still moderately enjoyable to watch.
5) Fantastic Mr. Fox
I enjoyed the stop motion a lot in conjunction with Anderson's style. The protagonist, Mr. Fox, kind of annoyed me with the way he got everybody in life threatening danger and was still a smug asshole about everything. But it had some touching movements, and I really liked the Rat villain, he was cool.
4) The Royal Tenebaums
I know this is a big favorite of Wes Anderson fans, but I just feel like it can't stand up to the next 3 movies. Don't get me wrong, Tenebaums is a great film, with an awesome cast, and yaddayadda but... not good enough. I can't point to a specific reason, I just feel this is just okay-tier.
3) Bottle Rocket
Loved this movie. Wes Anderson's straightest comedy movie. Bottle Rocket has several scenes that make me straight up laugh out loud, which is rare for a Wes Anderson film. His humor is subdued, more like "oh..hah, thats clever." The small town atmosphere of everything really reminded me of Napolean Dynamite, but not nearly as dumb and slow as that movie was. Really really liked this movie.
2) Grand Budapest Hotel
I can't say how much I love this movie. Everything about it is so great. The most Wes Anderson-ish movie. He really marries his love of symmetry, lavishly decorated sets, and quirky old white men doing quirky things. I love how he made the movie look almost like you're looking into a puppet stage. I love the humor, and the love story, the characters, the cast is just straight awesome. I've seen it 3 times already and enjoyed each viewing.
1) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
A lot of people won't agree, but this is his absolute best. Thats all I'm saying on it. 10/10 movie, one of my favorites of all time now.
Some thoughts on Wes Anderson's work as a whole:
- Mr. Anderson sure loves him some "love at first sight" stories. Damn near every movie has some dude in some life crisis falling in love with some chick. It happens in:
Rushmore
Bottle Rocket
The Darjeeling Limited
Moonrise Kingdom
The Life Aquatic
Not that I'm complaining, I'm a sucker for a good love story.
- Marathoning his movies might not be the best idea. I didn't go in order of release, so maybe thats my problem. But his style kinda wore thin in some movies for me. I get it Wes, you love symmetry and centering your shots, yes.
- Does Wes Anderson have the best rotating actor list? He might.
But then I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel about 2 months ago, and I loved that movie, so I started looking into this Wes Anderson cat.
Fast forward to this past week, in which I've been watching 1 or 2 of his movies a night. Last night I just finished the last movie I needed to see, Moonrise Kingdom. See here are my thoughts on each movie, and how I rank them.
8) Rushmore
This movie sucks. Its about a two miserable scumbags stalking and manipulating some lady that is too dumb to tell them to stop.
Max Fischer is the most annoying little shit of a kid protagonist I've seen in my entire life. Always sticking his nose somewhere it doesn't belong. He's a chronic liar, and he damn near sexually assaults a teacher, gets her fired, takes other people's money to do things to impress her, and so on. Hated this kid.
Bill Murray's Character isn't any better either. He's a miserable sad old man who doesn't even have enough backbone when to tell a kid to fuck off.
And the poor teacher lady. She's not completely innocent because she keeps talking to these two people. After a while she should have started calling the police because they would not leave her the heck alone. Ough. Just terrible all around.
Fuck Rushmore.
7) Moonrise Kingdom
Eh. Its a cute movie. Other than that I have no strong feelings for it. I did like Edward Norton's character.
6) The Darjeeling Limited
The 3 brothers didn't really click or seem like brothers to me. Owen Wilson's character was annoying. Adrien Brody was cool. jason schwartzman was jason schwartzman. It moved a little slow, and didn't really go anywhere. I get the subtext of the movie and blahblahblah, but overall the movie didn't do anything for me. still moderately enjoyable to watch.
5) Fantastic Mr. Fox
I enjoyed the stop motion a lot in conjunction with Anderson's style. The protagonist, Mr. Fox, kind of annoyed me with the way he got everybody in life threatening danger and was still a smug asshole about everything. But it had some touching movements, and I really liked the Rat villain, he was cool.
4) The Royal Tenebaums
I know this is a big favorite of Wes Anderson fans, but I just feel like it can't stand up to the next 3 movies. Don't get me wrong, Tenebaums is a great film, with an awesome cast, and yaddayadda but... not good enough. I can't point to a specific reason, I just feel this is just okay-tier.
3) Bottle Rocket
Loved this movie. Wes Anderson's straightest comedy movie. Bottle Rocket has several scenes that make me straight up laugh out loud, which is rare for a Wes Anderson film. His humor is subdued, more like "oh..hah, thats clever." The small town atmosphere of everything really reminded me of Napolean Dynamite, but not nearly as dumb and slow as that movie was. Really really liked this movie.
2) Grand Budapest Hotel
I can't say how much I love this movie. Everything about it is so great. The most Wes Anderson-ish movie. He really marries his love of symmetry, lavishly decorated sets, and quirky old white men doing quirky things. I love how he made the movie look almost like you're looking into a puppet stage. I love the humor, and the love story, the characters, the cast is just straight awesome. I've seen it 3 times already and enjoyed each viewing.
1) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
A lot of people won't agree, but this is his absolute best. Thats all I'm saying on it. 10/10 movie, one of my favorites of all time now.
Some thoughts on Wes Anderson's work as a whole:
- Mr. Anderson sure loves him some "love at first sight" stories. Damn near every movie has some dude in some life crisis falling in love with some chick. It happens in:
Rushmore
Bottle Rocket
The Darjeeling Limited
Moonrise Kingdom
The Life Aquatic
Not that I'm complaining, I'm a sucker for a good love story.
- Marathoning his movies might not be the best idea. I didn't go in order of release, so maybe thats my problem. But his style kinda wore thin in some movies for me. I get it Wes, you love symmetry and centering your shots, yes.
- Does Wes Anderson have the best rotating actor list? He might.