Jump to content

What order do you put Wes Anderson's films in?


And your favorite is?  

53 members have voted

  1. 1. What is your favorite Wes Anderson Film?

    • Bottle Rocket
    • Rushmore
    • The Royal Tenenbaums
    • The Life Aquatic
    • The Darjeeling Limited
    • The Fantastic Mr. Fox


Recommended Posts

RE: Wes Anderson's Next Film (didn't feel the need to start up a new thread, although this was a bitch to find. I guess "wes" is not an appropriate search word.)

 

From Joblo.com: (amongst other film sites)

 

His next film MOON RISE KINGDOM has attracted several stars who are all in current talks to star.: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton.

 

Anderson wrote the script with Roman Coppola and will start production next spring.

 

Here's a rundown of the story and details on the roles:

 

"Moon Rise Kingdom is set in the 60s. Two young adults fall in love and run away. Leaders in their New England town are sticking the idea that they've disappeared and go in search of them. Norton will play a scout leader who brings his charges on a search. Willis is in talks to play the town sheriff who’s also looking, and who is having an affair with the missing girl’s mother, the role McDormand is in talks to play. Murray, a regular in Anderson films, will play the girl's father, who has his own issues."

 

I wish Wes and Owen would write together again.

Frances McDormand in a Wes Anderson film is a very exciting prospect.

"Wes" is three letters - search tool here needs at least four letters.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 80
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 10 months later...

Moon Rise is going to be the shit!

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...

so excited about the new one. it looks great. like all his movies, it takes me a few times of watching it and then i fall in love. been watching mr. fox with my kids. nothing objectionable at all in that film for kids.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The cussing was a clever device. Is that straight from the book?

 

No, not at all. The book, like most of Roald Dahl's work, is short and doesn't have much in the way of character development. They are kids books after all. The movie has a lot more depth, the same can be said about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda.

 

Up to the dinner scene in the movie (where the book essentially ends) the story is pretty close, but the kids don't have any names.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It's actually one of the few Roald Dahl books that I never read. I'm not sure if that added to my enjoyment of the film or not, but I thought it was a nice return to form for Wes Anderson's after his two previous lesser efforts. For me, at least.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 months later...

I just saw Fantastic Mr Fox for the first time and I have to say... it was fantastic. Love the symmetrical shots, the stop-motion was brilliant and the trademark color schemes. Beautiful film.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...

I was thinking I had posted, but I guess it was on Facebook. But yes, I've seen it once and I'm planning to go again tonight. I rarely see movies twice but this one had me so awed by just the visuals that I don't think I fully took in the magic of the rest of it. Rushmore has probably been my favorite up to now, but I think this one is going to trump it. It really casts a spell.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom very, very much. However, it continues Anderson's recent tendency to indulge his signature style without inhibition, which is both its joy and its limitation. Each new film feels more stylized, more quirky, and more cartoonish than the last (not for nothing is Anderson's best recent film an actual cartoon), and lately his films always risk vanishing into Andersonville. That really neat town is very consistent with a priceless internal logic, and I cherish my visits to that town. They do, indeed, cast a spell. Still, I suspect Anderson the artist should be greater still, and there is no better evidence than Rushmore, still my favorite Anderson film. After seeing Moonrise Kingdom, I couldn't help but feel that it was both consistent with Rushmore's style and yet worlds apart in terms of grounding, coherency, and emotional depth. I actually revisited Rushmore afterwards, just to test my memory of the movie, and sure enough, Rushmore contains all of Anderson's familiar mannerisms, and yet they do not overwhelm the characters and narrative; they exist not in Andersonville but in a recognizable (if not quite real) human landscape. Rushmore is one of the great American movies of the last twenty years, not because its whimsy is brilliant--that describes all of Anderson's movies--but because the whimsy isn't the whole show; its whimsy is tethered to something real, honest, and painful that hits raw nerves. Consider how a character in Moonrise Kingdom nonchalantly shrugs off being struck by lightning. That scene wouldn't seem out of place in the cartoon Fantastic Mr. Fox, but would seem grotesquely out of place in the world of Rushmore. I suspect that Moonrise Kingdom would look more like a masterpiece if Rushmore didn't exist.

 

I'm content to get nothing else from Anderson than more Life Aquatics and Moonrise Kingdoms--they are works of wonder--but I hope someday he makes another movie as astonishing and moving as Rushmore.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I definitely see your point, Beltmann, but what you're characterizing as limitations are, to me, an evolution and refinement of his style and a conscious choice to present this heightened reality world. His movies have become more precious and frankly artifical over time--whereas Rushmore had at least one foot in the real world, Moonrise Kingdom seems firmly planted in Wes Andersonworld. (Sort of like I live in Wilcoworld much of the time. . . but I digress.)

 

It seems to me that this movie is very much a fantastic fable with no pretense of representing actual reality. EXCEPT that the heart and soul of the characters are very real and very specific and--to me, at least--the emotional truths pack even more of a wallop when presented in this context. Like, things don't need to make literal sense in a poem. Wes Anderson's themes have been similar through all of his movies--some kind of quixotic quest with improbable schemes, family relationships and conflicts, artistic expression--but he's now presenting those themes in this different and more stylized context. It's just another artistic choice. It makes moments of plainspoken truth like the boy's reply to the girl's statement about wishing she were an orphan ("I love you but you have no idea what you're talking about.") even more of a punch in the gut.

 

I hate that eveything I think about seems to come back to Wilco, but it's somewhat similar to the way Jeff's lyrics can hit you so hard not despite but because of how non-literal they are. It's a stretch to compare Jeff Tweedy and Wes Anderson, I admit, but it FEELS right. :-)

 

Anyway, this is one great instance of where your points are completely valid and so are mine. It all depends on your perspective.

Link to post
Share on other sites

There is no question that Anderson has made a conscious decision to work within a more stylized, heightened framework, and I don't begrudge that choice, especially since it has yielded several "fantastic fables," as you said. Anderson exists as one of the most vibrant voices in American cinema. I know what you mean about using artificiality to express human truths; as someone who teaches poetry for a living, I certainly respond to that strain in Anderson's work, and most likely that's what I like best about visiting Andersonville as it stands today. I especially don't want to overstate my case, since I do love Moonrise Kingdom for what it is.

 

Still, is that truly progress into deeper territory as an artist? Is it evolution, or tunnel vision? I dunno. I can't help but feel that, whatever he's gained and refined through that decision, something was sacrificed, too. In my view, there's deeper, more resonant poetry at work in Rushmore than in Anderson's subsequent films. Perhaps it's just that Rushmore contains so many personal parallels to the actual experiences of both Anderson and Wilson... it could be that there's happy magic at work in that movie that can never be re-captured. Perhaps Anderson doesn't have another film like that one in him, and now has no choice but to follow his muse into greater pretense and affectation. If so, I'm happy that he is one of the best at giving us those gifts.

Link to post
Share on other sites

But, didn't Darjeeling Limited come out after The Life Aquatic? Darjeeling was less rooted in Andersonville and more in reality than Aquatic, I think. I'm only saying that maybe it isn't exactly a straight linear path toward more stylized work. I love everything he's done, though, stylized or not. I think the only thing that keeps me from loving Moonrise 100% is that I didn't love the girl's acting.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...