I think it's fine to anticipate Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

Where does this Life Aquatic film hate come from? I really don't see it as being significantly better or worse than his other films. Maybe it's the weakest link or something, but really, what about it makes it stand out as SO BAD?

this picture sums it up

http://kpnv.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/zissou-rom.jpg

no you're right, i don't think it was bad in qualitatively different way, it was just him being so much more wes anderson than in any of the others

rushmore > bottle rocket > tenenbaums > darjeeling > moonrise >> aquatic

xp loool

I think the hate springs from Murray's beret and its color.

if find the "he needs owen wilson" back thing plausible, but is any of it based on anything more than "the good movies had owen wilson therefore..." correlation implying causation?

for me its based on - new wes isnt funny, owen's funny, therefore need owen.

this article does some speculating

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/dvdextras/2005/07/the_o_factor.html

i have found anderson's slippage into tics + mannerisms to be beautiful and even writerly. there's a certain hallowedness + stillness + meditation to moonrise whose genesis imo occurs in life aquatic (hated darjeeling) and i've found his distance from naturalism (which he's obv always found uncomfortable) to be more + more interesting. i suspect this accounts for the massive distance between the films i love by anderson (primarily these later ones) and the ones other ppl like. thought it wasn't a coincidence that the penultimate scenes of moonrise occur at a church, the two lightning strikes from heaven, etc. more stately than realistic.

maybe unrelated that credit card commercial was a big mistake since it kinda exposed how apolitical some of his homage artifice was (he can even pan the camera for Mastercard!), and cheapened some of the tricks.

See the tics and mannerisms are just part of the WA package for me. I remember seeing the trailer for Rushmore and thinking "Holy crap they are playing the live "A Quick One" from the 1968 Rock n Roll Circus and look at how weird and symmetrical everything is! This is going to rule!"

maybe unrelated that credit card commercial was a big mistake since it kinda exposed how apolitical some of his homage artifice was (he can even pan the camera for Mastercard!), and cheapened some of the tricks.

I like to think that he's just doing his thing and this recognizable quality is what the ad producers snagged him for, so a) this is the cost of doing business in hollywood/tvland, and b) he's making mad cash so he can make weirder less "likeable" movies. I am an optimist obv!

He also did that commercial before making one movie in India and another entirely with stop motion.

Yes, proof!

I thought the whole point of those credit card ads was playing up all the director's quirks (M. Night, I'm looking at you).

saw this over the weekend! thought is was great. only complaint is that keitel was underused!

Anderson's learned much from Woody's penchant for star non-turns.

Frankly, I'm not sure how one even uses Keitel these days.

after seeing his photo in the khaki scout magazine in the beginning, i thought it would be interesting if anderson just used his picture, and keitel wasn't even in the movie.

i had no idea harvey keitel was in this. im suddenly interested!

he is underused!

but he's good. made me realize it had been forever since i'd sen harv in anything.

he's been underused for the last 12 years. the 90s were so kind to harvey, what happened!

The film's biggest disappointment is not using Keitel, McDormand, Balaban, etc as nothing more than visual cues.

*as anything

i dunno, i thought balaban was perfect. and mcdormand was great in that bathtub scene.

supposedly there's a photo of Owen Wilson (as Miss Cross' dead husband) in Rushmore somewhere. Never spotted it though

The film's biggest disappointment is not using Keitel, McDormand, Balaban, etc as nothing more than visual cues. - this is a problem w/ wes anderson and actors in general, he knows how to use them as dolls but as human beings (post rushmore at least and maybe even then) forget it. when actors have actually made characters more than cartoon figures - bruce willis in this, mcdormand for the bathtub scene, and the big one gene hackman in tenenbaums - it's felt like an accident or, as we know in hackman's case, an actor deliberately ignoring what his director wants. i basically enjoyed this and think wes anderson should maybe focus on making actual kids flicks, children tend to come off as full of shit cartoon characters anyway. will add that watching this a few hours after finally reading that 'can a 9 year old be a psychopatch?' times piece was something, i kept thinking 'these kids are gonna get swept out to sea and we're supposed to think it's sad or tragic but all i'm going to think is 'thank god'.' still enjoyed it though - find myself way way way more willing to tolerate wes anderson (or woody allen) frothy mediocrities if they come out at a time of year where my other option is something like ted.

there is something family guy-esque about moonrise kingdom...

also: young kids do what you tell them to do. I don't know what the hell attracted Keitel to this script ("You'll wear a Sam Elliott mustache!").

wtf at Shakey bashing Willis upthread. Willis has always been particularly good acting with kids.

Keitel got paid and got a Wes Anderson movie on his resume--that's all you need to know.

how is that a plus

free scarves for life

Rachel McAdams abasing herself for Woody Allen I understand

supporting actresses in Woody films get Oscars or Oscar noms -- she had nothing to lose.

Wes Anderson>straight to dvd/tv movies/commercials Keitel usually does these days.

xpost

speaking of which, i see woody has reeled in ellen paige for his next one

also: young kids do what you tell them to do.
lol what

i wouldn't have wanted to see any more or any less of Keitel in this

I've already seen ALL of Keitel several times (Bruce Willis too, unfortunately)

i would've liked to have seen less of the stupid rescue scene

shakey i know you did not just trash color of the night

i like wes anderson's thing for casting men who are atypically good-looking and often kind of beaten-up or busted-nosed or sagging-faced. save for luke wilson, of course...

Bruce Willis gets naked in like 3/4s of the movies he appears in!

also I am allowed to hate him! he makes movies worse!

sheesh

no he doesn't!

you like die hard, though, right, shakey?

lol what

lol I knew this would raise eyebrows. I'm just saying that even Truffaut would agree that the worst six-year-old tantrum is less onerous than a sixty-year-old star's.

I have never seen the entirety of Die Hard and have no plans to. don't even bother.

ha I love you Shakey

Willis has been at least terrific or better in Mortal Thoughts, Pulp Fiction, Nobody's Fool, and The Sixth Sense.

pretty good on miami vice also. best performance in moonrise kingdom also w/ possible exception of the girl (though who can tell w/ kids).