The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

4/5

Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel is like many of Wes Anderson's other movies: delightful and magical if you like his style, banal and irritating if you don't. The plot follows a hotel concierge (Fiennes) who teams up with a lobby boy (Revolori) to prove his innocence after being framed for murder. The plotting is surprisingly intricate for a Wes Anderson movie, but is also somehow easy to follow at the same time.

What I like about Anderson's earlier movies is his ability to seamlessly switch between comedy and tragedy at the drop of a hat. Luckily, that opposition is still here, albeit in a less profound and less immediate form. Anderson superimposes an overall levity onto the relentless march of impending war, switching between the two moods from time to time, but The Grand Budapest Hotel focuses predominantly on the darker side of life.

Anderson has an undeniable visual style and he doesn't disappoint here. There's a reason this movie won the Oscar for best makeup and costume. He dresses his locales and his characters precisely and pristinely. The characters themselves (and the performances that underlie them) are not particularly deep or textured, but they are distinct and charming and unforgettable. They are brought to life by appealing, fast-paced storytelling and an irresistible, uncontainable magnetism. For Wes Anderson fans, The Grand Budapest Hotel is near-perfect filmmaking.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2278388/

Midnight in Paris (2011)

4/5

Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris is a delightfully light fantasy comedy that takes place in Paris over the course of several magical midnights. The plot follows Gil (Wilson) and Inez (McAdams) tagging along with Inez's parents in Paris for a few weeks. They bump into one of Inez's old pseudo-intellectual friends (Sheen), who is absolutely infuriating to Gil (and the audience), and Inez naturally wants to spend as much time with him as possible. After a few frustrating nights together, Gil decides to walk home by himself only to find himself wandering the streets of Paris utterly lost. An old Puegeot stops by at midnight and picks him up to take him to a very different kind of Paris (which I will let you have the pleasure of discovering for yourself).

The movie is very similar to Allen's previous works, especially The Purple Rose of Cairo, albeit with literary references instead of filmic ones. And it is just as charming, airy, and melancholy as that film. Unfortunately, because it feels so identical, I felt I didn't get much out of the film. It's hilarious in that Woody Allen way, but not much more. It's a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but nothing compared to Allen's best work.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

5/5

Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom is the best con movie to come out in years--maybe ever. It exceeds standards set by its predecessors on what a con movie needs to be, and sets brand new ones for how entertaining and enjoyable it can and should be. It keeps you hooked and in control for the first 2/3, then spins wildly and wonderfully beyond your grasp for the last 1/3. You are wholly lost in a grand mosaic of deceit, lies, and cons on top of cons. You never quite know for sure who's playing whom and who will emerge at the top of the pile. You have suspicions, but you're never 100%. And because the foundation of the story itself is built on shifting sand, nagging doubts incessantly pepper your predictions. It's absolute bliss for anyone enamored of the genre.

From start to finish, Rian Johnson's creativity and inventiveness plastered a grin on my face and kept it there. We are introduced to the brothers with a poem, one that subtly foreshadows the puckish yet poignant mood of the piece. And one that is referenced again at the end, as the entire piece is brought back full circle. The movie playfully prides itself on anachronisms with a self-referential, tongue-in-cheek attitude. It joyously combines 1940's costuming with 1970's music and modern technology to create an altogether novel and singular experience. The cinematography is subtle but powerful and the editing clean and brisk. The acting is spot-on, the characters rich and unique. The plot and dialogue are smart, sharp, and simply sublime. It all combines in perfect harmony to create a movie that is fresh, fun, and stimulating on numerous levels. Watching it was pure ecstasy for me. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844286/

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

4.9/5

The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson's latest film, follows the antics of three brothers on a spiritual quest to rid themselves of the emotional baggage of their father's recent death and mother's disappearance. Like all of Anderson's films, there are moments of heartbreaking emotion, juxtaposed effortlessly to choke up any laughter still left in your throat after the uproarious scenes that immediately preceded them. Unlike his other movies, this back and forth was not as prevalent as before. Most of the time it was subtle, but what surprised me was the dialogue-free 10 minute stretch in the middle of the film as we breathlessly witness a suffocating moment and its indelible consequences. Its impact is profound, its inclusion necessary. The symbolism and themes presented by the movie, left open to the viewer for interpretation and application in their own lives, places this film above simple comedy.

In typical Anderson style, the quirky music is exceptional, a perfect companion to the texture of the rest of the piece. The acting matches this bizarre mood, filling out the fictional characters with real humans. I was fascinated by the camerawork and Anderson's insistence--almost an obsessive need--to shoot at precise, 90 degree angles. His quick sideways tracking/panning made it impossible to see anything between the absolute cardinals, a sentiment echoed in his refusal to show transition shots during editing. He made some cinematography choices I disagreed with, however. I have an intense dislike for zooms (even when used as effectively as in Barry Lyndon), and their overabundance here dismayed me. He also overdid the slow-motion shots; if used half as often, they would have reached optimal impact. Still, these issues are relatively minor and easily overlooked. Behind The Royal Tenenbaums, this is probably Anderson's finest film to date.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0838221/

The Pianist (2002)

4/5

The Pianist follows the real-life survival tale of concert pianist and Polish Jew Szpilman in Warsaw during World War II. It evokes an almost flawless sense of time and place. What starts as a family trying to maintain normalcy in trying circumstances gradually transforms into a desperate fight for survival as they realize the gravity and extent of the situation. The atmosphere was riveting and captivating. The movie held your attention because you had no idea what might happen next; people could get murdered in the blink of an eye, for any reason or lack thereof. There are many horrifying scenes that stay in the memory: a wheelchair-bound man who cannot get up to salute the Germans, a woman who asks a simple question, and a man about to be killed when the officer runs out of bullets. One of these moments reminded me of Rear Window. Watching, we are stricken with guilt because of both our own morbid curiosity and our inability to help out. The editing and advancement of the plot were exceptionally naturalistic. The music, although not as prolific as I thought it would be in a movie named The Pianist, was quite good when it appeared.

The cinematography was slightly above average, but nothing worth noting. At 140 minutes, it overstayed its welcome. It felt even longer because of the dense nature of the material being presented. The acting was not bad, but I felt it was a bit over-hyped. And Adrien Brody's nose is simply too big. Overall, it's not really my cup of tea, but it's an exceptional movie of one man's survival against brutality and malice.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0253474/

Hollywoodland (2006)

3/5

I saw this with my mom and brother tonight. Let me just say that this is not a film noir (or neo-noir), which is what I was expecting going in. Don't get me wrong; it tries to be with its hard-boiled style and sometimes clever dialogue, but the images are too perky, Adrien Brody is immensely unconvincing as the tough-as-nails detective, and the plot is just too simple. What this movie is, is a murder mystery set in the 50's. It reminded me of Michael Crichton's book Airframe because the main character just goes back and forth between theories of what "actually happened," except in this movie the murder is never solved. The method of flashback used is so conventional that it became jarring because it took me away from the 50's setting of film noirs. The movie can't really decide whose story it wants to tell: the detective who loses sight of morals and family or George Reeves and the mystery surrounding his death. So it tries to tell both but fails to quench your thirst for either. The recurring side characters were worthless. Utterly. The feeble attempts at giving the characters backstories by referencing one unique feature felt like something learned as a requirement in a scriptwriting class.

Even so, this movie is mesmerizing, which I think it takes partly from the true mystery surrounding Reeves' death. Despite what I said about leaving the theater knowing as much as when you went in, I like the fact that the director doesn't impose his own point of view on you. Despite the flashbacks, I found the directing to be surprisingly competent. He really respects the audience's intelligence and maturity levels. There were some really nice transitions and artistic flourishes that elevated this into a film instead of just a script. I can't really say I recommend it to either the film noir crowd, the cinema as art crowd, or the murder mystery crowd as it doesn't particularly excel in any of those facets. But it's a worthy attempt.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0427969/