Random Movie Talk, Louis the XIVth Edition

[Hewson]

I saw the Independence Day 2 trailer and thought WTF. And do they have some other actor taking over Will Smith's role?

 

[david]

Did battling extraterrestrial super beings in the new Independence Day conflict with Will Smith's kooky religion?

 

[bono_212]

I knew Will wasn't in it, but I thought no one was coming back. Was nice seeing familiar faces in the trailer.

 

[LemonMelon]

All that Star Trek trailer needed was a BOING sound effect or a slide whistle. Maybe someone running into a wall. Fucking embarrassing.

Imagine the Guardians trailer but without any humor, just an overall lighthearted tone. And Sabotage.

 

[david]

Is the Life Aquatic one of the less popular Wes Anderson movies? I watched it today, again, for the millionth time and I always like it. Not sure why, but it's oddly comforting. But I was reading a list put together by a cinema website (I know lists are objective) and was surprised they ranked it so low while ranking Rushmore very high. I "like" Rushmore, but I felt his later works expanded and built upon all his qualities as a filmmaker.


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[bono_212]

I feel like it's less popular overall, but is more popular in film circles?

 

[deep]

Without looking I think Rushmore is one of my least favorites, can't think of any I like less than that one.

 

[LemonMelon]

Rushmore is a hundred times more enjoyable for me than Life Aquatic.

 

[david]

Life Aquatic is a bit more quirkier than Rushmore. There's parallels as well, such as both movies do feature Murray feuding with someone (Ned in Life Aquatic and Max In Rushmore) over a girl. The thing about Rushmore, at least with my viewings, is how I can't get past how creepy the Max Fischer character is.

I need to watch Bottle Rocket.


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[deep]

keep in mind
Bottle Rocket is his first film
for me a good debut.

 

[lazarus]

Rushmore is a hundred times more enjoyable for me than Life Aquatic.

This. I think it's among his funniest, and the use of the widescreen is so good. One of the most amazing sophomore efforts I've ever seen, up there with Days of Heaven and The Magnificent Ambersons.

The Life Aquatic is very creative and funny, but lacks any emotional resonance. When the big tragedy happens, there's just no feeling whatsoever (similar to my complaints with the climax of The Grand Budapest Hotel). By comparison, in Rushmore one can sympathize with Max's feelings as well as the teacher's.

My ranking would be:

1. Rushmore
2. Tenenbaums
3. Moonrise Kingdom
4. Darjeeling Limited
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. The Grand Budapest Hotel
7. The Life Aquatic
8. Bottle Rocket

The debut is very funny, but lacks the visual sophistication of everything that came after.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

2. Tenenbaums

Now this one I feel doesn't talked about enough. I love The Royal Tenenbaums.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Royal Tenenbaums is probably his most talked about, in my experience. I think it's pretty widely regarded as his best, no? Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[bono_212]

The death in Life Aquatic doesn't register with me at first, but when you have the scene later with Sigur Ros playing and Steve kinda breaks down, that's where the emotion hits you, and I don't think that's an accident. More realistic in a sense, that way.

Now this one I feel doesn't talked about enough. I love The Royal Tenenbaums.

Royal Tenenbaums is probably his most talked about, in my experience. I think it's pretty widely regarded as his best, no? Maybe I'm wrong.

I agree with ELFA, I feel like it got completely overlooked for some reason. And I think it's his best, most days.

 

[david]

The Royal Tenembaums was my introduction to Wes Anderson. My only prior exposure to him was years prior MTV News did a small piece on an up and coming film maker from Texas on his indie movie called Bottle Rocket. But I had no clue then and still have not watched Bottle Rocket.


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[LemonMelon]

Bottle Rocket is a charming, funny little movie with more sophisticated direction than most films of its kind, but less ambition than Wes' later films. It actually does matter quite a bit if you like Owen Wilson because his aww shucks delivery is all over the tone of the film. It never quite feels like the zany adventure it is.

1. Rushmore
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Moonrise Kingdom
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. Bottle Rocket
7. The Life Aquatic
8. The Darjeeling Limited

 

[david]

I wish more streaming services had more of his older films.


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[gump]

Catching the Hateful Eight in 70mm tomorrow morning. That should be good.

 

[lazarus]

Don't get your hopes up.

 

[bono_212]

Catching the Hateful Eight in 70mm tomorrow morning. That should be good.

Doing the whole song and dance later this week.

I haven't liked him nearly as long as others have, but I adored Django, so I'm allowing myself a little hype.

 

[gump]

Don't get your hopes up.

I sort of agree. I liked it, but didn't love it. I'm not sure yet where I would rank it among his films, but almost certainly in the bottom half, and probably bottom third.

Spoiler

I think Zoller Seitz's review was spot on on the morality (or lack thereof) of the film, and calling it out for its "bully mentality". Some of the scenes made me uncomfortable, but not in the way Tarantino probably intended - the commentary on social issues seems rather shallow when you strip the movie out of its intended shock factor

.

Doing the whole song and dance later this week.

I haven't liked him nearly as long as others have, but I adored Django, so I'm allowing myself a little hype.

Enjoy. Some of the landscapes were really gorgeous on 70mm. But read this later:

Spoiler

at the same time, I felt 70mm was somewhat wasteful for a movie that predominantly takes place in a single indoor location

.

 

[Lancemc]

I'll say to gumps last point

Spoiler

This is starting to bother me a little. I'd say, while most people seem to be focusing attention on the widescreen aspect of this particular format and I get that those people seem to crave for wide vistas and varied visual landscapes to take advantage of that, it's still a larger format, and like medium format photographic film I find it mostly beneficial to shooting people and portraits because of the extreme detail, exposure latitude and characteristics of the lenses and depth of field. I really think this kind of film is perfect for the format, much like The Master in spherical 70mm.

Of course I realize it's entirely a matter of preference, but I get why he used it here.

 

[gump]

Spoiler

I get that, and I don't fully disagree. It's not so much the landscape/vistas vs indoor thing that bothered me, but just the lack of visual diversity in this particular film. It was still pretty to watch, and I take your point on its benefits to shoot people/facial expressions (obviously very important in this movie). I guess I went in without reading much about the movie in advance, and expected more of the outdoor Western style going in.

Just remembered this: I'm a tiny bit annoyed that I forgot to ask for the booklets they were supposed to distribute. Make sure you get one, bono_212.

 

[lazarus]

The close ups look fantastic. But I would much rather have seen Django or Inglourious Basterds in 70mm.

The dialogue was really exhausting for me this time around, particularly in the early stagecoach scenes. So much repetition and deliberate pacing that wasn't doing any service to the characters or the plot. Things picked up once they got to Minnie's but that

Spoiler

Spoiler

flashback chapter

just stopped the film dead and added nothing, a really weak bit of exposition for the mystery he was trying to create.

I liked the very end, but by that point was sufficiently disappointed.

This is my least favorite of anything he's done, including Death Proof.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Damn.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm sure I'll like it. Samuel L Jackson and Kurt Russell spouting Tarantino dialogue for three hours can't possibly be bad.

 

[bono_212]

I... Don't know how I feel yet. I need to process. I want to say it's in my bottom rankings for him as well, but there was something about it I really loved at the same time.

 

[LemonMelon]

It's a good movie, not his best, not his worst. There was some rather stiff acting and forced dialogue during the film's setup that made me feel like I was at some cut rate western themed attraction where everyone was pretending to be cowboys and prospectors, but that was mostly just a problem in the early going. The lovely photography made up for it.

Once they got to Minnie's and the whodunit portion of the film began I got a better feel for the characters and pacing. Loved SLJ's monologue to Bruce Dern and appreciated the distinct tones between the two sections, which was successfully divided by the intermission. That was a nice idea.

What I found less successful was the fucking narration. Poorly-delivered, unnecessary exposition that was thankfully sequestered to a few select scenes. I also didn't care for the fact that Quentin returned to the Django thematic well so soon after that masterpiece. I typically measure the quality of Tarantino films by, in order of importance, 1) the connection I feel to the characters, 2) skillful implementation of overarching societal themes, 3) laughs and gore. 1 was pretty weak, 2 was a retread and 3 was mostly present in the back half.

I'll place this toward the lower end of my Tarantino rankings as well, but (and this is not a popular opinion) above Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Inglorious Basterds. The former feels like I'm watching someone else play a video game (righted by the vastly improved character building and plot construction of Vol. 2) and the latter was largely a cathartic lark. I feel greater thematic heft here, as well as a closer connection to the characters of The Hateful Eight. But it has a number of glaring flaws that keep it in the lower tier for now. We'll see how time treats it.

 

[bono_212]

Spoiler

I get that, and I don't fully disagree. It's not so much the landscape/vistas vs indoor thing that bothered me, but just the lack of visual diversity in this particular film. It was still pretty to watch, and I take your point on its benefits to shoot people/facial expressions (obviously very important in this movie). I guess I went in without reading much about the movie in advance, and expected more of the outdoor Western style going in.

Just remembered this: I'm a tiny bit annoyed that I forgot to ask for the booklets they were supposed to distribute. Make sure you get one, bono_212.

If you'd like one of ours you're more than welcome to it. The first one we got has a small tear on the front but it gets the job done as far as sentimental value is concerned.

 

[PhilsFan]

I also did not really care for Hateful Eight.