Movies

ayayrawn said:
It's still good, just not as good as most of his stuff. Great ensemble
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I think Life Aquatic and Darjeeling are both quite good but they are a bit more maudlin than what came before or since. All of his films have great moments but with those two in particular you feel the sadness more than the whimsy and prior to Life Aquatic Wes Anderson did an excellent job balancing the two.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I think Life Aquatic and Darjeeling are quite good but they both are a bit more maudlin than what came before or since. All of his films have great moments but with those two in particular you feel the sadness more than the whimsy and prior to Life Aquatic Wes Anderson did an excellent job balancing the two.
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I think that's why they rank close to the top for me. I've seen Life Aquatic at least 30 times. I think I've loved them all, but that one is my favorite.
 
Hemotep said:
I think that's why they rank close to the top for me. I've seen Life Aquatic at least 30 times. I think I've loved them all, but that one is my favorite.
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I've never liked The Life Aquatic that much and neither does my wife. I don't know why. We pretty much love everything else.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
I've never liked The Life Aquatic that much and neither does my wife. I don't know why. We pretty much love everything else.
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I enjoy Life Aquatic (see above post about how WA has never missed), but it is towards the bottom for me. It's messy, more a series of vignettes that vary wildly in tone than a solid, cohesive story. The silliness doesn't always work with how tragic the story is. When it's good, it's wonderful, though (see the final encounter with the shark).
 
Bohnjaggs said:
I've never liked The Life Aquatic that much and neither does my wife. I don't know why. We pretty much love everything else.
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I know it can't be for everyone. My take on it is much different than many of those I'm reading here. For me the story and the way it was told is perfect. It's was an instance of form meeting function with parallel stories that complement the emotional narrative. Then the music adds another layer. Every role was perfectly cast for me. It's the movie I've seen the most in theaters.

The only one of Wes's movies that didn't hit on the first viewing was Fantastic Mr. Fox, but that one has grown on me a lot over the years.
 
Hemotep said:
I know it can't be for everyone. My take on it is much different than many of those I'm reading here. For me the story and the way it was told is perfect. It's was an instance of form meeting function with parallel stories that complement the emotional narrative. Then the music adds another layer. Every role was perfectly cast for me. It's the movie I've seen the most in theaters.

The only one of Wes's movies that didn't hit on the first viewing was Fantastic Mr. Fox, but that one has grown on me a lot over the years.
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Fantastic Mr Fox is probably top 3 Wes Anderson for me...
 
I think Life Aquatic showed some wobbliness (the maudlin tone is really at odds with the deep-sea adventure aesthetic, and the Ned storyline is a little weird!) and only revisited Darjeeling once but it carried a similar set of obtuse emotional scars in tandem with a somewhat-uncomfortable leveraging of a complex culture into a cute aesthetic which, at the time, had me thinking Wes was cooked. IMO pivoting into animation was really good for giving him a chance to refine his eye for detail (and let the control freak run wild) while also leveling up his action/pacing chops. When he came back with Moonrise Kingdom (which is something like a live-action Peanuts special) I felt like he'd truly leveled up.
 
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