What does everyone think about The Life Aquatic, as far as Wes Anderson's overall filmography goes? I had put off seeing it until last night. I think that Moonrise Kingdom and Grand Budapest are both fantastic and loved them both right away. I wasn't thrilled with The Life Aquatic, but I did find the second half to be better than the first. I could also see myself enjoying more with repeat viewings.
It is his worst film. People make fun of the "Wes Anderson style", but The Life Aquatic is the most guilty of being too committed to style. It lacks a lot of the heart that his other films are actually about. It isn't terrible, though. It can be somewhat enjoyable, especially as a valuable lesson of what happens when a hot independent director is given a huge budget. Murray has always been a good Anderson player, and it has a typically strong Anderson soundtrack.
I really do not like it, but it's been a few years. The only Wes Anderson films I like less is The Darjeeling Limited.
I honestly don't remember anything about it, which isn't a good sign, especially since I love Wes, oh wait Jeff Goldblum is in it that's one thing and the soundtrack with the Portuguese Bowie covers by Seu Jorge
Yeah my flatmates and I got drunk and watched it last night. It's pretty aggressively bad. Structurally and in regards to humor, each sketch was one gag that was stretched to like 15 minutes
The Lone Ranger - 1.5/10 The Mule - 5.5/10 Mean Streets - 8/10 The Take - 6.5/10 High Plains Drifter - 9/10 The Presidio - 6.5/10 Doctor Strange - 7/10 Trumbo - 8/10 A mostly good week despite the atrocious start and a lackluster follow up. Now I didn't exactly have high hopes for The Lone Ranger but was at least expecting some form of fun to be generated from it but it really is a slog to get through and with what I experienced I am glad it flopped at the box office. The Mule was okay but the interesting premise and a good cast just weren't justified as the comedy aspect for the most part just fell flat for me. Mean Streets is a likable and solid effort from Scorsese and was interesting to watch just for the fact I have seen plenty of his post-90s work and you can see the ideas he had for this in those films. The Take though script wise is just about competent does show that Idris Elba with the right director and script could become a force to reckon with in the action genre, fun but relatively forgettable. High Plains Drifter being the second directorial effort from Clint Eastwood takes the genre he came to prominence in and shakes it up with a supernatural and ambiguous tone to the usual Western film and it was a joy to watch as it unfolded. The Presidio starring Sean Connery and a suspiciously looking Tom Cruise lookalike in a routine buddy cop film that has solid action and performances but not much else, the car chase at the beginning is gripping though. Doctor Strange though having plenty going for it just didn't feel as satisfying as other Marvel entries and is far inferior to my favorites from that universe. Trumbo though by no means the best biopic out there was a thoroughly enjoyable, extremely well acted drama that was engrossing from beginning to end.
Agreed. I didn't think it was nearly as bad as people make it seem. Just kinda a dumb film to put on in the background or something
Life Aquatic is great, I really don't understand the criticism it gets. The scene with the shark at the end is pretty moving.
oh, im finally on letterboxd. quote me if you want my username, don't want to post it here since it's got my real name on it. mostly using it for short snippets about films i own rather than everything i watch cause i'm a collector more than a reviewer
The Relic - 7/10 Blue Jasmine - 6/10 Predators - 5.5/10 Narrow Margin - 7.5/10 Get Out - 9/10 Apollo 13 - 8/10 Bugsy - 8/10 Terminal Velocity - 4.5/10 Sudden Death - 7.5/10 Weird week for a few reasons, firstly I rewatched a couple of films I thought I hadn't seen (Predators and Terminal Velocity) which I guess just says it all about how memorable they were when I first watched them. Secondly I watched my first Woody Allen film with Blue Jasmine which has plenty of positives but I really didn't care for many of the characters and since that is the main focus of the film then it just fell flat for me. Thirdly I indulged in a couple of my favorite films from the nineties directed by Peter Hyams (Narrow Margin and Sudden Death) which I still love and watched another from him that I hadn't seen in the form of The Relic which yes is flawed but for a generic film it is fun and the practical gore effects along with a ridiculously high body count considering it is set in one place are hilarious. The rest of the week was great really with two films I have been meaning to watch a for a while now with Apollo 13 being yes cliched but ultimately an entertaining and engrossing disaster drama and Bugsy had such a great performance by Warren Beatty that any of the flaws in the film just washed over me thanks to his equally charming and terrifying character. Finally I am so glad I got to see Get Out which I literally left to the last minute since it was the final showing at my local cinema and it didn't end until nearly 1am but it was so worth the wait and the expense. Not only does it deserve the praise but I am glad it is being as successful as it is and I can't wait to see it again. On a final note just found it funny how many films I watched from the nineties which was far from planned but at least I have caught up on a few from that decade I have been meaning to watch.
I fucking adored Colossal. A monster movie about addiction and abuse, it was funny and gripping and tense and the ending made me choke up and then laugh. A couple beats didn't land, I didn't need the origin for the supernatural occurrences quite as explicit as they went, but overall it really did it for me. Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis were great.
Grave of the Fireflies is absolutely fucking devastating. What a masterpiece. Jesus. Also, I always believed I had seen this in high school, but it turns out I think I saw saw Barefoot Gen
I have yet to see that, but have you seen Nick Broomfield's documentaries about her? Pretty interesting stuff. Made me want to watch Monster.
It's just a follow up and consists mostly of interviews with her in her final days. Explores her declining mental health and stuff like that. If you liked the first one you should check it out.
I realized last night after watching the movie and doing some research that I had seen excerpts from the documentary before. I think I'll watch the whole thing this weekend. If anything, seeing the real Aileen reaffirmed how phenomenal Charlize Theron's performance was. I've actually never seen one of her movies before, so the whole time I was watching Monster, I was thinking "Isn't Charlize Theron young and super attractive?" Then Aileen would start screaming and I thought, "Nah, I must have her confused with someone else." I honestly think it might be the best portrayal of a real person that I've ever seen, but I'm still kind of reeling (plus I have a lot more to watch)