Entry tags:
Moonrise Kingdom - movie review
Sweaty day, with highs in the 90s, although it will feel like a 100. Thank ghod, I have air conditioning. Have boot, will hopefully travel. Doc says I'm stuck with it for two weeks. But hey, at least I'm mobile. And just got permission from him to return to work on Monday. (Woo-hoo! Being stuck in my apartment for another week would have driven me batty.)
Just finished watching the flick Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson. Who also did the The Royal Tennenbaums, Bottle Rocket, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Rushmore. He's touted by many, I personally think he's highly overrated.
Anderson's directorial style is basically focused more on visuals, and less on dialogue or performance. People don't act in an Anderson film, they either react or just meander.
And it is really hard to give a damn about his characters, which while quirky, feel sort of one dimensional or like paper dolls.
See? Not a fan of Anderson. Which is why I didn't rent or bother to pay for this flick. I saw it on HBO. So sort of paid for it, but since I'm getting HBO for other things, not really.
This film, sorry to say, is not one of his better flicks. While I sort of liked Rushmore and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom reminded me a tad too much of The Royal Tennebaums - which sorry to say was neither memorable nor compelling.
This is unfortunate because the plot had potential. It's about an orphan boy named Sam who becomes enamored with a troubled 12 year old girl that he saw perform in a play. They correspond during the course of one summer, and then decide to run away together for ten weeks, while he is at a boy scout camp on the island in which she resides. Unfortunately they choose to do this during a hurricane in 1965. Although it could have been any time between 1950 and 1975, couldn't really tell. I only know it was 1965, because we are told by a narrator that it is 1965. At any rate, much comedic chaos ensues. But it is all relatively unemotional - as if you are watching robots act it out.
The kids are cute, but expressionless, as is everyone in the cast. You can't say it's bad acting, considering we have Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, and Tilda Swinton performing the adult roles. In the role of the little boy, is Henry from Once Upon a Time. He's better in Once Upon a Time, or at least more expressive.
Like all Anderson films there are a few moments from theater of the absurd, which are amusing. One is when we watch Sam (the little boy's) fellow boy scouts chase him around a field from a distance. The other is when the head scout master played by Harvey Keitel (I think he's only cast as an inside joke - ie. Harvey Keitel is a scout master? Hee Hee) discovers Ed Norton's scout master has managed to lose his entire troop. But these moments are few and far between.
The location is pretty - it looks like some of the inlets in Bar Harbor, Maine.
I have no idea why people loved this movie. I was frankly, bored during most of it. And found it difficult to care. There was, like in all Anderson films, a sense of falseness or "theater" to the proceedings. You felt like you were watching an amateur video film.
In short, much like Tim Burton, Anderson is far more interested in style than substance.
Movie watching is clearly a subjective sport. And well, Anderson is either one of those directors you adore to pieces, or are deeply ambivalent about.
Overall rating? B-/C+
Just finished watching the flick Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson. Who also did the The Royal Tennenbaums, Bottle Rocket, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Rushmore. He's touted by many, I personally think he's highly overrated.
Anderson's directorial style is basically focused more on visuals, and less on dialogue or performance. People don't act in an Anderson film, they either react or just meander.
And it is really hard to give a damn about his characters, which while quirky, feel sort of one dimensional or like paper dolls.
See? Not a fan of Anderson. Which is why I didn't rent or bother to pay for this flick. I saw it on HBO. So sort of paid for it, but since I'm getting HBO for other things, not really.
This film, sorry to say, is not one of his better flicks. While I sort of liked Rushmore and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom reminded me a tad too much of The Royal Tennebaums - which sorry to say was neither memorable nor compelling.
This is unfortunate because the plot had potential. It's about an orphan boy named Sam who becomes enamored with a troubled 12 year old girl that he saw perform in a play. They correspond during the course of one summer, and then decide to run away together for ten weeks, while he is at a boy scout camp on the island in which she resides. Unfortunately they choose to do this during a hurricane in 1965. Although it could have been any time between 1950 and 1975, couldn't really tell. I only know it was 1965, because we are told by a narrator that it is 1965. At any rate, much comedic chaos ensues. But it is all relatively unemotional - as if you are watching robots act it out.
The kids are cute, but expressionless, as is everyone in the cast. You can't say it's bad acting, considering we have Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, and Tilda Swinton performing the adult roles. In the role of the little boy, is Henry from Once Upon a Time. He's better in Once Upon a Time, or at least more expressive.
Like all Anderson films there are a few moments from theater of the absurd, which are amusing. One is when we watch Sam (the little boy's) fellow boy scouts chase him around a field from a distance. The other is when the head scout master played by Harvey Keitel (I think he's only cast as an inside joke - ie. Harvey Keitel is a scout master? Hee Hee) discovers Ed Norton's scout master has managed to lose his entire troop. But these moments are few and far between.
The location is pretty - it looks like some of the inlets in Bar Harbor, Maine.
I have no idea why people loved this movie. I was frankly, bored during most of it. And found it difficult to care. There was, like in all Anderson films, a sense of falseness or "theater" to the proceedings. You felt like you were watching an amateur video film.
In short, much like Tim Burton, Anderson is far more interested in style than substance.
Movie watching is clearly a subjective sport. And well, Anderson is either one of those directors you adore to pieces, or are deeply ambivalent about.
Overall rating? B-/C+