Wes Anderson Love

[EC]

Dear dragonboy,

You said this:

How's about we lock this one down & start a Wes Anderson/ Bottlerocket thread?

and I agree.  There are other places, but we can do one here, I would think.  :)

love, ec xo

Okay.  

Rushmore.
My 2nd favourite movie of all time (next to The Graduate.  I should revisit my favourites list, maybe... just make sure I'm not spouting off preconfigured thoughts.)  Anyhow, yes.  When I saw Rushmore for the first time, I remember thinking that if there was any movie I wanted to make, it would've been that one.  It had screened here for the film festival in one of our nicest theatres (the elgin winter garden theatre, which has leaves and trees and reminds me of the san fran pictures we've seen), but I didn't see it there.  I love everything about this movie.  

Okay, I'm sure the other ones will get discussed.  

[ycartrob]

One of my favorite "visions" from Rushmore is when Max Fischer is burning a pile of leaves on school grounds and there's a shot of the headmaster (Dr. Nelson Guggenheim) leaning out a window, sort of asking him what he's doing... that shot of the headmaster, when's he's not saying anything, just looking at Max with disgust and wonder and disdain and confusion (and awe, perhaps?) is amazing.


So are about 40 other scenes...

Bottlerocket is my favorite.
They showed it here last year at the Belcourt (saw it 3 times on the big screen that week). The last night I saw it, watching the credits roll, a round of applause broke out from the group of 5 or 6 college aged kids 4 rows in front of us. When the lights came up, and they were filing out, one of the guys put his hands on one of the girl's shoulders and looked at us and said, "Grace". And it was Grace! Anthony's little sister all grown up in real life.

My wife (the brains of the couple), who was not with me, said I should have said to her, "Are you still cynical?" and then have her sign my ticket stub. Drats!

[dragonboy]

Not sure if I like Rushmore or Bottle Rocket best. BR really warmed me to Owen Wilson an actor that I'd never really 'got' in the past.

I've seen Rushmore many times. Bill Murray is excellent! I was the only person in the movie theatre when I saw that...

I think my fav quote from Royal Tenenbaums has to be when Gene Hackman calls Danny Clover "Coltrane"  ;D
Who else but Wes Anderson would cast Gene Hackman in such a roll?
 
Royal: Are you trying to steal my woman?
Henry Sherman: I beg your pardon.
Royal: You heard me, Coltrane.
Henry Sherman: "Coltrane"?
Royal: What?
Henry Sherman: Did you just call me Coltrane?
Royal: No.
Henry Sherman: You didn't?
Royal: No.
Henry Sherman: Okay...

I liked The Life Aquatic but as with all his movies I think I have to watch it again. Bill Murray was excellent again & I loved Willem Dafoe's character. The guitarist Seu Jorge came to Japan last year...

I just saw that Wes is making The Fantastic Mr. Fox! How crazy is that?

[ycartrob]

Life Aquatic was a little disappointing (IMO).

Although, the scene where they storm the beach with the pseudo-techno music was classic.

[EC]

dragonboy, I love that scene, too.  

I was not disappointed by The Life Aquatic, (YFERRET?  that is way too funny for my tired sunday brain.  ahahahaha)  I'll admit that sometimes when I see something new by someone I like so much, I can't figure out where my objectivity lies.  So I actually tried to force myself to not like it, and find the points that I thought were stupid.  And that pretty much made me love it more.

I actually think that The Life Aquatic falls into #2 of my favourite WA movies.  Rushmore gets to stay there permanently because it was number one, and because I had zero knowledge of it before I saw it (which is always so awesome when you get to see something completely free of opinions and ads and images...)

I think The Life Aquatic is the most dense, philosophically, spiritually, emotionally.  There's a lot of the usual details that make it so wonderful, but there's a lot of underlying themes, and it's pretty dark.  

Yeah.  That makes me want to watch it again.  

I also LOVE the accompanying DVDs from Criterion (except for the crap Bottle Rocket dvd).  :)

[dragonboy]

Although, the scene where they storm the beach with the pseudo-techno music was classic.

Wes Anderson sure knows his music.
It's funny, people are always going on about Cameron Crowe & his excellent taste in music & soundtracks but Wes rarely gets a mention.
I don't remember any music from BR but the other three have some excellent tracks by The Who, The Kinks, The Faces, Cat Stevens, John Lennon, The Clash, The Ramones, Nick Drake, The Zombies, Scott Walker, David Bowie, Iggy Pop etc etc.
I love Making Time by The Creation (Rushmore) & Queen Bitch by David Bowie (The Life Aquatic)

[Clarkwork]

Don't forget to give Owen Wilson credit on these films.  The only one he didn't help write was Life Aquatic, which IMO was not as good as any other Wes Anderson film.  He also had a big hand in picking the music.

I have been a big fan of Wes Anderson's films since Bottle Rocket.  This was back in the day when I worked at a video store and got the advanced copy of Rocket and just loved it.  I still have that copy somewhere.  

[dragonboy]

I had a weekend job in a video store during my late teens.
The owner was such a dude, this old guy who used to smoke a pipe all the time!
He had the coolest collection & I learnt so much about different movies working there. I know it's part of the reason why I love movies so much today.
Anyone remember betamax?!!

[Clarkwork]

My dad was one of the first people to buy a Betamax.  He thought it was going to be the next big thing.  He still has it and still has a ton of Betamax tapes.  

[Dorothy_Mantooth]

i just read that The Fantastic Mr. Fox will be done in stop motion animation. wtfff i'm excited.

[dragonboy]

I was wondering how they were going to do that.
I love Tim Burton's stop motion movies. Wes Anderson does stop motion?!
The mind boggles :D

[cmccubbin25]

"What do you think Mr. Littlejeans?"
"Best play ever man!"