Wednesday Whimsy - Movie Review on The French Dispatch

 Wacky, whimsical.  It's Wednesday, folks and I've got a director, Wes Anderson, film to review.  The French Dispatch is weird (in a good way). The man has a unique style and this one checks off his quirks. 

1. Cast of a heck of a lot - Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Owen Wilson,  Tilda Swinton, Timothee Chalamet, Adrian Brody, and more

2. Bright colors and vivid sets

3. Animation sequence

4. Words.  There are a lot of words spoken and many hilarious throwaway lines. The script is superb

5. Vignettes. He likes small stories  that all pull together  to one big theme. I like these small stories that feature so many great actors and so many little moments. 

I came home and  told Ray, "You would have hated this."  And that's okay. With a Wes Anderson film, you have to know what you are going in to see and you have to be in a mood for some wacky. 

That sums me up on a Sunday morning five dollar matinee. And there you go for some whimsy, quirky, and Wednesday whatever. 

Movie Review Madness - Jungle Book

The Jungle Book, 2016 version, is beyond fantastic. The CGI animals are uncanny. The jungle is lush and richly filmed. And Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli, is just a charmer with his huge brown eyes and resourceful manner. I highly recommend this film for young and old, but for teeny kids there are some scary parts. Heck yeah, I jumped when the tiger leaped from the field. Yikes!!!

Rudyard Kipling wrote this classic story about a boy, Mowgli, raised by wolves and hunted by Shere Khan, the tiger. In his attempt to go to humans, he encounters all sorts of animals and is guided and lured into trouble along the way. The animals are voiced perfectly – Ben Kingsley is the protector panther, Lupito Nyong’o is the mother wolf, Idris Elba is Shere Khan, evil tiger, Bill Murray as Baloo the bear offers humor and zany along the way, Scarlett Johansson hisses as Kaa the snake, and Christopher Walken is King Louis the mighty ape. Through it all, Mowgli has his human tricks to keep himself alive, and he uses and sees the trouble that the “red flower” (fire) gives humans.

The Jungle Book is very worthy of the big screen. This is what movies are all about –a magical world, a classic tale, a journey, and a boy united with the earth and animals.

Movie Review Madness: St. Vincent

St. Vincent is a predictable and yet heartwarming tale about the saints you don’t recognize immediately in your own neighborhood.  Maggie (a charming Melissa McCarthy) and her son Oliver (very cute Jaeden Lieberher) move next door to a foul mouthed drunk codger, Vincent (an irascible Bill Murray). She’s trying to start over through divorce. Oliver, a runt, has to endure the trials of being the new kid at St. Patrick’s school. He’s beat up, Vincent teaches him to fight. He needs some after school care. Vincent needs money, so agrees to sit. He takes the kid to the horse races, to a bar, and of course, teaches him some life lessons.  

We do see Vincent help a pregnant “lady of the night” who’s his friend (Naomi Watts with a Russian accent). We see him visit his wife who’s now in a home. She doesn’t recognize him, but his love shines through and he does her weekly laundry. He’ll do anything to keep her in the nice assisted living. Tough times can call for desperate measures, and we see Vincent at his worst too. He suffers a stroke, and Oliver stays close. They all work to get Vincent back on his feet. When the teacher priest (Chris O’Dowd) assigns a project – report on a saint you know – Oliver does research on his unsung hero.  

St. Vincent was an entertaining movie matinee. Plenty of chuckle lines, and a chance to sniffle too. Bill Murray is a loose cannon these days, and is great in this part. He can be snarky and yet caring. The young actor is winsome, tough, and holds his own. All in all, Vincent is right when he says , “You don’t know me.”  We really don’t know the true story of our neighbors and their lives, and often we should give folks more credit. St. Vincent doesn’t count as church, but maybe one rosary bead credit.

Movie Review Madness: The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men is a fabulous story brought to life on screen with an okay movie. Basically near the end of World War II, a motley collection of American art specialists were given the task of finding and saving tens of thousands of art pieces.  These were priceless items the Nazis had stolen from Jewish families, museums, churches, etc throughout France, Belgium, and Italy. Thanks to a lucky break, this group of men made a connection with a woman (played by Cate Blanchett) who worked for the Nazis (not happily) and kept meticulous records of the art work acquired. All in all, the Monuments Men’s goal was to save and preserve history and a part of humanity. Sadly it took the loss of some lives to do it, and yet the men sacrificed themselves for the sake of art.  

So, that is an incredible and inspiring story. The film is a Hollywood version that glosses over the difficulties. We get a smattering of war and danger, but it’s more about the chase. The movie itself has an all-star cast – George Clooney, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville, and more. It’s fun and glib, with snappy dialogue, jokes about Damon’s character and his horrible French, and the group putting together pieces of the puzzle to find the art. They do discover that the Nazis hid huge amounts in salt mines. They seek the famous Ghent altarpiece and basically rush to save it before the Russians hit the town at the end of the war.

 

The Monuments Men is entertaining, but my guess it’s better to read the book written by Robert Edsel to gain a full appreciation of what transpired. George Clooney looks great in uniform and he gives some inspiring speeches. The pictures at the end of the film of the actual art finds gives one chills.