David Bowie - "Queen Bitch"
Against my better judgement, I spent 3 hours waiting for the free screening of The Life Aquatic at DOC the night before my Psych exam; but then, there are few things worth waiting for more than a Wes Anderson movie, except for maybe a knife-fight between Willem Dafoe and three raccoons, or free Domino's thin crust pizza. I was behind this fray guy whose friend kept calling him for advice on his Hum paper. "Was Socrates gay?" he would repeat back into the phone. "I don't know, dude, I think they had, like, different views on homosexuality back then." I was about to write him off, but then he initiated a conversation about Wes Anderson with me, and I found him quite the learned student. I guess by now all those movies have formed a kind of collectively-built bond among college students; in fact, I'm constantly surprised that most people who love Rushmore are people with whom I have nothing else in common.
I loved The Life Aquatic, but I do question how much of a step forward from The Royal Tenenbaums it represents. There are certain, not themes, but motifs that are starting to be played over again, and while the movie is much funnier and the world is more fully realized than Tenenbaums, I didn't get the feeling that I was seeing anything exactly new. Then again, watching a Wes Anderson movie is such a very different experience, it may be that different standards apply. We think of Wes Anderson pictures as being all about style, but really, they're not really about style at all--- they're about these people and the worlds they inhabit, down to the finest detail of Richie Tenenbaum's headband or a Steve Zissou fanclub ring. The wide shots, the framing, the non-sequiter dialogue just seem to be Anderson's particular weapon of choice for mining the characters. Which is an aim that is probably quite rare in most movies, I expect. How many directors are genuinely so meticulously invested in their characters as Wes Anderson? Ultimately I think the great misinterpretation of his movies is that they're ironic. I think they're absolutely unironic; or else they're so ironic that the irony eats its own tail, transforming itself into something utterly genuine.
Plus, isn't Cate Blanchett just the cutest thing since cupcakes?
I've been watching a ridiculous amount of Lord of the Rings lately. I took the second disc of Two Towers on the train to St. Louis, but I finished it way early, so I started it over and listened to the director commentary with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and I have to say that it was fascinating. I also have to say that I really love everything about the Helm's Deep sequence. It's so well put-together that it makes me want to become a film editor, which is a weird thing to say, but maybe Adam or John knows what I'm talking about. Anyhow, I watched the commentary for Fellowship when I got back home, and now FOTR is on TNT again. And I have to say, I'm really going to miss not having a new Lord of the Rings movie coming out this year. Does anyone remember going to get tickets right after finals? What a great display of geek solidarity taking up two full rows of theater. And there was nothing better than sitting next to Chase the first time we saw Fellowship and being there when he turned to ask, "When are they going to show Tom Bombadil?" It sounds corny, but those movies were my favorite Christmas gifts three years running.
Well, I'm back in Alpharetta, so when is everyone else going to join me?
Against my better judgement, I spent 3 hours waiting for the free screening of The Life Aquatic at DOC the night before my Psych exam; but then, there are few things worth waiting for more than a Wes Anderson movie, except for maybe a knife-fight between Willem Dafoe and three raccoons, or free Domino's thin crust pizza. I was behind this fray guy whose friend kept calling him for advice on his Hum paper. "Was Socrates gay?" he would repeat back into the phone. "I don't know, dude, I think they had, like, different views on homosexuality back then." I was about to write him off, but then he initiated a conversation about Wes Anderson with me, and I found him quite the learned student. I guess by now all those movies have formed a kind of collectively-built bond among college students; in fact, I'm constantly surprised that most people who love Rushmore are people with whom I have nothing else in common.
I loved The Life Aquatic, but I do question how much of a step forward from The Royal Tenenbaums it represents. There are certain, not themes, but motifs that are starting to be played over again, and while the movie is much funnier and the world is more fully realized than Tenenbaums, I didn't get the feeling that I was seeing anything exactly new. Then again, watching a Wes Anderson movie is such a very different experience, it may be that different standards apply. We think of Wes Anderson pictures as being all about style, but really, they're not really about style at all--- they're about these people and the worlds they inhabit, down to the finest detail of Richie Tenenbaum's headband or a Steve Zissou fanclub ring. The wide shots, the framing, the non-sequiter dialogue just seem to be Anderson's particular weapon of choice for mining the characters. Which is an aim that is probably quite rare in most movies, I expect. How many directors are genuinely so meticulously invested in their characters as Wes Anderson? Ultimately I think the great misinterpretation of his movies is that they're ironic. I think they're absolutely unironic; or else they're so ironic that the irony eats its own tail, transforming itself into something utterly genuine.
Plus, isn't Cate Blanchett just the cutest thing since cupcakes?
I've been watching a ridiculous amount of Lord of the Rings lately. I took the second disc of Two Towers on the train to St. Louis, but I finished it way early, so I started it over and listened to the director commentary with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and I have to say that it was fascinating. I also have to say that I really love everything about the Helm's Deep sequence. It's so well put-together that it makes me want to become a film editor, which is a weird thing to say, but maybe Adam or John knows what I'm talking about. Anyhow, I watched the commentary for Fellowship when I got back home, and now FOTR is on TNT again. And I have to say, I'm really going to miss not having a new Lord of the Rings movie coming out this year. Does anyone remember going to get tickets right after finals? What a great display of geek solidarity taking up two full rows of theater. And there was nothing better than sitting next to Chase the first time we saw Fellowship and being there when he turned to ask, "When are they going to show Tom Bombadil?" It sounds corny, but those movies were my favorite Christmas gifts three years running.
Well, I'm back in Alpharetta, so when is everyone else going to join me?
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