Wes Anderson? BRING IT!

http://www.leisuresuit.net/Webzine/articles/rushmore_rev.shtml

That review by Jordan Hoffman holds a certain amount of relevance to me because of how I do agree with most of what he says. Throughout his reviews he talks about several of Wes Anderson's movies, more detailed on Rushmore however, and how Wes Anderson has that touch of optimism in each of his films. To me, it's very much evident that you can see it in the movies he makes. Especially the two we've seen and the third that we've started to watch, of which is what I have made as my sole movie to compare with Wes Anderson. In Jordan's review, he talks of how in each movie there is optimism in at least one aspect or character of the film itself. For Bottle Rocket, it was most significant in Dignan’s character. Always being so optimistic in anything that can happen such as when Bob decided to ditch the two in order to help his brother, Bob being robbed in the end by a man he had a lot of trust in, and even when he’s committing a rather unsuccessful robbery. Being so energetic and nearly ‘cloud-9’ like, it’s pretty clear that the movie overall is influenced on how it’s viewed. Instead of another slow-moving dark-humor movie, it actually had that type of flow that kept the movie atop the boring point. This is also shown in Rushmore with how Max Fischer always does what he does but no matter what it is, it’s always got the somewhat optimistic/cynical/mastermind feel to it. Whether it be his plays, his payback schemes, or simply doing whatever it takes to get with his first love, he does each action to the fullest extent with nothing held back This is something that Wes Anderson has always managed to insert into his movies whether it be flawlessly, incidental, or even purposely.
Now further onto Wes Anderson and his movies, more specifically on The Royal Tenenbaums, he once again manages to employ the same characteristics even though it’s not completely obvious. The movie itself is practically the optimism in itself except it’s hidden under something like an invisible coated shell of … well, something. Anyways each character in this movie has that feeling where although they may be serious, you always have some kind of doubt and think it might just be a joke or completely fake altogether. The father, Royal, a once successful business man but now a conniving rascal, Margot the previous master play writer whom has a mysterious dark side to her, Etheline with his snappy comebacks and one liners, and every single other cast of character that isn’t mentioned, each hold a unique trait that really felt like Wes Anderson’s touch, hidden bliss. Each character in the film is in a way as happy as they can be even though despite their odds and success, each have had their misfortunes along the way. They are truly happy in how each have their own talents and skills in them selves but refuse to truly acknowledge it. Watching The Royal Tenenbaums gave me the feeling as though these guys do have a nice life but only because of previous titles and reputations are they unable to grasp at their own well being.




Although it's the trailer, here's a clip that gives a really good example of not only Dignan's hidden optimism, but also some of the other characters' unique level of humor that Wes Anderson employs along with some crazy shinanigans.




Here's a clip that I think really exemplifies the qualities of Wes Anderson and how he uses cynical/mastermind like thinking to show humor and optimism in an ever-so somewhat like reality situation(s) in Rushmore with Fischer and Blume.





Finally here's a great clip of The Royal Tenenbaums, the intro. Both the narration and the scenes are accompanied by Anderson's brilliant use of hidden optimism even though it's somewhat of a dark overwhelming aura. Once again this is very much showing the crazy things that Anderson tends to think of. First it was people that wanted to do crime and be the 'bad boys' of society, then came Rushmore with the over achieving socialite whom although is involved in many activites failes to see through to his own success and now with The Royal Tenenbaums, the hilarity of what children can accomplish in an already messed up family.

Coen Brothers

Boy what a pair of directors. Much better than any other directors we've watched in class by far. Although I have never heard of these guys before as either directors or just people at all, they made a pretty nice first impression on me. The movies were awesome. Beginning with Raising Arizona, began with a good amount of comedy and kept it throughout was a nice tactic. Kept me laughing from start to end with its hillbilly/roughneck comedy style. Then with Fargo, it had some dark humor in it that made the movie less unbearable with the accent that was overbearingly obvious. Then finally came No Country For Old Men that was awesome. The super shotgun? Who'd have thought of that! A shotgun with a silencer, it really doesn't get any better than that. Better than the petty theft and baby napping and the human body in the wood chipper. Anyways, the Coen Bros. use some pretty interesting aspects into their films. Especially of how they use sound in their movies. For example in Raising Arizona, the type of music and sounds they used were constant and in some ways a lil cartoonish. The music was the hillbilly'ish type and the sounds they used were constant. Then in Fargo and No Country For Old Men, the sounds used were insane. It generated so much suspense that it was almost unbearable. Almost made you just want to scream what the hell is going to happen? Using sound like so brilliantly draws the audience into the action and really gets them involved is why I think the Coen Bros. is the best director that we've seen thus far.