Moonrise Kingdom

[nymr83]

Please let this thread stand as a warning. I've included no poll, no long review, just these words that you'll wish you had heeded: Don't waste your time.


Edit- I added the poll requested and changed the title to reflect the actual name of this disaster. Let the record show that the thread was originally misnamed and Edgy corrected me.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Guest

[Guest themetfairy]

Thank you Nymr - I had been on the fence about seeing this one.

[Edgy MD]

Is this the same as Moonrise Kingdom?

[nymr83]

Edgy DC wrote: Is this the same as Moonrise Kingdom?

It was so bad I even forgot the title. I wish we'd seen "Ted" instead, I'm sure the live teddy bear was at least good for some laughs.

[Guest sharpie]

I liked it. I'm pretty sure I would hate "Ted." So, if you like one you probably would dislike the other.

[Edgy MD]

Got an 8.3 out of 10 on IMDB, and 94% fresh from Rotten Tomatoes.

I'm afraid we're gonna need a poll after all.

[TransMonk]

Wes Anderson is one of those directors who makes movies that all seem the same to me. I've seen all of his features and would rate them as getting worse with each new film. From best to worst: Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited. Fantastic Mr. Fox did buck this trend, but mostly because I found the animation fascinating and I didn't have to look at Owen Wilson's nose.

The wife is a big fan (of both Anderson and Bill Murray), so we will end up seeing this one eventually.

[Guest sharpie]

I don't have a dispute with TransMonk's rankings of the other Wes Anderson films, although you left out Bottle Rocket which should go after Rushmore and before The Royal Tenenbaums. I'd put the new one in that same just past Rushmore slot before Bottle Rocket.

[Frayed Knot]

I often find certain things to like in the movies of his that I've seen [Rushmore, Tannenbaums] but end up being under-whelmed by the product as a whole.

[Guest themetfairy]

Frayed Knot wrote: I often find certain things to like in the movies of his that I've seen [Rushmore, Tannenbaums] but end up being under-whelmed by the product as a whole.

Same here.

[Vic Sage]

i have a love/hate thing with Anderson's films. I loved RUSHMORE and LIFE AQUATIC, but hated TANNENBAUMS and DARJEELING. I didn't see MR. FOX or BOTTLE ROCKET.
The trailer for this one makes it seem appealingly off-beat, which is what Anderson is at his best.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

sharpie wrote: I don't have a dispute with TransMonk's rankings of the other Wes Anderson films, although you left out Bottle Rocket which should go after Rushmore and before The Royal Tenenbaums. I'd put the new one in that same just past Rushmore slot before Bottle Rocket.

Haven't seen Moonrise as yet, but elsewise I concur with Sharp's rankings right down to the puncksheeasian.

Rushmore is a personal favorite, getting me right in that Maurice Sendak/Harold and Maude-y shaped place in my solar plexus.

[TransMonk]

My wife is seeing this right NOW while I'm watching the Mets game. She went with a friend to one of those fancy theaters we have that serve wine. I'll update the thread on what she has to say.

This all but guarantees that I will not see this film until some time next year.

[Frayed Knot]

Vic Sage wrote: i have a love/hate thing with Anderson's films. I loved RUSHMORE and LIFE AQUATIC, but hated TANNENBAUMS and DARJEELING. I didn't see MR. FOX or BOTTLE ROCKET.

I suspect that yours is a minority viewpoint. Seems like the type of filmmaker that fans either love or hate, but rarely both.

[nymr83]

Frayed Knot wrote: Vic Sage wrote: i have a love/hate thing with Anderson's films. I loved RUSHMORE and LIFE AQUATIC, but hated TANNENBAUMS and DARJEELING. I didn't see MR. FOX or BOTTLE ROCKET. I suspect that yours is a minority viewpoint. Seems like the type of filmmaker that fans either love or hate, but rarely both.

Rushmore was decent to me, Tannenbaums was barely adequate (i'd have been upset to waste movie $$ on it but it was ok for TV) and i havent seen any of these others

[TransMonk]

Wifey enjoyed the flick. She rates the Anderson movies much the same as I do and proclaimed that this one was the best since (but not as good as) Tannenbaums.

[Vic Sage]

Frayed Knot wrote: Vic Sage wrote: i have a love/hate thing with Anderson's films. I loved RUSHMORE and LIFE AQUATIC, but hated TANNENBAUMS and DARJEELING. I didn't see MR. FOX or BOTTLE ROCKET. I suspect that yours is a minority viewpoint. Seems like the type of filmmaker that fans either love or hate, but rarely both.

i don't know; i suspect that Anderson is such a unique artist that i don't think there is a "majority" viewpoint about his work. I think audience reaction varies widely from film to film, despite a consistency of tone in his work.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Vic Sage wrote: Vic Sage wrote: i have a love/hate thing with Anderson's films. I loved RUSHMORE and LIFE AQUATIC, but hated TANNENBAUMS and DARJEELING. I didn't see MR. FOX or BOTTLE ROCKET. I suspect that yours is a minority viewpoint. Seems like the type of filmmaker that fans either love or hate, but rarely both. i don't know; i suspect that Anderson is such a unique artist that i don't think there is a "majority" viewpoint about his work. I think audience reaction varies widely from film to film, despite a consistency of tone in his work.

Agree-- virtually all of my friends/family who care to form an opinion on his stuff tend to be of mixed-opinion about his oeuvre.

[Edgy MD]

Dug it mostly. 3.5.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Sorry, this was stupid and impossibly overrated. How was this not just a big creepy show of boys in vintage scouting uniforms and a girl in a short skirt and knee socks?

When the camera comes around on Murray for the first time, I swear they leave it there a second to allow the audience to appropriately hoot. I could practically hear a Howard Cunningham voice-over saying "Happy Days was filmed before a live studio audience." Thanks goodness Bill Murray was there to give this picture the ironic detatchment and wink it so desperately needed.

I liked the Scoutmaster and I suppose it did alright while reminding us of the sweetness of first love, but jeez what an over the top pretentious way of doing so. What did everyone so like about this?

[Edgy MD]

That's what Wes Anderson makes, man. Bittersweet, tragic and retro-stylized.

I like that this was actually set in an actual year --- 1965, I think --- instead of so many of his films which are set in more or less contemporary times but seem to be psychologically caught in Anderson's 1970s childhood.

[Guest themetfairy]

We watched this on On Demand this evening, with zero expectations. Seeing it at home at a minimal cost helped, I think. It was bizarre, but an enjoyable little fable. Decently paced, and way more enjoyable than The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (my g-d, I hated that one....). Nothing great, but entertaining enough.

[RealityChuck]

I like the movie a lot. You have to understand where it's coming from -- it's all in a stylized dreamlike setting (note how often Anderson used the same shot of a character in the precise center of the screen looking right at you). The characters were quirky and I loved how it had it's own internal logic.

It wasn't a comedy, in the sense that there was much there to make you laugh out loud. But it did make me smile a lot and the more I think about it, the more I like it.

Extra half point for the use of Benjamin Britten's music (which was an interesting choice, given Britten's history*).


*Britten was in love with my father and dedicated a song to him. Britten had a strong attraction to preteen boys, though he was strictly "imagine but don't touch."