The Thirtieth Blow-- That's Just Weak Songwriting. You Wrote a Bad Song, Petey!

Now on to my fifth director post, the first one being about M. Knight Shyamalan, which can be read here, http://onthetopicoffilm.blogspot.com/2011/04/eleventh-day-what-twist.html (of course I suppose my first could technically be my Surreal post about David Lynch and Luis Bañuel). The second being about Kevin Smith, http://onthetopicoffilm.blogspot.com/2011/04/fourteenth-commandment-clerks-guy.html.  The third was about Quentin Tarantino, which can be read here, http://onthetopicoffilm.blogspot.com/2011/05/twenty-first-issue-what-does-marsellus.html.  Finally the fourth was about Terry Gilliam, which I did just a few days ago, http://onthetopicoffilm.blogspot.com/2011/06/twenty-eighth-discussion-only-american.html.  Today, my fifth director post is going to be about another film maker that I enjoy, Wes Anderson.

I like the films of Wes Anderson, his odd, dry form of indie comedy.  He's not the greatest, but I like him.
I'm gonna take a tangent for just a sec and post this (don't hate me),  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8fv6Sw5O64, if you're a fan of Radiohead you might find this a funny as I did (or just be insulted), but anyway, back to business, Wes Anderson business.

Wes Anderson was born in Huston, Texas in 1969 and attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a B.A. in philosophy.  Anderson often works with many of the same actors and crew on many of his films.   He's very methodical and is involved in every aspect of his films, he also uses a lot of primary colors throughout his movies.  His first 5 films are all distributed by the Criterion Collection.  Like my other director posts, I'll give you a brief rundown of his films...

Bottle Rocket (1996) was Anderson's first feature length film.  The film was co-written by Owen Wilson and is based on a short film that was also directed by Anderson.  Even though the film was a failure commercially, it did well critically and got some attention from other directors like Martin Scorsese.  The movie tells the story of three guys you go on a robbing spree through Texas, after robbing a bookstore they end up staying at a motel where one of the group falls in love with a spanish-speaking maid.  They end up trying a real heist and it all goes to hell, more or less.  I thought the film was very humorous, it's a good start for Anderson (if you haven't seen his stuff), it's got a good amount of humor but is fairly dry, anyway, give this one a shot.



Anderson's next film is considered one of his best, Rushmore (1998) was also co-written by Owen Wilson and tells the story of an eccentric, intelligent and bored kid named Max Fischer and his friendship with a rich older gentleman, and their rivalry over the love of an elementary school teacher.  The film goes through everything from Max getting kicked out of high school to his setting up an elaborate play about the Vietnam war.  The film launched the career of both Anderson and actor Jason Schwartzman, and was the movie that restarted Bill Murray's acting career (ever wonder why he does mostly indie comedies now?).  Anyway, this film is probably the best movie to watch to really get into Anderson's films, it's really funny and probably has more humor than his other movies which are generally extremely dry (but don't get me wrong, this movie is still VERY dry).  It's a good film and one worth watching for sure.


Yet another film co-written by Owen Wilson was Anderson's third film, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).  The film tells the story of three siblings that were extremely gifted as children and how their lives fell apart, along with their parents' marriage.  They are all put back into the same house with their family after something bad happens to each.  The film focuses on the ironic and absurd, and has very intricate and, at times, hilarious humor.  It's one of Anderson's best known works, including an all star cast and many award nominations, including an Academy Award nomination.  The film is based on J.D. Salinger's Glass family.  I thought the film was good, the story is excellent and intricate, it's very funny but may not be the best place to start for people who are new to Anderson.  Make sure to watch it at some point in your journey through Anderson's films, or if you just want something different, it's worth it.


Anderson's fourth film is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and was co-written with Noah Baumbach.  The film tells the story of Steve Zissou who is an oceanographer who formerly had his own show about it.  He goes out to hunt an allusive shark who ate his partner, and it tells the story of his finding his long-lost son and even includes a battle with a rival oceanographer AND pirates.  The film didn't do very well critically or commercially, and is really only popular with Anderson fans.  I didn't think the movie was all that bad, however, I wouldn't say it was Anderson's best film (I did like how all of the weird fish looked like clay animation).  I'd say watch if you dig on Anderson films (or want to see Willem Dafoe play a German), but otherwise, it's not the best.  It IS, however, still included in The Criterion Collection!

Next is probably my favorite Anderson film so far, The Darjeeling Limited (2007).  The film was co-written by Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman.  It's, more or less, a sequel to one of Anderson's short films, Hotel Chavalier (2007).  The film tells the story of three brothers aren't very close who go to India for spiritual enlightenment and to find their mother, who is a missionary, after their father's death.  They start off on a train ride across India, but get thrown off the train and have to find other routes to get where they're going.  It got favorable critical reviews and was, in a way, a make up for his previous film.  The film has good humor and one of my favorite scenes in an Anderson film (the scene with the pepper spray).  I don't think this film is the most accessible Anderson film, but it should definitely be on your list of movies to watch.  Like many of Anderson's film the soundtrack includes an original score along with a collection of British Invasion songs (in this one, it was a lot of The Kinks).

Anderson's most recent film was his 2009 stop-motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was based on the Roald Dahl novel.  This film was Anderson's take on children's movies and is actually one of my other favorite films by him (the title of this post was taken from this movie).  The movie combines Anderson's odd sense of humor with a child's odd sense of humor and it works surprisingly well, it's probably Anderson's most accessible film because it has the most blatant humor out of all of his movies.  It tells the story of Mr. Fox, who attempts to come out of retirement and steal from the three meanest farmers in the land, only to get his nephew kidnapped and all of his animal friends forced underground.  I know it sounds "kiddy" but it's actually really funny and totally worth a watch.  The film got very positive critical reviews and was even nominated for a few Academy Awards.


Anderson's next film is stated for a 2012 release and will be called Moonrise Kingdom.  It's co-written by Roman Coppola and will star Bruce Willis and Bill Murray and be set in the 60s.  What I've heard of it sounds entertaining and I'll always be willing to go see a Wes Anderson film.

There it is, my fifth director post in the bag!  I'm done now, it's cold and loud here and I'm going to go on to do something else.  I'll leave you all with an album recommendation today, go listen to Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes, it's melodic folk with excellent vocal harmonies similar to Crosby, Stills and Nash.  I've been getting into Fleet Foxes a ton over the last week and this is their most recent album... but anyway, take it easy and have a splendid day!