Post by Pulpmariachi on Feb 17, 2006 18:19:09 GMT -5
"Let me tell you about my boat."
Odd, zany, off-the-wall, depressing, emotional, colorful, literary-influenced, jumpsuits, speedos, hyperbolized, WIDESCREEN, Jacques Cousteu. I think those are some of the words that can be used to described Wes Anderson's last opus, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou."
Before I really get into my review let me just say that this is totally a love-it-or-hate-it movie. Anderson fans love-it-or-hate-it as well. I fall into the latter-former category (namely those Wes Anderson fans who loved it) but, as stated before, there are plenty of people who are like, "Man, Wes, what the hell?" (I think there's a couple people on The Board who feel that way too.)
The title of "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" should clue anyone in enough to see that this isn't your normal, run-of-the-mill adventure comedy movie. It's an adventure-comedy movie by Wes Anderson, so on top of madcap action we're getting a plethora of odd and bizarre characters.
Steve Zissou once was, long ago, a world-renowned documentary filmmaker, whose films are part-reality and part-fabrication. Then, the years grew on and he fell into, I don't want to say obscurity because people still recognize his name, but he's barely a shadow of his former self. He last stream of movies have flopped and his latest one isn't looking like it's going to be doing too good either. In it, his partner and longtime friend Esteban is eaten by a Jaguar Shark or something that may or may not even exist. This sets Stevsie up to make Part II, where he plans to hunt down Esteban's killer and kill it himself, "preferably with dynamite." It doesn't really help that he can't get the financing he needs for his next projet (and his nemisis is taking all the grant money). In comes Ned who probably is Zissou's illegitimate son, but we're never quite sure for certain. His mother just died and he puts his inheritance in to helping Steve.
So they head off for high-adventure on the high seas which includes clashing egos, battling pirates, exploring mysterious signals, flying in balloons and helicopters, naughty dolphins, lightening-strike rescue operations, and the reading of a six-part novel.
Bill Murray is extraordinary as Steve Zissou (written precisley for him) and if he was anything less than stellar the movie would have probably not worked. But let's give kudos to the supporting cast too. Cate Blanchett is always amazing as Jane Winslett-Richardson and Owen Wilson actually plays a different character as Ned Plimpton, the man who exhibts manners that died out one-hundred-and-fifty years ago. Wilem Dafoe has already played an evil Mexican, so why not play a jealous German? Or Bud Cort as a bond company stooge who can punch numbers into an adding machine like Roy Cohn can mash numbers on his telephone? Or, the always lovely Anjelica Houston, who plays Zissou's wife but is indifferent to almost everything with a gung-ho attitude?
Mix that in with a great soundtrack, half of it composed of David Bowie songs adapted into Portugese and performed by Sue Jorge (also a member of Team Zissou) and you've got a great little movie here.
Robert Yeoman has some of his best cinematography present; everything is warm and innocent feeling. And of course, there's Wes Anderson's packing of his frame. Hardly any other director out there puts so much into their WIDESCREEN frame as Wes (maybe Martin Scorsese and Spielberg [when they're doing WIDESCREEN not 16x9] ). There's so much there that you need to watch more than once to get more and more of the jokes.
Anderson himself ups the anty, going for more of an emotional-trip than "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" combined. Does it work? Well, you really do care about the characters (even though the film is a little slow before they head off to sea). One scene almost reaches a bit too much, but we move on and the rest of the movie works.
Like all of Anderson's movies, you can't judge this on a first viewing. You're in his hightened reality, his magic-realism.... Once you get used to it you laugh more, notice more hidden gags and catch more allusions.
This is really a great movie, full of bizarre but excellent characters, bizarre but fun adventure, and Lord knows what else! It's totally Wes Anderson.
A-
Odd, zany, off-the-wall, depressing, emotional, colorful, literary-influenced, jumpsuits, speedos, hyperbolized, WIDESCREEN, Jacques Cousteu. I think those are some of the words that can be used to described Wes Anderson's last opus, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou."
Before I really get into my review let me just say that this is totally a love-it-or-hate-it movie. Anderson fans love-it-or-hate-it as well. I fall into the latter-former category (namely those Wes Anderson fans who loved it) but, as stated before, there are plenty of people who are like, "Man, Wes, what the hell?" (I think there's a couple people on The Board who feel that way too.)
The title of "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" should clue anyone in enough to see that this isn't your normal, run-of-the-mill adventure comedy movie. It's an adventure-comedy movie by Wes Anderson, so on top of madcap action we're getting a plethora of odd and bizarre characters.
Steve Zissou once was, long ago, a world-renowned documentary filmmaker, whose films are part-reality and part-fabrication. Then, the years grew on and he fell into, I don't want to say obscurity because people still recognize his name, but he's barely a shadow of his former self. He last stream of movies have flopped and his latest one isn't looking like it's going to be doing too good either. In it, his partner and longtime friend Esteban is eaten by a Jaguar Shark or something that may or may not even exist. This sets Stevsie up to make Part II, where he plans to hunt down Esteban's killer and kill it himself, "preferably with dynamite." It doesn't really help that he can't get the financing he needs for his next projet (and his nemisis is taking all the grant money). In comes Ned who probably is Zissou's illegitimate son, but we're never quite sure for certain. His mother just died and he puts his inheritance in to helping Steve.
So they head off for high-adventure on the high seas which includes clashing egos, battling pirates, exploring mysterious signals, flying in balloons and helicopters, naughty dolphins, lightening-strike rescue operations, and the reading of a six-part novel.
Bill Murray is extraordinary as Steve Zissou (written precisley for him) and if he was anything less than stellar the movie would have probably not worked. But let's give kudos to the supporting cast too. Cate Blanchett is always amazing as Jane Winslett-Richardson and Owen Wilson actually plays a different character as Ned Plimpton, the man who exhibts manners that died out one-hundred-and-fifty years ago. Wilem Dafoe has already played an evil Mexican, so why not play a jealous German? Or Bud Cort as a bond company stooge who can punch numbers into an adding machine like Roy Cohn can mash numbers on his telephone? Or, the always lovely Anjelica Houston, who plays Zissou's wife but is indifferent to almost everything with a gung-ho attitude?
Mix that in with a great soundtrack, half of it composed of David Bowie songs adapted into Portugese and performed by Sue Jorge (also a member of Team Zissou) and you've got a great little movie here.
Robert Yeoman has some of his best cinematography present; everything is warm and innocent feeling. And of course, there's Wes Anderson's packing of his frame. Hardly any other director out there puts so much into their WIDESCREEN frame as Wes (maybe Martin Scorsese and Spielberg [when they're doing WIDESCREEN not 16x9] ). There's so much there that you need to watch more than once to get more and more of the jokes.
Anderson himself ups the anty, going for more of an emotional-trip than "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" combined. Does it work? Well, you really do care about the characters (even though the film is a little slow before they head off to sea). One scene almost reaches a bit too much, but we move on and the rest of the movie works.
Like all of Anderson's movies, you can't judge this on a first viewing. You're in his hightened reality, his magic-realism.... Once you get used to it you laugh more, notice more hidden gags and catch more allusions.
This is really a great movie, full of bizarre but excellent characters, bizarre but fun adventure, and Lord knows what else! It's totally Wes Anderson.
A-
