Edward Norton

The Grand Budapest Hotel

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • IMDB: link

The Grand Budapest HotelFor his latest film writer/director Wes Anderson takes his trademark style to the fictional Republic of Zubrowka and a once-proud mountainside resort known as The Grand Budapest Hotel with a rich history to share. Relying heavily on narration, the film struggles a bit to get going by beginning in the present and slowly peeling back layers (each jumping 20 years or so into the past) until we finally arrive in the pre-World War II 1930s and the story of fastidious old-school concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and his the new lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori).

During the overly-elaborate and unnecessarily complicated (although certainly not boring) first 20-minutes or so as the movie introduces an elderly author (Tom Wilkinson) beginning his own flashbacks to his time at the hotel as a younger man (Jude Law) when he happened to meet the elderly version of Zero (F. Murray Abraham) and thus learned his story, Anderson relies on a variety of his usual bag of tricks involving beautiful cinematography and set design highlighted by the use of some marvelous miniatures.

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Moonrise Kingdom

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Moonrise Kingdom
  • IMDB: link

moonrise-kingdom-posterThere is never a doubt that Moonrise Kingdom is a Wes Anderson film. From the opening credit sequence to the final shot the writer/director’s latest is filled with his voice and style. I haven’t always been Anderson’s biggest fan, as at times I think he sacrifices substance for style (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and to a lesser extent Rushmore), but I enjoyeed The Darjeeling Limited and appreciated The Fantastic Mr. Fox enough to include it on a list of my the Best Films of 2009.

Anderson’s latest is a bit of a departure as it focuses on a pair of 12 year-old characters (rather than his usual choice of an ensemble of thoroughly damaged and eccentric adults). Sam (Jared Gilman) is an orphaned Khaki Scout marooned on a small New England island with no paved roads and a group of unfriendly companions. Suzy (Kara Hayward) is the problem child of a pair of lawyers (Frances McDormand, Bill Murray) more comfortable discussing legal briefs than feelings.

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Hulk Smash on DVD

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Incredible Hulk
  • IMDB: link

“Don’t make me hungry.  You wouldn’t like me when I’m hungry.”

Athough not a sequel to Ang Lee‘s Hulk the film, after a brief introduction,  picks up with Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) on the run trying to control his condition and find a cure.  His search will lead him back home into the arms of Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and the sights of Gen. Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt) and his new protege (Tim Roth) who has agreed to be enhanced by process which created the Hulk.  For more on the film read December’s original review.

Learning from the mistakes of Hulk this film stays truer to the characters and amps up the action.  This comes with the cost of replacing what worked Lee’s film (the actors), and although this version is a better representation of the character it lacks some of the style of Lee’s film.

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