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The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Enduring Characters in a Wes Anderson Created World
This is such a delightful film. I recent just re-watched and liked it even more.
The story beings with a young author (Jude Law) meeting the eccentric owner of the Grand Budapest Hotel, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham). Moustafa proceeds to tell the tale of how he became the owner of the hotel centering on concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and his Lobby Boy Zero (Tony Revolori). Gustave is a beloved concierge often wining the affection of guests of the hotel. This affection gets Gustave in trouble after a guest is murdered and a valuable painting is stolen with him as the prime suspect. The story includes prison life, prison break, a chase, more murders, a mystery, and even Nazi-like soldiers wrapped up with comedy, drama, action, and romance.
The movie was really about the relationship between Gustave and Zero with the mystery just a vehicle to deliver performances of the actors. Fiennes and Revolori nailed it! Finnes had perfect comedic timing with dramatic intensity when need be. I feel this was his best performance, save Schindler's list and should have nominated for Academy Award. The supporting characters, a who's who of award winning actors, included Adrien Brody, William Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Edward Norton, Bill Murray
and others also had exceptional performance. I think Norton's performance was better in Grand Budapest than in Birdman.
In addition to getting the most from his actors, Wes Anderson created a wonderful world and used interesting filming techniques (reminiscent of Monty Python).
Despite being a little confused keeping track all the names of the characters (the butler, the butler's sisters, the inmates
), it was the enduring characters that I will remember most.
Boyhood (2014)
You Become Part of the Family
Boyhood is the story of a family from Texas primary focusing on Mason (Ellar Coltrane) who lives with his mother, Olivia (Patricia Arquette) and his old sister (Lorelei Linklater). The story starts slowly moving from scene to scene quickly only allowing a glimpse into their lives as the family moves to Houston so that Olivia can go back to school to finish her degree. In Houston we meet the children's father Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke) and really start getting attached to the family.
The first hour or so of the film I kept expecting some major tragedy to happen but when this didn't I let go and enjoyed it. As the film progresses you become more and more attached to the family. So much so that you become a member of the family witnessing the events side-by-side with the characters. We get to see (and be apart of) the family struggle through everyday life events marriage, divorce, visitation, alcoholism, dating, drinking, drugs...everything while each member tries to find his/her place in the world. We also get to see them get older (I didn't know the film watch shot over 12 years when I watched it so I thought that some sort of CGI was being used).
The strong writing and acting made the characters relatable, which is what gets you hooked. Everyone could relate to someone in the film. The excellent writing and directing also showed in scene development. Linklater (Richard) took the time to let the characters talk to each other for more than 30 seconds like many movies this year. Hawke's and Arquette's performances were outstanding with both becoming the Mason and Olivia for me. Coltrane just got better and better as the years progressed. The only criticism I have is casting of Lorelei Linklater. She looks nothing like either parent and lost the energy she had as a young child when she was a teenager.
The ending was perfect!
Boyhood is more than just 12 years of footage spliced together into film but is more like watching your own memories of your very own family on the big screen.
Gone Girl (2014)
Great Acting and Directing but plot holes
Gone Girl was a thought provoking thrill ride that was quite enjoyable but falls apart when closely examined.
The performances by Affleck, Pike and Coon were spot on; from the very first scene they were believable. Affleck immediately became "Nick." However Harris's performance was not! I have seen that performance by him many times before.
The directing was great; Fincher did a great job of not revealing any of many twists and turn that movie takes. I was sucked in emotionally from the start. At times it was difficult to understand the dialog; I think a sound editing problem.
The reason I gave it 7 out of 10 was the major plot holes, which I believe was the writing. For example, Amy purchasing the Craig's list car, Amy making the "tip" about the woodshed, Amy's drive home covered in blood...also as the movie progressed the police became more and more inept closing in on Keystone Cops levels.
Despite writing problems, I recommend seeing Gone Girl just for outstanding acting performances