Ugh it was a choice between that and the Screen Unseen. I choose poorly. At least I’ll go The Fall Guy early screening.
I got a ticket for this and then changed to Abigail cuz I wanted to see what others thought, the story just doesn’t seem like anything I want but I’ll probably see it with the gf
I liked Abigail but it’s exactly what you would expect
Crop top?
That makes sense. I had always though a crop top was specific type of clothing, not a style that you could apply to jackets, sweaters, etc.
Another thing I meant to compliment with Challengers was the Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross score and how effective it was. I’d be remiss to compliment the camera work and not the scoring because that was all interwoven in a really cool way.
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As posted about previously, I’ve continued watching the Wes Anderson catalog in release order (sparing myself Bottle Rocket). There were actually a couple I had never seen before.
Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou: This didn’t really work for me. The conclusion did actually bring the emotion of the movie home in a way that made me wonder if perhaps I could like it, but the overall experience was a fairly dull one. Will still consider rewatching one day. 2.5/5.
The Darjeeling Limited: Both because of my most recent experience with Life Aquatic and also because this seems to be the Wes movie that gets the most scorn, my expectations were low…and were happily exceeded. I was under the impression that this was simply the least comedic also, which was not my experience at all; I laughed more in the first hour of this than I do during several movies in his catalog. It does abandon comedy for drama during the stretch run and the laughs dry up, but that feels like it’s by design. I liked this movie quite a bit. 3.5/5.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox: Had a mildly positive opinion of this one from first viewing; I’d say it slightly improved. 3.5/5.
Moonrise Kingdom: I saw this back when it was new, more because I wanted to see any new Ed Norton project than anything else, and enjoyed it quite a bit. This rewatch…kind of didn’t land for some reason. Was disappointed. 2.5/5.
The Grand Budapest Hotel: It legitimately stresses me out a little when I watch a movie and think it’s great and then never rewatch it and only find myself revisiting it a decade later, because I think my positive memory may have failed me and that the movie might be secretly bad or something, but thankfully Grand Budapest was not an example of that. Still a great movie, definitely top-tier Anderson. I will say that my estimation of Royal Tenenbaums recently went up so far that I might now prefer it to Grand Budapest? But for the most part, those are 1a and 1b in my book. I really love the conclusion of this one and think it’s another example of Anderson hitting the emotion of an ending really well. 4.5/5.
Pending rewatches of the last three feature-length films, I think my current view of the Anderson catalog breaks out like:
Tier I: Excellent
Royal Tenenbaums
Grand Budapest Hotel
Tier II: Good
The Darjeeling Limited
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The French Dispatch
Tier III: Decent
Asteroid City
Isle of Dogs
Rushmore
Tier IV: Meh/Below Average
Moonrise Kingdom
Life Aquatic
Tier V: Probably Outright Bad, But It’s Admittedly a Stale Opinion
Bottle Rocket
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Shots fired.
I’ve never seen that one, I just have the impression it’s beloved by many.
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I would almost downgrade it to the category below. I wasn’t thrilled with it.
A thing in Moonrise Kingdom’s favor: this is the movie Ed Norton is talking about in the Bruce Willis roast when he breaks from the comedy to extend a sincere thanks to Bruce for being the big name to voluntarily attach himself and really make this movie happen. I’m obligated to have some level of love for anything immortalized in that roast.
“I was sitting at a bar with Bruce, and I asked him if he liked the script I’d sent him, and he says, ‘try keeping a marriage together when 22 is still on the menu.’”
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Interesting. I always assumed he was talking about Motherless Brooklyn, which he wrote and directed and Bruce played a role in.
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Hmm, yeah actually you’re probably right. I thought the roast was longer ago, but it was 2018 and Motherless Brooklyn was released in 2019, so that lines up well enough.
I would retract Moonrise Kingdom’s unduly granted coolness points, but I guess it still does get referenced much more clearly elsewhere in that roast.
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I did see Moonrise at the theater when it came out but not since. I do recall enjoying it a lot and I also remember laughing a lot. I guess I should revisit it.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched a Wes Anderson movie more than once (not a knock, I don’t watch most movies more than once) so take these rankings with a grain of the saltiest salt.
Top Tier
Royal Tenenbaums - I lied earlier. I have seen this more than once.
Grand Budapest
Moonrise Kingdom
Rushmore
Not Top Tier But Still Damn Good If I Say So Myself
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Isle Love Dogs
The Darjeeling Limited
Life Aquatic
Wes Is Starting To Lose Me
The French Dispatch
Asteroid City
I Know I Have Seen It But I Cannot Recall One Iota Of The Movie
Bottle Rocket
I really enjoyed the Henry Sugar short but I haven’t watched the others yet.
If I rewatched them it’s possible the list goes sideways but this is where I am at the moment.
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I don’t know if I’m going to be able to escape going a second round with Bottle Rocket, it’s going to feel like a loose end if I’m on two watches of everything else, but I’m going to resist a while longer.
Usually “didn’t like it, but am giving it a second go” is accompanied by an overwhelming chorus of voices telling me just how much better it is than what my experience was. This pays off at a high enough rate to make it worth it (recent success stories include Chinatown and Raging Bull), even though it feels utterly stupid when it doesn’t. But nothing will feel as dumb as rewatching Bottle Rocket and having it be bad again. That will be like the time I gave in to decades of morbid curiosity and tried the Seafood Sensation sandwich at Subway.
Some movies I have a bad opinion of but am convinced I’m required to try again with:
Unforgiven
The Phantom Thread
Magnolia
Dr. Strangelove
Am I the only one who thinks the Royal Tenenbaums is a boring pile of crap?
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Yes. Well, maybe. But we’ve got at least two pitchforks just in case.
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That’s a huge nod from me to give it another shot. I’ve loved it ever since first viewing. Would gladly double feature it with Punch Drunk Love.
Did you listen to the Rewatchables episode on it? So many spoilers and amazing discussion. They even included five minutes of an interview with PTA.
No, I’m already fully convinced that I need to have another go at it, so I’m waiting until I rewatch it before I listen to the podcast.
I’ll get to it before the year is up.
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I think Dr. Strangelove is a bit like Casablanca in that the context of time really helps it get there. The absurdist satire of the movie plays better when the country is literally seemingly always on the brink of nuclear war. I’d imagine it played similarly well in the early 80s (like WarGames). Today, or maybe over the past 20 years, it might be a harder sell, especially because of how far comedy has come since the movie was made.
An odder example is the first Austin Powers. That movie was hilarious when it came out but it absolutely does not hold up today, most likely because of how influential it was on future humor. I was surprised by that because of how many times I’d seen the movie previously and how watching it 7 or 8 years ago was like, dam, doesn’t really work anymore in a lot of spots.
Casablanca was filmed during the relatively early part of WWII and that makes the movie work at a much higher level than it would have had it been made after the war was over. The song scene was very affecting in that context, especially not knowing how things would turn out.
That’s all to say that sometimes a movie that doesn’t work or maybe feels like it doesn’t work in a modern lens (usually playing with some sort of historical backdrop of its time) will if you can put yourself into its lens at the time. Some of the Strangelove jokes are really hard to land these days, but the satire was quite good (it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it and I was an adult when I did, so memories may be a little foggy).
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Unforgiven I have seen multiple times and you should definitely rewatch when you can. A classic. That being said, I understand Dr. Strangelove is considered a classic but it doesn’t a thing for me. I don’t think I’ve very said that out loud before, lol. I thought it was universally beloved so I largely keep my opinion to myself. I can’t die on the Rushmore hill with you but I will take up arms with you over Strangelove.
Magnolia I enjoyed very much but again I only saw it the one time and I know there are plenty of detractors. But for a movie I saw one time 25 years ago, it has stuck with me and I remember it well. I could not finish Phantom Thread which is a rarity. Normally, once I hit play I’m going to see the end credits - for better or worse.
Wouldn’t go that far but I didn’t really like it. Same is true for most Wes Anderson stuff Ive watched.
Austin Powers absolutely holds up fine (since we are speaking so confidently). Both the first and second. Gotta’ love 1999 Heather Graham. She has no idea how in love we were 
. If I come across them I will leave them on while I’m doing whatever else at the same time. I find them enjoyable.
And I really don’t like comedies, particularly broad comedies, but I’ve always had a soft spot for those movies. Actually I liked Ax Murderer, Wayne’s World and the first two Austin Powers (I just don’t remember the third) which is impressive considering it really isn’t my genre.
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