the life aquatic Tagged Articles at Cinematical
AFI Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Festival Reports », Fox Searchlight », George Clooney », Other Festivals »
It's not hard to like any movie that uses the Beach Boys' music, but Wes Anderson makes it especially easy. As Hollywood's foremost purveyor of hipster drama, his pedigree as a reliable selector of appropriately wistful, poignant and all-around unforgettable songs is virtually unrivaled, but Fantastic Mr. Fox exceeds even the work of his earlier films, using "Heroes and Villains," and later, "I Get Around" as populist punctuation that manages to be both specifically relevant and substantively rousing.
As an animated opus, the film is by necessity his most controlled to date, a painstakingly-designed dollhouse where he no longer controls just the music, sets, and costumes, but the performers themselves. Ironically, however, it feels like his loosest as well - a gloriously unwieldy comedy of manners submerged in the minutiae of Anderson's madcap creativity. All of which makes Fantastic Mr. Fox a celebration both of its stop-motion medium and Anderson's aesthetic, while still managing to fully document the spectacular fun in original author Roald Dahl's daffy, distinctive imagination.
Bill Murray to Re-Team with Wes Anderson on 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox'
Filed under: Animation », Casting », 20th Century Fox », Family Films », George Clooney »
There are many iconic pairings of actor and director: DeNiro and Scorsese; Bogart and Huston; Mifune and Kurosawa; Depp and Burton. One of the best recurring collaborations, though, is Bill Murray and Wes Anderson. The comedic actor appears in almost all of Anderson's movies (maybe one day he can be digitally imposed into Bottle Rocket a la Jabba in Star Wars), including The Darjeeling Limited, which opens tomorrow. I haven't seen the new movie yet, but I did read a great piece about Anderson in this week's New York magazine, and I have to say that Murray and Anderson were made for each other. Whether it is true or not that the filmmaker really had to deliver a suitcase with $14,000 in cash from Murray to a guy named Luigi is beside the point; the story just proves the duo have a fun sense of humor that can involve the other at any given time. That's why it isn't surprising to learn that Murray will be voicing a character in Anderson's stop-motion-animated film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox (and I don't mean because Murray would avail his voice to anything). MTV Movies Blog chatted with Anderson about the film, which is still a few years in the making, and got other confirmations on its cast of voices. Yes, George Clooney is definitely on board as "Mr. Fox", and also Jason Schwartzman is doing a voice, too. There is no mention, however, of Cate Blanchett or Angelica Huston, both of whom are said to be part of the film. It also wasn't revealed which characters Murray and Schwartzman would be doing. The Fantastic Mr. Fox will be Murray and Anderson's fifth movie together (and Schwartzman's fourth with the director, if you count shorts), and will likely be far from the last. The film also reunites Anderson with his Life Aquatic co-writer Noah Baumbach; the script is based on the book by Roald Dahl.
Wes Anderson Shills Magnificently for American Express
Filed under: Fandom »
Though my knee-jerk reaction when I hear the words
"Wes Anderson" is still to get irritated (I'm sorry, I
hated Rushmore. Sue me.), I quickly
remember that I'm in the middle of crossing over from intense dislike into the dangerous world of possible fandom --
such, my friends, was the power of the lovely The Life Aquatic. Anyway, my point is that a few years ago, hearing that
Anderson had made and starred in an ad for American Express would have sent me off into a fit of judgmental grumbling,
about his ego and selling out and God only knows what else. Now, though, I actually managed to approach the thing with
an open mind and, not surprisingly, I loved it. As opposed to M. Night Shyamalan's egotistical, "Love me, love my movies!" Am Ex ad that aired during the Oscars, Anderson's offering is imbued with a wonderful, knowing sense of humor about both himself and movie-making. I don't want to spoil anything for you, so go check it out for yourselves (thank you, You Tube) -- everyone should shill with this much style.
[via Kottke]
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