Brandon Burke Posted June 22, 2004 Report Posted June 22, 2004 (edited) Test screenings have begun for the new Wes Anderson film. Here's a couple reviews that I found online. This film sounds really good. I can't wait... ****************************************************************** Just saw a screening of the new Wes Anderson film THE LIFE AQUATIC at the arclight, here in Los angeles. Apparently, they have now changed the name to THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU. no real spoilers below the huge crowd was packed with young LA hipsters, knowing full well and greatly anticipating the new film by the great young director, Wes Anderson. Let me be the first to say it; they sure as hell weren't dissapointed. I can't remember watching a movie with such an explosive audience response. It got a long round of applause at the end and endless laughter throughout. This will be big. I loved THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and embarassingly enough have never seen RUSHMORE or BOTTLEROCKET. well i saw 20 minutes of BOTTLEROCKET if that counts. probably not. The first thing you will notice with THE LIFE AQUATIC is how much it resembles THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. Its art style, direction, camera work, music, oddness, are seem in the vein of THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. There are so many little connections between the two films here and there, there will probably be websites up connecting to the two. but THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and THE LIFE AQUATIC are two very different films. If THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS was "funny, strange, unique, bizzare, wild" then THE LIFE AQUATIC makes it seem like a bad episode of the cosby show. THE LIFE AQUATIC is so wild, so ingeniously twisted and strange its like nothing you have ever seen before. From the brilliant art direction, to the great cast and everything in between, its one of the best film's i've seen in a long, long time. THE STORY: Bill murray plays steven zissou, a pot smoking documentary filmmaker who makes films on the ocean with the help of his trusty crew. When one of his crew members is killed by a huge shark, Steve, vows to capture and kill this shark and give his carrer the boost it needs THE CAST: best ensemble cast i have ever seen in a movie period. BILL MURRAY will get another oscar nod. Its a sure bet. Without a doubt the greatest comic performance I have ever seen. Bill managed to be hilarious even without saying anything. oddly enough, his character in this film is rather similar to his one in LOS IN TRANSLATION, but in this film it works even better. Whereas the material in LOST IN TRANSLATION was elevated by his perfomrnace, here its the other way around. THe wackiness of everything in the film beautifully plays on Murray. The role fits him like a glove. Murray is in every single scene in the movie. He rules it all. And when he goes ape shit on a bunch of pirates..... just you wait. OWEN WILSON, an actor I normally don't care for was also very good in a large, very important role the beautiful CATE BLANCHET, a pregnant journalist writing an article on Steve Zissou is fantastic in a more dramatic role. She is one of the finest actress we have around, and this is easily one of her best performances. SHe looks so vastly different from anything she has been in I couldn't recognize her for a good while. She is perfect for the role. WILLEM DAFOE plays a deckhand with a thick german(?) accent. He is in the movie for slapstick jokes and he is greatly used. He had the crowd roaring throughout. Very silly, wonderfully hilarious. the return OF JEFF GOLDBLUM!!!! proving what a kick ass actor he has been, Goldblum steals the show as the "villian" of the picture. Not a big role, but its perfect. Very funny. THE ART DIRECTION & CINEMATOGRAPHY both deserve oscars. Simply put, the greatest art direction i have seen in years in a film. the equpitment of the ship, the rooms on the ship were jaw dropping. The film looked like nothing i have seen before. Everything on the ship seems to be a cartoon, but at the same time totally real. Its pure fantasy fluff, but not enough to not be beliavable. I don't want to spoil anything, but when you see the film you will see what im talking about. DIRECTION/SCREENPLAY fantastic. just fantastic. probably evern shaper and more visually arresting than ROYAL TENENBAUMS I was thinking about explain the look of the creatures in this film, but i'll pass. Its something to see for yourselves. Once again, like nothing you've seen before. THE LIFE AQUATIC is simply great. Constantly hilarious. If you are not laughing out loud, you are smiling non stop. The film runs a perfect 2 hours and will be rated R for brief nudity, language, violence and drug use. Pretty mild R. I dunno if we were the first screening audience for this film, but it seemed perfect now. Except for a few color problems that will be fixed, this version was PERFECT. Nothing dragged, all the effects seemed in order. This film could be releaed in a week. If you liked THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS you will love this. If you didn't love THE ROYAL TENEBAUMS stay clear away from this. It's not for everyone, but THE AQUATIC LIFE is one hell of a film. i probably did a real bad job at explaining the look of the film. Its something i just can't describe. Its part 50's b movie science fiction, part SEA QUEST and part ROYAL TENENBAUMS. I wish i could describe it in more detail, but i just can't...its so strange, so different...it will hit you like a ton of bricks. SEE IT! ********************************************************************** Hey Harry, I got tickets to a screening of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (as it was called on the "screening opinion card") at the Archlight theater in Hollywood tonight and you'll have to excuse my ability, or lack thereof, to write a proper review, but here goes.... the film was absolutely amazing!!! And I found out when it was too late that Wes Anderson himself was in attendance...damn...Anyway let me assure you i'm a HUGE Wes Anderson fan! Loved Bottle Rocket, Rushmore was fucking amazing, and Tenenbaums was fantastic. But folks let me tell you something, The Life Aquatic blows ALL THREE out of the water (pun intended!). I'm gonna start off by saying BILL MURRAY IS GOD!!! I didn't particularly enjoy Lost in Translation, but i'm telling you He's getting another oscar with this one!! His character Steve Zissou was just amazing! He's a dick, but you can't help but love him for it!! I won't go too deep into the plot because, well, there's just too much to get into, It's funny, exciting, and dramatic, which makes the flow of the film perfect. I never found myself looking at my watch, or wondering how it would end, because you just don't have time to!! There's so much going on, and it just grabs you from the get-go! Anyway let me dive into some of the characters a little bit for you: Owen Wilson as Ned Plympton: MAGNIFICO!! His best performance yet!! Though, he sports a Southern accent that, at times, seems to come and go, but it's not distracting. He's no Dignan, but he's still damn good! Willem Dafoe as Klaus Daimler: OH MY SHIT PANTS!! Ok whatever you're thinking, if you like him or not, if you think he's super creepy looking, well your right about one thing, he is goddamn creepy looking, but HOLY SHIT is his character just PERFECT!! He's plays a person that you will absolutley not expect him to play, and goddamn is he good at it...My second favorite performance next to Bill Murray. Funny as hell!! I think it's ok that Kumar Pallana isnt in this one, as long as we have Klaus Daimler to fill the void of clueless foriegn characters that Wes Anderson loves so much. Cate Blanchett as Jane Winslett-Richardson: GREAT! just GREAT! She plays the Rosemary Cross from Rushmore type character in this one. Both Bill Murray and Owen Wilson's characters have a thing for her. Which adds to some tension later on in the film....But i won't give any of it away...But she becomes a member of the "crew" as a reporter getting the scoop on Bill Murray's going-ons. Anjelica Huston as Eleanor Zissou: She plays Bill Murray's sister, she's a bit unsupportive of Steve, but you'll see why when you see it. She just keeps getting better, she's like fine wine!! Jeff Goldblum as Hennessey: Steve Zissou's nemesis!! GODDAMN I LOVE GOLDBLUM!! He's PERFECT!! PERFECT!! ok, seriously though, I won't say another word about his performance, you'll have to see him in action for yourselves!!! ok and now on to some of the technical aspects of the film: HENRY SELICK!!! OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN!!! OK the print we saw was a "rough cut" but MAN OH MAN THE EFFECTS WERE SOOO DAMN COOL!! I'm telling you guys, this stuff is great!! It's all stop motion animation, no CGI here, well, maybe there was some CGI...but for the most part ALL of the underwater creatures were stop motion animated puppets!! Very cool looking indeed!! I'm glad he went with stop motion, and not CGI for the creatures!! Three cheers for Henry Selick! HIP HIP HOORAY!!! I think this definately makes up for Monkey Bone......well....i dunno we'll see about that.... Oh and one more thing, they sure as hell used some original music from Mark Mothersbaugh!! And if what i heard was final score, then folks, your in for some damn good stuff!! I can't wait to pick up this soundtrack!!! And I know how strongly some of you feel about Wes Anderson soundtracks!! It's different from his other scores, you'll notice right away, but holy shit its soooo good!! Well i will say this, i didnt hear any Rolling Stones, but my ears did perk up when i heard Radiohead's Everything in it's Right Place, in one of the most AMAZING shots i've EVER seen on film!! Ok, i'll let this one slip: The scene is Steve Zissou's HUGE boat cut in half with a side view of all the rooms, and gadgets it sports! Sort of like when we see all of the clubs Max belongs to in Rushmore, we're treated to a cool montage of all the rooms and special areas of the boat...just stunning work....all of it. And the score, absolutely amazing...shit is that some sort of record for saying "amazing" in a review? whatever..... Alright so, maybe this isnt the best review you've read, no plot outline, no intelligent babble about character development, or camera angles.....just go see it when it comes out. I assure you, it won't be dissapointing. Oh and my only complaint? I have to wait till December 25th to see it again, which is the official release date, according to someone who was "close" to Wes Anderson. ******************************************************************* Edited June 22, 2004 by Brandon Burke Quote
Brandon Burke Posted June 22, 2004 Author Report Posted June 22, 2004 (edited) Dafoe and Murray... Edited June 22, 2004 by Brandon Burke Quote
John B Posted June 22, 2004 Report Posted June 22, 2004 I love Rushmore and The Royal Tennenbaums. Can't wait to see this one now! I'm hoping these reviews aren't over-hyping this one and it actually is as good as they say. Quote
Guest Chaney Posted June 22, 2004 Report Posted June 22, 2004 Thanks for the posts, Brandon. I'm guessing that the two opinions expressed in your first post come from very young -- or at least youthful -- viewers. They're so over the top, it's hard to really gauge the potential worth of the film. I liked Bottle Rocket, loved Rushmore (Bill Murray IS god) but have yet to see The Royal Tenenbaums. Maybe a trip to Blockbuster this weekend is in order? Or maybe just buy the Criterion Collection version? Quote
Brandon Burke Posted June 22, 2004 Author Report Posted June 22, 2004 Thanks for the posts, Brandon. I'm guessing that the two opinions expressed in your first post come from very young -- or at least youthful -- viewers. They're so over the top, it's hard to really gauge the potential worth of the film. I liked Bottle Rocket, loved Rushmore (Bill Murray IS god) but have yet to see The Royal Tenenbaums. Maybe a trip to Blockbuster this weekend is in order? Or maybe just buy the Criterion Collection version? I agree. Those reviews are a little bombastic at times. More than anything, it's great to hear that there are (apparently) so many *fantastical* moments: dolphins that swim alongside the boat and are "part of the crew", cutting the boat in half so as to see the rooms inside, etc. Sounds really wild. As for Tennenbaums vs. Rushmore, I had a similar reaction to each when I saw them in the theatre. In both cases, I could tell within the first two minutes that I was in for something special. (And, believe me, after having loved Rushmore as much as I did, I was quite relieved when this feeling happened again at Tennenbaums since my level of expectation was through the roof.) I don't know if it's the fact that I've seen Rushmore too many times or perhaps that I'm now over 30 years old but anymore I'm beginning to think that Tennembaums is the better of the two. I don't know. I may disagree with this statement tomorrow. In any case, you should definately check out Tennenbaums as I thinks it's at least as good as its predecessor. And Hackman is absolutely priceless. I think you'll find that they really took it up a notch as far as set design and costume design are concerned. you can imagine my excitement when I read that these traits are even more promounced in The Life Aquatic...supposedly. As a little bonus, my brother (a graphic designer) pointed out to me that the Tennenbaums font--the one used in the credits, as well as on the box/poster/etc--reappears throughout the film on items in the background (ex: the signage at the harbour, the side of the ocean-liner, etc). So look out for that as well... Quote
BruceH Posted June 24, 2004 Report Posted June 24, 2004 Sounds interesting. (You really should rent Bottle Rocket though.) Quote
Brandon Burke Posted June 24, 2004 Author Report Posted June 24, 2004 Sounds interesting. (You really should rent Bottle Rocket though.) Me? I've seen Bottle Rocket a few times already and it is indeed great. What attacts me to his later efforts is his more Bunelian tendencies and I don't see as much of that in Bottle Rocket. Interestingly, a local theatre here screened Bottle Rocket over the winter and preceeded it with the oroginal black and white shorts they made to get funding for the "real" one. I'm surprised that this footage didn't make the DVD. Quote
Brandon Burke Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Posted August 19, 2004 (edited) The trailer is up.... Edited August 19, 2004 by Brandon Burke Quote
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