The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

I mentioned in my recent review of Rushmore that after something of a rocky start I am now firmly in the pro- Wes Anderson camp. His most recent movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel has further entrenched me in my support for this quirky auteur. Budapest is the only film that I am aware of that proceeds in a triple flashback format. At the start of the film a young women in a presumably central European country goes to visit the grave of a famed author, then we go back to 1985 when this unnamed author (here played by Tom Wilkinson) records an account of how he came upon the story featured in one of his most famous books, The Grand Budapest Hotel. For this we flash back again to 1968 when a younger version of this author (now played by Judd Law (I wonder if these framing scenes were largely conceived to offer roles for famous actors who just wanted to add a Wes Anderson film to there resume)) visits the Grand Budapest Hotel (interestingly not located in Budapest Hungry, but rather in a fictitious European Alpine state called the Republic of Zubrowka) where he meets the establishments reclusive owner Zero Moustafa. Over dinner in the hotel restaurant Moustafa tells the writer of events in 1932 (the third flashback) when as a young refuge and "lobby boy" (here played by 17 year old Tony Revolori, whose great in the part) Zero was befriended and mentored by the Grand Budapest's then concierge Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) and had a series of adventures centered around a disputed inheritance.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a film loaded with clever sets, witty dialogue, a plethora of cameos and odd ball characters, yet it is still dominated by one character and one performance, and that is Ralph Fiennes wonderfully unexpected turn as Monsieur Gustave H. Now comic performances are seldom seriously considered for academy awards, but I feel that this one should be. Its a very different sort of part and kind of performance then we've seen Fiennes (who we already know is a very capable actor) do in the past, yet he devours this role, makes this comic character full bodied, vain, grandiose, sweet, perfectionist, kind, bold, cowardly and courageous, its a real treat to watch (and the dialogue is just wonderful). Of course all the supporting parts and elements of this film work splendidly and compliment well Fiennes performance, but the film belongs to and is dominated by Fiennes in a way I haven't seen done in a film since Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Easily the best film of the year so far, which isn't really saying much, but give it time, I have a feeling this movie will really hold up. ***1/2

Hammer Films

When Time Ran Out (1980)

Irwin Allen is generally credited with ushering in the 1970's disaster film craze with the iconic 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure (though a case could be made for the 1970 film Airport being the true origin point of this phenomena). Lesser known however is the fact that it was also an Irwin Allen film, When Time Ran Out (produced by Allen but directed by James Goldstone) that pretty well spelled the death of the disaster film as a successful Hollywood genera until the mid 1990's. People say terrible things about When Time Ran Out, and while I'll admit that the featured volcano is far from credible, I really didn't think it was that bad of a film. I mean its a clichéd film, we've all seen everything it does done better, the love triangles, the Love Boat- esque studding of the film with fading stars, the mass death of extras (note to bit players in disaster films, when the cast starts to divide into two groups, always follow the group with the most big name actors in it, you'll be more likely to survive that way), but I didn't think anything in this film was really bad by genera standards, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure was way worse.

For what it is When Time Ran Out is a serviceable film, which had it come out two years earlier then it did would probably have been a big hit (in reality though the film grossed a little under four million dollars on a twenty million dollar budget). I think the problem was that the market had been saturated by this kind of production for too long, and this movie just happened to be the one released as audience interest for this type of fair plummeted. The movie has workable if paint by numbers drama (two love triangles, a major authority figure who refuses to see the danger of the smoking volcano ect) as well as the kind of cheese and hackneyed writing that is a guilty pleasure, like how Burgess Meredith is introduces as a retired hire wire artist and you just spend the film waiting for a circumstance to develop where his hire wire skills are going to prove essential. So I think this can be appreciated at least as b movie, it doesn't do anything great, but it doesn't do anything completely terrible either. **

This is the End (2013)

This production could easily be retitled as Celebrity Fan Fiction: The Movie. A feature length expansion of the short film Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse, the story concerns actors Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen playing versions of themselves grappling with a global 'end of the world event', in this case the biblical apocalypse, including rapture, earthquakes, and giant demons (the theology here is suspect). This movie is loaded with  mostly Apatowian celebrities playing comic takes on themselves in everything from small cameo roles to major parts. Among the featured players here, in addition to Rogen and Baruchel, are James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and surprisingly Emma Watson. Part of the fun of the film is watching to see which actors get thrust down to hell and which manage to get saved. On the whole though the film is surprisingly dark, feels over-long, and is very self referential, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Certainly a unique production, and interesting as a novelty, but doesn't leave the best after taste. **

The Conquest (2011)

"La conquête" is the story of Nicolas Sarkozy's (Denis Podalydes) rise to (or Conquest of) the office of French president from 2002 to his election in 2007, and how that conquest paralleled the collapse of his marriage to wife #2 Cecilia Sarkozy (Florence Pernel). From this movie I learned two things, 1) Nicolas Sarkozy is kind of an opportunistic dick, and 2) he loves chocolate. A talkie movie that's doubtless more interesting if your French, and have a better idea of what's going on and who all these people are. It was just interesting enough to hold my attention for its 105 minute running time, but I can't say much else for it. **

Silver Linnings Playbook (2012)

This is the movie for which Jennifer Lawrence won her Oscar, and I think she probably deserved it, she's a great actress, a beautiful woman, and has an unusually strong presence on screen, were talking just short of Richard Harris levels so astounding for someone so young. Lawrence actually plays the secondary character in the film, not introduced until 20 or so minutes in, Tiffany Maxwell, a young widow who has dealt with her grief by having sexual relations with a lot of people. She meets the films male lead at a dinner set up by her sister (Julia Stiles) and brother-in-law (John Oritz), Pat Solatano, Jr. (Bradley Cooper) was a high school history teacher, who after walking in on his wife (also a teacher) in the midst of a tryst with another teacher, beats said other teacher quite severely. As a result of this he ends up in a plea-bargain arrangement where he spends eight months in a Maryland psych hospital, before being released to the custody of his parents (Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver) in Philadelphia. Pat Jr. is still obsessed over his wife (who has a restraining order against him) and convinced the he can somehow save his doomed marriage. Tiffany, who through her sister can gain access to Pat's wife, agrees to slip her a letter from Pat, which he's been desperate to get her but can't because of the restraining order, on the condition that he be her partner in dance competition she intends on entering, and the story goes from there.

Based on a book by YA novelist Matthew Quick, Silver Linings also won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay and is near perfectly directed by David O. Russell, with an all around excellent cast including Shea Whigham (a character actor I've grown to quite like) and Chris Tucker who I can actually stand in this. De Niro has an important storyline here as a man who is as obsessed with the Philadelphia Eagles as his son is with his wife. I have no qualms in saying that this is a great movie, totally got me, satisfying on every level, and I highly recommend. I will be keeping an eye out on nearly everybody involved in this thing, I just loved it.  ****

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