Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Finally watched Life Aquatic. Gotta say, I'm baffled by the luke-warm reception it received. I thought it was a great movie. It had me engaged from beginning to end, the animation was inspired, the characters were tremendous.

I've seen all of Anderson's movies, and I really don't get the seemingly common sentiment of, "It was pretty good, but nothing compared to his others." Not that I'd try to dissuade anyone from saying such-and-such is my favorite Anderson film (I can't even really peg what my favorite is), but for this to be so universally ranked as his weakest...don't get it.

For me Aquatic had some of his finest directing. The animation and music were astounding. I loved, loved, loved Willem Defoe. But I thought Bill Murray's character was a bit tired, I HATED Cate Blanchett (something I didn't think possible) and I thought

It does have one of the best action sequences ever filmed. Best and funniest! Angelica Huston seemed wasted. But then we were given Seu Jorge, who I think is wonderful, wonderful. His voice!

The Royal Tenenbaums really is my favorite. I think that and Rushmore really are perfect movies. Sadly, I'm in a small camp of Anderson fans who didn't get Bottle Rocket. Some parts of it I liked. "Cawcaw," being one. But something about the romance really, really, really irritated me, I think.