View Poll Results: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)

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Thread: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)

  1. #1
    White Tiger Field Stay Puft's Avatar
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    The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)

    THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
    Dir. Wes Anderson

    IMDb page

    Giving up in 2020. Who cares.

    maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
    Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
    The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
    Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
    Night Hunter (David Raymond) *

  2. #2
    Errand Boy Q & T's Avatar
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    Fucking A+++ movie.
    This is a signature, I assume.

  3. #3
    Guttenbergian Pop Trash's Avatar
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    Yeah it's pretty damn good. Ralph Fiennes has an uphill battle (early release date/a comedy) but he should get an Oscar nod for this. Slightly < Moonrise Kingdom for me and it plays tonally a bit like a live action version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, but I'm OK with that.

    Also, like most W. Anderson I imagine this will only improve with multiple viewings. There's so much visual ephemera and incepted storytelling going on here.
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  4. #4

  5. #5
    I enjoyed the film a lot (and it was a clear Yay for me), but it didn't rank up there with my favorite of Wes Anderson's output (Rushmore, Moonrise, probably Royal Tenenbaums).

    I think what I wanted was a little more development of the characters over the course of the film. Either they could be shown changing in response to the events depicted in the film, or we could learn a bit more about them as the film goes on. Instead I felt like I basically knew all I was going to about M. Gustave and Zero soon after we were introduced to them (though I guess their relationship dynamic becomes a bit more symmetrical as the film goes on). I wanted some of the character deepening that I like a lot in films like Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom.

    Another way to have gone would have been to ratchet up the importance of the plot and its mystery just a bit more. It was more important than in most of Anderson's films, but it still felt like it wasn't the film's reason to exist. Adding a bit more actual mystery would have helped in my mind, and I wouldn't have thought as much about the flat character arcs.

    I think one part of this problem was how much we learned in the trailer. I tried to avoid it but-due to a lack of willpower and it showing with a number of films I've seen recent-but ended up watching it several times. It shows some of the good lines and gives the viewer a map of where the plot is going. I think I'd have liked the movie even more if I hadn't seen it.

    Now all that sounds fairly negative, but it's more an explanation of why I only liked the film a lot rather than loved it. I really enjoyed all the performances, thought the visuals were fun, and would consider seeing it in the theater again. I'm curious to watch it while thinking about Zero's [
    ]

  6. #6
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quite easily the weakest Anderson film to date story wise. The casting, crafting of sets, the style all on track but man... I couldn't have cared any less about these characters.

    My favorite part of the movie was the skiing.sledding bit.

    There needs to be more Murray.
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  7. #7
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    This is just A+ work all around.
    Sure why not?

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  8. #8
    White Tiger Field Stay Puft's Avatar
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    I agree a bit with Marcus and eternity - I didn't find this as emotionally affecting as some of Anderson's previous work (Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic, first half of Moonrise) and the film's style does feel oppressive at times - and I'm not talking about the art design (which I adored). I thought the multiple aspect ratios were a bit distracting, for example (kinda wish the whole movie was just the 1.33:1 story, Anderson does a great job there) and the film feels overstuffed with characters and "recognizable faces" (down to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Fisher Stevens cameo). Maybe it could have used some more room to breathe, or maybe it just needs another viewing to let it all unfold (Zero's reason for keeping the hotel didn't have any emotional weight for me, but maybe I was also focusing too much on Zero as the narrator when Gustave was at the center? I dunno).

    These small reservations aside, however, the film is a ton of fun, and visually enthralling. The intricacies of the sets, costumes and special effects (much more successfully deployed here than in the second half of Moonrise, for example) beg for multiple viewings. I walked out of the theatre wanting to go right back in to experience it all again. This feels like the closest Anderson will get to making a rollercoaster thrill ride, full of mystery and murder and action set pieces (and like Pop Trash says, it sort of plays like a live action Fantastic Mr. Fox, and that's awesome).

    Ralph Fiennes is incredible, too. He fills out the character of Gustave with so much tenderness and integrity, and his sudden expletive-laced outbursts are amazing, too, and provide some of the biggest laughs of the film. It's a brilliant comedic performance. Also want to make mention of Adrien Brody's performance, which was delightful in its own small way. The scene where he discovers "Boy with Apple" is missing killed me.
    Giving up in 2020. Who cares.

    maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
    Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
    The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
    Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
    Night Hunter (David Raymond) *

  9. #9
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Stay Puft (view post)
    Ralph Fiennes is incredible, too. He fills out the character of Gustave with so much tenderness and integrity, and his sudden expletive-laced outbursts are amazing, too, and provide some of the biggest laughs of the film. It's a brilliant comedic performance.
    This. The switcheroo as Dafoe was [
    ] was incredible. Some of it is so madcap and speedily moving through tones, especially regarding Saoirse Ronan's fate, yet the bitterness of the war suffused it with that rancor. The way that Anderson finally reveals the degree to which the war impresses itself on these characters was interesting, too.

    Need to think about it some more. Really liked it, though.
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  10. #10
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    Zero.
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  11. #11
    Ain't that just the way EyesWideOpen's Avatar
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    This was good but a definite stepdown from the greatness of Moonrise Kingdom. I'll still take lesser Anderson over most other director's these days.
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  12. #12
    Too much responsibility Kurosawa Fan's Avatar
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    My gut reaction is that this is among Anderson's best work. Maybe even his best. I absolutely loved it.

  13. #13
    Second star to the right [ETM]'s Avatar
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    Indeed. I thought it got right everything that I disliked about Moonrise Kingdom.

  14. #14
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Loved the music in it.

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  15. #15
    Crying Enthusiast Sven's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Kurosawa Fan (view post)
    My gut reaction is that this is among Anderson's best work. Maybe even his best. I absolutely loved it.
    This is my take too. Need to watch Darjeeling again to see, but I'm inclined to think it's a masterwork. It firmly lands in square A1 of my Great Cinema rubric. K wasn't as taken, echoing some of the hesitances expressed in this thread, but I'm unsympathetic--every scene was rapturous and witty and layered.

  16. #16
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    My biggest complaint about this is personal more than anything, and it's that I'd like to feel that one of Anderson's strongest films legitimately focuses on the women's perspective to some degree, and Ronan's narrative here is marginalized a little too heavily. It's why I feel that Royal, Fox, and Moonrise might be his best work.
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  17. #17
    A Bonerfied Classic Derek's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting dreamdead (view post)
    It's why I feel that Royal, Fox, and Moonrise might be his best work.
    Huh. I can see Moonrise for Suzy, but I'd say Rushmore's Rosemary Cross remains Wes's most compelling female character and I'd even take Margaret Yang over any female character in Tenenbaums and Fox. But I think Rushmore is still easily his best film, and one of the best comedies ever, for many other reasons aside from the sexes of its most developed characters.

    EDIT: This is my second fave film of his. Quite remarkable.

  18. #18
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    Loved this film. There were elements of 30s Hitchcock and the ski chase was straight out of a Bond flick. The ski lift scenes reminded me of Night Train to Munch. Grand Budapest Hotel had bits from Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, and even Rushmore. This is one of his best films.
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  19. #19
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    Some days I think his best is The Life Aquatic. Other times its Rushmore.
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  20. #20
    So what's the deal with Harvey Keitel's torso twitching?
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  21. #21
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    So what's the deal with Harvey Keitel's torso twitching?
    He keeps flexing and unflexing his muscles.
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  22. #22
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Bottle Rocket is still his best.

    It's the only film of his that I find sincere anymore, because it isn't so far up its own
    story-book-world-of make-believe ass.

    Anderson fell too in love with his own aesthetic, and forgot the earnest, sincere joy and humanity found in Bottle Rocket.

    Everything about his post-BR films seems so manufactured and disingenuous.

  23. #23
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    Yes, how dare directors fall in love with their own craft. They should distance themselves from their personal style and only present the raw realism of humanity through an unfiltered lens.
    Sure why not?

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  24. #24
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    I only really like Fantastic Mr. Fox. He should do more animation. The best parts of this movie are the stop-motion scenes.
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  25. #25
    The tone of this movie is just weird. Standard Wes Anderson quirky and charming style, but with some truly dreadful things happening on screen. Didn't work for me.

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