Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

[RobinFinderson]

Since I'm boycotting superhero movies (until the last episode of Batman this Summer), Harry Potter movies, stupid crap (Men in Black 3), and most animated films (even the more interesting ones, like Rango, are starting to feel formulaic), I haven't seen a film with Faith and Little Robin in a long time. Well that changed today, when we headed out to see Moonrise Kingdom.

Moonrise Kingdom is a Wes Anderson film. As with Woody Allen, Terrence Malick, Neil Labute, Darren Aronofsky, P.T. Anderson (off the top of my head) I am committed to seeing everything that that Wes Anderson directs. What interested me about Moonrise Kingdom was the prospect of exploring 12yo love, since I have have a son about that age, and because I have vivid memories of what 12yo love once meant to me. I had a hunch that Little Robin might get a kick out of it, since I know that I would have at that age.

I'm not going to go over the plot. But if you like boy scouts, there is plenty to laugh about in this film. And if you have any personal connection to kids in the 12yo range, you will probably enjoy it more than people lacking that connection. And of course you will like it if you are a fan of Wes Anderson.

Here is where it fits in my personal rankings:

Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Moonrise Kingdom
Bottle Rocket
The Darjeeling Limited
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (which I have only seen once, and should probably watch again)

[MarkGrace]

Nice. I'm hoping to see this soon.

[Viking]

Since I'm boycotting superhero movies (until the last episode of Batman this Summer), Harry Potter movies, stupid crap (Men in Black 3), and most animated films (even the more interesting ones, like Rango, are starting to feel formulaic), I haven't seen a film with Faith and Little Robin in a long time. Well that changed today, when we headed out to see Moonrise Kingdom.

Moonrise Kingdom is a Wes Anderson film. As with Woody Allen, Terrence Malick, Neil Labute, Darren Aronofsky, P.T. Anderson (off the top of my head) I am committed to seeing everything that that Wes Anderson directs. What interested me about Moonrise Kingdom was the prospect of exploring 12yo love, since I have have a son about that age, and because I have vivid memories of what 12yo love once meant to me. I had a hunch that Little Robin might get a kick out of it, since I know that I would have at that age.

I'm not going to go over the plot. But if you like boy scouts, there is plenty to laugh about in this film. And if you have any personal connection to kids in the 12yo range, you will probably enjoy it more than people lacking that connection. And of course you will like it if you are a fan of Wes Anderson.

Here is where it fits in my personal rankings:

Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Moonrise Kingdom
Bottle Rocket
The Darjeeling Limited
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (which I have only seen once, and should probably watch again)

Life Aquatic is pure genius that very few "got". It might be my favorite right after Mr Fox.

[New Mexican Disaster]

I am glad for your review and share your love for wes Anderson--but Darren Aronofsky

[Green Lantern]

Can't wait for this one to open here. Like you, I've seen all of his movies multiple times with the exception of Life Aquatic, which probably does deserve some revisiting.

Also, I know not everyone is a fan of big-name directors doing advertising work, but Wes Anderson is also one of the best ad directors working. Here's one for IKEA that I like:
[YOUTUBE]0CCL-vhEtf4[/YOUTUBE]

[Commando]

I've seen this trailer a thousand times and have it memorized, from "what kind of bird are you..." to "if you need me, I'll be out back looking for a tree to chop down." I'll probably see it.

[jay santos]

Great film. Probably in my top 5 of the last five years, and favorite since Drive.

[MarkGrace]

Thumbs up.

[Donuthole]

I agree, it's good. But I just realized I haven't spent a single second thinking about it since I saw it over a week ago.

That probably says more about me than the movie, I guess.

[MarkGrace]

I agree, it's good. But I just realized I haven't spent a single second thinking about it since I saw it over a week ago.

That probably says more about me than the movie, I guess.

It's not one I'll spend much thinking about. In fact, I've already spent a lot more time thinking about Magic Mike and what it was trying to say.

I do wish Anderson would move in a new direction. As much as I liked this, it felt overly familiar.

[Donuthole]

It's not one I'll spend much thinking about. In fact, I've already spent a lot more time thinking about Magic Mike and what it was trying to say.

I do wish Anderson would move in a new direction. As much as I liked this, it felt overly familiar.

At least Magic Mike is a Soderbergh. I spent more time thinking about Cabin in the Woods than I have thinking about Moonrise.

I agree with your familiarity comment. This one felt overly "Wes Andersony". Like he dialed up the kitsch another notch just because he could. The problem, at least for me, is that I feel like Anderson is much more interested in showing how many more notches are on that dial than I am in finding out.

[MarkGrace]

Forgot to mention that I loved the Shawshank reference. That was great.

[BoylenOver]

I saw this after work. I enjoyed it, and didn't mind that it was familiar.

I'd be interested to see what RF (or others) thought about the two central characters. IMO I enjoyed how it captured prepubescent sexuality almost more as a curiosity, rather than lust. It felt real to me.

Also, Ed Norton was great.

[HauteCoug]

Is this still in theaters? I guess I could google that, but I'm feeling particularly lazy tonight. A friend recently told me, after having seen it, that he felt like it's what I might have been like as a twelve year old... so now I'm really curious to see it!

And I don't care if it feels like his other films - sometimes it's nice to have something familiar.

[RobinFinderson]

I saw this after work. I enjoyed it, and didn't mind that it was familiar.

I'd be interested to see what RF (or others) thought about the two central characters. IMO I enjoyed how it captured prepubescent sexuality almost more as a curiosity, rather than lust. It felt real to me.

Also, Ed Norton was great.

You have come to the right man when it comes to reflection on prepubescent sexuality, because I have a photographic memory of my life from K-6. I agree with you that the longing of prepubescent sexuality is more a byproduct of curiosity than our loins, but that curiosity is also surprisingly informed by ancient knowledge built into our DNA.

For example, I used to play 'Pull'n Down Pants' with the neighbor girl, at about kindergarten age. We had no idea what we were doing, but over the course of about a year, things were heading toward sex, even though we had no outside knowledge of what we were doing. When her mom eventually caught us, without pants, under her bed, that brought an end to that, and it was back to slinging lemonade in the streets. But I had a strong inkling that we were on to something.

My next prepubescent crush was all about Kristen B, who sat behind me in the first grade. One day she told me to turn around, and I obeyed. Then she told me to put my hand on her desk, palm up, and I obeyed. Then she took started to TOUCH my hand, kind of brushing it out with her fingers, like she was smoothing out a bed sheet... it felt really nice. Then she grabbed her freshly sharpened pencil, and stabbed into the fleshy valley where my thumb-meat runs into my pinkie-meat just above my wrist. I still have a dark little scar there, where the pencil lead permanently tattooed my skin. In the weeks after that, I would sing ad-lib odes declaring my love to Kristen B. as I walked home alone from school.

I know that I was ignorant about the mechanics of sex during this time period, because at some point after the first grade, but before 4th grade, an older neighbor kid showed me his dad's stash of pornography. I distinctly recall that the male performer in the photos looked a lot like Gene Shalit, which is what I explained to my mother when I got home later. Except my explanation went like this, "Did you know that the man with the curly hair who talks about movies on TV peed in a girl's mouth?" After a bit more explanation about how I had arrived at such knowledge, I was told to stay away from my neighbor's back garage. But the point is, I had no idea what I had been looking at, and yet I was undeniably curious about it.

So yeah, a lot of what was depicted struck me as realistic too.