Fantastic Mr. Fox takes a whole lot of genius, mixes it up, and turns it in to cinematic gold.  Take one great story by Roald Dahl, combine it with the unique vision of Wes Anderson, mix in a little of the frighteningly pessimistic and hilarious Noah Baumbach, along with the voices of some of the best actors around, and you’ve got a film that promises to knock the socks off all those aged five to ninety nine.

Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a suave, thrill-seeking fox, married to one Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep).  When Mrs. Fox becomes pregnant, Mr. Fox is pressured into promising to quit his dangerous job of stealing chickens, and becomes a columnist for a newspaper.  He keeps his promise for years.  His son grows up to be Ash, an eccentric little fellow voiced by Jason Schwartzman.  Mrs. Fox’s nephew Kristofferson (Eric Anderson), who’s father is sick with double pneumonia, comes to live with the family, who move into a beautiful tree home near dangerous bird farmers that hate foxes.  Ash and Kristofferson keep a lively competition of greatness throughout the film that is endlessly entertaining.  The temptation, being so close in proximity, is too great for Mr. Fox, and he stages one last, great heist, that throws the entire local animals population into chaos.

The animation is a mix of computer graphics and stop-motion techniques.  The ads promise Fantastic Mr. Fox to be something you’ve never seen before, and I attest, this is the case.  It’s a beautiful film, filled with colors and effects that lure you into the wonderful mind of Mr. Dahl.  Anderson and Baumbach adapted the story into what is simply one of the best scripts of the years.  Besides the main cast, the peripheral characters are tremendous, voiced by Owen Wilson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe and Bill Murray just to name a few.  Jason Schwartzman’s character Ash really steals the show, with perfect comedic timing, and some of the most quotable stuff we’ve heard all year.

The cliches really do apply to this film  This is hilarious, touching, crowd-pleasing, and certainly one of the best films of the year.  A must-see for everyone!

4 out of 4 stars

The premise is like most zombie films: most of the world dies, survivors deal with zombies.  The film is narrated by Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg).  He’s an introverted gamer with irritable bowel syndrome who chooses to spend his weekends at home playing World of War Craft and drinking Code Red Mountain Dew.  His social dysfunctions and phobias actually prepared him quite well to survive in Zombieland.  He has a set of rules that keep him safe, and in his comfort zone.  He begins a trek to Columbus, Ohio, hoping his parents are still alive.  On this trek he meets Tallahassee (Wood Harrelson), a rouch-around-the-edges cowboy, who’s favorite saying is ‘nut up or shut up,’ and is desperately looking for any surviving twinkies.  Colombus and Tallahassee meet up with a sister team, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abagail Breslin) and the motley crew heads to California at the promise of a theme park that’s free of zombies (a plan that’s a blissfully ridiculous as the movie itself).

Eisenberg is the exact same character that he played in The Squid and the Whale, and Adventureland.  And it really works, here.  His peculiarities are endearing and funny.  Stone, who desperately needed to do something to erase The House Bunny from our memories, really did her character proud and shows that she can play a multidimensional character.  Breslin’s childlike enthusiasm that endeared us all in Little Miss Sunshine is starting to wear out its welcome, and the movie drags a bit when plot lines focus on her.  Harrelson is the star of the show, however, hitting all the right notes and exhibiting a more than respectable comedic timing.  Bill Murray graces the screen for a few, show stealing minutes, playing himself, while the four squat at his LA mansion.

All the actors were boosted by a great script written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick which generously allowed the characters to show soft sides, as well as hardasses that find joy in killing zombies in the most creative ways possible,. and mercifully avoiding abrasive one-liners that often bog down similar scripts.  The gore starts at the very beginning of the beautifully shot opening credits and doesn’t stop until even after the closing credits (yes, stick around for a little extra something).  Zombieland provides everything you could want in a film, romance, zombies, comedy, Bill Murray.  Yes, this is a show you should watch.

3.5 out of 4 stars

Jarmusch wrote the script for this film, and its minimalism is intriguing in the same way I very much enjoyed Gus Van Sant’s Gerry; not so much a straight forward narrative, but fun, and intriguing nonetheless.  The story follows a character only credited as ‘Lone Man’ (Isaach De Bankolé). His story begins at an airport where he meets with two men Creole, and French. Creole speaks in Creole, giving Lone Man densely ambiguous and philosophical advice as to how to be successful in what seems to be a contract job the three have entered in to.

At this point, armed with strange instructions, Lone Man travels throughout Spain (starting in Madrid), meeting with variously interesting characters with whom he trades matchboxes hiding secret messages.  Or diamonds.  The characters he meets have similarly enigmatic names: Blonde (Tilda Swinton), Mexican (Gael García Bernal), American (Bill Murray), Molecules (Youki Kudoh), etc., etc.

The cinematography is technically brilliant.  This is thanks to cinematographer Christopher Doyle (who also frequently works on  Van Sant and  Wong Kar Wai films).  He achieved a beautiful, dream-like world, where everyone is mysterious and interesting.  In a conversation Blonde has with Lone Man, she says, ‘The best films are like dreams you’re never really sure you had.’  With a steady (if slow pace) of drifting characters, smooth dialogue, repetition of themes and ideas, and a bitchin’ soundscape, you’ll feel like you’re watching someone else’s dream.  The film is absolutely self-indulgent and pretentious.  But if you can get past all that, you’ll find it extremely thought-provoking.

3 out of 4 stars

Lina Mayfleet (played by Saoirse Ronan) is a citizen of the underground city of Ember, built by the ambiguous ‘builders’ many generations ago.  She, like all the other people who live there, is becoming increasingly concerned about the rolling blackouts of electricity plaguing the city due to the 200+ year old generator that powers the settlement.  She is paired with a young man named Doon (Harry Treadaway), who’s certain he can fix the problems if he’s only given a crack at fixing the generator.  The two become convinced that despite the local lore that nothing exists outside of the city besides darkness, that there is indeed something out there and it will solve all of Ember’s problems.  The mayor of the city (played by Bill Murray) seeks to stop the two from discovering whatever there is to discover, but they continue their search, endangering themselves the entire way.

Director Gil Kenan created quite the world in this film.  It’s an engaging world of shadows, and passageways, filled with exposed pipes, enormous monsters that hide in the dark and threaten the safety of those that live there. The scenery completely envelops the viewer and it’s terrific.  The characters are mostly original, and well developed, encouraging sympathy for their plight.  The pace left a little something to be desired.  It was slow most of the film, and sometimes a little directionless.  Until midway through the film, it was unclear where the plot was heading.  Were we to focus on the groaning, creaking, and dirt falling from the unseen ceiling?  Or were we to concern ourselves with finding an exit, it simply wasn’t clear.  Although I haven’t read the book this film is based on, a discussion with Jessica from thebluestockings.com (you can read her review here) revealed that the film added much intricacy to the disappointing end of the YA novel, and be glad of that, it’s towards the end that the film picks up with action, adventure, civil disobedience, and crazy boat rides.  Actors Ronan and Treadaway excel, while the adult actors, Bill Murray and Tim Robbins are left onscreen with nothing much to do. All in all, this was an average children’s movie that will serve to spook and entertain those under, say, thirteen years of age.

1.5 out of 4 stars

Rottentomatoes: 47% - Cream of the Crop: 61%

Having finally watched this film, I’ve now exposed myself to Anderson’s entire oeuvre (yeah, I know it’s only 5 feature length films, and one short film, but still…).  All were a hit except for that one misstep, ‘The Life Aquatic,’ and we’ll pretend that never happened.

Rushmore was written through a team effort from Anderson himself and his college buddy Owen Wilson (which explains the Luke Wilson cameo).   The film follows Max Fischer (played by Jason Schwartzman) and his overly ambitious endeavors at his prep school, Rushmore.  This is Schwartzman’s first film, and has since entertained us with his hilarity in movies like I Heart Huckabees and Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. At Rushmore, Max befriends Herman Blume (Bill Murray), the father of some of his fellow classmates, and falls in love with elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams).  The three promptly fall into a quirky love triangle in classic French New Wave style.

I like to think of Wes Anderson as a sort of Tim Burton on Prozac.  Not to say Anderson is any less original than Burton, but he has a totally original, distinctive, and pleasing style.  His more recent projects The Darjeeling Limited, and The Royal Tenenbaums follow in the same suit.

Rushmore is hilarious and doesn’t depend on the crassness and potty humor trend that comedies seem to be following these days.  Murray and Schwartzman make a great team and I wish they’d work together again, (Side note: although they both haven’t actually been in the same film together since, they both went on to star in films directed by Sophia Coppola who is Schwartzman’s cousin.  Once again, proof that all the things I love are interconnected).

I’ve heard this film described as a ‘boy movie.’  But it’s not true.  This film is for everyone!

3 out of 4 stars

Rottentomatoes: 86% – Cream of the Crop: 76%

Rated R for language and brief nudity.

(If you decide to buy this film, be sure and get the Criterion Collection edition, and read the blog ‘Stuff White People Like’ about Wes Anderson films.)