Saturday Three-Line Movie Review

Display at the Arclight, Los Angeles, CA

***

Watching Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel was like listening to a bedtime story told by a group of men I adore while tripping on mushrooms (the only drug I can honestly say that the two times I tried it were about as good as it gets) without a hangover and a tray full of beautiful pastries right beside my bed. The movie was as visually beautiful as you could possibly imagine (the pinks! the blues!) and as zany as a Wes Anderson movie can be, and while there were moments where I wondered what the hell, everything worked with a near-Felliniesque aplomb. Oh, and Ralph Fiennes -- Rafe, Rafe, Rafe, je t'adore.






***The photo is of a display in the theater's lobby and is the original model created by the art team. One of the many reasons that I love this nutball city is that we get to see things like this at 11:30 on a Friday morning.





Other 3-Line Movie Reviews:

Gloria
Labor Day 
Philomena

August: Osage County

Her

American Hustle

Light, Candy, Oscar and Laundry Monday

That's a photo of the boys' desk in their room, and yes, there are still Christmas gels on the window and yes, I let them keep that huge jar of candy balls on the desk and have found, actually, that they eat less of it when it's right there in front of them. I thought the light coming through the window this morning was beautiful, even as I folded laundry while sitting on Henry's bed in the quiet, and I'm determined to go for a walk this morning and begin, anew, some exercise. I've got nothing more to say about the Oscars last night other than I thought them exceedingly stupid, particularly Seth McFarlane, and I wondered why in the hell Michelle Obama was there virtually with those weird people in military costume standing behind her, contorting their faces uncomfortably. I can't stand Quentin Tarantino and his violent, ugly movies, so I was disappointed that he won Best Original Screenplay over Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom and I also hate musicals (did you know that about me?) so the musical numbers were excruciating to watch except for Adele who I think is fantastic and projects an aura of honesty and sweetness beyond her celebrity. The high moment for me was Daniel Day Lewis, of course, with whom I've been besotted forever, so thank goodness the night wasn't a complete waste of time. So there you go. A mini-critique of the Oscars from another self-absorbed blogger. Now I'm going back to gazing at the pools of light in my house while I clean.

Moonrise Kingdom

is the best Wes Anderson movie to date, I think. I saw it yesterday with my good friend and floated out afterward, grateful for that artist's unique and hilarious sensibilities. Here's a funny clip to get you excited about it:



When you see a movie at the Arclight Cinemas in Los Angeles, you often get the chance to see some of the props to the latest movies. Yesterday, they had some of the costumes and props from Moonrise Kingdom. I know it's sort of goofy -- and really no different than taking photos of kittens or animals at the zoo -- but indulge me:

Costumes worn by two protagonists

Props

And if you're too high-brow to enjoy those, there are these photos of Red Vine Licorice Art, not in the movie but on display at the theater:

and up close:

I'm not kidding -- that's some fine art and another of the benefits of living in the city of angels.

Happy Sunday!