There is no way to describe a Wes Anderson comedy without using the word “quirky.” He creates visually memorable movies”like the wonderful Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Even the less successful Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited are still awesome to look at. However, when Anderson stretches beyond his singular style and tells a film with emotion and surprise, he hits it out of the park. Examples: The Royal Tenenbaums and now Moonrise Kingdom.
It's 1965 on a secluded New England island populated with family homes and scout camps. Oddball scout Gilman and dark girl Hayward have made a pact to run away with each other, because they're in love. They're both 12. The problem is”as 1960s narrator Balaban tells us”there's a nasty storm on its way. So, the ineffectual parents (McDormand, Murray) enlist sad, lonely sheriff Willis and goofball scoutmaster Norton to help locate the two unpopular kids before everyone gets blown away.
See all the stars Anderson attracts? It could be because of his rich stock of dry, sardonic characters. It could also be his art direction”filled with timely but strange artifacts and warmly shot as if on Instragram film.
However, having fallen in love with this unconventional film, I hope people signed on because Anderson tells an unpredictable story about kids who don't fit in, who are on their way to becoming glorious, weird individuals, like Anderson.
The question must be begged whether we needed a revisionist history of Honest Abe as an axe-wielding vampire hunter. Of course, this adds to his Paul Bunyon-like legend. However, did we need the Southern slave owners to be bloodsuckers for slavery to be considered evil?
There's not much to add to the description here. Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) wrote the gore-filled book and this equally bloody screenplay.
As a child, Abe saw his mom killed by a slave-selling vampire. As a young man, Lincoln (Walker) learns from fellow hunter Cooper. Lincoln's meeting of Mary Todd, his interest in politics, his ascendency to president, and the Civil War are all a part of Lincoln's dual goal to emancipate all slaves and kill all undead.
The bloody action is amazing”directed by Russian visionary Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, 9). The storytelling, though, is rather silly. Whole years of Lincoln's life”and key aspects of his personality and politics”are glossed over. Really, the actors commit amicably to this brainless summer blockbuster as it transforms Abe into a two-dimensional superhero. Though the movie is dead serious, it's impossible not to see this all as a light, dorky, gory diversion.
Let's just hope that some particular teachers don't start showing it in history class, to keep the kids interested in America's record of slavery.
Pixar follows their parent company's example, giving us a new Disney princess with her own Celtic myth. This time she isn't just pretty; she's fiery and reckless. Brave is fast and fun, and its Scottish-inspired scenery and Gaelic art are stunning. At the core, Brave is a traditional story about a family's urgent need to listen to each other's hopes and dreams.
Princess Merida (MacDonald) is the daughter of raucous King Fergus (Connolly) and elegant Queen Elinor (Thompson). They live on the ancient, dangerous highland. In fact, one time, when Merida was just a girl, the king wrestled a vicious bear and lost his leg. Now that the princess is a teenager, the proper Queen plans to marry her out to the firstborn of one of the four neighbor clans. To stop this tradition, Merida finds an addlepated witch to cast a spell. This magic transforms Mom into a bear, so Merida and the Queen have to work to get the spell reversed.
Brave is all energy and heart. Perhaps more could be known of the tradition-obsessed queen's motivation. It seems she has seen the violence of the Scottish past”she saw her husband's bear attack, and she knows their bloody history. Perhaps she believes propriety”hers and her daughter's”will save them from barbarism. Somehow the three directors missed this detail.
However, this is a small quibble in this traditional Disney tale about family and the need to hear each other's heart.
