Wes Anderson

I bought "The Darjeeling Limited" this week and plan to watch it shortly. The reviews were just so-so, which probably made me not as excited to watch it. That and the flawed "Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou". That being said, "Bottle Rocket", "Rushmore", and "The royal Tenenbaums" are 3 of my favorite movies. So I'm a huge fan of Wes Anderson. Hard to claim a favorite director, but he is definitely in the discussion with Hitchcock, Scorsese, Danny Boyle, John Carpenter, Kubrick, Richard Linklater, and The Coen Brothers.

The weird critique I heard when "The Darjeeling Limited" was released was that it was another Wes Anderson movie. As if that was a bad thing. Sure, his movies exist in a precious world outside of our own world. But is that suddenly a bad thing? Last I checked I do not always go to the movies to see reality. If I want to see reality, I'll watch a documentary or some directors that specialize in reality. I happen to enjoy Wes Anderson' worlds and look forward to seeing them on film. Does Woody Allen get the same treatment? Just seems like a pretty silly critique if you ask me. Now, if the movie is bad then so be it. I am not the hugest fan of Steve Zissou. Thought it had a lot of good things that just didn't work quite right. But to criticize a movie...well, you get my drift.

Unfortunately, most directors work in a genre and excel in it. Versatility is a skill in itself and its hard to expect everyone to excel in it. Do we really want Wes Anderson to direct an action movie? There are very few directors with the ability to transcend genres, which is why I admire Kubrick and Danny Boyle so much. But the majority of directors stick to a genre. In Wes's case, it happens to be a genre of his own making. Here's hoping he creates another 10 movies in a similar fashion that give me a lot of entertainment.

Tags:

*movies*The Darjeeling Limited*Bottle Rocket*Rushmore *The Royal Tenenbaums*The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou*Wes Anderson