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The French Dispatch

I don't understand movies like this.

How does Wes Anderson get SO MANY big name celebrities to appear in this movie?

Timothee Chalamet, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Adrian Brody, Benicio Del Toro, Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Saoirse Ronan, Elizabeth Moss, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Henry Winkler, Kate Winslet, Anjelica Huston, and Liev Schrieber.

What in the hell is the point of making a movie like this? Just to flaunt all the big names?

It's ridiculous.

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by Anonymousreply 51December 20, 2021 8:44 AM

[quote] How does Wes Anderson get SO MANY… … … …

It's a sign of our current decay of spirit.

Our current malaise…

by Anonymousreply 1October 25, 2021 5:45 AM

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

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by Anonymousreply 2October 25, 2021 5:46 AM

Anderson was always too twee for me. And, then I saw Moonrise Kingdom, and I really loved it! I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because it had a plot. Since then, I didn't care for Grand Budapest Hotel. Isle of Dogs was okay, and I kind of want to watch it again in the future. I liked its tone, but it was also animation, so I responded differently than were it an Anderson live-action. I have no desire to see French Dispatch.

by Anonymousreply 3October 25, 2021 5:48 AM

Because he has a brand. Actors and viewers know what to expect. Exaggerated, quirky, eccentric characters and a meticulous attention to style and detail. It’s amazing he can still get films made considering everything else is superhero or straight-to-streaming shit.

by Anonymousreply 4October 25, 2021 7:06 AM

[quote] It’s amazing he can still get films made considering everything else is superhero or straight-to-streaming shit.

R4, his last two live-actions, Moonrise Kingdom and Grand Budapest Hotel, were highly profitable films. Anderson is that rare director--like Scorsese or Spielberg--who has license to make whatever he wants, at least for the time being. Like you allude, the marketplace is ruled by movies like superhero material, so he may eventually get pushed over to streaming. But companies like Netflix who want artistic cred and can afford it, will foot the bills of Anderson films as long as the critics continue to back him.

by Anonymousreply 5October 25, 2021 8:09 AM

Amazingly, is Timmy THE star in this all-star cast?

by Anonymousreply 6October 25, 2021 12:50 PM

There's no Diversity in this film.

by Anonymousreply 7October 25, 2021 1:32 PM

R6 To me Chally is the number one star.

by Anonymousreply 8October 25, 2021 1:58 PM

Timmy really does have a very European look that I didn't notice before.

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by Anonymousreply 9October 25, 2021 4:44 PM

What type of movies do you understand, OP?

I appreciate films still made for adults and look forward to this one. There many of us out there who don’t give a fuck about Marvel or DC films. The cost to make a Wes Anderson film usually hovers around 20 million dollars so, it doesn’t need a huge audience just a consistent one. I’ve disliked one of his films, enjoyed most of them, and loved two. I used to be a college librarian and dressed as Richie Tenenbaum one Halloween. I was pleasantly surprised at how many students recognized my costume.

by Anonymousreply 10October 25, 2021 4:55 PM

"In the Company of Wes Anderson

What is it about the director that draws stars like Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton again and again? There are many reasons, but the nightly feasts don’t hurt."

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by Anonymousreply 11October 25, 2021 6:00 PM

[quote]There's no Diversity in this film. —PASS!!!!!!

Idiot "Jeffrey Wright’s character is based on James Baldwin,"

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by Anonymousreply 12October 25, 2021 6:04 PM

Different people like different things. I like most of his movies, but not all. I’ll be happy to watch this one.

by Anonymousreply 13October 25, 2021 6:08 PM

The studio, now owned by Disney, says the days of his movies being profitable are over.

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by Anonymousreply 14October 25, 2021 7:40 PM

R6 No. No, he is not.

by Anonymousreply 15October 25, 2021 9:41 PM

R8 Chally? Seriously?

by Anonymousreply 16October 25, 2021 9:42 PM

Anderson movies are like this weird alternate universe where people do Aspie things and have eccentric stilted conversations. But I like visiting that place.

by Anonymousreply 17October 26, 2021 12:51 AM

Anderson stans are weirdly cultlike. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy his movies, but the obsession mystifies me.

by Anonymousreply 18October 26, 2021 1:32 PM

I enjoyed the movie. Not his best (Tenenbaums is still my favorite) but it makes for a quirky 90 mn, or so.

by Anonymousreply 19October 26, 2021 1:38 PM

After Tennenbaums, the movies became increasingly detached from an emotional reality. I can still watch that one, Hackman was brilliant.

by Anonymousreply 20October 26, 2021 2:06 PM

R20, he was perfect and Angelica Huston and Goop were also brilliant.

by Anonymousreply 21October 26, 2021 2:35 PM

[quote] Anderson stans are weirdly cultlike.

This is one of those instances where we would benefit from combining the two words.

Anderstans!

by Anonymousreply 22October 26, 2021 4:07 PM

It was visually so interesting it made watching it exhausting. The three episodes were a bit long for me and could have been about five minutes shorter. We didn’t need so much time with Tilda Swindon’s character at the podium or Benecio del Toro glowering at the camera. A few parts felt like a Saturday Night Live skit that needed to kill time. But oh it was a masterpiece of setting the scene. The opening scene with the waiter preparing and bring up the drinks tray was gorgeous.

by Anonymousreply 23October 31, 2021 6:59 AM

I'll watch any Wes Anderson film. I like his voice, his style, while I may enjoy one film more than another.

by Anonymousreply 24October 31, 2021 8:40 AM

Wes Anderson is the same old shit over and over again.

by Anonymousreply 25October 31, 2021 8:52 AM

Is this a Woody Allen thread? The same posts would apply. Well, minus incest.

by Anonymousreply 26October 31, 2021 9:39 AM

Wes Anderson coluld not clean Woody Allen's shoes. No matter the pedophilia (not incest since his only biological child is Ronan Farrow) for which he should be in jail if it is all true. But he is a genies, and Anderson is a pompous "artiste".

by Anonymousreply 27October 31, 2021 9:44 AM

*The French MISTAKE!!!

by Anonymousreply 28October 31, 2021 10:26 AM

I haven't liked any of his movies since TENNEBAUMS. That and Rushmore were good.

by Anonymousreply 29October 31, 2021 10:53 AM

A wacky film for spoiled people who don't have to worry about the things most people need to worry about.

Films like this are made for pretentious trust fund 'creatives', they eat this shit up. After seeing these films, they go to some expensive hip restaurant and sit around for 2-3 hours discussing and over-analyzing what they just watched. zzzzzzz

by Anonymousreply 30October 31, 2021 11:30 AM

R30 And after the hip resturant go to a fast food, cause they get hungry after half an hour out of hip resturant.

by Anonymousreply 31October 31, 2021 11:37 AM

Come on R29, the Darjeeling Limited was fun too, no?

by Anonymousreply 32November 6, 2021 2:14 AM

I agree with the poster above who said they find Anderson's films too twee for them. I feel I should like them, but his artistic vision doesn't quite gel with me. HOWEVER, I also agree with the posters talking about how good it is that Anderson's movies can still be made amongst the glut of super hero movies and remakes. I might not like his films, personally, but I want him to be able to still make them.

by Anonymousreply 33November 6, 2021 2:24 AM

What’s wrong with twee? I like the twee. My reality is ugly and chaotic and I like being in a place out of a Barbour picture book for a few hours. It’s pure escapism.

by Anonymousreply 34November 6, 2021 2:46 AM

It's not that anything's wrong with it. People just have different tastes and it doesn't work for some people, I imagine.

I'm not a big fan of style over substance myself, and I think that's what Anderson's films are, BUT, I enjoy Dario Argento's films of the 70s and early 80s, which are style over substances even more so. It's just what works for you. I totally understand many people would look at Argento's films and think: "huh?"

by Anonymousreply 35November 6, 2021 2:53 AM

There were several very funny lines and scenes. For me, his love of bizarre details is reminiscent of Edward Gorey. The film has made $15 million so far, and it's only been in theaters 2 weeks or so, so I think it will be considered a success for this type of movie, a type of film which is never going to attract the huge audiences of a blockbuster action film. I imagine that the actors take far less than their usual fees for a film like this, which has to be much more fun than some roles their agents make them take

by Anonymousreply 36November 7, 2021 6:15 AM

It was laughably bad, and yet, in honestly, a work of total artistic, autistic curated twee genius. So much effort went into it, every shot. Very impressive! But we didn't care about any of it, any of the stories or characters. Convoluted, boring, none of the characters or stories were engaging at all. It was as if all of Wes Andersons artistic sensibilities crawled up his ass, metastasized, exploded and died, taking the film with it. Like an insanely funded SNL parody of a Wes Anderson film

by Anonymousreply 37November 10, 2021 6:23 AM

Anderstans is good.

I like filmmakers who create a strong visual language for their work but Anderson's films are now ALL style and very little substance....it's just overly art directed and mannered to a point that it just feels cloying.

And, he's yet another film auteur who can't really write for women characters. While the male characters all seem to have Daddy Issues or Fraternal Issues or both.

I wish he'd do something DIFFERENT but the next film (Asteroid City) apparently has an even LARGER cast than French Dispatch so I expect it'll just be more wackiness amidst another sea of gorgeous set dressing and Futura fonts.

by Anonymousreply 38November 10, 2021 7:23 AM

Kate Winslet isn’t in it.

by Anonymousreply 39November 10, 2021 8:01 AM

Looks boring.

by Anonymousreply 40November 10, 2021 11:21 PM

[quote]he's yet another film auteur who can't really write for women characters.

This is exactly what I was thinking when I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel. The Saoirse Ronan character in that was a really good example of that.

by Anonymousreply 41November 11, 2021 5:14 PM

R41, in what way?

by Anonymousreply 42November 12, 2021 7:13 PM

This was visually beautiful but there’s no emotion or human feeling in it. Rushmore is my favorite of his films. But I was also impressed by Grand Budapest Hotel because he was at his most over-the-top with styling while also writing a story that was about something meaningful.

by Anonymousreply 43December 19, 2021 6:44 PM

The Scream movies were fun.

by Anonymousreply 44December 19, 2021 6:58 PM

His best film was Bottle Rocket.

by Anonymousreply 45December 19, 2021 7:01 PM

R30 He wouldn't be making big budget mainstream movies if they only people who saw them were twee creative jerk offs who lived in cities. There aren't enough of those people in the country. Lazy stereotypes. Your favorite movie is probably Nutty Professor 2

by Anonymousreply 46December 19, 2021 7:23 PM

Whit Stillman is enough for me....

by Anonymousreply 47December 19, 2021 8:43 PM

La Dépêche Française

by Anonymousreply 48December 20, 2021 1:46 AM

R34: Barbour = Babar?

by Anonymousreply 49December 20, 2021 2:18 AM

R49 Bajour?

by Anonymousreply 50December 20, 2021 5:35 AM

I like the style over substance approach. Any movie, which doesn't rely on people slo-mo walking away from an explosion, can be considered artistic these days. Low bar, I know.

by Anonymousreply 51December 20, 2021 8:44 AM
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