Every Sunday, Gill delves into his archive of over 800 movie reviews and randomly selects three for your enjoyment! Here are this week’s…
Moonrise Kingdom
The trademarks of Wes Anderson’s style are both obvious and well-established, so it should come as no surprise that Moonrise Kingdom is filled to the brim with Anderson tropes. The story of two young lovers set against the backdrop of a New England island in 1965, Moonrise Kingdom is full of charm and whimsy, and manages to work even better than most of Anderson’s other films. The cast is terrific, as one would expect with names like Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban, Harvey Keitel and Bill Murray filling out the roster, but the two young leads palyed by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are both excellent as well, and more than hold their own against the immense talent surrounding them. But beyond the story and the characters, what I enjoyed most about Moonrise Kingdom was how it evoked loads of nostalgia in me – not only for the films it was referencing, but for old photos I’ve seen, paintings I’ve looked at, cottages I’ve visited, and summer camps I’ve attended. It’s beautiful, it’s sweet, the soundtrack is perfect, and I loved every minute of it. If you don’t like Wes Anderson films, then you’ll no doubt have the same problems with Moonrise Kingdom as with his others, but if you’re an Anderson fan, then you’ll adore this movie. I know I did.
4.5 out of 5
Cosmopolis
Disjointed, abstract and dreamlike, David Cronenberg’s bizarre commentary on capitalism, based on the novel by Dom Delillo, doesn’t quite work. I actually found Cosmopolis to be closer to David Lynch in style than David Cronenberg, as the bulk of the film consists of lengthy conversations about the nature of money and society, but the plot doesn’t seem to go very far over the course of the movie’s running time. What’s more, Robert Pattinson plays the protagonist, and I was all ready to give him a chance to impress me following his work on the Twilight movies, but unfortunately I found him to be totally wooden in his performance. Every time he spoke, I felt as though he was just reading his lines off a cue card behind the camera – lines that he had never read before the camera started rolling. Cosmopolis is more like a series of ruminations than a movie, and from what I hear, that’s what the novel it’s based on is like as well. If so, this might just be a perfect adaptation of Dom Delillo’s book, but it didn’t work for me and I alternated between being intrigued and being bored. The appearance of Paul Giamatti at the end is great, and I loved the scene that focuses on his character, but it wasn’t enough to save the film for me.
3 out of 5
3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain
In a word, this movie is LAME. Lame, lame, lame. It is, however, lame but harmless. 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain is just another dumb movie for kids that’s about as entertaining as Baby Geniuses. If you have a single-digit age (or a single-digit IQ), then you’ll probably find it entertaining enough, but if you’re and older or wiser than a 9-year-old, you’d be better off doing something productive like washing the dishes or folding your laundry than watching this movie.
1 out of 5
See you next Sunday for three more thrilling short reviews!