We Can't Wait #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox

Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring A bunch of clay and famous peoples' voices
Synopsis Mr. Fox steals from some grouchy farmers and gets caught underground with his family. What is a fox to do?
Brought to you by American Empirical Pictures and 20th Century Fox
Expected Release Date November 6th

Whitney: So this movie has had an IMDB page for over 5 years. I'm expecting big things, Mr. Anderson! It's an interesting project because, like Where the Wild Things Are, the book seems far too short for a feature. Also, sexist and probably a little racist. So what will a filmmaker that has known to be anything but brief, sexist, and racist do with such a project? I don't know...but I'm stoked to find out.

JA: I love Wes Anderson, but like many I've been ready for him to shake things up. Step out of his hermetically sealed suffocatingly precise framed bubble. A stop-motion animated retelling of a Roald Dahl story.... well that could be a shake-up, I'd say. Unless he molds the story to fit inside his bubble, which seems entirely possible since the meeting of Anderson and Dahl is such a no-brainer now that we're confronted with it. Speaking of Mr. Dahl, I've always considered myself a rabid Dahl devotee, but I'm terribly embarrased to admit that I've never read this story. Thirty lashes of the whip for me.

Joe: Oh boo-hoo hermetically sealed blah blah too precise blah. Wes Anderson can keep on remaking The Royal Tenenbaums for his entire career and I'd be perfectly happy. Those movies (large portions of The Life Aquatic notwithstanding) bring me so much joy. But I'll certainly welcome a diversion into animation and adaptation and the weird sadism of Roald Dahl. At the very least it'll get everybody up off his jock.

Fox: This film is actually about me. It's true!

Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Darjeeling, Bottle Rocket and The Life Aquatic

I guess we have to have the "Wes Anderson needs to 'shake things up'" debate every time this young visionary makes a new movie, and... I just don't get it. The man is a visual stylist, so his work is gonna mirror his previous stuff. Tell me you watch other stylists like Godard or Antonioni and don't feel automatically transferred into their world again. Lastly, The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Ltd. are masterpieces, and anyone who wants to dispute that can meet me in a private IM chat room at the time of your choosing!

Whitney: I agree that people are too hard on Anderson because of his similar style across films. And that seems ridiculous to me, too. Just like the man he worships - Federico Fellini - he has chosen a form of expression that seems true to him and he's exploring it. I think there's much more to explore.

JA: I guess the thing with Anderson is that his world is so specfic and he adheres to it so... specifically... that it gets to feeling a little stifling sometimes. Since you brought up Fellini as a comparison I'll just say that yes, you watch a Fellini movie you know it's a Fellini movie, but Fellini's films are much looser and natural feeling. The best comparison auteur-wise with Anderson is Hal Ashby since Anderson's spent half his career ripping off I mean "making tribute" to Ashby and even Ashby's films have more freedom than Anderson's. By freedom I just mean spark and life; Anderson's characters can be such arch characters. Sometimes nobody seems human. I am a big fan, don't get me wrong, and when his stuff works it really really works. But I do think it's good for him to be trying something different.

Nathaniel: Agreed. There's staying true to yourself and there's limiting yourself --diminishing returns if you repeat yourself too often. Stray too far and you've left the stifling comfort zone for something that's not even you. It must be tough to be a hugely acclaimed talented and wealthy not-even-40-yet film artist. And I mean that with the barest minimum of snark since I'd like him to succeed.

And there's this related note: 2009 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for animation. Coraline already set her eyes on next year's animated Oscar. Who can challenge that resourceful 3-D lass who won't trade her eyes for buttons? Maybe Miyazaki (Ponyo on the Cliff) or regularly nominated Pixar (Up). Perhaps the first black Disney princess (The Princess and the Frog) voiced by Anika Noni Rose (!), the feature adaptation of that creepy memorable Oscar nominated short ("9") and more, too.

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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DVD: Natalie Wood 6 Times!, Nick & Norah

Collections ~ It's Tuesday so there are new box sets available highlighting everything from tired hockey masked killers (you know who) to highly respected thespians (Peter Sellers and Alec Guiness) but the big ... make that B-I-G... deal for The Film Experience is the "Natalie Wood Collection" which includes six films. I haven't seen Bombers B-52 or Cash McCall but even if they're bad you still get to stare at her for two hours. Her beauty justifies most any running time.

Natalie Wood *swoon*

The other four are more notable players in her filmography. There's the Edith Head costumed Helen Gurley Brown comedy Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and two true classics: the musical Gypsy (1962) and the legendary 'Warren Beatty Destroys Lives!' teen angst of the unbeatable Splendor in the Grass (1961). Adventurous movie fanatics might be most interested in getting a good long look at the underseen and idiosyncratic inside Hollywood drama Inside Daisy Clover (1965) from director Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird). Natalie, 27 when the film was released, was too old for her role as an ascending teenage starlet, but Robert Redford is just right as her undeniably breathtaking but possibly gay lover. Ruth Gordon is her crazy mama (and strangely Oscar nominated though she's barely in the movie). Inside Daisy Clover's true Best Supporting Actress is Katharine Bard (someone I'd never heard of) who plays a slightly "off" Hollywood wife named Melora Swan. I was riveted every time she appeared. She was apparently a television actress and only made two feature films after this one. I guess nobody noticed how terrific she was. Shame.

From the Vaults ~ Being There (30th Anniversary) is sitting on my TV waiting for me to screen. I love Hal Ashby movies and I've never seen it. Oops. It stars Peter Sellers as a gardener who becomes a political advisor. Shirley Maclaine co-stars and they get Oscar winning support from Melvyn Douglas. When I wrote up that piece on The Little Mermaid two years ago, Bruno Paxton reminded me that I was giving it a teensy bit too much credit as THE comeback for Disney animation since Oliver and Company was a hit the year before. So yeah, 20th anniversary DVD for that cute 2D kitten. Finally Babs somehow found the time to return to her musical Yentl for an "Extended Directors Edition". Would that she would return to acting instead.

Newbies ~ Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist in which Michael Cera moves on from Juno (not the town in Alaska) and into Kat Dennings. Sweet funny movie with stellar comedic support from Ari Graynor. Can I see her in another movie NOW (previous posts)? There's also the Southern girl-fest The Secret Life of Bees starring actresses Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Dakota Fanning and singers Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys, Space Buddies which I'd really rather not type about... moving on! And Zack and Miri Make a Porno which I have yet to see. Worth a rental? Help me out.
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To Ruth

From Adam of Club Silencio:

"The earth is my body; my head is in the stars. "

Of all the endearing wisdom that Maude gave to Harold during their May 1st/December 31st romance, that one seems particularly special given the anniversary of Ruth Gordon's death. She lived to the full age of 88, passing on August 28, 1985. I can't imagine there was a more hilarious woman of her generation. Someone just as likely to teach you the splendors of life as to dose your chocolate mousse... Either way it's "snips and snails and puppy dog's tails!"

There would have been a vast hole left in cinema without Ruth Gordon. We'd certainly never value life and we might even trust the elderly.


Her turn as the nosy Minnie Castevet is so completely delightful. How often can you say that about your neighbors, let alone one who's a Satanist? Her character's devious deeds would be nothing without Gordon's disarming nature. She looks like someone who'd play bridge with your grandma, and you'd kindly eat her inedible desserts. Even if she told me she was responsible for my birthing Satan's offspring, I'd just laugh and force down another slice.


And then there's Maude... Brought to charming life by Gordon, she's one of the most inspirational and life-affirming figures in cult cinema. Greeting card sentiments would wear on most audiences, but Gordon gives them a vibrancy so human that they dig right to the heart. She creates in Maude a spirited memorial to living life to the fullest, while stopping to honor death along the way.

So let's all steal a tree and transplant it in her honor. Here's to Ruth with her head in the stars.


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Linksburgh

MNPP celebrates Kathleen Turner's birthday yesterday (yes, I forgot. I suck. Sorry Kathleen!)
Webster's Is My Bitch "stuck up" Reese Witherspoon. Hee. I love that blog
Good Magazine really cool auteur tribute to Hal Ashby (Harold & Maude, Coming Home) by Alexander Payne, David O' Russell and more...
The House Next Door a post-mortem on SIFF. "Worst Film" goes to Mysteries of Pittsburgh. I'm telling you... I've been considering joining the boycott. I will probably never watch this on account of the depressing liberties it takes with a great novel that didn't need liberties taken.

NY Asian Film Festival begins today. Concludes on July 6th. See something wild... like Takeshi Kaneshiro as an angel of death with a talking dog. --->
Best Week Ever "Why Are These Famous Men Crying?"
i09 has a piece on that new HBO vampire series Tru Blood starring Anna Paquin (with screen caps)
The Editing Room Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (snarky abridged script)

And under the "I wish I'd written that" banner please enjoy this Wanted post from Piper @ Lazy Eye Theater which contains the following unassailable truth and hilarity:

Let's pause on this cat-like look. Look at that determination. That fury. I just want to roll around naked with her.