The Grand Budapest Hotel

[skizzerflake]

Wes Anderson has now officially become the king of enjoyably odd movies. After Moonrise Kingdom and The Fantastic Mr Fox, along with the Darjeeling Ltd, the Tennenbaums, etc, he’s one-upped himself with the Grand Budapest Hotel. The old Europe dies, fascists arrive and a fun time is had by all.

A reporter (Jude Law), staying in a declining alpine hotel, meets a super-rich guy who wants to tell his story. Having started out as a “Lobby Boy” Moustafa was the trainee of “M Gustave” (Ralph Fiennes) on the service staff of a great hotel in about 1930. Gustave attends to the “needs” of rich old female guests until one dies and he inherits a valuable painting. Greedy family members of the old lady (especially Adrien Brody) WANT that painting and are willing to do anything to get it.

What follows is a frolic through a striped-suit prison, a jail break, chase scenes, being arrested by Nazis, all the while being assisted by the resourceful, ever faithful Mustafa. In his latter years, super-rich Mustafa returns to the hotel because it’s where his life arc began. Now he wants his story told. A birth marked lover, the death of Gustave, the decline of the hotel and the war play into the story.

The movie is funny, full of the cartoony imagery and odd acting that Anderson puts in his movies. If you wonder, just what is “odd” acting, I don’t know what it is, but I know it when I see it and this movie is full of it. The movie is full of cameos by actors who often appear in Wes’s movies, especially Bill Murray and Ed Norton as well as Jeff Goldblum, a cadaverous Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel and on and on. I completely enjoyed it. Did I say this, but Anderson's movies are just so ODD.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - Official International Trailer HD - YouTube

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Odd yes, but very enjoyably odd Great movie as I had mentioned in "what are you watching tonight" thread.

 

[Alex2507]

Loved it. A must watch for Team Twister.

 

[Ponzio]

It's in the queue. Really looking forward to seeing this.

 

[j_garcia]

Looks good. I really enjoyed the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

 

[j_garcia]

Forgot to post. I rented it over the weekend and we both liked it. Quirky, interesting characters, well shot. Worth a rent.

 

[slipperybidness]

Forgot to post. I rented it over the weekend and we both liked it. Quirky, interesting characters, well shot. Worth a rent.

I mostly agree, it was pretty well done and enjoyable.

What I like most was that they get on with it, not a lot of dallying around on any scene.

The end seemed almost rushed to me though, it just seems like so much build-up, then a quick finish.

 

[j_garcia]

Certainly had a frenetic pace. The end was sort of abrupt, and I had to scan through the credits to see if there was anything after them (nope). I was expecting it to be a bit better, but it was still entertaining. Not a keeper for sure. Mr Fox was more entertaining than this one IMO.

 

[3db]

I watched it last night and I really enjoyed it. This movie is DIFFERENT but very good. I'm going to watch it again as I'm sure I didn't catch as many of the one-liners that were so prolific in this flick.

 

[markw]

It finally showed up about two weeks ago. Weird, quirky, and riotously funny in it's understatement and overacting. Not for fans of "Dumb and Dumberer" type movies, though. It's got a more subtle Monty Python air.

 

[whiteboxr]

Going to watch this tonight on the HBO free preview

 

[TLS Guy]

My youngest daughter gave me the BD of "Budapest Hotel" for my birthday this last Monday.

So after a nice grilled filet and trimmings from the local butcher at Laporte and fortified by a nice bottle of Rioja, my wife and I retired to our home theater to watch the movie.

It is wonderful, we have not enjoyed a movie so much in a long time. It keeps up a great pace with never a dull moment. It is a great spoof, especially of movies like the DaVinci Code, and even James Bond movies.

The influence of the Monty Python gang looms large over this movie. Gustav even looks a bit like John Cleese and sounds like him at times.

The really outstanding feature of this movie is the sound track and the superb audio engineering.

There is a massive assortment of musicians playing a vast assortment of instruments, including two Balalaika orchestras, one Russian and one French.

Of particular note are frequent entrances and contributions form the "Father" Henry Willis organ now in the church of St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead London.

This is played by Simon Johnson, assistant director of music at St. Paul's Cathedral London. He produces some stunning effects, and uses the 32 ft. stop to great effect. That is perfectly captured by the engineers and rattles your body cavities.

This organ was installed in 1899 in St Jude's Whitechappel and moved to Hampstead when that church was demolished. The organ has had two major restorations.

Some of you may know that "Father Willis" rebuilt about half the cathedral organs of England. His masterpiece is the Organ in the Royal Albert Hall, known as the "Voice of Jupiter". His organs are renowned for huge power and control. The 32' resultant bass will not disappoint watching this movie on a good system. On my big TL lines this was truly impressive.

I think this sound track is now the best technically I know of. Everything is recorded with great fidelity and transparency. The dialog is at all times perfectly balanced. From now on this will be my optimal demonstration movie.

The entire audio track was put together in London studios, as was the sound track for War Horse. It seems the audio engineering standards in the UK are superior to those prevailing in Hollywood by a large margin in my view.