Moonrise Kingdom

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Moonrise Kingdom - 26/5/2012 10:10:29 PM

Empire Admin

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Post #: 1

Charming and poignant - 26/5/2012 10:10:29 PM

freyar_88

Posts: 15
Joined: 12/3/2012

If you like Wes Anderson, you'll love this. If you don't like Wes Anderson, well... I feel sorry for you. Lovely film.

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Post #: 2

- 27/5/2012 9:00:48 PM

DMonkey77

Posts: 23
Joined: 26/11/2009

Just watched today 27/05/12 superb. Really shows whats wrong with the world when myself and 2 friends and one lonely lady at the front were the only ones there. Can't praise this movie enough a sweet, funny, smart and moving film. 5 stars.

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Post #: 3

- 29/5/2012 7:42:24 PM

Winstone1975

Posts: 1
Joined: 11/12/2008

Watched it this afternoon and loved it. As a longstanding Wes Anderson fan it ticked all the boxes for me and I thought Bruce Willis was a very welcome addition to his usual ensemble. @DMonkey77 can beat the poor turnout at your screening, I watched it on my own!

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Post #: 4

RE: - 30/5/2012 11:52:00 AM

Filmfan 2

Posts: 972
Joined: 30/9/2005

Absolutely fantastic.

This is very much a Wed Anderson movie. As others have said elsewhere, if you have a problem with his way of telling a story this film will do nothing for you, but if you're a fan, this is Wes doing what he does best. I adore his use of colour, composition, and camera movement; his movies are always a joy to look at. The film is full of the whimsy and idiosyncrasy that I've come to expect from his films, and I left the viewing a happy bunny indeed.

Highly recommended.

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Post #: 5

A return to live action genius - 30/5/2012 7:16:04 PM

danfacey711

Posts: 48
Joined: 18/10/2008
From: Oxford

Like most of you are saying, I found it very sad sitting in the cinema with my friend, and us two being the only people there in a large Empire cinema.

It's these type of beautifully innovative films that need support because this is art. Wes continues using his auteur style to his strength and captures the innocence and adventure of youth whilst pulling at the heartstrings and hitting the funny bone.

Good performances, simple script, beautifully shot. Wes Anderson will always be a director to watch and love.

NB. It is understandably why many would oppose this quaint and charming film, but go in with an open mind and you'll all be charmed away

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Post #: 6

RE: Moonrise Kingdom - 31/5/2012 8:53:44 PM

GCH

Posts: 36
Joined: 25/8/2007

We went yesterday, late afternoon and the screen was probably about a quarter full. This is a bit of a shame as this is a really good, entertaining film. All the performances are good, and the young leads were excellent. I guess not enough explosions to draw in the multiplex crowd.

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Post #: 7

RE: Moonrise Kingdom - 3/6/2012 3:38:29 PM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3150
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh

It's interesting that in following an adaptation of a celebrated children's book that was anything but a film for kids (despite the presence of stop-motion animals scoffing vast quantities of food), Wes Anderson has ironically created something that in many ways could be considered his closest thing to a children's film - all being with his obligatory stylisation, musing over fairly non-childlike interests(the records of Francoise Hardy) & his trademark offbeat tone. The reason being that the film is not only successfully anchored by the two child leads, but it also deals with themes very real to childhood on the cusp of adolescence (loneliness, absent family structure, social exclusion from your peers) and consequently, it has an emotional centre to it that by in large, hasn't been this well carried-out in an Anderson film since Tenenbaums. Furthermore, it has a sweeping, intricately-beautiful style that's designed to within an inch of its life - leading to some rather marvellous tracking shots of the sets (the foster home, the scout camp) that hark back to the Belafonte interior shots of The Life Aquatic. The performances from the adults are also strong, with Willis arguably delivering his best showing since M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. Yet despite the talent of the seniors, it is the kids that remain in the centre of Moonrise Kingdom and overall, that is what makes it work.

4/5

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Post #: 8

‘Moonrise Kingdom’ is a charming look at tw... - 6/6/2012 12:56:52 PM

luccewada

Posts: 24
Joined: 31/8/2008
From: Ireland

Wes Anderson has made some truly amazing films. Films and that are funny and tragic, emotional and light-hearted, depressing and life-amirming, all at the same time. ‘Rushmore’ and ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ in particular contain important morals about relationships and wasting your life attempting to complete trivial tasks, and this film follows in their footsteps as one of his superior pictures. The film begins with 13-year old Susie going about her ‘daily routine’ at home, with parents Bill Murray and Frances McDormand, living on the small but populated island of New Penzance. She listens to records of classical music and looks through her trademark binoculars, but mostly she loves to read fantasy novels, set in “magical kingdoms on Earth or elsewhere.” Across the island, Edward Norton is troupe leader of the Khaki Scouts, from which our main protagonist, 13-year old Sam Shakusky, has just escaped. Norton contacts the lonely local policeman Bruce Willis, who we see is having an affair with Susie’s mother, and the search begins for Sam, before Susie goes missing too.
Willis and Norton are wonderful as the two lonely, island-bound characters, and stand out among the Anderson regulars. Norton interacts wonderfully with the boy-scouts, when they are updating him on Sam’s current location, and when scout head honcho Harvey Keitel strips him of his badge for being incompetent, he immediately proves himself by rescuing Keitel from certain death.
The film is jam-packed with Anderson’s signature features: the alpha-male giving orders to his pack (Mr Fox in Fantastic Mr Fox, Bruce Willis in MK), the long shot of a landscape where very little is happening, the onscreen narrator, binoculars, yellow titles, precocious child, dates audio equipment (the list goes on over at Wes Anderson Bingo), but it is the original moments; the areas that Anderson has never explored before, such as the passionate love scene betwe

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Post #: 9

Charming if very leftfield - 7/6/2012 10:31:23 AM

filmsunlimited

Posts: 95
Joined: 20/2/2009

OK - Submarine slightly wins on the Wes Anderson- ometer but the themes are similar, two young people who find (a strange type of) love despite their less than lovely backgrounds.
The whole film is obviously set in the 60s and seems to have a feel of almost self indulgent nostalgia about the whole era. Scout leaers may baulk at the film (as the pack leaders are horrifically imcompetent compared to todays ream of risk assessment ethos.) Although no doubt filmed in the spirit of innocence, there is something slightly uncomfortable about seeing a barely teenage girl in swimwear and asking to have her breasts touched, one cannot help but feel this section of the film may attract the wrong end of the Lolitaites amongst cinemagoers. Also, what does annoy is for those of us not genned up on American geography, you don't quite know exactly where the film is set, it would be nice to! Overall a bit of a Marmitey experience , I enjoyed it overall but know of those that hated it!

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Post #: 10

Charming - 8/6/2012 8:41:27 AM

sephiroth7

Posts: 150
Joined: 14/10/2009

Beautifully disarming movie. Never too long to wait for the next chuckle either. Loved it. Great review Empire.

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Post #: 11

RE: Charming - 9/6/2012 7:42:11 PM

jrewing1000

Posts: 469
Joined: 23/11/2005

Yep. I liked this.

Exactly what you would expect from Wes Anderson. It's a funny, charming, whimsical film, and provides many many moments of real originality and wit. In particular, his talent for good old fashioned storytelling is one of his strengths. There's a scene where Anderson seems to abandon the realistic special effect for something much more theatrical, proving that it isn't what you see, but what you feel that matters.

Film-school stuff. Go see.

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Post #: 12

RE: Charming - 12/6/2012 5:55:15 PM

R W

Posts: 268
Joined: 23/6/2006

As he hits the magic number of seven in terms of his directorial career (as well as a short film), you ought to know the mechanics of a Wes Anderson film. Although he is often criticised for being smug and a bit clever-clever, Anderson beautifully blends his dry humour with a fable narrative, along with a killer soundtrack, with works such as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Following his strange and perhaps adult-centric adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox, the director returns to live-action with which many have called his most ambitious film to date, in the form of Moonrise Kingdom.

In the year of 1965, former Boy Scout Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and unhappy bookworm Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) escape from their New England island town to share their love with one another. Their disappearance prompts a local search party led by the Sheriff (Bruce Willis) and the girl's parents (Bill Murray, Frances McDormand) to fan out to find them.

It's fair to say that if you are not a Wes Anderson fan, you will not be won over by his latest work, as it has a lot of his signature traits such as his unconventional storytelling, methodical cinematography and the presentation similar to a storybook. In terms of the narrative of this film, it follows the journey of the two young leads that are both experiencing first love with such intimacy, whilst we are witnessing the responses from the adults of their island who have problems of their own.

While there are some humorous moments throughout such as Bill Murray's mopey appearance and Edward Norton as the scout master, one wouldn't classify the film as laugh-out-loud funny, due to the surprising dark tone as the young pair faces danger in the vein of Lord of the Flies. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Sam is an orphan who might face a similar fate to Oliver Twist. Whilst it is not a kid's film, Anderson is clearly influenced by those aforementioned stories as a lot of these tales dealt with light and darkness.

Amongst the fine ensemble of actors that not only consists of frequent Anderson collaborators Murray and Jason Schwartzman, but surprisingly Bruce Willis who is a fresh face for a Wes Anderson film. In the role of the lonely Sheriff, we are not seeing a Willis-in-a-vest performance as the action star is playing someone who just wants to be loved, which thus makes Willis at his most vulnerable since Unbreakable. Even with strong performances from Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton (simply known as Social Services), newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are the real standouts as the outsiders whose love for one another is wonderfully charming and never gratuitous.

It will not win any new converts for the Wes Anderson audience, but Moonrise Kingdom is a strong reminder of what made the director's work great in the beginning, and will perhaps gain the title of "this year's Submarine".

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Post #: 13

RE: Charming - 21/6/2012 9:51:12 AM

estelle

Posts: 3
Joined: 22/12/2011

I agree with mos of you, this is not a film for everyone, but if you're into auteur approaches of reality, this is a film for you.

For me it was sending out rare messages of innocence and true, young love, but I write it better over here:

Enjoy!

Edit - the site doesn't allow advertising of personal sites in posts. You're welcome to review the film here or post a link in your sig. But please don't refer to it within posts or try to direct users off-site.

< Message edited by elab49 -- 29/9/2012 11:02:14 PM >

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Post #: 14

- 2/7/2012 5:53:48 PM

courtneyross123

Posts: 8
Joined: 14/6/2012
From: Oxford, England

The vintage cinematic techniques used in this film create an authentic charm to it. Not only this but acts as a form of escapism for the audience; I personally forgot about everything when watching this film. However, the opening sequence didn't match up to the rest as i believed it improved as it progressed through the film. Oh and who can forget the random comedy!

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Post #: 15

RE: - 7/7/2012 6:20:59 AM

TragicRomantic

Posts: 77
Joined: 7/7/2012
From: Elysium

Great film for Anderson fans,not for non-believers.I loved it!

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Post #: 16

Moonrise Kingdom - 1/10/2012 12:27:56 AM

Biggus

Posts: 7603
Joined: 2/10/2005
From: Not Local

Moonrise Kingdom is the 7th feature film by American film-maker Wes Anderson and tells the story of a boy scout and his experiences of first love.

The main criticism usually levelled at Anderson's films is their lack of emotional engagement e.g. too kooky, too quirky etc. Being only an Anderson novice myself (my only previous viewing being 2004's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), I've not taken the time time to judge his work accordingly. Based on his latest effort, as much I don't want to follow the herd, I would tend to agree with said criticism.

Visually it seems to offer an endless parade of tableau shots which only serve to distance the viewer from the story and the characters. The distinct lack of movement and interaction is crippling to the audience's buy-in. In the final third of the film the pace quickens slightly and there is some truly lovely cinematography on display but the lack of engagement sadly renders it nothing more than pretty to look at. I really wanted to like this film as for once we have a storyteller who genuinely has an original vision, something sorely lacking in Hollywood these days, and the world he creates has no obvious cinematic heritage (although there are obvious nods to Lord of the Flies) but it has an annoying habit of reminding you via distracting character tics that it is first and foremost indie cinema and never fully relaxes.

Of the cast, Bruce Willis offers his best attempt at offbeat humour but his skills are nowhere near adept enough for this. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand are just fine but aren't given enough screen time. On the plus side the central relationship between the runaway scout and his would-be 'bride' is at times touching thanks to the child-like sense of wonder occasionally thrown up by the script which helps evoke the first pangs of adolescent love rather sweetly. Only Edward Norton makes a significant impact as the dedicated scout leader doing his best to maintain dignity and order within his troop. It should really have been his story.

However, despite its flaws, I will still remain open-minded with regards to future Anderson films. As mentioned originality is not to be scoffed at in these overblown franchise-riddled days and hopefully one day I will look forward to the announcement of Un Film de Wes Anderson with anticipation. But it ain�t yet I�m afraid.

< Message edited by Biggus -- 1/10/2012 12:30:07 AM >

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Post #: 17

- 2/10/2012 12:32:42 AM

Coyleone

Posts: 482
Joined: 13/10/2008

Just watched Moonrise Kingdom. Great little movie, really enjoyable with a brilliant and pretty powerful use of music to compliment the amazing looking images in the film (it's a Wes Anderson movie so that's to be expected). Great performances too, especially enjoyed Bruce Willis in his role. Very funny and charming. Really enjoyed it.

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Post #: 18

RE: - 6/10/2012 10:33:58 PM

OPEN YOUR EYES

Posts: 3468
Joined: 5/2/2012
From: Living on Lynch's quiff

Just seen it and it is one of Andersons better films or,arguably,his best.
It had the usual qwerkyness but I felt this time that it was slightly more grounded and wasn't trying to be over the top or garish.
The acting was great,especially from Bruce Willis who I'd like to see do more similar roles other than the anti hero characters he's played throughout his career.
The pacing was perfect,the humour and wit was executed with precision and visually it portrayed that classic Anderson style.

A enjoyable family film.

5/5

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Post #: 19

Brilliant as usual - 30/10/2012 3:16:23 PM

atom_band

Posts: 14
Joined: 12/7/2012
From: South Africa

So Willis finally joins the Anderson gang and he is the standout performance in Anderson's latest eccentric and brilliant film.
Bigger in scope than his previous films, flawless production design, art direction and great performances all around from the ensemble cast. This is Wes Anderson's most ambitious work yet. Although I found his last film 'Fantastic Mr Fox' (which was close to perfect) wittier and more aesthetically pleasing.

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Post #: 20

RE: Brilliant as usual - 2/11/2012 11:51:58 AM

lola_re

Posts: 8
Joined: 2/11/2012
From: London

Was anyone else really impressed by the soundtrack?

I heard so much music in that film that I can't imagine hearing anywhere else, like this --> Oliver Cromwell

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Post #: 21

RE: Brilliant as usual - 2/11/2012 1:11:14 PM

OPEN YOUR EYES

Posts: 3468
Joined: 5/2/2012
From: Living on Lynch's quiff

quote:

ORIGINAL: lola_re

Was anyone else really impressed by the soundtrack?

I heard so much music in that film that I can't imagine hearing anywhere else, like this --> Oliver Cromwell

Yep.
The music was well matched with the qwerkyness of the movie.
Must check it (soundtrack) out some time.

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Post #: 22

Moonrise Kingdom - 3/11/2012 5:46:01 AM

ajm1991

Posts: 22
Joined: 3/11/2012

Moonrise Kingdom is a consistent pleasure. Hilarious as well as heart felting, it is sweeter than a candy. It evokes the memories of our childhood loves as well as those summer holidays with a magical sense - a true gem !! Highly Recommended !!

< Message edited by elab49 -- 15/12/2012 1:07:04 PM >

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Post #: 23