1. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Director - Wes Anderson
Writers - Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach
Date of Viewing: 01/01/07
First Viewing: No
A much maligned film by both critics and fans (including myself) upon its initial release, an eagerly anticipated second look at Wes Anderson's fourth feature, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, has unearthed an energetic and charming film about dysfunctional family from two current American masters of the genre (Anderson and Noah Baumbach), deserving of a much needed revisiting by both fans and critics alike. Though initially dismissed as overcooked, Bill Murray's performance anchors this film's cockeyed aesthetic as a washed-up and pompous Jacques Cousteau-esque explorer, who acts as a rudder to his ship of motley fools, highlighted by Bohemian goddess Angelica Huston, sensitive Teuton Willem Dafoe and a Kentucky fried Owen Wilson. While I admit that the film lacks the emotional presence of Anderson's masterpiece, Rushmore, or the focused insanity of The Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic is a thoroughly enjoyable film, at once whimsical and thoughtful, and not be to easily dismissed as a Royal Tenenbaums redux as I had years ago.
2 comments:
Oh, and Jeff Goldblum takes a bullet.
I love that scene. He's playing poker with his kidnappers and spots Bill Murray. He asks if he's being saved and then folds his hand...and then gets shot. Great scene.
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