Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Director: Gil Kenan
Starring: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Celeste O' Connor, Logan Kim, Emily Alyn Lind, James Acaster
Running Time: 115 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★½ (out of ★★★★)   

We've been waiting so long for a true Ghostbusters sequel that when Afterlife finally arrived in 2021, it couldn't help but feel a little anticlimactic. With Jason Reitman taking the directorial reigns from his late father, a total overhaul wasn't just necessary, but inevitable, placing him in the difficult spot of rebooting this property with an entirely new plot and fresh characters. Now after mixed results, it earns another go-around with Frozen Empire, as co-writer Gil Kenan steps in, moving the story back to the city where everything started in 1984. 

Reitman's decision to have the previous sequel focus on an Oklahoma based ghost busting team of Spengler grandchildren aided by their mom and science teacher seemed to please more fans than it offended. So even as legacy cast members were sidelined and its ending felt cribbed from the original, it still had enough moments to wipe away the bad taste of Paul Feig's 2016 attempt at reviving the franchise. But despite a familiarly nostalgic setting that does help alleviate certain creative issues, some of the same challenges persist, with the film struggling to utilize its packed cast in what should be a relatively simple, straightforward story. 

Three years after the previous film's events, Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and boyfriend Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) have moved to New York City with her kids Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace) to help original Ghostbusters Winston (Ernie Hudson) and Ray (Dan Aykroyd) reestablish operations at the old firehouse location. As longtime nemesis turned mayor Walter Peck (William Atherton) looks to shut the business down and jail them for employing an underage Phoebe, she befriends teen ghost Melody (Emily Alyn Lind) in the park, realizing they have more in common than either assumed.

Meanwhile, a man named Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani) claims to have inherited a strange brass artifact from his grandmother and convinces Ray to purchase it for his curiosities shop. But when the team discovers the mysterious orb houses the evil god Garraka, research reveals his release will lead to the recruitment of an undead army to freeze and conquer Earth. With this demon's sights set on the firehouse's ecto-containment unit, the Ghostbusters will need all hands on deck to save the city and world from complete annihilation. 

Packing up and heading to NYC for the follow-up wasn't just an inspired idea, but a necessary one considering that's where this incarnation of the franchise belonged to begin with. Still, it's hard to begrudge Reitman for continuing the story he built around Egon's family, even if parent/teen team isn't exactly what fans envisioned as the next generation of Ghostbusters. Auxiliary players like Lucky (Celeste O' Connor) and Podcast (Logan Kim) are back, but more than a few others are added, like  returning antagonist Peck and another classic favorite in Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts). That the latter's appearance feels more like a cameo is almost a foregone conclusion given everything Kenan and Reitman try to jam in. 

Of the three originals, Akyroyd inexplicably has the largest, most involved role again, though he does well with what he's given. The underused Hudson and Bill Murray believably slide back into their suits, but it's clear they won't factor in until the climax. This is really about the Spenglers, with a script building on that dynamic and including enough callbacks to please fans, like Slimer and those mischievous Mini-Puft marshmallow men. As for the action sequences, they're mostly on par with its predecessor, which is to say they accomplish what's necessary. 

If this demon Garraka looks and feels like it just stepped out of The Upside Down on Stranger Things, the film's also noticeably overstuffed with supporting characters and excess plot. Patton Oswalt's public librarian and James Acaster's Dr. Lars Pinfield (who oversees Winston's new paranormal research center) are superfluous additions while Kumail Nanjiani delivers the same comedic schtick he's been doing in every other project lately. 

Exiled from the team and quietly rebelling from her family, Phoebe's bond with this droll, sarcastic spirit Melody is the film's most successful attempt at meaningful character development, as the relationship carries both positive and negative repercussions for the sensitive teen. Sincere enough that it's almost too dramatic for Ghostbusters movie, her arc is easily the best thing in the sequel, with much of that due to Grace's believable performance.

This installment comes closer to working by superficially invoking vibes similar to the original two. But it's also full of plusses and minuses that put it at or around the same level as Afterlife, if only slightly higher. The good news is that Reitman stepping aside wasn't the red flag many assumed since it's unlikely he could have done any better with this material than his replacement. Enjoyable enough, Frozen Empire is about as good as we're going to get right now, so at least that's something.         

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Logan Kim, Celeste O' Connor, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Sigourney Weaver, Bokeem Woodbine
Running Time: 124 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

After waiting decades and surviving the ill-fated 2016 reboot, many fans have long wondered what an actual Ghostbusters sequel would look like. Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife isn't exactly that, and the fact it doesn't misrepresent this can be viewed both positively and negatively depending upon your perspective. But the biggest surprise is it doesn't seem much like a Ghostbusters film at all, at least until it eventually tries too hard to be. And if someone were to be blindly seated in front of their screen and asked to speculate what this was, they'd probably say it was the first episode of the upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things. While that inspiration was evident in the trailer, little can prepare you for just how much the film resembles that Netflix series, nearly qualifying as a certified spin-off. 

At first glance, all of this seems like a great idea, if not for the nagging reminder that we've desperately wanted a second Ghostbusters sequel for so long that it almost feels like we're doing this just to get it out of the way. But if anyone can do it, Jason Reitman (son of the original's director, the late Ivan Reitman) would be the ideal candidate, despite it being the kind of escapist entertainment he's consciously avoided dabbling in for much of his career. Within its genre and entering with the barest of expectations, this is a fun, entirely predictable and obvious entry into the franchise's canon, even if you can argue we're not truly given what we came for until the final minutes. And by that point, it tracks so closely with the 1984 film that it could be mistaken for a full-blown remake, only with different actors in the roles. 

If the female-lead 2016 reboot was justifiably criticized for its gimmicky casting (though the real problem was always more about whom they chose and the execution), it's only fair to examine a similar call here by Reitman to cast an all kids team. While the intent is clearly to establish the next generation characters to carry the franchise forward, that's assuming it won't take another thirty years to get another one made and again convince the originals to return, especially the notoriously picky Bill Murray. And what would that film even look like? This doesn't offer many answers, as the casting decision was obviously intended to reel in younger audiences and get this particular project made and released now. Well, that worked, even while this doesn't quite fit the spirit of how the franchise was originally envisioned, or more importantly, where it could have possibly gone.

It's June 2021 and original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler has recently passed away, attacked by a creature at his desolate farmhouse in Summerville, Oklahoma. When his estranged, financially struggling daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) inherits the farm after she and her kids Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) are evicted from their Chicago apartment, they try to acclimate to their new surroundings. While the reclusive Egon was known locally as the "Dirt Farmer," his decaying residence can best be described as post-apocalyptic in appearance, further fueling Callie's resentment toward her late father, whom she feels abandoned her as a child. 

Phoebe adjusts the best, enrolling in a summer school program taught by seismologist Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) and making a new friend named Podcast (Logan Kim). Meanwhile, Trevor becomes infatuated with local drive-in restaurant waitress, Lucky (Celeste O' Connor), prompting him to take a job there. But when Phoebe discovers the farmhouse is haunted and learns more about her grandfather's legacy from Gary, it soon becomes obvious that Egon was onto something huge happening in town. Upon locating his underground lab, equipment and even the dormant Ecto-1 Cadillac, Phoebe, Podcast and Trevor must get to the bottom of what's causing this seismic supernatural activity, bringing them face-to-face with an indescribable evil lurking beneath Summerville's mysterious underground mine. 

Reitman takes his sweet time introducing the characters and situation, putting us far ahead of the central players in terms of grasping this family's current connection to the supernatural occurrences in New York City thirty years prior. It's almost about halfway through the film until those events are openly acknowledged (via YouTube no less) and that kind of works since Reitman already has a knowing and willing fanbase at his disposal that doesn't need anything spelled out for them. Most of the trailer took care of that anyway and he's in the rather fortunate position of being able to postpone the payoff as long as possible, spending most of the time building the story before blowing the roof off in the last act. The  character-centric shenanigans, while predictable and sometimes overly cutesy, is mostly a success, especially when it comes to the more emotional story arc of Callie's bitterness toward her late father and how it's affected the relationship she currently has with daughter Phoebe, an awkward, self-professed science nerd. 

Carrie Coon gives the film's best performance as this single, frazzled mom in over her head and broke, still suffering as a result of her father's tainted legacy, but determined to be the parent she thinks he wasn't. Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan have a really good idea there and when that's front and center is when the picture's at its best, most notably in the final minutes. Grace McKenna is basically the lead, and while it's easy to question the reasoning behind having a tween character carry this, she's very believable as Spengler's quirky, likable granddaughter. The realization of who he was and how it helps her see what she could be is well handled, a standout amongst lesser scenes of the kids busting ghosts. And given screenwriters' recent obsession with podcasting characters, it was only a matter of time before we actually got one named "Podcast." Logan Kim's fun in the part, but when his supporting role is elevated to a co-lead, it's hard to argue that his goofy charms didn't work better in smaller doses. 

It's a bit jarring to see these kids with a proton pack and ghost trap, stepping into such iconic, identifiable roles even if they aren't necessarily being touted as "replacements" for the original actors who are now too up in years to carry this again.  Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard already briefly wore the uniform on that series so you have to wonder if Reitman cast him as a deliberate attempt to further incorporate the tone of that show. He acquits himself fine, even if the sub-plot involving his crush on Lucky seems thrown in and doesn't really land. Paul Rudd is entertaining as usual in what can best be described as an oddly written science teacher/seismologist character who shows horror movies in class and bonds with the kids, while also trying to woo Callie. There's enough going on with this guy that he comes off as a composite of multiple characters, but Rudd is Rudd, so that helps.

The special effects and CGI are top notch, and while some have complained, the mini Stay Puft marshmallow men are a clever touch that calls back to the '84 film in much the same way a new ghost nicknamed "Muncher" does, making for a suitable Slimer stand-in. While it's not exactly a well kept secret that Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson all respectively return as Venkman, Stantz and Winston (along with Annie Potts' Ghostbuster secretary Janine Melnitz and Sigourney Weaver's Dana Barrett), the nature and extent of their roles vary some (Weaver's basically non-existent). No one's likely to be disappointed, as the core three are mostly back at the top of their games, with Aykroyd arguably turning in one of his more memorable recent supporting turns as Murray and Hudson smoothly slide back into their parts as if no time has passed. 

Its last act most feels like a Ghostbusters movie, both for better and worse. The performances are a highlight (including a great but uncredited Olivia Wilde as Gozer), as is the emotional payoff involving the late Egon and his family. In terms of providing fan service, Reitman's approach is to basically recreate the original's ending with a new cast, with Coon and Rudd's purpose becoming distractingly familiar. Viewers are put in an odd position when the entirely new touches are hit or miss and what's faithful to the original is almost too slavishly faithful, resulting in another one of those soft reboots that straddles the fence in not wanting to alienate anyone. Stranger Things aside, Close Encounters of the Third Kind is also a noticeable influence, so when you throw some of that in there it's all kind of a mess, albeit not an entirely uninteresting one.

The first Ghostbusters is largely thought of as an action comedy appealing to kids and nostalgic adults with a key difference being that 11 and 12 year-olds weren't the leads. But at least Afterlife prevents embarrassing The Karate Kid remake comparisons by leading with a multi-generational story that elicits high quality work from the young actors despite a questionable conceit. The movie is slick, well made and probably the nearest of near-misses, but it's arguably more effective as a Harold Ramis tribute than a Ghostbusters entry, at least in terms of whatever we now perceive that to mean.    

Aloha

Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray, John Krasinki, Danny McBride, Alec Baldwin, Jaeden Lieberher, Danielle Rose Russell
Running Time: 105 min.
Rating:  PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

In his 2005 film Elizabethtown, writer/director Cameron Crowe's depressed protagonist infamously attempted to differentiate between a failure and a fiasco. Now, after the disastrous release of his poorly received Aloha, he's probably asking himself that same question. It's not the most promising sign when the biggest question going into a film is whether it's really as bad as everyone says. How can any movie directed by Crowe and starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams and Bill Murray be THAT bad? But the truth is that any movie starring or directed by anyone can be, and it still takes an enormous amount of talent and to even do that.

Aloha isn't entirely successful, but it's not a disaster either. Far from it. And it certainly doesn't deserve to end a filmmaker's career, especially considering most of what ends up on screen proves he's still got it, occasional missteps and all. Despite what's been said, this is vintage Crowe, aside from an overly ambitious plot that's unlike anything he's previously done, sometimes to the film's detriment. But what's been lost in all the manufactured controversies is that it also contains one of the best directed scenes of his career, on par with anything from Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire or Say Anything. Unfortunately, the movie it's in is not. This begs the question of whether Crowe's work has really changed at all, or audiences have just grown more cynical, leaving our bright eyed optimism in the 90's, the decade this type of film seems practically enshrined in.

Following a failed stint as an Air Force pilot, military contractor, Brian Gilcrest (Cooper) returns to Hawaii to aid billionaire Carson Welch (Murray) in his efforts to develop land into a space center and launch a privately-funded satellite. He also encounters ex-girlfriend, Tracy (McAdams), who's now married to a pilot of very few words in Woody (John Krasinki), with whom she's raising their two kids, 12 year-old Grace (Danielle Rose Russell) and 9 year-old Mitchell. Brian's liason for the mission is Air Force Captain Alison Ng (Stone), whose sparkling personality and connection to the island's rich spirituality helps smooth things over with the native Hawaiians. As he eventually falls for her, it not only complicates Carson's mission, but Tracy's already shaky marriage as well.

As tempting as it is to describe the almost needlessly ambitious main plot as having something to do with Hawaii and space, all those aforementioned details are required to grasp it. And yet, no amount of them could suffice. It's not that it's convoluted or confusing so much as everything moves so quickly that it's tough to take it all in. Perhaps thankfully, Crowe is more interested in setting than story this time as he spends most of the opening hour drafting a love letter to the Hawaiian culture, drenching us in its mysticism and spirituality. But unlike The Descendants (with which this will most frequently be compared), the location doesn't feel quite as seamless and organic to the story, as Crowe really lays it on thick in the first hour.

If the satellite plot isn't enough of a head-scratcher, try keeping up with Cooper and Stone's characters meeting with Hawaiian sovereignty activist Dennis 'Bumpy' Kanahele, lending an impressive presence as "himself," even if it's his shirt that ends up stealing the show. Crowe should only wish that's the only controversy this film courted, as his casting of Stone as an Air Force pilot who's "half Swedish, one quarter Chinese and one quarter Hawaiian," created a noticeable stir. But let's just call it what it really is: PC nonsense that has little to do with the film's merit or content.

Actors act. That's what they do. And sometimes they even take on roles that are a drastic departure from who they really are. Other than Crowe having Stone's character pointlessly remind everyone of her ethnicity out of what seems like some massive insecurity, it's hardly worth a discussion. But judging from the extreme reaction, you'd think Stone was playing Mickey Rooney's role in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Whitewashing is a problem, but so is the fact that Crowe felt he had to apologize for how he cast his own movie. If anything, his only mistake was writing the character's ethnicity into the script without anticipating a media firestorm. But that's Crowe, completely idealistic in believing audiences would care enough about these characters to drown out the noise and disappear into whatever world he's created. He probably didn't even give a second thought to the implications of Stone's casting and, in a strange way, that's kind of reassuring. 
          
Joining Ione Skye, Kate Hudson and Kirsten Dunst as the latest in a long line of Crowe's Manic Pixie Dream Girls, Stone might be playing the most manic. Given what she's done up to this point, that path does seem right, but watching the opening hour it's hard not to consider Alison Ng one of the more overbearing, hyperactive MPDG's to be experienced in a while. It's easy to see how Brian would be completely put off by her, as are we. But just when the volume is pumped up so high on the character she starts making Dunst's Claire Colburn seem as if she's on depressants, the script, and Stone start to find their groove.

The exact turning point comes during a Hall and Oates dance sequence involving Stone and Bill Murray that's so weirdly compelling you're forced to just surrender to both actors' charms and the pure random absurdity of it. That Murray's supposed to be playing a self-serving, meglomaniacal CEO makes little difference to him, and of course, us. It's impossible to dislike the guy and he knows it, lending an eccentric quality to Carson that makes this nonsensical space plot bearable for at least the scenes he's in.

Bradley Cooper not only comes out of this unscathed, but demonstrating a versatility and charisma in a lead Tom Cruise would seem perfect for fifteen or twenty years prior. Jerry Maguire meets Top Gun meets Silver Linings Playbook would probably be the best way to describe the film, as well as Cooper's work in it. Depending upon how you feel about the idea of the actor starring in that kind of a project, he gets us on Brian's side quickly, rooting for the redemption of a guy who's kind of a self-absorbed jerk. Two big scenes near the end confirm just how smoothly Cooper excels at this, and whatever problems exist within the film, he definitely isn't among them.

Despite what was advertised, this isn't some kind of romantic comedy love triangle in which Brian is torn between Alison and his ex, played by McAdams. That this doesn't at all occur is most refreshing aspect of Crowe's script, as is the treatment of the family Tracy's built with aloof husband, Woody. Everything about their lives is handled so realistically and intelligently you almost want the whole film to be about them. McAdams occupies a different space than we're used to seeing her in on screen, making Tracy seem almost defeated and agitated at her ex's arrival, despite her marital problems being present long before.

In a nearly wordless performance, Krasinki delivers what's probably the best big screen turn of his career thus far as the complicated Woody, whose unpredictable reaction to Brian's arrival flies in the face of what's expected. Everything isn't as simple as an ex-boyfriend arriving to destroy a marriage, and the few scenes Krasinki shares with Cooper are successful for doesn't happen rather than what does.

Only Crowe could could find a way to work David Bowie and Bob Dylan into a space satellite scene and get away with it. Well, maybe he doesn't exactly get away with it. It's about as ridiculous as it sounds, even if you can't help but think the space storyline was the biggest casualty in the editing process, chopped and cut until it made little sense. As usual, Crowe uses his personal playlist as a backdrop to the action, but the best choice might be going with Jonsi again for the score since their We Bought A Zoo collaboration felt as natural a fit for his work as possible without sounding too cloying or whimsical. There's a lot of that same sound here too, as no one could ever accuse Crowe of merely phoning it in with a soundtrack.

The better movie stuck inside Aloha struggling to break free comes through in the last scene, which tops every single minute that came before, lending the film an unexpected emotional pull that nearly toppled me over. Without spoiling it, there's an obvious, conventional resolution you assume will be the last scene, before Crowe pulls back the curtain to reveal the actual finish, which brings the focus back to exactly where it belongs.

Subtly bubbling under the surface the entire time, the picture's most perfectly executed subplot takes center stage in the final few minutes, reaching its logical culmination and knocking us out with the scene we didn't know we wanted until it came. Wordlessly displaying an entire range of emotions in a matter of moments, young actress Danielle Russell provides us with a 30 seconds so astounding it would play well even out of context. But placed in the context of the entire film, it's safe to say Aloha primarily exists just so we can arrive there.

Anyone watching how skillfully Crowe constructs the end would probably assume a masterpiece precedes it. And they'd only be setting themselves up for disappointment. But not as much disappointment as you've heard. If all the doomsday prognosticators are correct in proclaiming Crowe's big screen directorial career over (which it won't be), it's hard to imagine a better, more fitting scene to close it. Neither a failure nor a fiasco, Aloha sits somewhere in between, leaving to our imaginations an alternate version in which everything went right. But that movie wouldn't be nearly as interesting to talk about or revisit. 
       

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Léa Seydoux, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban
Running Time: 99 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)
  
One thing Wes Anderson's never been accused of is his films having an overabundance of plot and action. Even his best work is thought of as primarily aesthetic achievements, his stories serving merely as backdrops for highly stylized costume and production design and visual flourishes. In some ways, the highest grossing and most favorably reviewed film of his career, The Grand Budapest Hotel, doesn't represent a deviation from that classic Anderson template. And yet it also somehow does. This is the closest he's come to directing a screwball action comedy and it contains more story and characters than most would know what to do with. For the first hour I thought I was watching a masterpiece, but by the second he kind of lost me, before recovering and delivering something that's still special. There's a nostalgiac sadness hiding under the humor  that stays with you, as the many colorful characters populating the hotel mourn an era that's rapidly slipping away, or in the case of some, slipped away a while ago. But at the same time, the whole thing still manages to be a lot of fun.

Featuring a story within a story within a story, the film opens in the present day with a teenage girl reading the memoir of an unnamed "Author" (Tom Wilkinson), who narrates the book from his office in 1985, recalling his stay at Europe's Grand Budapest Hotel in 1968. It was then, with the hotel clearly in decline, that the young Author (played by Jude Law) encountered its elderly, reclusive owner, Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham). Over dinner, he tells him the incredible story of how he took ownership of the hotel. We flash back to 1932 when young Zero (Tony Revolori) worked as a lobby boy under the Grand Budapest's eccentric concierge, Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), running errands and tending to the guests.

It's when one of Gustave's many older, wealthy mistresses, Madame D (Tilda Swinton) dies under strange circumstances and she leaves him a valuable painting, he finds himself at the center of a murder investigation and the target of her son Dmitri's (Adrien Brody) hired assassin, J.G. Jopling (Willem Dafoe). With the help of Zero and hotel baker Agatha (Saorise Ronan), he must evade capture and clear his name, even as war breaks out in their Republic of Zubrowka, signaling a cultural shift that will heavily impact all their futures.

I want to live in this hotel. That was my first thought upon seeing the majestic structure, which is rendered not by some fake looking CGI in wide, exterior shots but an actual handmade miniature model. Remember those? But it's what happens inside that ends being more impressive, with some jawdropping production design that makes you anxious to discover what secret or character is hiding behind every corridor, room and crevice of the building. The atmosphere may draw you in, but it's the story that keeps you there, as there's this pervading sense of melancholy that distinguishes it from Anderson's other work, despite still being very recognizable as such. The story's not only bigger than usual for him, but broader in scope and crossing over multiple timelines.

While Anderson's a filmmaker almost compulsively obsessed with the past, he's at least now found the ideal outlet by creating a story where all his characters are equally obsessed. Nearly every recognizable name in this fully stacked cast is given at least a moment or two to shine, but the the movie really hangs its hat on the friendship that develops between Ralph Fiennes' witty, somewhat delusional Gustave and his impressionable young lobby boy, Zero, played by newcomer Revolori. Not necessarily known for his comedic skills, Fiennes gives what may be his most memorable performance since his very different one in Schindler's List, while Revolori makes the perfect straight man to his zaniness. Of the rest, Goldblum and Ronan each make valuable contributions, while Jude Law and F. Murray Abraham breath real life and history into roles that could have come off as expository or mere bookenders. The rest of the cast have what amount to cameos, checking the usual boxes of Anderson's favorite actors. If pressed, the section during which Gustave and Zero find themselves on the run from authorities is the weakest, before the story regains its footing in the last third.        

This is actually one of Anderson's messier films, but that's of little consequence considering how ambitious the undertaking is and the ease by which it would rank amongst his most visually daring. He really swung for the fences this time and there's explanation as to why it all works other than the fact that he's become a brand unto himself, with no other filmmaker viewing the world quite like he does. As usual, his whimsical style perfectly suits oddball material, but it isn't calling as much attention to itself as it is reflecting the story's darker themes. And this is all about telling stories, to the point you could easily categorize it as a great epic novel put to film, right down to the impeccably realized hotel of the film's title, which seems as much alive (or in some cases as dead) as those inhabiting it. The more you start considering how much he accomplished here, the larger it looms.

Moonrise Kingdom

Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel
Running Time: 94 min.
Rating:  PG-13

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

The word "genius" probably gets thrown around a little too much, but after viewing Moonrise Kingdom, it's even clearer Wes Anderson just might be one of the few filmmakers working today who's rightfully earned the tag. How else can you explain the world he creates in this? Literally a world all its own. And you know you're watching one of his movies before the credits even start to roll. From the costume and set design to the film stock, to the title font to the dialogue and even the actors chosen to deliver it, there's definitely nothing else out there that resembles a Wes Anderson movie. This effort stands as the biggest example of that yet, and also maybe his most personal. Of course, some will still call this "pretentious" "twee" or "hipsterish" but they weren't the audience for this anyway, and would still have trouble denying it's the work of a seriously talented artist. No one else can do exactly what he does and any perceived problems with the the film only exist because his idiosyncratic sensibilities can be so off-putting that it's sometimes hard to find an entry point. But once you find it and surrender to the eccentricity there's no turning back. The movie's set in the 1960's but looks and feels how an imaginary memory wishes the 60's looked and felt like, with a visual aesthetic and production design that's unforgettable, making it seem as if it could be made and released successfully during that era. And try remembering the last picture starring two children that was squarely aimed at adults. I'm still not sure if it's completely perfect, but its messiness and craziness is part of what make it so endearing, and a real keeper likely to continue reaping rewards on repeated viewings.

It's 1965 and 12-year-old Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) is spending the summer as a khaki scout at Camp Ivanhoe on the small New England island of New Penzance. Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) lives on the "Summer's End" portion of this island with her eccentric attorney parents Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura (Frances McDormand) and her younger brothers. But Sam and Suzy's paths crossed a year earlier when, in one of the films best scenes, they meet during a church production of Noye's Fludde, becoming pen pals and vowing to run away together the following year. After making good on their promise, Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) is horrified to wake up and discover, in a clever touch, an escape hole cut in the side of Sam's tent. Enlisting the help of the island's dour police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), the Scout troop and Suzy's parents, a search is underway for the two young refugees who have set up camp in a secluded area on the beach, complete with Suzy's record player and books. With a violent hurricane approaching, their prepubescent romance blooms and they even make plans to marry, but the search team is closing in, as is a "Social Services" representative (Tilda Swinton) who plans to stick Sam in juvenile detention because his foster parents no longer want him. Now the troubled Sam and Suzy, experiencing the only true friendship each has known, are at risk of being torn apart by comically clueless adults who could probably learn more than a few things about life from them.        

The movie makes no qualms about the fact that Sam and Suzy two kind of messed up kids with dysfunctional upbringings and exhibit anti-social behavior that makes it difficult for either to make friends. Sam's entire Scout troop detests him while Suzy is shown in flashbacks fighting at school and discovering a book her parents bought on how to deal with a "troubled" child. In actuality, they're just super smart, sensitive kids who seem to have been done a disservice by the adult authority figures in their lives who are epitomized by, though not limited to, Suzy's endearingly wacko parents expertly played by Murray and McDormand. What's so special about the story is the juxtaposition between the excitement and happiness felt by these tweens experiencing their first blush of puppy love and these depressed, cynical adults have even less direction in their lives and prove to be comically incompetent when it comes to any kind of decision making. It's no wonder Tilda Swinton's "social services" (yes, the character's actual name) gets involved, yet we root against her anyway knowing it's Sam she wants to punish. This conflict between these clever kids and the dumb adults is where must of the script's intelligent humor comes from, and it's a subtle, sophisticated type that slides under the radar at times and demands the viewers' full attention.

In their big screen debuts, child actors Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward simply become Sam and Suzy. There's no other way to put it, as neither exhibit signs they're ever "acting" like precocious kids. Both are brilliantly understated, with Hayward making Suzy the more worldly of the two as Gilman perfects the outsider geek. The adult cast is the best rounded up in some time, with Bruce Willis playing a melancholy type of part we're not often used to seeing him in. It's easy to forget just how great a dramatic actor he can be when pushed by the right director, and he's definitely pushed by Anderson here, giving a really quiet performance that's just filled with depth and complexity. It's a comedy and this shouldn't work, yet Captain Sharp's sadness and the bond he forms with Sam is somehow one of the most touching aspects of the picture. His scenes with the him are gold, with Willis subtly suggesting there's perhaps a whole other movie that could have been made exploring how his character got to the point where he is. Similarly, Edward Norton Scout Master Ward as a kindly leader who not only feels responsible for Sam's disappearance and dreads the prospect of facing the stern Commander Pierce (Harvey Keitel), but wants to use this an instructional lesson for the kids. It's the best role Norton's had in ages and he's strangely perfect for it. Jason Schwartzman memorably cameos has a character named Cousin Ben, a relative of one of the scouts who volunteers to perform an unusual ceremony. And it wouldn't be a Wes Anderson movie without a narrator (Bob Balaban), who takes us on what could kind of be considered a tour of all the various locations on the fictitious island.      

The experience of watching this does in a way mirror the experience of watching Rushmore, The Life Aquatic, The Royal Tenenbaums, but times ten. It's a movie very much in love with its own characters, it's imagined setting and the time period and wants the viewer to be to. It's something you either respond to it or you don't and how you feel about Anderson's unique style will completely determine it. It's not his absolute best, but it seems like his most mature, merging style with substance in a seamlessly to tell his story. Creating a world from scratch isn't easy and in many ways Anderson could be considered the J.D. Salinger of modern movies, his efforts always featuring complex, novelistic characters seen through the warm glow of nostalgia. At only just over 90 minutes, we get more than we could have possibly asked for and there were even points where I simply didn't want it to end. But even as comical as Moonrise Kingdom is, it's underlying themes suggest almost an unbearably sad, bittersweet coming-of-age story. Sam and Suzy will grow up, probably never see each other again and possibly mature into the misguided adults who were searching for them. The film's biggest feat is somehow making that potential outcome seem weirdly satisfying.