Posts tagged Tom Wilkinson
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” All Style and No Substance
Apr 2nd
“All Style and No Substance”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is the latest movie written and directed by Wes Anderson, and of all his movies that I have seen, I have either liked them or didn’t like them.
This one falls in the latter category.
Full disclosure: Granted, I have not seen all of his movies, but I did enjoy RUSHMORE, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, and THE LIFE AQUATIC OF STEVE ZISSOU, which I enjoyed very much.
I believe that this latest movie has more style than substance and is as filling probably as the confectioneries that play such an important part in the story.
Oh, it contains plenty of story, just as it contains plenty of actors, such as Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Soirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, and Owen Wilson, many of whom were recognizable because of the size of their parts, but a couple I missed because they weren’t on screen long enough to recognize them.
Sure enough, the story is about a hotel, but it is not in Budapest, but rather in the fictional Republic of Zabrowka, which apparently is in Europe.
The story also jumps around in time, but mostly takes place in 1932, between the two world wars, which also play a part.
Mostly the story is about a concierge at the hotel, M. Gustave, played by Ralph Fiennes, and Zero, the Lobby Boy he hired on a trial basis, and whom Gustave tells, “Remember, I am always with you.”
Well, there is a dowager countess who dies and leaves Gustave something priceless in her will, but which is contested by her son.
Not only is there a second will, but also a second copy of the second will and a confidential message that goes along with it.
There is a murder investigation, a prison sentence, a prison escape, a love affair between the Lobby Boy and a pastry maker, a cat thrown out of a window, some fingers cut off in a door, and a wild chase through the snow.
Now, I subscribe to the philosophy of Vincent Canby, respected film critic for THE NEW YORK TIMES, which was “One man saw a movie, and I am that man.”
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL was that movie, and I hated it!
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Movie Trailer
Apr 1st
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune — all against the back-drop ofa suddenly and dramatically changing Continent.
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” All Right in the End
May 19th
“Everything All Right in the End”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is about a hotel in India of that name, but ending in even more words of “For the Elderly & Beautiful,” it is a beautiful, lovely, and funny movie, and it just might be the best movie you will see all year.
Based on the 2004 novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach, the movie follows seven British pensioners who accept the offer from the hotel’s new owner and manager to travel there and kick-start its business.
In fact, the brochure that persuaded the seven strangers to go to India for a new adventure was Photoshopped to look like what the young manager hopes it will look like, and after they arrive, he adds “Now with Guests” to the hotel sign.
The manager’s name is Sonny Kapoor, he is played by Dev Patel of the 2008 Slumdog Millionaire, and when the new arrivals complain about the hotel’s condition, Sonny assures them with his optimistic philosophy, “Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not all right, then it is not yet the end.”
The most well-known actors playing the pensioners, who are all there for different reasons, are Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith, and although it is difficult at first to keep them and their stories straight, just sit back, relax, and let them all be as wonderful and enjoyable as the sights, sounds, and colors of India itself.
One of the pensioners has been forced to sell her London flat, another one lived happily in India 40 years ago and is returning to settle a matter that has been bothering him all that time, another one doesn’t like foreigners, but requires a cheap hip replacement, one unhappily married couple lost money in a bad investment, one woman is looking for a rich husband, and the final pensioner is a man who is lonely and just looking for some female companionship.
In the meantime, Sonny has his own romantic problems, because his mother doesn’t approve of his girlfriend and has her own plans for his future bride.
And don’t think that the pensioners will find what they are looking for within their own group.
Remember Sonny’s optimistic philosophy?
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, when it comes to the end, will leave you thinking that everything is all right.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
