Resolution 2009

Movies I Have Seen

For the record: built 11/25/2008.

Any movies logged before 11/25 are likely inaccurate in terms of both date and rating.

Fantastic Mr. Fox
2009-11-27 15:15:00
viewed at Northgate on film

Numeric Rating: 8

I kind of feel like this is the summation of everything Wes has been working towards throughout his career, plus with animated foxes.

Actually, upon further reflection, that's not the case. I tend to forget about the best parts of Rushmore, namely those parts where Max & Margaret are flying kites in the Astrodome parking lot. Or whatever that whole section is about. There's an air of melancholy suffusing that section that feels much truer than most of the more-mannered/ironic stuff that came after. (it's there in Bottle Rocket as well, and honestly, I attribute it as much to Owen Wilson as to Wes -- I should re-watch Royal Tenenbaums, as that's the last script the two co-wrote)

And FMF, by its very nature, can't really attain that either. But it's beautiful to look at, and it's very laid-back and mellow and genuinely funny and touching. It's a work of art that's clearly the product of a relatively small group of people working together, although all the coverage surrounding Wes's remote-directing would suggest that that, too, is a fiction.

So: probably my favorite WA movie since Rushmore, and it pushes gently in new directions (it's by no means a kids movie, but there's a playfulness that he accesses via the animation that works well).