2016 is the perfect time to make a sequel to the 2001 cult-ish classic, Zoolander. The vapid, narcissistic, pea-brained male models that populated that movie have now taken over the earth in the real world, in the form of the “selfie generation,” a bunch of real-life Derek Zoolanders, Mugatus and Hansels running around, staring at themselves like idiots in their little, digital mirrors as they dream of YouTube stardom and Kardashian-level success. I’m a big, fat, thirtysomething, generationally supplanted crank (make me young and beautiful again!) and I would love nothing more than to watch Ben Stiller and his middle-aged cohorts rip this new wave of self-obsessed monsters to shreds (too harsh?) via a new go-round with Mr. Magnum himself.

Zoolander 2 tries to do that and, and fails at all of it. Hard. Like, heartbreakingly hard. The movie opens with Justin Bieber being brutally shot to death and then taking a selfie before he peaces out. That and a selfie-stick car crash are really the only jokes we get about selfie culture, and they feel in bad taste, almost too real to laugh at (people applauded at the sight of Bieber getting shot to death in my theater, which I found to be more than a little sick). Zoolander is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, its male-model characters gifting us with the some of the most glorious displays of sheer stupidity put to screen. There was orange-mocha-frappuccino; the Mer-Man commercial; the iconic “Hansel. He’s so hot right now. Hansel.” That movie was a non-stop shit show of giant laughs that I enjoy to this day, so the fact that its sequel is so unfunny and off-base is a really tough pill to swallow.

The new story picks up with Derek (Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) estranged, both from each other and the outside world. Derek’s living as a “hermit crab” in a snowy cabin somewhere in “extreme northern New Jersey;” Hansel’s living in a desert hut, in a serious relationship with an orgy of lovers (which includes Keifer Sutherland, playing a straight-faced version of himself). They were driven apart by a freak accident at the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good and Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too that killed Derek’s wife and mother of his child, Matilda (Christine Taylor, who makes a couple of brief cameos) and scarred Hansel’s face irreparably. As a single parent, Derek fails again, losing his son, Derek Jr., to child services when he “can’t remember how mom made the spaghetti soft,” depriving his son of nourishment completely, apparently.

Derek and Hansel make up and reunite when they’re beckoned by the world’s latest, greatest designer, Don Atari (SNL’s Kyle Mooney, whose interpretation of passive-aggressive hipster youths is the movie’s highlight) to walk the runway in his ultra-hip garb. The joke’s on them when they’re shoved onto the runway in cheap shirts with the words “OLD” and “LAME” printed on them and they’re ridiculed by their glitzy, fresh-faced onlookers. The world’s passed them by (sob). There’s a larger, more pressing issue, however: There’s been a string of celebrity murders being investigated by the Fashion Police, led by Valentina (Penelope Cruz), who believes Derek has the key to finding the people responsible. Derek agrees, as long as she helps him reunite with his lost son.

The plot’s as uninteresting and flat as it sounds, a trashy send-up of the international spy thriller that chose to spoof that genre seemingly arbitrarily. But all that could be quickly forgiven with some good, solid comedy. Alas, Zoolander 2 isn’t funny, not one bit. The botch is in the approach: Stiller, who directed and co-wrote with Justin Theroux, Nicholas Stoller and John Hamburg, makes that godawful mistake most bad sequels make, attempting to emulate and bottle the magic of the first movie. This never works, and the fact that it’s now 15 years since Zoolander was released only makes things worse: Comedy has evolved many times over since 2001, and the same tricks don’t work anymore. A character being woefully uneducated and small-brained, for example, has been taken to new levels by, say, a show like It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Charlie Kelly is the new king of dumb-funny). For this second installment to really work, it would have needed to reach new levels of stupid, in a sense. Instead, it reaches new depths of disappointing, leaning on nostalgia and old, worn-out tricks. Watching Derek go on a joy ride “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” was funny the first time, but not so much in 2016.

There’s a freaking ass-load of celebrity cameos in this thing, and not one of them is worth the dough it cost to get them on-screen. Sting pops up. Arianna Grande’s in there. Katy Perry. Benedict Cumberbatch. Billy Zane returns. Will Ferrell‘s back as walking bitch-fest Mugatu, and he’s even joined by Kristen Wiig, playing his vaguely European partner in crime, but even they seem off their game. None of these or the myriad other appearances are amusing and, in fact, they’re a bit uncomfortable to watch. Neil Degrasse Tyson shows up to say, directly at the camera, “I’m Neil Degrasse Tyson…BITCH!” Ooh! A respected educator and astrophysicist cursed! The moment’s clearly designed to make audiences explode in applause; instead, it only elicits groans and eye-rolls. We’re familiar with these cheap parlor tricks and we’re ready for something new, and all Stiller gives us is a regurgitated mess.

Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller made a guest appearance during Paris Fashion Week on the Valentino runway to announce the return of the ridiculously good-looking duo, Hansel and Derek Zoolander, in Zoolander 2.

The original movie is about the vapid but good-hearted male models that are hooked into a ploy to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia (or the slightly less offensive Micronesia as it’s stated in the edited movies released in Malaysia and Singapore). With a cast including Milla Jovovich, Jerry Stiller, David Duchovny, Jon Voight, and Vince Vaughn, there were also waves of cameos in the first film such as Donald Trump, Victoria Beckham, David Bowie, and Billy Zane.

Talks of a sequel have been in the works since at least 2008 but things are finally starting to look solid. It will be written and directed by Justin Theroux who is known for his writing credits on Tropic Thunder, Iron Man 2, and Rock of Ages, and he also played the Evil DJ in the first movie. So far, it looks as if Will Ferrell and Christine Taylor will be returning to reprise their roles. Penelope Cruz is also confirmed to be signed on for the film.

Filming will begin in Rome at Cinecitta Studios this Spring and will be released on February 12th, 2016.

Watch Derek and Hansel at Paris Fashion Week below.

Other than branching out to the darker side of comedy (think Inherent Vice or maybe Marley & Me), Owen Wilson rarely leaves his comfortable broad and quirky comedies for more dramatic films. This obviously makes his upcoming role in intense international thriller, No Escape, worth noting. In the film, Wilson plays an American businessman who has moved his family to southeast Asia to become mixed up in a violent political uprising. Will he be able to expand his talent and be sympathetic without his trademark sarcastic attitude?

No Escape is directed by John Erick Dowdle, who is most known for underrated horror films Quarantine and Devil, so this appears to be an interesting change for him, as well. The film co-stars Lake Bell and Pierce Brosnan.

Released by The Weinstein Company, No Escape is set to hit theaters on September 2, 2015. Check out the trailer below!

No Escape trailer

Paul Thomas Anderson makes time travel look so easy. His films jump into the era of their stories so wholly, you’d think Anderson walked into the past with his film crew and shot on location. Inherent Vice is no different, with a milieu perfected by shag carpet walls, leather couches, big cars, smoke screens, and plenty of ’70s Los Angeles pulp. So if you’re looking for a gumshoe noir, the credentials are there in abundance, right down to a deadpan narrator. But if you’re looking for a satisfying mystery, Inherent Vice is two and a half hours of brain-twisting that incites feelings, though satisfaction may not be among them. The plot of the film is secondary, nay tertiary, to the atmosphere and characters leading it. So don’t feel bad reacting with utter perplexity to the film’s storyline. And in fact if that’s what your after, maybe read Thomas Pynchon’s book first, because at least there you can earmark pages and underline names.

Watching the film is a bit like trying to grab a goldfish in water. The film begins when stoner private investigator Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) receives an unexpected visit from his ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston). She spills on him the story of her new man Mickey Wolfmann, a real estate mogul whose wife and her lover have a plan to send him away to the looney bin and take his money. The next day Tariq Khalil (Michael Kenneth Williams) visits Doc at his “office”—a room at a gynecology office Doc uses—and hires Doc to find an old jail acquaintance of his who owes him money. That acquaintance just happens to work for Wolfmann. Doc takes a trip out to see the latest land development of Wolfmann’s and finds a sex shop on the premises. He’s knocked unconscious and wakes up next to the dead body of Khalil’s jail buddy, surrounded by police.

Thus enters Detective Christian “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) a partner-less, Hollywood fame-seeking LAPD officer both determined to screw Doc and use him to help in his own investigation. The exchanges among Doc and Bigfoot are some of the best in the film. After Doc’s Gilligan’s Island-style maritime lawyer, Sauncho Smilax (Benicio Del Toro) helps him out of the police station, he is visited by yet another potential client. A young widow and ex-drug user, Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone) asks Doc to track down her husband, Coy, believing him to be alive. Doc finds Coy (Owen Wilson) easy enough—perhaps a little too easy—when Jade, a girl from the sex shop leads Doc to him while simultaneously warning him to “beware the Golden Fang.” When Shasta goes missing herself, more mystery unravels.

Like fellow LA-based noir Chinatown, the heart of corruption runs deep, and neither the police or FBI can be trusted. Doc is led all over town, and up to a backwards detox house in Ojai. Run-ins with an Aryan biker gang and an underground drug cartel invariably lead to higher stakes. But don’t expect to feel too much tension.

The mystery gets more knotted as this film goes on, broken up with moments of drug-addled weirdness and flashbacks of Doc’s memories of being with Shasta. But like I said the point isn’t exactly to follow along. There’s a lot of dialogue, most of it directly related to the plot, so missing any of it can seem frustrating, but this seems to be Anderson’s intention. In this drug-fueled reverie we’re at the liberty of a distractible hippie. The side-show of interesting things happening around Doc, not to mention the rambling nature of most of the loopy and stoned characters, make it easy to miss key revelations Doc encounters as he sleuths. It’s probably the closest thing to being high any clean person could experience.

The momentum sputters somewhat when the film’s MacGuffin is revealed and suddenly Doc’s motivations seem iffy. And there’s still quite a bit of film left after that point. Things get a little too languid before we’re thrown back into the tornado, almost too confused to feel invested. At that point Inherent Vice becomes more about its moments than its whole, but there are some great ones.

An attempt to track down the people behind the Golden Fang corporation leads to an amusing, jittery, dope-fueled escapade with a coked-out dentist, Dr. Blatnoyd (Martin Short at his weirdest best), and an addict runaway named Japonica (Sasha Pieterse). The huge cast is rounded out by Reese Witherspoon as Doc’s Deputy DA girlfriend, Penny, who simultaneously helps and hinders him in his sleuthing.

Despite the obvious adaptation flaws that make for a more unrealistic mystery—the ratio of discoveries Doc makes versus those that seem to just find him is rather disappointing—Anderson has crafted a two and a half hour dream sequence that is trippy but also diverting. And believe me it’s even better the second time around, not to mention necessary if you want to feel that you’re truly grasping the plot.

Phoenix proves over and over that in the hands of Paul Thomas Anderson he’s quite malleable, and with his mutton chops and a simultaneously stoned but pleasant expression, he’s a surprisingly likable anti-hero. Brolin and his flat-top haircut embodies menacing and ridiculous with an interesting charisma. But as Doc’s dream-girl, Katherine Waterston is the obvious breakout from the film. She really does shine, though it’s interesting to note that in many ways Inherent Vice is more of a bromance than a romance as Doc and Bigfoot, and to some degree Doc and Coy, have the more curious dynamics.

Anderson is nothing if not a man attuned to detail and the film’s visuals reflect his carefulness. It’s at all times psychedelic and beautiful. Adding ballast to each crafted frame is a perfectly curated soundtrack. Anderson may have erred on the side of density for what will most likely be considered a stoner film, and it’s not likely to earn respect as his best film by any means, but there’s always pleasure in watching an auteur work. If you give yourself up to the madcap kookiness of it all, Inherent Vice will lead you down the rabbit hole on an enjoyable escape and leave you with a contact high that isn’t at all unpleasant.

Following this morning’s debut of Inherent Vice, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson and a slew of the film’s cast took the stage at the Walter Reade Theater for a Q&A with assorted press & industry members. Along with Anderson, actors Joaquin Phoenix, Katherine Waterston, Benicio del Toro, Maya Rudolph, Joanna Newsom, Michael K. Williams, Hong Chau, Jena Malone, Owen Wilson, Sasha Pieterse, and Martin Short were all in attendance for the film’s first public screening and subsequent press conference. Tonight, the New York Film Festival and the Film Society of Lincoln Center has uploaded the full talk to their YouTube page for a those eager to hear more about the mysterious new project.

“I saw The Big Sleep and it made me realize I couldn’t follow any of it, and it didn’t matter, ’cause I just wanted to see what was gonna’ happen next anyway,” said Anderson of his influences for Inherent Vice, along with answers to why he shot the film flat vs. scope and how his actors prepared to evoke the 1970s. Check out the full Inherent Vice press conference from NYFF52 below:

Inherent Vice Press Conference

From behind a haze of pot smoke and hippie dreams, P.I. Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) navigates 1970s Los Angeles as cultures clash amidst the paranoid aftermath of the Manson Family Murders. At the onset of Inherent Vice, Doc is awoken by ex-girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterston) who’s found herself part of an entangled web involving a real estate tycoon, a biker gang of “Aryan Brotherhood alumni,” and an Indo-Chinese drug cartel. The real estate developer has gone missing, and soon after, Shasta’s gone too. So, Doc begins a hunt for the answers, if only he can figure out the right questions to ask.

If you’ve heard of or are anticipating Inherent Vice and are not already a Thomas Pynchon reader, chances are it’s because the movie is Paul Thomas Anderson‘s latest. Any film listed in the same filmography as Magnolia and There Will Be Blood has a high standard to live up to; however, Vice doesn’t share too much in common with PTA’s most notable works, aside from its California setting. Despite Inherent Vice‘s deep roster of big name stars, it’s not a sprawling ensemble piece like Boogie Nights although Martin Short and Benicio Del Toro a couple of scenes in which they get to briefly steal the show. It’s certainly more of a comedy than his last two films, but the bizarre laughs are rooted in absurdity in a way unlike his early works. Likewise, Inherent Vice isn’t an intricate character study in the fashion of Anderson’s most recent film (also with Phoenix) The Master, it’s more of an examination of a time and characters that belong to it.

For all its strengths, it’s a challenge to grasp everything Anderson throws at the audience in his movie. Inherent Vice‘s convoluted non-story sees characters enter and exit the picture like a revolving door around Doc. Though clever in his own right, Phoenix’s detective is not the type to piece together a complex case; rather, the movie is far more concerned with the heir of mystery than solving the puzzle in a satisfying way. Its subtle touches will likely have to be sussed out during repeat viewings. But as baffling as the film can be on the initial watch, with PTA’s confident direction Inherent Vice remains captivating throughout.

Joaquin Phoenix wanders through a 70s minefield of strange characters with some impressive sideburns in the first trailer released by Warner Bros. for Paul Thomas Anderson‘s new film, Inherent Vice. In the film, based on the Thomas Pynchon novel, Phoenix plays Doc Sportello, a druggie detective searching for his missing ex-girlfriend. Filled with plenty of 70s craziness, the trailer is a bit hard to follow plot-wise, but features the impressive cast joining Phoenix including Josh Brolin, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Jena Malone, Benicio Del Toro, and an incredibly haggard looking Martin Short.

The highly anticipated film has a December 12 release date and is world premiering this Saturday at the New York Film Festival. Be sure to catch our current NYFF coverage and enjoy the trailer below.

Inherent Vice trailer

The New York Film Festival made a splash earlier this year when it was that they would hold the premieres of both David Fincher’s Gone Girl and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice. Beyond those films, the festival will also feature some favorites from Sundance, Cannes & Toronto including Whiplash, Two Days, One Night, Mr. Turner, Foxcatcher, and their closing night film Birdman. In the festival’s newly released trailer, fans get a glimpse of the complete lineup in a sleek minute-long clip.

Notably, the preview has quick looks at the first footage released from P.T. Anderson’s hotly anticipated new film Inherent Vice. While some images from the movie have been released, there are three shots (one of Joaquin Phoenix lighting up at 0:05, another of cops knocking over Phoenix at 0:41, and the last with Owen Wilson and several large pizzas at 0:51) which will certain pique the interest of any Magnolia fan.

Check out the trailer for the 52nd New York Film Festival below:

Wes Anderson’s highest-grossing film to date, The Grand Budapest Hotel, has been officially announced for a Blu-ray & DVD street date of June 17th. The film not only pleased moviegoers, but critics were also enamored with Anderson’s film ever since its premiere in Berlin. And rightfully so. The Grand Budapest Hotel dazzles with plenty of Anderson’s usual visual flair, but the film doesn’t compromise substance for style. As always, each character has their own quirky personality and the cast is full of Anderson regulars including; Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody.

The Grand Budapest Hotel releases on Blu-ray and DVD on June 17th

The Grand Budapest Hotel Special Features

• Bill Murray Tours The Town
• Kunstmuseum Zubrowka Lecture
• The Society of the Crossed Keys
• The Making of the Grand Budapest Hotel
• Mendl’s Secret Recipe
• Promotional Featurettes – “Cast” and “Wes Anderson”
• Stills Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

The Grand Budapest Hotel Blu-ray + Digital HD

• Street Date: June 17, 2014
• Screen Format: 1.85:1
• Subtitles: English/French/Spanish
• U.S. Rating: R
• Total Run Time: 100 minutes

Trailer

The Grand Budapest Hotel Blu-ray cover

Partway through The Grand Budapest Hotel, there’s an argument between Dmitri (Adrien Brody, looking brilliantly evil) and his deceased mother’s lawyer (Jeff Goldblum). The lawyer refuses to hand the dead woman’s fortune over to her son as the details of her murder haven’t been cleared up. Dmitri angrily leaves, and his henchman (Willem Dafoe) casually tosses the lawyer’s cat out of a window on his way out. It’s a cruel act, and a funny visual gag, until the lawyer peers out his window and the camera cuts to his cat’s splattered body below.

Writer/director Wes Anderson uses these shock moments of sudden violence more than once throughout the film. The dead woman (Tilda Swinton, unrecognizable with pounds of old age makeup) is Madame D., an old rich countess who frequented the titular hotel. Located in the mountains of the Republic of Zubrowka, a made up European nation, the hotel is a gorgeous and highly popular establishment. Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) is the hotel’s concierge, a charming man who was also taking Madame D. to bed during her visits (one of Gustave’s many duties as concierge included sexually satisfying the rich old ladies who visited). When it’s revealed that she put Gustave in her will as the recipient of a priceless painting, Madame D.’s family frames him for her murder.

Gustave receives help from Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), a young lobby boy that Gustave has taken a shine to. The story, taking place in 1932 during some unnamed war ravaging the country, is narrated to us by an older Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham) in the 1960s. He’s telling his tale to a young author (Jude Law) over dinner at the hotel, now well past its glory days. Law narrates the 1960s segments, which are actually from a novel being read to viewers in the 1980s by (presumably) a now much-older author (Tom Wilkinson). The nesting-doll structure may seem frivolous, but Wes Anderson’s films thrive on frivolity.

The multi-layered narrative also establishes Anderson’s attempts to comment on memory and nostalgia. Moustafa’s story in the 1930s, shot gorgeously in 1.33:1, is stylistically Anderson’s best work to date. The set design, meticulous framing, whip pans, quick zooms, and use of animation and miniatures, among Anderson’s other visual trademarks, operate at a level that more than matches his story’s large scale. Anderson and cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman are clearly having a field day, and it shows. The charming style also shows Moustafa’s nostalgia for this period of his life, as if these “good ol’ days” represent something that’s never to return.

Anderson is aware of how dangerous this way of looking at the past with rose-coloured glasses is, which is why he throws in scenes like the one with Goldblum’s cat. He is purposely breaking the spell his film casts, reminding viewers that the time period was still a tumultuous one. The hotel is not so much a shining example of long-lost civility and politeness as it is an escape from the harsh realities of wartime and poverty. These two worlds of fantasy and reality eventually come together, but through Anderson’s lens the stylistic flourishes still remain. The final scene of the ‘30s timeline, also the bleakest part of Moustafa’s story, switches to black and white, showing how Anderson still finds a way to fill his heavier moments with aesthetic quirks.

While Anderson’s toying with memory and nostalgia is interesting, it fails to make any impact to the film overall. The handling of violence makes for an awkward juxtaposition, one that’s more admirable in its intent than execution (I never thought I’d say this, but Anderson should take some tips from Quentin Tarantino in this area). The war going on in the film’s background is wiped of any details, save for some vague allusions to the SS. The obscuring of these elements only muddy the water, and the dense plotting of Anderson’s screenplay make his thematic points get swallowed up by the film’s aesthetics.

Not that the aesthetics are a bad thing; The Grand Budapest Hotel is still a treat to watch. Fiennes is perfect as Gustave, and Anderson’s script is filled with plenty of hilarious moments. The massive ensemble, where seemingly every role is filled with a well-known actor (supporting cast includes Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Saorise Ronan, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson just to name a few), work together perfectly. While The Grand Budapest Hotel works well, it only does up to a certain point. What the film amounts to is nothing more than a well-done and admirable piece of fluff.

The Grand Budapest Hotel trailer

Wes Anderson, known for his distinctive visual and narrative style in such films as Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Darjeeling Limited, will be releasing his latest quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The adventures of an infamous concierge at a well known and well frequented hotel between the world wars and Zero Moustafa, who becomes his confidant and trusted friend are detailed with this all star cast. Anderson loves to work with familiar faces and The Grand Budapest Hotel is no exception; Jude Law, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody are all listed as cast members. The film looks to be quite the dramatic comedy with the charm and flare we know Wes Anderson films to behold.

The Grand Budapest Hotel trailer

While watching The Big Year I was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised. The disappointment was, with comedy superstars such as Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, that it wasn’t as funny as I had anticipated it would be. The pleasant surprise was that it still turned out to be a very good movie.

The Big Year is about three men trying to find their calling in life and they all have one thing in common, birding. Stu Preissler (Steve Martin) is a very successful business man who fears moving on with retirement. Brad Harris (Jack Black) is 36, broke, divorced, hates his full-time job at Dell, and his dad disapproves of his birding heavily. Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) or “Bostick”, as everyone calls him in the movie, holds the previous year’s record for birding (732 species) and is willing to put his whole life on hold to defend his title. These three, along with other characters in the movie, are on a mission to find what makes them truly happy.

The rules of having a Big Year are simple. Whoever sees the most birds in one calendar year in the United States is the champion birder. To count the bird, all you have to do is see it, or hear it, if you’re good enough. The whole competition is based on the honor system and, surprisingly enough, nobody cheats. The winner of the Big Year is printed in Birder Magazine and goes down in history as the person who saw the most birds in one year.

Throughout the movie, no one wants to admit that they are going for a Big Year. For fear of stronger competition, they all keep their mouths shut and claim they are in it for the sport. Preissler and Harris meet on a boat while looking for gulls and quickly become friends. Bostick makes nice with the duo, but ultimately tries to sabotage them every chance he gets. This soon becomes an issue for Preissler and Harris and, upon discovering that they were both going for a Big Year, team up to not only beat Bostick, but beat his world record.

Throughout The Big Year it feels like Preissler, Bostick, and Harris are trying to escape their old lives but can’t quite seem to break free. Preissler’s two associates at work won’t leave him alone and they claim that a large business deal will fall through if he doesn’t come back immediately. On top of that, he is sacrificing valuable family time beings his grandson was born in the same year as the competition. Harris is broke and he has to maintain his full time job whilst traveling at his credit cards’ and disapproving family’s expense. Bostick, who might be the most die-hard birder, sacrifices his marriage by abandoning his wife while she is having hormone treatments. Each character has their own quirks to work out but it makes the viewer ask themselves: What would I sacrifice to follow my dream?

All in all this was a surprisingly entertaining movie that takes you on an adventure all around America. The best parts may have actually been the editing, the soundtrack, and the birds and locations you get to see. The character development is good, but the back-and-forth of the movie can be a little distracting. Above all, I will say, almost everyone can relate to the characters’ struggles. The Big Year is a fun movie to watch with anyone and is entertaining from the opening and all the way through the ending credits.

Midnight in Paris is Woody Allen’s latest film about a man who loves Paris and nostalgia which Allen gracefully provides in a whimsy and romantic manner. Allen does for Paris what he has done for New York in the past, cinematically capturing the city perfectly. Most people can agree, this is Allen’s best film in years.

Gil (Owen Wilson) is a Hollywood movie writer who is trying to give a shot at writing a novel but not having the easiest time with it. He is on vacation with his soon-to-be wife Inez (Rachel McAdams) in Paris, a city that he adores every square inch of, especially when it is raining. He brings up the idea of moving there once they are married but Inez does not share the same passion about Paris as he does and she hates being wet. In fact, the couple do not see eye-to-eye on much it seems.

The couple happen to run into some old friends who are visiting the City of Light as well. I decline to say mutual friends as Gil does not care much for Paul (Michael Sheen), a traveling professor who considers himself an expert on every subject on earth. Gil finds him very annoying whereas Inez finds him charming and fascinating. Paul asks if the two would be interested in going dancing and immediately they both respond with different answers.

While Inez and Paul are out dancing, Gil decides to take a walk around the city. He had a fair amount to drink that night so getting lost was not hard for him to do. He ends up on some church steps as the clock strikes midnight it’s bell rings. A few moments later a vintage car full of drunken Parisians pulls up and invites him in.

When the group ends up at a party that is when Gil starts to notice something a little…magical. The first person at the party he meets is Zelda Fitzgerald (Alison Pill). She is very eager to hear that he is a writer himself so she calls over her husband to tell him the news, Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston). He can barely believe what he is seeing.

He does not spend too much time trying to figure out how he ended in what he considers the golden age, the 1920’s, he just embraces it. Woody Allen does the same; he does not bother to explain how this time travel is possible as how is not the important part. Gil has always wondered what Paris was like in the 20’s and now he gets his chance to see it.

The next day everything goes back to normal but Gil can barely wait until midnight to see if the process repeats itself. He walks around until he finds the same church and waits for clock to strike midnight. When the bell rings sure enough the same old car pulls up transports him back in time. Gil runs into a long list of famous heroes including, Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody). Gil realizes he finally found some people he trusts to critique his novel, something that he has never done before and what other perfect people do so than Stein and Hemmingway.

The story really picks up when he is introduced to Piacasso’s lover Adriana (Marion Cotillard). He instantly develops a crush on her. Gil and Adriana share one big thing in common; they both wish they belonged in a different time period. It is when Adriana fantasizes about being in Paris in another time than the 1920’s that he finally comes to a realization that life is a little unsatisfying and you can never think the present is the golden age.

Gil comes to this epiphany shortly after he heavily considers leaving his fiancé for Adriana. He does after all, get along with and share more in common with Adriana than we ever saw he did with Inez. The film does a great job making it about impossible to feel pity for Inez, she never seemed right for Gil from the start.

It is no secret that Woody Allen often portrays himself with protagonists in his films, Midnight in Paris is no exception, Owen Wilson might be the best actor to pull it off to date. Wilson may not come to mind as the perfect person for the role but he proved otherwise. He played the enthusiastic writer who is sometimes neurotically long-winded remarkably well. The rest of the cast also do a excellent job, especially Corey Stoll as Hemingway.

The Royal Tenenbaums is about a dysfunctional family with each member having their own talents and idiosyncrasies, reunited again under the same roof the child prodigies grew up together. Director Wes Anderson’s style is clearly shown like most of his films, the script is incredibly detailed and the character development is phenomenally well done. Most of it is comprised of quirky characters with deadpan punch lines. Love him or hate him, Anderson remains one of the most original contemporary American filmmakers, this film only reflects that.

The Royal Tenenbaums is written in a style of a book and starts off with a prologue – which is narrated by Alec Baldwin – that gives us a detailed background on the Tenenbaum siblings as children. Each of the three kids is gifted in their own way. The oldest son Chas managed to develop a new breed of mice and close real estate deals in his teens. Margot is an adopted daughter who before the age of 14 produced a $50,000 playwriting grant and a secret smoker since 12. Richie is an international tennis champion. Then you have Eli Cash, who is a neighbor kid who spends enough time with them to be considered an honorary Tenenbaum.

To close out the prologue, we see the father, Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), explain to the kids that even though he has made “certain sacrifices” by having children, that he is leaving based on their mother’s, Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston), decision.

The film then jumps 22 years later and we see the children all grown up. At their core, the siblings are falling apart although it is seems like it was not because of being child prodigies or growing up fatherless but simply where life as taken them.

Royal has not spoken to his ex-wife in seven years until one day he pops in to tell her some news. He tells her that he is deadly sick and claims he has six weeks to live. In his own words he “has a pretty bad case of cancer”. However, you do not know if he is telling the truth or not as he is the type of person that walks with a cane but rarely uses it. His last wishes are simple, to get the family back together.

Chas (Ben Stiller) in now permanently in a state of paranoia after losing his wife in a plane crash. The film implies that the late night fire evacuation drills he does with his two children are not rare occurrences. He decides that because there are no sprinklers inside the apartment, he and his kids should live with his mother.

Richie (Luke Wilson) was once a famous tennis player but had choked in a big tournament which ended his career. He blames his failure on his absent father and his love for his adopted sister Margot. Currently, he is cruising around the world on a large ship when he hears the news about his father and decides to go home to visit him.

Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) spends six hours a day in the bathtub of a locked bathroom watching TV and secretly smoking. Her isolation has caused her not to write a play in years. She is married to Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray) but leaves him when she decides to go back home.

Royal never has as much as a quarter on him at any time. He constantly has to ask people for money or credit. His own son Chas has sued him twice for taking money from him. That may be pay back from when Royal shot him in the hand with a BB gun as a kid (which actually happened to Owen Wilson’s brother as a kid).

Since moving back home, Margot rekindles a relationship with Eli Cash (Owen Wilson) which is very upsetting to Richie who is in love with her. Richie eventually resorts to suicide as desperate call for attention. Similar drama surrounds Etheline as Royal is trying to get closer to her at the same time his nemesis Henry Sherman (Danny Glover) is.

Henry calls Royal out for not having cancer and he is right. Royal admits to faking it in an effort to try getting back with his ex-wife but realizes the 6 days he spent with his family has actually been one of the best times in his life. And that is something he is not lying about.

A scene towards the end of the film is wonderful, a long continuous scene that captures almost all of the characters showcasing their personality. Henry is still trying to cheat the system by getting the most out of his insurance. Royal finally makes up to Chas by giving him a dog. The doctor who was giving bad medical advice in the beginning is still giving terrible advice. Margot is still getting cigarettes from hiding places and Richie Wilson is still taking care of his bird as he did as a child.

Wes Anderson’s love for the theater shows as this felt more like a play than it did a feature film. His focus on scene decoration and matching of colors on the set are both artfully done. Along with cinematography, another similar theater element is most of the characters are almost always wearing the same clothing throughout. When you watch a Wes Anderson film, you instantly know it by the look and feel of it, which is something I greatly admire of him. His style is identifiably unique.

While both Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson came up with a script that can hold its own to many others, the acting performances help sell it wonderfully. Gene Hackman nails the role perfectly, in what might be the best film he has done. This role landed him a Golden Globe win. Granted, the amount of talented actors Wes Anderson got to work with for this is mesmerizing, but he did get them each to perform their best.

With The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson spends so much time carefully distinguishing each character that it makes the main storyline seem relatively shallow. It is the type of film that becomes more rewarding after each viewing and because of that it has a tremendous cult following. Of course, most films put out by Anderson have a following automatically associated to them.