Rating: 
Summary: Better than any sleeping pill!
Review: I read the reviews of this movie and heard it was good and I loved the Royal Tenebaums so I rented it. The movie had no momentum to it; it was just boring all the way though. I don't recommend watching movie unless you want to fall asleep!
Rating: 
Summary: i saved latin... what did you ever do?
Review: Ever has there been a single scene in filmmaking history as honest and beautifully restrained at projecting the "state" of loneliness as the Thanksgiving dinner scene in Rushmore clumped (almost unnoticeably) into the montage set to the Rolling Stones' "I Am Waiting." Apparently, that was a question, but a question mark seemed unorthodox at the end of that "statement." But getting back to the point, if you have seen the movie, you probably know what scene i am talking about: Max is eating Thanksgiving dinner alone (well, with his dad), jump to Miss Cross eating thanksgiving dinner in a huge vacant house, again, alone and finally we see Mr. Blume eating alone in his steel factory. Maybe it is me, but that scene (probably only 15 seconds long) almost sums up what it feels like to be alone. Rushmore is a film about friendship, love, betrayal, loneliness and revenge and it is, without a doubt, Wes Anderson's best picture to date(that is including the Royal Tenenbaums);it is also one of my favorite movies. So you understand my horror when i read some reviews calling this a "highbrow teen comedy." Why, i must ask. Is it because the main character is 15 years old? Is it because... well, that is the only reason i could possibly conceive for this to be a teen comedy. If, for the reason i just stated, this is a teen comedy, i suppose "Catcher in the Rye" is "teenage literature" ranked alongside the likes of "the Babysitters Club." Or Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a "teen drama" a la Dawson's Creek. I think you get my point, and, as i am sure that it (my point) has probably already been broght to light by someone other than me before, i will stop. I guess some people must have been closing their eyes and shutting their ears while watching this movie otherwise they would realize there are other characters in this movie. They would realize that there is no usage of bathroom / shock humor at all. They would also realize that this movie is far more than a "highbrow teen comedy." This is highbrow entertainment. Or, more deservedly, highbrow art.
Rating:
Summary: Critical acclaim?
Review: I cannot understand how people rave about this movie the way they do. Perhaps I lack artistic sense, the ability to pick up subtle clues and hints, a severe deficiency in satire appreciation... because I didn't like this movie one bit. I have never in all my life ever walked out of or stopped watching a movie because I thought it was bad. I weathered Deep Blue Sea and Deep Rising (no offense to the people that loved them), I plowed my way through Robot Holocaust (without the MST3K guys doing voice-over parody even!), I even survived The Mummy Returns, but after 30 minutes of this DVD, I had to stop it and watch a different movie. I later resumed viewing thinking that there had to be something I missed, perhaps the movie starts slow and picks up, perhaps the developing conflict amongst the characters will pick up speed, who knows. I watched all 90-odd some excruciating minutes of this movie without laughing A SINGLE TIME. This movie was recommended to me from a friend who (like many reviewers) thought it was one of the best comedies they've ever seen... and I didn't laugh once! I think I smirked a little bit when Bill Murray ran over the bike with his car, but one smirk does not a comedy make. Apparently there are people who love this movie. I've talked to several of them, but none of them can really give any reasons why. I continue to think about why I didn't like the movie, how I missed the "spectacular humor" or "deep character development". I am left with only one conclusion that answers the questions, and it is one that many people will not agree with. This movie was awful.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant.
Review: This movie is perfect in every way, though I will admit that it is not for everyone. My (ex)girlfriend and I had a long distance relationship, and I urged her to see this movie. She did, and she hated it. I have said in other forums that this is a "litmus test" movie, I didn't realize how accurate that was. The casting is brilliant, the story is brilliant, and the movie is extremely funny. But through it all, there is this melancholy undertone that I really connected with. I wish I could say I was like Max when I was in high school- but I wasn't. I was a smart aleck, though, and I thought I knew everything about everything. I guess that is what strikes a chord with me- the Max character does everything that I WISH I could have done back then, but still... there is this innocence about him that is really touching. I really wish that I could have watched this movie with my girlfriend, I think she would have gotten a lot more out of it. Oh well, as Max would say, C'est la vie. The Criterion collection edition is absolutely brilliant. The most important feature is the full length audio commentary, featuring Mr. Wilson, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Schwartzman. Watch this movie a couple of times, and then put on that audio track. It opens you up to a whole world that you didn't even notice the first couple of viewings.
Rating:
Summary: A great movie, far above The Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket
Review: This is probably one of the greatest movies ever made, and I'd just like to say that this review is going to be long because it will cover this movie, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Bottle Rocket, being that I'm too lazy to write a review for each of them separately, as well as covering the soundtracks. Here goes... Rushmore- Rushmore is definitely the best movie out of all three, one because every singly actor in the movie is absolutely excellent, and not a singly role is played to anything less than an amazingly good degree. A good deal of emotions show up in the movie without becoming too involved in them, or in the sadness or sappy happiness of some scenes, and no doubt this is partially what ranks it above the other two Anderson films. The plot is a bit farfetched, but that's to be expected, and without question, that's a good deal of why this movie is so extremely interesting, and the characters and plot so fascinating. The most important thing here is the subtlety that was lacking in Tenenbaums, i.e. how Max subtley but coldly treats his father, and how he never shows it openly, but is ashamed, and how this slowly changes throughout the film. The soundtrack is unrivaled, but it was missing the track "I Am Waiting" a key track in the movie, during a dramatic scene. Also, I feel though the sountrack deserves its 5 stars, a couple of key artists were missing from the sountrack, such as The Velvet Underground, and The Thirteeneth Floor Elevators. The Royal Tenenbaums- I have some serious issues with this film, but without question, in some areas, it rivals both of Anderson's other films. To begin with this film over-saturates the audience with meladrama all the way through, every scene is depicted in a brown-ish color schemes, and all the characters as some kind of mental and emotional cripples, unable to even express emotion and only tying to make the audience feel bad for them. This takes away from the plot, and the few good perfermances, namely from Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, and Bill Murray, considering that all other performances that had any real effects on the film were sorely lacking, and some (such as Owen Wilson's and Gwenyth Paltrow's) were all but completely laughable. In the end thoug, it ends well, lightens a bit, and some final scenes and narraration is presented well, and I'd give this film a three. I'd still urge you to see it, but it is lacking in the imagination and vibrancy that made Rushmore a great film. The sountrack to this film had a few good songs on it (I won't even go on about the degredation of Mark's compilations with this film). "Judy is a Punk" is probably the most standout song, and one of the few worth mention. I'd say overall the soundtrack is disappointing, and deserves maybe a 3.5. Bottle Rocket- I'm not even going to attempt to analyze this film, I've seen it twice, and I consider that it is so undertoned and over-saturated that it is barely worth watching, and the sountrack is only a bit better. Being that this was the debut film, it can be excused, though, and is perhaps worth seeing for some.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie...Perfect Wes Anderson
Review: This movie is sheer brilliance. It's hard to tell whether this movie is a romantic comedy, or a coming-of-age drama. The plot circles around Max Fischer, who is an over-ambitious, extra-curricular high school student, whom befriends a Mr. Herman Blume. Both Max and Blume fall in love with the attractive and interesting first grade teacher, Miss Cross. The love triangle affects Blume's and Max's relationship in both a humorous and somewhat saddening way. All three characters are well-defined and the directing and photography are simply beautiful, with the use of the fall season to set the background. Every single line of the film is said with such a brilliant charm, it has to be seen to be believed. Many will not find a whole lot of comedy in this film without repeated viewing, but it is well worth it. The fact that Max is virtually blind to the age difference between him and Miss Cross brings a smile to my face with every viewing. Also, Mr. Blume sees himself within Max's personality, and is probably some of the reason that they form a friendship in which they both respect each other and resent each other. In the end, they find their relationship to be a great treasure, and is one of the reasons this film is so beautiful. I don't know whether this is a comedy or drama, but I love it, and those who don't might want to give it another or even a few more chances. The features on this DVD are both incredibly entertaining, and very insightful. Definitely Criterion status.
Rating:
Summary: A Contemporary Classic
Review: This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and if you watch it i'm sure you'll understand why. The acting and writing are both brilliant and go together like peanut butter and jelly. Every scene is perfectly executed and believeable in a strangely storybook way. Newcomer jason schwartzman does a spectacular job on playing max, and every emotion is felt as if it's real. the extras on this dvd are very good as well, with an enjoyable and interesting commentary track, and a bunch of other supplementary material that is almost worth the price of the dvd by itself. almost. i absolutely reccomend, no, insist that you go see this movie. toasterboy is an idiot.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, nonsenical premise gets mistaken for clever writing
Review: I was surprised to find out that this movie was considered a comedy. I didn't laugh once, nor did I even know when I was supposed to. I thought this movie was a badly done drama. Very rarely do I ever rate a movie as "bad". Most movies in general are at least "decent" to "tolerable" and rarely bad. This movie exceeds bad and goes on to horrible.
The surreal, bizarre behavior of some of the characters in this movie are not only outside the realm of being remotely believable, but they make the people in American Beauty seem mild-mannered. So much of the stuff the characters do that you see happen has no relevance whatsoever to the plot, that its all bizarre filler. The movie drones on for what seems like forever, and much of that time is spent trying to figure out what's going on, and when you finally do, you do not really care. Once you do figure out the basic plot, you come to realize how asinine it really is. I really should have walked out on this movie when I went to see it in the cheap theatres. It only cost me a dollar. My father who saw it with me agrees with me, as well as everyone else in the theatre was visibly unimpressed by this worthless film.
Rating:
Summary: Original under-rated gem
Review: Thoroughly enjoyable quirky film with standout performances by the leads. I'll watch anything Bill Murray is in - this film is not a laugh riot - is is an intelligent, original perceptive movie. I've watched this about 5 times. Worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: Clever Comedy
Review: This is one of the best movies in the past few years. The humor is so clever. And I love the soundtrack. Bill Murry is at his best and directing is brilliant. Jason Schwartzman was so good as a kid to clever for his own good. I recommend this to everyone.
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