The Grand Budapest Hotel: Set Design Done Right

Over spring break, I was lucky enough to visit the AMC movie theater in NYC. What’s special about this theater is that, unlike the normal, relatively comfortable seating that is generally in movie theaters, this place had beautiful, plush, reclining seats. I cannot begin to express to you how much more enjoyable my movie experience was, and I would go into further detail, but I don’t want to get sidetracked.

What I really wanted to talk about was the movie that I saw. I went to see the Grand Budapest Hotel, written and directed by Wes Anderson. If there were a way to describe this movie, I would say that it is very “Wes Anderson” (if that makes any sense). The entire movie was very fast paced both in dialogue and in action. The storyline was interesting and there were a ton of stars such as Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, and of course the short appearance of Bill Murray. But although the story and cast were captivating, the real star aspect of this movie was the set design and art direction. The entire film was flooded with bright colors and large, detailed spaces. Here are a few pictures to show what I am referring to:

If only for the set design and art direction, I would highly recommend you see this movie. The colors are beautiful and detailed. The cinematography is creative and the costumes are fitting. I would also highly recommend seeing this film in a movie theater because all of these things are much better seen on such a large screen (and of course if you can go somewhere with comfy reclining chairs, I would recommend that too).

Rise of the Guardians

Recently I saw the new animated movie Rise of the Guardians. Starring Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law and directed by Peter Ramsey. I must say that I really enjoyed it, it was a pretty fun adventure, with great performances by the cast and it told a pretty good story, even though it wasn't exactly the most original thing in the world.

The story mainly centers around Jack Frost, the guy whose responsible for pretty much anything to do with winter. The movie is about him finding out what his purpose is and why he was given the powers that he's been given. As this is going on, the villain of the movie Pitch, voiced by Jude law comes back into the picture and threatens the children of the world. So Jack needs to team up with Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman to help stop him.

As I mentioned before, the story isn't the most original thing in the world but it's pretty entertaining. The movie moves along at a pretty quick pace so you're never really given time to be bored with it. I will say this though, the more sentimental moments with Jack are pretty heartfelt and the movie does have a pretty good message to tell by the end of it.

Technically the movie was great. I saw it in 3-D although it's not necessary to enjoy the movie by any means even though it looked great. The animation was beautiful and it was a pleasure to watch everything that was going on on screen.

All in all I would say go see it. It was a really fun movie that I thought was pretty creative even though the story wasn't super strong. The movie looked great, was well acted and it was fun. Go check it out.

Dose of reality in movies

I finally made it to the Regal movie theaters up at Triphammer mall last weekend and got to see Contagion. The movie, directed by Steven Sotoberg who also directed Traffic and Ocean's 11, is a drama centered around people dealing with a massive worldwide virus outbreak. The main focus is on characters played by Matt Damon, whose wife and stepson are the first two victims of the virus, Laurence Fishburne who plays a doctor at the CDC and is tasked with controlling the disease in the United States. Jude Law, who plays a rouge journalist in San Francisco that is against pharmaceutical companies. Kate Winslet, another doctor at the CDC is tasked with finding the origins of the disease, and Marion Colltiard, who plays a World Health Organization official tasked with finding out who the first people infected were. The story is an interesting take on what could happen if another outbreak like the 1919 flu epidemic that claimed the lives of one percent of the world's population took place today. It also provides a harrowing look at the vulnerability of today's medical system and really how unprepared the world is if another virus outbreak were to occur. There are some very disturbing images in the film and the movie might not be for those who have a weak stomach. I give the movie a three out of five stars because the cinematography is absolutely stunning and the story does keep you captivated throughout.