“She stabbed him with the lefty scissors!”

Hello Everyone :-)

Wes Anderson polarises people: there’s no two ways about it. You either love or hate his films, his brand of twee storytelling can be funny, sweet and just the right amount of quirky and sometimes it can be irksome, naval-gazing twaddle. Me? My outlook on Mr Anderson varies from film to film, overall I’d say I like his style but sometimes it’s a bit too precocious for its own good.

So it was with an open mind that I approached Anderson’s latest Directorial endeavour ‘Moonrise Kingdom’.

Our hero is Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) a 12 year old Khaki Scout from a broken home who meets and falls in love with the equally troubled Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward). The two become pen pals and over the course of a year conspire to run away together. Their disappearance starts an island wide search lead by New Penzance’s Police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), aided by Suzy’s parents (Bill Murray, Frances McDormand), Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton) and his Scout Troop.

To my mind, this is Anderson’s best work to date. He has co-written as well as directed all of his previous feature films with varying degrees of success. Sometimes both the script and the directorial vision marry together, other times, like in ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ and ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’ (both of which are films Anderson co-wrote with Noah Baumbach… just sayin’… ), the end result is a bit hit and miss. ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ has none of that disparity. The script is charming and suitably quirky and fits perfectly with the nostalgic, dream-like visuals.

I love Sam. I love everything about him. I love his hat, his hair, his glasses, his pipe, his speech impediment, I love how he carries Suzy’s bags for her and I love how he’s the coolest geek that has ever lived. Even if you don’t have as big a response to him as I did (and that’s highly likely because I emotionally invest in films more than anyone I know) you can’t help but root for Sam.

Likewise Suzy, in the hands of anyone else I’m sure she would have been totally insufferable but Kara Hayward makes her equal parts rebel, vulnerable and cute, a combination that soon has you on side. Their story is so adorable and the way they interact together isn’t just sweet, it’s believable.
I like how Anderson has chosen to counter Suzy and Sam’s youthful but mature relationship with that of Suzy’s parents who act like children for a great deal of the film. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand are great in their roles and bring a lot of laughs in their admittedly second fiddle performances.
Bruce Willis makes some headway in repenting for his recent bad role choices (Die Hard 4, Surrogates, Cop Out) by being fantastic as the grumpy Captain Sharp. Also Edward Norton as Scout Master Ward and Tilda Swinton as Social Services (yes that’s her character’s actual name!) are sweet and severe respectively.

In all honesty, I’m not surprised I loved this. I’m a hopeless romantic and Sam and Suzy’s relationship is so adorable, it was always going to appeal to my sensibilities. However, what does surprise me is that I love it without any exceptions.

With Anderson’s other films I’ve always been a bit non-committal; I like ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’but I wish it was funnier, or, I like ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ but it loves itself a little too much. However with ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ it’s hard to find fault, I love it just how it is. Highly recommended :-)

So now after all that loveliness let’s have some…

Reasons to be cheerful :-)

1. Finnick Odair casting news! There was a rumour that it was going to be Robert Pattinson and, I won’t lie, that rumour made me blood run cold. The thought that that concave-faced moaper could be playing one of the most pivotal roles in ‘Catching Fire’ was almost too much to bear. Thankfully it’s not going to be him!

Of the list in that article, I’d be happiest with Armie Hammer as the champion Tribute from District Four, he’s pretty much what I envisioned when I was reading the second book, having said that I think the casting people have done a bang up job with the characters so far so I’m sure it’ll be a good fit :-)

2. There’s a Les Mis teaser trailer! As a fan of the stage show I must say I’m pleased with how it’s looking, suitably dark and sad. I am, however, very pleased to see Samantha Barks as Éponine, continuing in the role she played at the 25th Anniversary O2 performance. I'm optimistic :-)

3. Despite earlier indications, Benedict Cumberbatch will not be playing Khan in the new ‘Star Trek’ film says Simon Pegg. So basically… we’re back to square one with that!

That’s everything I have for you today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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