Calum Gilchrist

  1. Review: The Royal Tenenbaums

    21st February

    Wes Anderson is one of those directors that I just find interesting. All of his films just have this mould breaking view on the world. I’ll admit that they are beginning to follow their on special Wes Anderson mould, but it’s still a wonderful combination of writing and directing.

    Now this is the third time that I have watched The Royal Tenenbaums. The first time, I didn’t really enjoy it but it was my first time watching a Wes Anderson film and they take a little getting used to.

    There’s just this very laid back feel about the whole thing. Characters in Wes Anderson films always have this strange approach to life where they don’t show they’re upset but will SAY how they feel. There are plenty of parodies of Wes Anderson’s style on the Internet which shows his uniqueness it style, but maybe not the variance in style to his films.

    The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favourite, if not my definite favourite of Wes Anderson’s films. There’s just this really well structured set up to the film and it all flows very well. It has a few, quite funny sections and it has a pretty good cast; Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, The Wilson brothers and a few more. Quite a few of the actors are playing different roles than I’m used to and I really like it. The performances by the whole cast just meld together really nicely and the inner conflicts between almost ALL of the characters keeps the story really interesting.

    Cheerful blends of acoustic and just nice songs make for a really interesting soundtrack. I really like it and I just noticed that the majority of tracks from the film are in my Spotify playlist that I share with my cousin. There’s just so much that I like about the movie; the fact that key scenes open with a shot of a paragraph from the book: The Royal Tenenbaums. It’s just little touches like this that make the film a joy to watch.

    New comers to Wes Anderson should probably give this film a shot. It’s a very sort of hit and miss type film as my family hated the film when they watched it - which was also the first time that I’d ever watched it. But do give it a shot and if you like it pick up the rest of Wes Anderson’s films as they all have the same kind of unique charm.

    Royal Tenenbaums 4/5

    This is one of those films that I’m just not sure about my rating. 4 sounds about right…

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  2. Review: Scrooged

    15 Jan

    I realise we’re quite past the Christmas season but I never had enough time to watch Scrooged before now. Scrooged and Muppet’s Christmas Carol were the two Christmas films that I want to see last Christmas, but I never got round to seeing Muppet’s Christmas Carol, which is a shame as I haven’t seen it in about 7 years.

    Scrooged, however, I have now seen. For the first time. And I really enjoyed it. I love Bill Murray, he’s just a great comedy actor and does really well as Scrooge. The twist with this particular rendition of the classic tale of Scrooge was the Bill Murray was the head of a television studio, putting on a live broadcast of the classic Christmas Tale. It was interesting to see the two stories intertwine at parts, which was a good idea.

    Of course there’s not much new you can bring to Charles Dickens’ tale but I found Scrooged to be entertaining and really funny. Really good Christmas film.

    Everyone knows the basics of A Christmas Carol so I don’t really need to talk about Scrooged in great detail as it follows the usual formula but keeps it interesting enough to stand out from the hundreds of other adaptions.

    Scrooged 3.5/5

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  3. Review: Groundhog Day

    3 Jan

    Groundhog Day is a film that I’ve seen quite a few times but I don’t think I could ever tire of it. It’s just so funy and brilliant. The whole concept of re-living the one day is beautiful and incredibly as interesting, as it poses the question as to what you, yourself would do in Phil’s (Bill Murray) situation.

    There isn’t anything that I don’t like about the film, the premise is great, Bill Murray is great, the other characters and actors are really interesting. I’m just a really big fan of the film. My favourite character is Ned Ryarson, the Life Insurance salesman that says: “Bing” whenever someone answers a question correctly.
    The scenes where Bill Murray tries to kill himself over and over again - particularly the scene where he kidnaps Phil, the groundhog - were well presented and showed that at some point, if you lived forver, you just wouldn’t want to as it gets tedious and boring.

    Phil is such a great character, conceited and self adoring but hilarious at the same time. Bill Murray is definitely one of my favourite comedy actors and I really need to watch more of his films as he is just a genious.

    I have nothing negative to say about the film so I’ll just wrap it up here.

    Groundhog Day 5/5

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