Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Wes Anderson, I've missed you.

His 1998 film, Rushmore , is one of my all-time favourite films.

Follow-ups The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou just didn't do it for me.

But The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom are a welcome return to film for a very talented American filmmaker.

Sam (Jared Gilman) is the odd man out with the Khaki Scouts. His troop has set up camp on an island near New England. Sam, cared for by a foster family, isn't making any friends with his peers. He decides to break out - his form of escape offers an early hearty laugh in this 2012 release. Sam's goal is to meet up with Suzy (Kara Hayward), a young girl he met earlier during a production of British composer Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde.

Suzy, always outfitted with a pair of binoculars, is on the outs with her family too including parents Mr. and Mrs. Bishop (Bill Murray, Frances McDormand).

Their running away sparks a major search led by the head of the island's police department, Capt. Sharp (Bruce Willis) with Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) at his side. Turns out Sam's foster family doesn't want him back. Institutional care is next with Social Services (Tilda Swinton) dispatched to pick Sam up.

There's so much to enjoy in Anderson's film - a killer soundtrack, great dialogue (Suzy: "I wish I was an orphan. Most of my favourite characters are.", Mr. Bishop: "Our daughter has been abducted by one of those beige lunatics."), intriguing set up of scenes with action in the background to also watch.

What's uncomfortable in Moonrise Kingdom is the romantic side of Sam and Suzy's relationship. These kids are tweens and they're French kissing and sexual touching. That creeps this film fan out.

Anderson and Roman Coppola received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay.

Overall, there's lots to enjoy and I look forward to watching the background of scenes on a second viewing, but I'll skip through Suzy and Sam's romantic interlude. Gross.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Jason Schwartzman, star of Rushmore, appears as Cousin Eddy in Moonrise Kingdom. He and co-scriptwriter Coppola are cousins.

Get Low (2009)

Here's a bucket list of reasons to get up and see Get Low.


1. Get Low stars Robert Duvall. He's a great American actor with credits including The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Network. Duvall just turned 81 in January 2012. Savour his talent while he's still making movies.


Felix Bush (Duvall) has lived on his own, separate for the community, for 40 years. He is reviled by the townsfolk. Many stories are told about terrible deeds he did in his younger years. Bush, sensing his death is near, wants to finally tell his story.


Duvall shines as a master carpenter who's haunted by something that happened decades earlier. He's cranky, witty, compassionate, independent and stubborn.


2. Get Low offers another great role for Bill Murray. The former Saturday Night Live star has made so many great films since the early 1990s such as Groundhog Day, Rushmore and Quick Change. Here, he's Frank Quinn, the booze-loving owner of a funeral home who's in danger of closing shop because nobody's dying.

"What do you do when people won't die?" Quinn laments.
"It's them or us."


DYING TO GET BUSINESS


When he learns Bush is packing a serious bundled ball of cash, he's eager to get the old man's business.


Quinn isn't a shady player. He follows Bush's requests to the letter to give him the send off he wants.


Murray gets a few very solid one-liners, but his funeral director is also haunted by a failed marriage and the acknowledgement he doesn't know what it's like to have a family.


One of these roles eventually has to earn Murray an Academy Award nomination. Murray is a treat to watch.


3. Get Low stars Sissy Spacek. I think the last film I saw with this American actress was Oliver Stone's JFK. She starred as the wife of Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner).


GOOD TO SEE YOU, SISSY SPACEK


As Matte Darrow, Spacek is Bush's old flame. She returns to town after her husband's death, but soon learns some disturbing news about Bush and another member of her family.


Darrow's emotions dealing with her old flame from rage and sadness to warmth and admiration.


4. Get Low is a promising feature debut from director Aaron Schneider. He was director of photography for Kiss the Girls.


Get Low is a solid drama with some very funny, and touching, moments. It's well worth a watch.

RATING: 9/10

FUN FACTS: Bill Cobbs, who appears as Rev. Charlie Jackson, made his film debut in the original version of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. In 2011, he appeared in The Muppets.

A second preacher in Get Low, Rev. Gus Horton, is played by Gerald McRaney. He was Rick Simon on the CBS detective show, Simon and Simon, that ran from 1981 to 1989.

Quick Change (1990)

The Big Apple has taken too many bites out of Grimm.

The city planner (Bill Murray) is more than just tired of New York City. He wants out, badly. Fiji beckons. Grimm plans a bank heist to finance his very anticipated departure from the city that never sleeps. He'll do it dressed as a clown carrying a bunch of colorful balloons and sporting a pair of red oversized shoes.

Girlfriend Phyllis Potter (Geena Davis) and an old chum, Loomis (Randy Quaid), join him in the caper.

THE BIG APPLE BITES BACK

The robbery goes smoothly, but the trio's getaway gets bogged down by clueless municipal workers, jittery tenants, confused mobsters and by-the-book bus drivers. Their planned Quick Change from bank robbers to carefree tropical residents hits some serious snags including weary Police Chief Rotzinger (Jason Robards). He, like Grimm, is also tired of New York City, but realizes the major metropolitan centre could be his best ally in stopping the fugitives.

Not all the comedy in this 1990 effort from Howard Franklin and Murray (his only directing credit) has aged well. But there's still plenty of zingers that score big laughs. Quick Change is another welcome entry to Murray's film credits including Groundhog Day and Rushmore.

Bob Elliott, of Bob and Ray fame, gets one of the best early lines as an easily defeated bank security guard. "What the hell kind of clown are you?" he asks when Grimm pulls out a hand gun at the start of the heist.

LISTEN CLOSELY, LAUGH LOUDLY

Listen closely to the quick asides some of the characters toss out that make up for those jokes that fall flat. "The man owns pre-schools in this town," Grimm says about major mobster Lombino (Kurtwood Smith)."You don't even understand colours, do you?" Loomis notes of an English challenged cab driver who drives through a red light. Brian McConnachie, who penned work for Saturday Night Live and SCTV, is a hoot as the bank manager who calmly explains to Rotzinger how his company will use its public relations muscle to make him the scapegoat for the robbery.

Quick Change also conjures up scenes that are completely bizarre, bicyclists jousting and a mourning woman, and observational, hot dog vendors looking to cash in on public interest in the bank robbery.

Even better films would follow from Murray in the next decade, but Quick Change still offers a good investment for a viewer's time.

RATING: 7/10

FUN FACTS: Quick Change came just before a powerful one-two punch for Davis, Thelma and Louise (1991) and A League of Their Own (1992). Howard Franklin wrote the screenplay for another Murray film, The Man Who Knew Too Little, in 1997. That effort is for diehard Murray fans only. Stuart Rudin, who makes a brief appearance in Quick Change, would show up again, for a moment, in Murray's What About Bob? Jay Cronley's novel, Hold-Up, inspired Quick Change. He also wrote works that prompted the filming of Funny Farm and Let It Ride.

Rushmore (1998)

Rushmore is top of the class.

Director Wes Anderson's follow-up to Bottle Rocket is filled with great characters, fantastic music, a winning story and an incredible debut performance by Jason Schwartzman.

SCHWARTZMAN SHINES IN DEBUT ROLE

Max Fischer (Schwartzman) is a Grade 10 student at Rushmore Academy. He loves everything about the private school, except his academics. When the film starts, he's meeting with patient principal Dr. Nelson Guggenheim (Brian Cox). Still struggling with his marks, he's on sudden death academic probation.

"Oh no, not again," says his chapel partner Dirk Calloway (Mason Gamble) when he hears the news. Fischer considers his alternatives and parking himself in front of the books isn't one of them.

Fischer is so busy heading, or creating, school clubs from lacrosse and yearbook to stamp and coin to beekeeping, his marks are awful.

He's further distracted when he meets Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), the school's new Grade 1 teacher. She's attached to Rushmore because her late husband was a graduate. Fischer, who's never spent much time chasing the ladies, is in love.

But Herman Blume (Bill Murray), the parent of two boys who attend Rushmore, is also keen on winning Cross's affections. He's a successful and rich businessman, but his wife is fooling around with a younger man and he loathes his sons.

Fischer and Blume's initial friendship -- Blume has a soft spot for Fischer's ambitious goals, Fischer admires Blume's rooting for the underdog -- goes sour when the younger suitor learns of his older friend's pursuit of Cross.

A teenage boy's pursuit of an older teacher may make some unease, but Anderson (who co-wrote the script with Owen Wilson) depicts their relationship well. She treats Max kindly, but is never seriously interested in a romance with the teenager. Max has lessons to learn about life and love.

BILL MURRAY IS A TREAT

What a treat it is to see Murray shine in the roll of steel boss Blume. He's impressed me with a string of strong performances in films such as Quick Change, Groundhog Day and Ed Wood. But Rushmore could be his best work yet.

Rushmore is filled with great supporting characters too including Fischer's chapel partner, Dirk Calloway (Mason Gamble), Max's father Bert (Seymour Cassel) and Cox. There are no dumb adults here. Instead, they're supportive, inspired or frustrated with Fischer.
Schwartzman shines in his first film role. What a find.

Rushmore is impressive too with everyone from The Who and John Lennon to Yves Montand and The Kinks featured on the soundtrack. Instrumental pieces by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh are also a delight.

If there was any justice in the cinematic world, Rushmore would have been a huge moneymaker. But smart movies sometimes don't translate into big audiences. That's too bad because Rushmore is a great film.

Rating: 9/10

FUN FACTS: Bill Murray won best supporting actor awards from National Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics Circle Award. He was nominated for a Golden Globe. Rushmore didn't receive any Academy Award nominations. Pity. Several cast members have appeared in other films by Wes Anderson including Seymour Cassel (The Royal Tenembaums), Brian Cox (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and Bill Murray (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). Co-screenwriter Owen Wilson appeared in Bottle Rocket.