SummaryThe Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of M. Gustave, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune—all against th...
SummaryThe Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of M. Gustave, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune—all against th...
It is safe to say that The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of those breakthrough moments, a movie that is so beautifully realized from start to finish that I almost doubted myself on the way home. Could I really have enjoyed that film that much?
Anderson the illusion-maker is more than graceful, he's dazzling, and with this movie he's created an art-refuge that consoles and commiserates. It's an illusion, but it's not a lie.
Director Wes Anderson, known for his unique style, Rushmore and The Royal Tenembaums, has done it again.
This story seems simple at first glance, but it is very complex. It is the story of a legendary hotelier who is accused of murder and struggles to bring honor to his hotel. The hotelier, Gustav, was played by Ralph Fiennes, who I have seen in The Avengers, Quiz Show, and others. Other films include The English Patient and Schindler. He has changed my impression of him since then. He got a bad rap in The Avengers, but after that awful performance, he has an indescribable charm about him in this film.
The story is interesting, intelligent, and well crafted. I like the atmosphere the film creates. It has a unique and flamboyant look, a witty story, and intriguing performances. The director deserves credit for creating a unique and memorable story with especially funny gags.
The film has an all-star cast. In addition to Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, who won an Oscar for Amadeus, Adrien Brody, who won an Oscar for The Pianist (The Pianist of the Battlefield), Willem Defoe for Platoon, as well as Mathieu Amalric and Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Saoirse Ronan, and Tony Revolori. It's just too gorgeous. Despite such a large cast, I was able to enjoy the performances of each of them without having their personalities destroyed.
In terms of direction, the aspect changes depending on the time period, allowing the audience to become more involved in the work. The quirky sets, etc. are also excellent.
The film is a military masterpiece in terms of direction, and the intelligent story and the cast full of personalities make it an enjoyable film.
In the core this movie is about a heir dispute and a biography of a fictional character. The characters and the story are a bit odd, but still realistic, like a satire. Anyway there is a lot of hypocrisy and the dialogues are very good. Have fun to see many famous actors. The visual style is peculiar also, like a comic and with many ideas.
While it has many familiar ingredients — from the atmosphere to the ensemble of Anderson regulars in nearly every role — in its allegiance to Anderson's vision, everything about The Grand Budapest Hotel is a welcome dose of originality.
Anderson leavens the lunacy with a few acts of sudden and extreme violence or avert-your-face sex, which seem as extravagant as the rest of his notions. Perhaps they’re in there to change the flavor of the humor, the way Mendl might put a bitter coffee bean in a chocolate torte to keep it from cloying us.
With this film, Anderson has built a thoroughly likable vision of a prewar Europe – no more real, perhaps, than the kind of Viennese light-operetta that sustained much of 1930s Hollywood – but a distinctive, attractive proposition all the same. It's a nimblefooted, witty piece, but one also imbued with a premonitory sadness at the coming conflagration.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is funny and charming, and very much what you'd expect from Wes Anderson. In fact, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that there's really nothing new here. Wes Anderson makes all of his movies to appeal to the audience that he already has in the palm of his hand. In some ways that's a good thing, because Anderson certainly has a very unique style that appeals to a lot of people, and in other ways it's a bad thing, because there's never any attempt to expand his audience; it's just another Wes Anderson flick. I'm low-balling this review on purpose as a warning: I actually happened to really like this movie, but then again I am a Wes Anderson fan, and if you're a Wes Anderson fan, you'll probably like this movie also. However, if you're not a Wes Anderson fan, don't even bother with this one. Definitely a good flick, but by no means Anderson's best.
I wish I could at least give this a mixed review, as I'm such great fan of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Tennenbaums etc... but with this overcooked mess of a star-studded cheap shot, Wes totally loses me in boredom and overbakes aesthetic. It seems Wes bought into his own hype. I'd love to see Wes break out of square he's painted himself into. I saw this in theaters and if someone told me this was actually a parody film of a Wes Anderson film, I'd believe them. One word, overcooked. And if you want two words, overcooked and overhyped. If you've been watching Wes since the beginning, there's no denying that Wes has drank his own pigeonholed Kool Aid.
This movie and its 8+ rating perfectly shows, how holiwood has gone down. The drama never reaches climax in a weak story. Not many touching movie. The story starts at around 30 minutes and Ralph Fienes delivers too many unbelievable dialogue. None of the characters create any emotion and touches the viewer.
Too many A list artists don't make the cut.