France

Oh. My. Yahweh. 

We went to a movie theater on Sunday!!! An actual building with seats, a screen and - ugh - people!

I know, right? 

The last time we did that was 19 months ago. 

We had made the decision last week to go see the French Dispatch - last week, but the weather was so beautiful, we opted to hike and take in the beautiful (then) November temps and cloudless (then) skies. 

Then friends - and usual movie-going companions -  David & James texted to see if we wanted to see the movie. I asked them if they were sure they didn't want to see Clifford the Big Red Dog, and it was a resounding 'no'.  I did poke a bit and respond back, "I bet if Wes Anderson directed Clifford, you'd insist on seeing it".  I'm not wrong on this. 

I will say, our usual independent theater was not the one of our choosing. I love patronizing them, but this is times of Covid and I was hoping to be more selective in the seating than this establishment could potentially provide.  As it would turn out - only 19 people would be there..........present company included. 

For any of you who have seen a Wes Anderson movie, he works with a core cast of actors - most of them making an appearance here....Jason Schwartzman (though is a co-writer), Jeff Goldblum and F. Murray Abraham being three of the exceptions. Then there are the actors who have only shown up once or twice..........Saoirse Ronan being one of them.  ...and the kid who wonderfully played the bellhop in the Grand Budapest Hotel.   Oh - and Owen Wilson is here too. I mean, they can't all be winners. 

If there was a one word review for movies, this would be:  Exhausting. 

Anderson movies are all about the detail.  The teeny tiny detail - and it comes at you quickly and all. the. time. It is non-stop. 

The movie revolves around a literary type magazine, which is eponymous to the movie title. Think the New Yorker, but fake. They talk about the writers and focus on three (?) of them and the stories they are submitting to edition in question.  As you'd expect, some segments are better than others. 9

I LOVED the first segment with Adrian Brody, Benicio Del Toro and Léa Seydoux. Oh don't get me wrong, Tilda Swinton and the possible one line that Lois Smith had are great, but it's carried by the first three I mentioned. Part of Swinton's character (which is great) comes off a little Cheri Oteri as Barbara Walters without the speech impediment. That's not a bad thing.....just not horribly original, which is usually a trait of an Anderson film. 

The second segment, to me, was the weakest - which is a shame because I love Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet. The idea of a revolution isn't a new one and if there were to be drawn parallels to recent times, they miss the mark or fall flat. 

The third segment shines too......mostly because Jeffrey Wright. But more than any of the three, it's quintessential Anderson.  The story is good, but Wright makes it - and possibly the movie. He arguably has the largest part and the most dialogue in the entire film. Still the segment has the mediums (multiple) for which Anderson is known. 

Also, segment three has Liev Schreiber. Sure, I'm disappointed he has to shill for Mattress Firm, but lord, that voice. He could read the phone book and I'd pay to hear it. 

For me, the French Dispatch wasn't an out of the park hit, but this might a film you have to see a few times to even grasp some of the visuals and dialogue.  But it was nice to get out and see a movie in a cinema. 

That all said, we will see when we'd go again. Ohio's Covid cases per day are back on the rise. 

....and we made my made-up goal.  That is sad. Tons of movies on any streaming service, we should have hit that number in July.  It comes down to laziness on our part. And let's be honest, we hit 2-3 bad ones right out of the gate in January........so that kind of made me a bit gun shy.  There is still 1.5 months to go, who knows what it could bring. 

2021 Movie Count / Goal: 15 of 15 

Song by: Grateful Dead