The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fantastic!

The acting in this movie is really good.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This movie is a story told by one of the fictional characters that is in a fictional country and lives in fictional hotel. The scenes were just jumps in the story but comes in the appropriate order.. The characters do not tell jokes BUT the ordinary and sometimes the not so ordinary behavior the characters do that make it funny along with the an unexpected sequence of events. This movie is so colorful with clear spoken language and shot in attractive way.

This is simply another marvelously crafted piece, specifically the 8th, by auteur Wes Anderson, whose artistic flavor and ability manifest in its meticulously arranged camerawork and grandiose sets, the rich nature of the soundtrack, and the gliding pace, given even more vitality by the performances of a straight-up stupendous cast. The combined presentation is phenomenal, I'll argue. From the opening shot, all attention is placed on the scenery, a motley of color and positively baroque environments. From the floridity of the Grand Budapest Hotel to the brutalist nature of the prison, there's intense mise en scène all around; Wes Anderson did incrediblely well to build a world, boxy yet vast. All of this is well-framed under the lucid camerawork, a sort of hovering betta delicately absorbing both the most penitent scenes and most beautiful scenery at once as it follows the cast throughout, as they indulge in their eccentricity and plots, to the tune of the balalaika-heavy soundtrack, which can range from bubblingly mellow to bubblingly anxious. The acting is mostly underplayed but by no means diluted; the humor and general dialogue is executed in a natural yet purposeful cadence, coupled with fluid motion. I've had a couple of chortles watching, and was heavily invested throughout. I honestly can't recommend this enough. Now, issues some might have: The plot acts only as a vehicle for all other facets of the film itself, and by extension the characters may come across as superficial. I honestly don't view this as a defect; I figured the intention was to impress the audience with an absurd caper and enjoyed it greatly under that assumption. All the same, because of this, the film is sorta hit-or-miss, depending on what you're looking for or to resonate with. I suppose most of all Wes Anderson films are. Still, I recommend giving this a watch, if only to appreciate the style that penetrates this film immensely.

What a lovely n incredible film it is! I'm truly amazed by its beautiful scenes n ironic story. It may look just like a perfect cake, but you can hardly know how dark n cruel in its making process behind the pretty surface. And the movie exactly show it.

I heard of it being a classic must-watch, so i watched it. It's one of those movies that apparantly requires a certain taste for the lightheartidly absurd, if I had to describe it as anything. It borderlines arthouse material, with every single scene being centered to the last inch. If anything, this movie continues to grab your attention by putting every character, in ever moment dead-center. You have no idea if this even takes place on planet earth, or in a parallel reality. The country in which it takes place is somethting vaguely German-European and when there is a sporadic mention of a war -an element that is marketed to be a key plot point but really the movie is the same if it were without it - they even go as far as renaming SS to ZZ. I mean... what? The story doesn't have much to it - it's a man telling a story, about another man telling a story on how he was the protegé of an esteemed congierge of the dubious hotel. How said hotel has fallen into ruin in the first place is hardly mentioned, and the story that you'd expect - about the hotel itself you'd presume - becomes a weird tale on art thieves, a dead widow and a shady testament. Could be fun, and it kinda is, but the manner in which it all is told is silly to say the least. Something monty-python like posh slapstick humour almost. So yeah, weird and silly, but strangely amusing at the same time. Still wondering why the hell some characters were portrayed as being a vampire or werewolf without ANY reason for them to be those things in this premis! All in all: masterpiece? naah. The only thing masterpiece worthy here is the acting. Too bad Tilda Swinton had such a short role - I love that woman in every role she plays! Ralph Fiennes' posh but foul-mouthed caharcter is a delight, there are some teeny tiny roles for Owen Wilson and Bill Murray and Tony Revolori has a very endearing character. They amused me well anough for leaving this movie a positive review but other than that it just left me confused.