Noodling Bob Dylan Biopic ‘A COMPLETE UNKNOWN’ Riffs On the Myth of the Unknowable Artist

December 10, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged A Complete Unknown, Ben Whishaw, Edward Norton, Elijah Wald, Elle Fanning, James Mangold, Jay Cocks, Monica Barbaro, Timothée Chalamet 1 Comment

I’ve never seen Bob Dylan live. In theory, I would love to, but I’ve been convinced that the artist whose music was such a beacon of personal resistance and revolution for me in my college years isn’t what he once was. As if by design, he deprives his audiences of the freewheeling early breakouts that largely define his career, favoring newer material—predominantly smoky R&B tracks with even smokier vocals. And yet, Bob Dylan, as presented in James Mangold’s smartly constructed and slippery biopic A Complete Unknown, has always, almost instinctually, rebelled against our expectations of him, bristling at the idea that his value as an artist is tied to his willingness to embrace any outmoded form of who he is. The Bob Dylan of today and the Bob Dylan of yesterday may be in conversation with one another, but the living continuum is not a hostage of the past. He doesn’t seek to be known, but he wants to be understood, especially for who he is in the here and now. Read More

‘THE FRENCH DISPATCH’ Is An Inaccessible Patchwork of Withering Pretension

October 19, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adrien Brody, Alexandre Desplat, Anjelica Huston, Benicio Del Toro, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Christoph Waltz, Edward Norton, Elisabeth Moss, Frances McDormand, Henry Winkler, Hugo Guinness, Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, Liev Schreiber, Mathieu Amalric, Owen Wilson, Roman Coppola, Rupert Friend, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Willem Dafoe 2 Comments

Structured like a New Yorker zine and just as wryly smug and pandering to the self-proclaimed intelligentsia, The French Dispatch is an ego-driven misfire for visionary director Wes Anderson who has done little more than projectile vomit his signature quirk on the screen in thick gobs, forgetting to actually make a movie along the way. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘ISLE OF DOGS’

March 20, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Greta Gerwig, Isle of Dogs, Jeff Goldblum, Koyu Rankin, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Wes Anderson 4 Comments

Maestro of whimsy Wes Anderson returns to stop-motion animation nearly a decade after Fantastic Mr. Fox to tell a story of political corruption and grassroots rebellion starring a bunch of scruffy mutts and overzealous kiddos in the absolutely delightful Isle of Dogs. Draped in quirky Andersonisms, understated humor, and brassy real-world parallels, the auteur’s ninth film is an irreverent celebration of outsiders that’s steeped in Japanese culture and plopped within a dog-eat-dog political treatise on inclusion and the dangers of nationalism. Read More

Out in Theaters: BIRDMAN

October 22, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amy Ryan, Antonio Sanchez, Birdman, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Michael Keaton, Naomi Watts, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Zach Galifianakis 2 Comments

Unlike quite anything else, Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s Birdman is a surrealist commentary on 21st century franchise culture, absolutely pumped full of energy, wit and scintillating satire. A massively relevant take on modernity, Iñárritu’s restless film comes dressed up as black comedy but resonates wholeheartedly with the slobbish zeitgeist du jour. Truth, it seems, can come masked in all sorts of outfits. Read More

Out in Theaters: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

March 18, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Léa Seydoux, Mathieu Amalric, Out in Theaters, Owen Wilson, Ralph Fiennes, Reviews, Saoirse Ronan, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Wes Anderson, Willem Dafoe 2 Comments

Fiennes, Brody, Dafoe, Goldblum, Murray, Law, Swinton, Ronan, Norton, Keitel, Schwartzman, Seydoux, Wilson, Balaban, Amalric, Wilkinson. Wes Anderson‘s latest may have more big names working for it than ever before but their characters are more paper thin than they’ve been, more fizzle than tonic, more Frankenstein’s creations than humans. His company of regulars – joined by a vast scattering of newbies – are relegated to playing furniure-chomping bit roles, filling the shoes of cartoonish sketches, slinking in long shadows of characters. From Willem Dafoe‘s brutish, brass-knuckled Jopling to a caked-up and aged Tilda Swinton, gone are the brooding and calculated, flawed and angsty but always relatable characters of Wes yore. In their place, a series of dusty cardboard cutouts; fun but irrevocably inhuman. Read More

First Poster for Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

October 14, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Movie Posters Tagged Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Movie Posters, Owen Wilson, Ralph Fienne, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Tilda Swinton, Wes Anderson, Willem Dagoe

As an obsessive Wes Anderson fan, I relish in any piece of his inspired artwork, so while most posters don’t really get me excited, this one for The Grand Budapest Hotel does for all of its Wes Anderson-esque goodness. While I rather enjoyed his last film, Moonrise Kingdom, it was hardly one of my favorite of his and I’m excited to see Anderson return to the adult world. As always, he’s got a cast and crew to be oogled with season Anderson loyalites Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton and Adrien Brody will join Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Saoirse Ronan, Mathieu Amalric, Lea Seydoux, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson, and newcomer Tony Revolori.

Although little is known about the film, the plot description per IMDB details:

“A famous hotel’s legendary concierge strikes up a friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé.”

For me, Anderson’s best films come from with exploring themes of wounded humanity. Films like Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Darjeeling Limited are as deeply tragic as they are comedic and I’m hoping for something of the same from his latest without quite as much snarky childhood wist as his last two, The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom.

With this first poster debut, we can hopefully expect a full synposis or trailer in the near future.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is directed by Wes Anderson and stars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Saoirse Ronan, Mathieu Amalric, Lea Seydoux, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson, and Tony Revolori. It will hit theaters sometime in 2014.

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