Lanewatch

Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Ed Norton and Bruce Willis in Moonrise Kingdom

Anthony Lane's review of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom in The New Yorker reminds me that I left out one of his favorite references in my previous posting about him. In addition to Shakespeare, Dickens, 007, royalty, Harry Potter, Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkien and something European (non-British, often French), this British film critic also likes to reference J.M. Barrie, as he does in the Moonrise Kingdom review. (I also forgot to put Sherlock Holmes on the list, for an even 10.) In addition, his review carries a subtle reference to Shakespeare (the word "tempest" seems carefully chosen for its literary association), as well as to fellow Brits Roald Dahl and Frances Hodgson Burnett. He cites British composer Benjamin Britten, but I guess I have to give him that one: Britten's work is apparently an important element in Moonrise Kingdom.

Burn After Reading, After Pizza

American Film Comedy
We had our Pizza Party this week. The entertainment was that everyone told jokes. Lots of fun!!! Then we watched Burn After Reading, a hilarious Coen brothers film with a nearly all-star cast (George Clooney, Brad Pitt [sooo funny!], John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, J.K. Simmons [also sooo funny!], Richard Jenkins), that was criminally underrated when it opened, possibly because it came out just after the Coens' Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men (which, BTW, I didn't love). The class reaction to Burn was amazing. It started slow, with just the occasional titter, and then built until, by the end, the class was reacting loudly to everything. There are a lot of ways to talk about this film. I'm going to try a character-oriented approach next week and see what happens.