Jason Schwartzman

Rushmore Review

Rushmore Review

RATING: (4 STARS) With Rushmore, writer/director Wes Anderson beelines it out of Wes Andersonville toward a place that resembles the world you and I inhabit. In Wes Andersonville, individuals are quirky beyond recognition—sometimes overwritten into oblivion. Rushmore‘s lead character, Max Fischer, is a proud citizen of Wes Andersonville, but unlike the director’s other films, this […]

5 Best Performances in Wes Anderson Movies

5 Best Performances in Wes Anderson Movies

2014 has had its fair share of pleasures in its first month or so, but the biggest movie for cinephiles like myself to come so far this year (and for some, to come at all this year) is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. I placed it #2 on my most-anticipated movies of 2014 list. […]

Saving Mr. Banks Review

Saving Mr. Banks Review

RATING: (3 STARS) The most cynical viewers will no doubt find John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr. Banks unbearable. It’s narrative trajectory—stern woman’s icy exterior melts away—is hardly new territory, and the “Disneyfication” of the storyline makes this a film content to merely please, not challenge, its viewers. Mission accomplished, then. I found Saving Mr. Banks […]

Moonrise Kingdom Review

Moonrise Kingdom Review

RATING: (3.5 STARS) Moonrise Kingdom opens with a shot of an immaculately tidy room in a quaint, old-fashioned home on the New England coast. Suddenly, the camera pans right on the perfectly straight line to another such room, with three similarly—and oddly—dressed boys. They play a symphonic record and sit down in perfect symmetry. It […]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Review

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Review

RATING: (3.5 STARS) Forget Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Forget Max Payne. Forget every other shitty video game adaptation you may or may not have seen in the past few years because Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the movie gamers out there have been waiting for. No, it’s not technically based on […]

Fantastic Mr. Fox Review

Fantastic Mr. Fox Review

RATING: (4 STARS) I’m not the biggest Wes Anderson fan. Other than “The Royal Tenenbaums,” I’ve found his work to be one-note and somewhat pretentious. With that said, “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” was anything but. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, full of wit and charm. In a year when animation seems to be one-upping […]