1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
rohmerin
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:36 am
Location: Spain

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#226 Post by rohmerin » Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:14 am

It's curious that the film is inspired by Stephan Zweig when it belongs totally to Joseph Roth's world (except the corny cupcakes colors). I love both authors. It's a Roth's frontier space, sometimes fairy tale with time, a complete Roth's Galitzia atmosphere, even with the Roth's rhythm.

Even Roth wrote a novella named Hotel Savoy, that I read and loved.

http://www.amazon.es/Hotel-Savoy-Narrat ... roth+hotel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, hipster American director, don't lie.

Anyway, the movie is the best Austro-Hungarian film since Szabo's Sunshine.


User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#228 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:43 pm

I've gotten an early peek at the Blu-ray, and it's got a title card before the film asking you to change your TV setting to 16:9 with framing on the corners to show you where it should line up. I had my TV set to "Native" (which makes 1.85:1 films appear to have a slender bit of letterboxing on a 16:9 screen, and makes cinemascope a bit wider, rather than making 1.85:1 snap to the size of your screen at the expense of some negligible info on the left and right). It's just what I prefer. However, the slight black bar above and below the 1.33:1 frame that you can see in those screenshots was also visible when set to "Native," so I changed my TV's setting to 16:9 and viola, perfect for this Blu-ray. So just a protip for anyone who'll be purchasing this, while there is very slight windowboxing on the 1.33:1 stuff, it's there by design, and so long as your TV's setting is correct, it's not visible.


User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#230 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:42 pm

Wellll, I thought this was okay, certainly the best of his "dollhouse pics" (Zissou/Fox), but still exhaustingly over-crafted and ornate in its set design. Luckily Anderson utilizes the intricate set dressings for a somewhat compelling narrative, with the overall caper helped along immensely by Ralph Fiennes' wonderful central performance. This is all a huge step backwards from Moonrise Kingdom's perfect utilization of Anderson's tics and stimuli, but few films are on that level and the same things that excused and bolstered the implementation of Anderson's mise-en-scene don't really translate here. This movie is a bit like going to a show and seeing really technically proficient music played in a showy fashion. While it's easy to praise the craftsmanship and skill, you don't walk out humming anything and the overall experience is as empty and quickly flattened as one of those little pink pastry boxes. So, if we're updating our rankings, this one comes in at about the same level as Darjeeling for me, in the middle.

One thing that occurs to me over and over with each Wes Anderson film is what the heck did he do to the other voting members of the production design guilds or whatever to get them to not vote for his films for Oscar noms in what is far and away their universally recognized and praised category? It's like Gordon Willis in the early 70s, producing what is clearly the best work and getting snubbed out of professional jealousy in a move that cheapens an already cheap award. Given this film is Anderson's best shot yet to get some awards attention, it'll be interesting to see if the Academy ignores it in everything except writing again (Though given what is apparently a weak backend to the year on the horizon, it has a good chance of picking up a Best Pic nod and, dreaming here, a nod for Fiennes)

User avatar
Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#231 Post by Adam X » Fri Jun 20, 2014 12:17 am

domino harvey wrote:This movie is a bit like going to a show and seeing really technically proficient music played in a showy fashion. While it's easy to praise the craftsmanship and skill, you don't walk out humming anything and the overall experience is as empty and quickly flattened as one of those little pink pastry boxes.
That's interesting. That's pretty much how I've felt about all Anderson's films from Fantastic Mr. Fox onwards, with Grand Budapest Hotel being the worst offender in that regard.
He seems to've come to focus more on style, design, eccentricity, at the expense of depth of story and character. There's no doubting his control of the medium stylistically, but it all leaves very little behind when most of the characters are left at the surface. With Hotel it seems only Fiennes got any real attention at all. Though for myself, this feeling is I'm sure exacerbated by a number of favourite actors being relegated to little more than walk-on parts. Excepting of course another great turn by my favourite chameleon, Tilda Swinton.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#232 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jul 10, 2014 7:25 pm

The Grant Budapest Hotel is getting raving reviews on TripAdvisor


User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#234 Post by Jeff » Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:33 am

Here's a sneak preview of Matt Zoller Seitz's Grand Budapest Hotel book, due February 10. Here's Vulture's earlier announcement of the book, if you missed it.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#235 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Jan 07, 2015 4:38 pm

So I was reading this interview with Anderson re: The Grand Budapest Hotel, and he mentions that the cast and crew stayed here, in the Hotel Börse during shooting. Look at those photos! So now you know where to go if you want to stay at a real-world approximation of the Grand Budapest, if only a miniature one.

Image

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#236 Post by Jeff » Mon Jan 12, 2015 12:32 am

Hadn't seen this before, and there's not a better time to post it. Here's Rick Linklater interviewing Wes Anderson about Grand Budapest at South by Southwest.

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#237 Post by Jeff » Sat Feb 07, 2015 11:55 am


User avatar
FakeBonanza
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:35 pm

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#238 Post by FakeBonanza » Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:35 pm

Jeff wrote:Trailer for the great-looking Matt Zoller Seitz book, which is being released Tuesday.
I was surprised to have actually received my copy last Tuesday, but unfortunately, have not had the opportunity to go through either it or the first book yet. But of course, it appears every bit as well presented as the first book, with the same lovingly crafted illustrations, as well as an extensive collection of stills and on-set photography. For instance, my favourite immediate detail is that the back cover of the book is a mirror image of the front, but displays the Hotel as it appeared in the '60s.

As expected (and as indicated in the trailer), the structure of this book is somewhat different than that of the original:
SpoilerShow
Seitz includes a brief essay and three extensive interviews with the director, as well as a number of supplementary interviews with Anderson's collaborators. There are also the Zweig excerpts that Seitz refers to in the trailer. Possibly the nicest surprise is that he has included supplementary essays by other film critics ("The Society of the Crossed Pens"), including Bordwell's terrific piece "Wes Anderson takes the 4:3 plunge", which was previous published on Bordwell's blog.
I have not dug into the book in detail yet, but it certainly appears to be a terrific collection. The only slight disappointment I had, upon first glance, is that the dimensions of this book are slightly smaller than those of the original. Not a significant problem, sure, but mildly annoying for us members of the OCD crowd.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#239 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:22 am

It's also huge compared to the other one. It's a few pages shorter, but when you consider that it only covers one film, it's incredibly extensive. I can't imagine ever wanting to pass this book up if you're a fan of the film - it's the world's biggest Criterion booklet.

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#240 Post by Ribs » Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:50 pm

Thought the book outstanding, though thought it really odd there was no afterword or anything like that. Ending it with the piece about aspect ratios is an odd choice, given the Zweig excerpts immediately before it would make much, much more sense. Still ridiculously detailed and makes me kind of upset every modern film can't be given a similar treatment.
SpoilerShow
Seitz seemed compelled to explain the monochrome choice for Gustave's final scene, which seemed a bit forceful as it reared its head in the interview repeatedly. The best explanation for it - and, I thought, a perfect note to end the book on, if they had so chosen - comes in the final Zweig excerpt, as he begins to detail how life loses all its color as we grow desensitized to it.

Similarly I get the impression Wes Anderson was a bit offended that Edward Norton wasn't seriously asking him to make a horror film with him!

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#241 Post by domino harvey » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:51 pm



User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: 1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#243 Post by swo17 » Wed Jan 15, 2020 5:37 pm


User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: 1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#244 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jan 15, 2020 5:38 pm

A Bordwell video essay!

User avatar
Luke M
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:21 pm

Re: 1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#245 Post by Luke M » Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:09 pm

I'm looking forward to the Richard Brody essay(s?)

John Shade
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 3:04 pm

Re: 1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#246 Post by John Shade » Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:26 pm

I'm thinking the Brody essays will just be what he's already written? I think he did a few pieces on the film when it came out.

I was really hoping that this disc would include "Castello Cavalcanti"--can we still make that happen?!

User avatar
schellenbergk
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2018 12:03 pm

Re: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

#247 Post by schellenbergk » Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:54 am

rohmerin wrote:
Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:14 am
It's curious that the film is inspired by Stephan Zweig when it belongs totally to Joseph Roth's world (except the corny cupcakes colors). I love both authors. It's a Roth's frontier space, sometimes fairy tale with time, a complete Roth's Galitzia atmosphere, even with the Roth's rhythm.

Even Roth wrote a novella named Hotel Savoy, that I read and loved.

http://www.amazon.es/Hotel-Savoy-Narrat ... roth+hotel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, hipster American director, don't lie.

Anyway, the movie is the best Austro-Hungarian film since Szabo's Sunshine.
Very interesting observation - I personally have always thought the film is not a very good representation of Zweig's work, more true to Wes Anderson's artistic sensibility than Zweig's. (It reminds me of Portrait of a Lady - a good Jane Campion film but a poor representation of what Henry James wrote.)

I'll have to look at it again with Roth more in mind than Zweig. . . perhaps it will speak to me more that way.

britcom68

Re: 1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#248 Post by britcom68 » Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:44 am

Speaking of books related to Grand Budapest Hotel, here is another one:

https://wexarts.org/film-video/annie-atkins

If anyone is interested, prop creator Annie Atkins will be in-person at the Wexner Center here in Columbus to discuss not only her book, but take questions after the showing of the film (March 28). The tickets for the film itself are free, but the Q&A after with Atkins are $10 for the tickets, or a package deal $40 including a copy of her book. I do plan on attending

britcom68

Re: 1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#249 Post by britcom68 » Sat Feb 22, 2020 6:02 am

The forthcoming specs have been updated with further release details:

The commentary track now includes critic Kent Jones and the blu-release will include, "an 1880 essay on European hotel portiers by Mark Twain."

User avatar
CSM126
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:22 am
Location: The Room
Contact:

Re: 1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#250 Post by CSM126 » Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:17 am

The Grand Bassoonist Hotel

Never fear, the good doctor is on top of it:
I have to state the obvious: This release was created for fans of Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Post Reply