The Grand Budapest Hotel

In my opinion this is one of the best movies of the 21st century! If you enjoy dark humor, artsy, quirky, fast moving films with an amazing ensemble cast...you have got to own this DVD. Prepare to have your mind blown as you recognize surprise actors and ride out the twists and turns. You'll watch it over and over, enjoying all of the nuances, like me!

The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson is chock full of Hollywood A-listers in both cameo and substantial roles and with Anderson at the helm, the result is a film so quirky and brilliant that you’ll want to see it more than once. The Grand Budapest Hotel is Anderson’s best film to date, a wry, exceptionally well-structured 5-act Shakespearean dramedy. If you liked any of Anderson’s prior movies, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums, or The Darjeeling Limited, to name a few, then The Grand Budapest Hotel will satisfy you in a way that these previous gems just narrowly missed.First there’s the superb M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), impeccably dressed with such dizzying attention to detail that Coco Chanel would be jealous. Gustave runs the GBH, set amid a coniferous-lined mountainside, always gorgeously blanketed with a light dusting of snow, so breathtakingly beautiful it looks like CGI. Anderson used more than one locale for the filming to get just the right feel for the distinguished and sumptuous backdrop to the movie. At the GBH, Gustave not only runs a tight, elegantly appointed ship, he has a cadre of patrons, all older, almost all female, who return to the GBH to partake of the amenities that only M. Gustave can provide. The young Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), so called, he says, because after losing his family and home in the war -- the movie is sandwiched between the first and second World Wars -- he is nothing and has no one. Zero is hired by M. Gustave to maintain a specific role at the hotel, the actual description of which is unclear for while Gustave has a list of “don’ts”, it seems the lobby boy’s biggest “do” is to be Gustave’s personal assistant. Throughout the movie, we see Zero’s allegiance to Gustave unfold and grow in a variety of wry and often hilarious ways.The entire story is told in flashback by the enigmatic owner of the hotel, a much older Zero (F. Murray Abraham), to the Young Writer (Jude Law), who is a patron of the current GBH. With it’s halcyon days behind it, a skeleton crew running it, and very few guests, the GBH is still going, maybe not strong, but going. Abraham invites Law to join him for dinner and over many courses, unravels the beguiling history behind the hotel. After one of Gustave’s favored patrons, Madame D. (a sublime Tilda Swinton) is murdered, Gustave travels to Madame D’s side because, “she needs me,” meaning, he needs to make sure 1) she looks good and 2) to find out whether she left him a little something in her will. At the reading, the lawyer, Deputy Kovacs (Jeff Goldblum) announces to the family that Madame D. has left Gustave the priceless painting, “Boy With Apple” which, according to Gustave, they had admired together many times. Chaos ensues as the heirs, led by Madame D’s son, Dmitri (Adrien Brody) along with his henchman, Jopling (Willem Dafoe), try to reclaim what they believe is rightfully the family’s. The film is full of fabulously quirky observations such as when Gustave views the dead body of Madame D, examines her nail polish and expresses approval for the new color because even in death, style and elegance are paramount.My favorite line in the movie is Gustave’s, spoken during a moment when he and the Lobby Boy are trying to puzzle out the mystery behind the dilemma Gustave finds himself in:“The plot thickens, as they say. Why, by the way? Is it a soup metaphor?”I absolutely will not tell you what mess they are in as the film is all to methodical to spoil, but I will say that I frequently laughed out loud throughout the movie. Anderson’s usual themes of abandonment, trouble with authority, and overarching loyalty in the face of adversity are all present. The cast goes on and on: Harvey Keitel, Ed Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, and a host of others makes this film feel like summer camp for A-Listers The Grand Budapest Hotel is not for everyone. My mother thought it was weird, but she’s 80 and subtle, facetious humor is often lost on her. Me, I thought it was brilliant.

I always avoided watching this movie because I didn't like the cover or the trailer. It looked really boring to me and I also had no idea what it was about. Since then, I saw Fantastic Mr Fox which I picked up because I like stop motion animation - I didn't think it would be as good as a Disney movie, but I was intrigued by the characters and the attention to detail. Since then, I have rewatched that movie multiple times analyzing and studying it - and it clicked. I like this weird, quirky sort of style.So I finally watched this movie. I'm late to the party, but I really enjoyed this one. It has an interesting story, it has comedy, it has drama, it has visually appealing sets that aren't all live-action. I like the quirky humor and the dialogue. This movie may not be best suited for the younger audience - it has references to sex, death, and murder. But bits of comedy and cheerful pastries and pink boxes are strewn about to keep the movie light and entertaining.Of the Wes Anderson films, I still like Fantastic Mr Fox best, followed by Grand Budapest Hotel, then Darjeeling Limited, Isle of Dogs, and Moonrise Kingdom.

The Brothers have another masterpiece with this movie. Like “Oh Bro” , “Aquatic”and “Royal Ts”, I find that these movies are totally engrossing and I watch captivated, finding myself wishing the story would go on when the credits roll. Maybe it’s my age, education, or odd interests that attract me to these films. Once upon a time, guys my age watched Jacque Cousteau and Wild Kingdom each and every time it came on TV, even if we had seen the episode twenty two times. In the dim and vinyl saturated living rooms of the 1970s , we would watch unblinkingly watch as Marlin Perkins told Jim to wrestle that charging Rhino to the ground or as the crew of the Calypso fought tiger sharks in the morning, found pirate treasure in the sea bottom after lunch and watched the sunset, smoked Sherlock Holmes looking piped and drink red wine, toasting the events of the day hugged up with some knockout 1970s ladies on some exotic Mediterranean island that doesn’t even appear on maps. We saw our moms reading those “How to Raise a Gifted Child” books, imaged the cool trendsetter lives of the intelligentsia in the waning days of the free 1960s, and at ,one point or another, imagined busting out of a chain gang during the Great Depression and taking up hobo life until musical talent made us rich and famous.....how could we not LOVE these movies?!? Although pre-WW2 Eastern Europe was not as personally relatable as some venues, it didn’t stop me from diving head first into that unique universe and enjoying the film to the maximum.....almost as a temporary (and imaginary) honorary citizen of Z Land. These guys have figured out the magic formula to make fantastically good motion pictures with each and every attempt....great story + unique setting x superb acting talent (doing it more for enjoyment of acting, character development and to tell a great story rather than solely for the $25 million paycheck). For those who have not seen it, I don’t want to spoil the movie by discussing any of the plot. For those that have seen it, you already know....GRADE = AAA

This movie is certainly quirky, but so well done.

My favorite Wes Anderson film, such a amazing film, one of the two films by Wes Anderson that clicked with me alongside Isle Of Dogs. Ralph Fiennes is charmingly funny in this film. Tony Revelori is very good as the protege. It’s a hotel worth revisiting more than once.