You know immediately when you’re watching a Wes Anderson film.
‘The French Dispatch’ is Wes Anderson’s ode to journalism
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The signature imagery, the eccentricity, the camera movement, the wide shots, the usual suspects (from Bill Murray to Owen Wilson), the constant blending of the goofy and the serious – all are hallmarks of Anderson’s cinematic work. And over the last 25 years, the Oscar-nominated, Texas-born auteur has made movies about dysfunctional families, thieving buddies, an island of stray dogs, young kids in love, a kooky oceanographer, an adventurous hotel lobby boy and many more colorful personalities.
The filmmaker’s latest all-star effort “The French Dispatch” (in theaters Friday), a collection of stories centered on American expat journalists in France, wholly embraces Anderson’s various quirks. In honor of the new film, we’re ranking all of the director’s films:
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Luke and Owen Wilson star as friends who plan to pull off a bunch of heists before joining the gang of a criminal landscaper (James Caan) until one of them falls in love with a hotel maid. Anderson’s first film – and the debut for both Wilson brothers – is rough around the edges but the talent potential for all three is there from the beginning.
Murray plays the Jacques Cousteau-esque title character, a famed oceanographer and documentarian who seeks the jaguar shark that once killed his best friend. The very strange quest for his “white whale” even includes a love triangle between Zissou, a pregnant reporter (Cate Blanchett) and a man (Owen Wilson) claiming to be his son.
8. ‘The Isle of Dogs’ (2018)
Anderson pays tribute to Japanese cinema and the scrappy nature of underdogs in this whimsical stop-motion animated comedy. A dog flu leads a metropolis to banish pooches (voiced by Murray, Edward Norton and more) to an island full of trash, and an orphan boy seeking his best friend befriends a grumpy stray (voiced by Bryan Cranston).
A year after their father’s death, a trio of estranged brothers (Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman) meet up for a spiritual journey/train ride through India. They bicker, fight, save some folks and seek out their mercurial mom (Anjelica Huston) in the Himalayas on a humorous but thoughtful trip of sibling reconnection.
Young talent shines in Anderson’s splendid 1965-set love story. The coming-of-age romance centers on two 12-year-olds – a lonely boy scout (Jared Gilman) and a troublemaking girl (Kara Hayward) – who run away and meet up on a New England island, with the scout’s troop leader (Norton) and girl’s parents (Murray and Frances McDormand) in hot pursuit.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson star as genius siblings who garner fame and renown as kids yet face lackluster adulthoods. Gene Hackman hijacks the movie as their estranged father, who shows up claiming to have terminal cancer in the bittersweet and drolly hilarious dramedy – and for many, Anderson’s signature work.
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Anderson’s first foray into stop-motion is his animated masterpiece, a brilliantly charming effort with George Clooney voicing the title character. Mr. Fox steals local food and produce to feed his family (including Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox), but running afoul of three very dangerous farmers endangers his friends and his marriage.
An excellent ode to New Wave cinema and oddball reporters, the film follows three features in the final issue of the titular journal, including tales of an incarcerated painter (Benicio del Toro) and a student revolutionary (Timothée Chalamet). And while he’s barely in the film, Murray’s the beating heart playing the beloved French Dispatch editor.
Anderson’s Hollywood breakthrough was this stellar coming-of-age comedy with Schwartzman, in his film debut, as an idiosyncratic teenager who befriends a wealthy businessman (Murray). Yet the pair become rivals for the affections of a widowed first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) and engage in some great one-upmanship shenanigans.
Anderson’s most multifaceted film is this wonderful and wild gem with comedy, adventure, mystery, action, high drama and themes of war and friendship. In the 1930s, Zero (Tony Revolori) is a newly hired bellhop at a famous European hotel who goes on the lam with his concierge boss (Ralph Fiennes) and falls in love with a kind baker (Saoirse Ronan) in a madcap story that also involves a rare Renaissance painting and the imminent rise of a fascist empire.
With theaters back up and running and new films hitting digital platforms, it’s time to catch up on the must-see movies of the year.
Jessica Chastain is an instant Oscar contender starring as loving and surprisingly liberal televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in the biopic “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” Here’s how it ranks against the rest of the best movies of 2021:
28. “The Water Man”: Hoping to help his ailing mom, young Gunner (Lonnie Chavis, with Amiah Miller) searches for a mythical figure in the forest said to hold a key to immortality in director David Oyelowo’s old-school family adventure with a 1980s sensibility.
27. “Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar”: Kristen Wiig (left) and Annie Mumolo are middle-aged BFFs who stumble onto a plot to take out a Florida vacation spot in a bizarro comedy featuring killer mosquitoes, a helpful water spirit and the very earwormy song “I Love Boobies.”
26. “Honeydew”: After getting stranded in the middle of nowhere, Riley (Malin Barr) wonders about their strange host’s home cooking while Sam (Sawyer Spielberg) chows down in a rural thriller that’s a gory mix of “Hansel & Gretel” and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
25. “Zola”: Stefani (Riley Keough, left) involves her new friend Zola (Taylour Paige) in some seriously shady dealings in director Janicza Bravo’s bonkers but empowering comedic thriller based on A’Ziah King’s infamous Twitter thread.
24. “Plan B”: Strait-laced Sunny (Kuhoo Verma, left) and her rebel BFF Lupe (Victoria Moroles) are South Dakota high schoolers on an epic trip to find a morning-after pill in director Natalie Morales’ fun and heartfelt one-crazy-night caper.
23. “In the Heights”: Anthony Ramos plays a New York bodega owner who dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic in Jon M. Chu’s infectious movie musical version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway show.
22. “Raya and the Last Dragon”: Young warrior Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, left) teams up with legendary water dragon Sisu (Awkwafina) in an epic and sassy animated fantasy adventure for youngsters not yet ready for “Game of Thrones.”
21. “Come True”: The intriguingly freaky and clever sci-fi horror thriller centers a troubled teen (Julia Sarah Stone) who dreams of disturbing dreamscapes at night and enlists in a sleep-disorder study where the darkness of her subconscious arrives in reality.
20. “Quo Vadis, Aida?”: A UN translator (Jasna Đuričić) fights for her family’s safety while dealing with inept Dutch officials and ruthless Serbs rounding up Muslims in the excellent and harrowing Oscar-nominated Bosnian war drama.
19. “Night of the Kings”: A jailed pickpocket (Bakary Koné, center) is forced to become a storyteller in a prison run by its inmates in director Philippe Lacôte’s absorbing drama, which pays tribute to the oral tradition of the tale-spinning West African griots.
18. “The Boy Behind the Door”: Lonnie Chavis (“This Is Us”) stars as young boy who has to rescue his best pal Ezra Dewey) when they’re kidnapped and taken to a strange house in the country in an excellent survival chiller with a cool twist.
17. “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”: The Mitchell family – Katie (from left, voiced by Abbi Jacobson), Linda (Maya Rudolph), Rick (Danny McBride) and Aaron (director Mike Rianda) – team up with some screwed-up robots in the joyful animated comedy.
16. “Pig”: Nicolas Cage gives a wonderfully soulful – and unusually un-Cage – performance as an Oregon truffle hunter whose beloved porcine best friend is stolen in Michael Sarnoski’s intriguingly quirky, somewhat bittersweet and surprisingly tender drama
15. “Judas and the Black Messiah”: Daniel Kaluuya (center) plays influential Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in director Shaka King’s timely period drama, which functions as political thriller and historical vehicle.
14. “Language Lessons”: Adam (Mark Duplass) is gifted with online Spanish lessons and has an awkward first cybermeeting with new teacher Cariño (Natalie Morales, who also directs) in the heartbreaking yet delightful dramedy about the importance of human connection.
13. “Nine Days”: In writer/director Edson Oda’s deep and thoughtful existential fantasy, Will (Winston Duke, left) interviews and tests Kane (Bill Skarsgård) and a bunch of other souls to see if they’re fit to be born on Earth.
12. “Cruella”: Emma Stone gamely plays Disney villainess Cruella De Vil as a young London designer in 1970s punk-rock London who tussles with a chic and ruthless fashion icon in an intriguing, colorful exploration of nature vs. nurture.
11. “Riders of Justice”: Mads Mikkelsen (far right) is a soldier who comes home to take care of his daughter (Andrea Heick Gadeberg) and exacts vengeance on the street gang responsible for his wife’s death in the brutal and heartwarming Danish action-comedy thriller.
10. “The Suicide Squad”: Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian, from left), Peacemaker (John Cena), Bloodsport (Idris Elba) and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior) are the newcomers to Task Force X in James Gunn’s bloody and absurdly delightful bad-guys-save-the-world movie.
9. “The Sparks Brothers”: Edgar Wright’s rock doc chronicles the five-decade career of Sparks, how the art-pop band was huge overseas but never in America, and what keeps brothers Russell (left) and Ron Mael passionate and still together today.
8. “The Vigil”: A Jewish New Yorker (Dave Davis) of lapsed faith takes an all-night job that turns into a battle for his soul thanks to the arrival of a demonic dybbuk in a chiller that scares up serious religious mythos and haunting historical connections.
7. “Together Together”: A 45-year-old bachelor (Ed Helms) unlucky in love but who badly wants children, hires a 20-something barista (Patti Harrison) to be his surrogate in Nikole Beckwith’s feel-good pregnancy dramedy.
6. “Summer of Soul”: Sly and the Family Stone perform at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in the splendid new documentary, directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and featuring a slew of never-before-seen performances from the event.
5. “I Care a Lot”: Rosamund Pike plays a conniving conservator who bilks aging clients out of their money in the dark crime satire, a genre-exploding effort that’s awash in ethical quandaries and severely lacking in good guys.
4. “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”: The smart and surprisingly funny biopic is definitely worth several hallelujahs as it follows the rise and fall of televangelist couple Jim (Andrew Garfield) and Tammy Faye Bakker (Jessica Chastain).
3. “CODA”: Teenage Ruby (Emilia Jones, left) wants to explore her singing talent, but her deaf mom (Marlee Matlin) doesn’t understand in writer/director Siân Heder’s heartwarming coming-of-age dramedy.
2. “The Green Knight”: Headstrong young man Gawain (Dev Patel, left) wields the sword of his uncle, King Arthur (Sean Harris), and sets out on an epic quest in director David Lowery’s dazzling dark fantasy.
1. “The Father”: Anthony Hopkins stars as an elderly London man with dementia trying to make sense of his constantly shifting reality in writer/director Florian Zeller’s immersive character study and exceptional drama.
29/29 SLIDES
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Every eccentric and quirky Wes Anderson movie, ranked (including the new ‘French Dispatch’)
