The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

[Gold Trumpet]

Congratulations!  

(You know we love you.  Well, not that way.  Well, maybe a little.  Wait, no.  Please stop looking at me like that.)

Third time...please, don't wear me out so soon. And please, don't fucking reply. Curiosity will kill me

[ono]

GT ... may he rest in peace.  He was a bit of a cunt -- what we could make out of him anyway.  But we loved him for it.  ::salutes.

[Gold Trumpet]

GT ... may he rest in peace.  He was a bit of a cunt -- what we could make out of him anyway.  But we loved him for it.  ::salutes.

oohhh....may mutinyco rip apart everything you ever do for the rest of your life.

[ono]

I feel something got lost in the translation.  

But hey, if I ever get to the point where mutinyco (or even you) is/are writing about my work, well, I'll know I've arrived.  I look forward to it.

[Gold Trumpet]

I feel something got lost in the translation.  

But hey, if I ever get to the point where mutinyco (or even you) is/are writing about my work, well, I'll know I've arrived.  I look forward to it.

Hostility only for you bringing me right back to this thread a fourth time tonight. I mean, fuck, the audacity!!!!!??? and now....now this makes 5. you know, they'll say we're in love....yes, silence of the lambs rip off

[meatball]

you owe me 18 bucks.

I owe you a contract signed by you which specifies "it's my treat", which is what you said. Why'd you go back on your word? Not only that but you're making me owe you for gas, though I didn't beg you to drive down here and then around town for a few hours so that I could owe you even more.

[Weak2ndAct]

you owe me 18 bucks.

I owe you a contract signed by you which specifies "it's my treat", which is what you said. Why'd you go back on your word? Not only that but you're making me owe you for gas, though I didn't beg you to drive down here and then around town for a few hours so that I could owe you even more.

Take this bitchy relationship crap to PM's.  It's fuckin' creepy.

[MacGuffin]

After Tenenbaums, 'Life Aquatic' Tackles Stormy Seas

Floating on the success of offbeat domestic comedy "The Royal Tenenbaums" director Wes Anderson set out to make an epic about adventure on the high seas. But some critics are already predicting a shipwreck.

Despite a cast of big names such as Bill Murray, Angelica Huston, Willem Dafoe and Cate Blanchett , Anderson is the first to admit that the title of his new film "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" doesn't really make it as a blockbuster.

"It's probably safe to say it's kind of a terrible title in and of itself," Anderson said. "Any time somebody asked me what the movie was called ... I was reluctant to say because people are not sure what to make of it."

"It doesn't serve the purpose of grabbing people when they know nothing about the movie, but if you already know it then I like it for that," he said.

It's not just the title that risks losing its audience -- the film's quirky and ironic humor, minute detail and convoluted plotline may be hard going for those who are not already fans of the director who made his name with cult favorite "Bottle Rocket" and critical hit "Rushmore."

Newsday critic Jan Stuart said it "launches with enormous promise, then sinks into a quagmire of misfired humor and misbegotten characters."

On limited release in New York and Los Angeles earlier this month the film made a respectable debut, averaging $57,000 per theater its first weekend. Yet with a budget of over $25 million, it has a lot of work to do after its Dec. 25 nationwide release.

SEMI-FANTASY WORLD

The film creates a semi-fantasy world in which world-renowned but washed-up oceanographer and documentary maker Steve Zissou sets out to take revenge on a mysterious shark that ate his friend and former colleague.

Bill Murray, who received an Oscar nomination for 2003's "Lost in Translation," plays the charismatic, if a little unbalanced, adventurer who leads Team Zissou, a cast of odd-ball characters wearing uniforms of powder blue speedos and red bobble hats.

The fish in Anderson's world are animated and wildly colorful, while a soundtrack of David Bowie songs rendered in Portuguese adds to the surrealism of the film.

Anderson says he was careful to avoid letting the quirky and artificial details of his fantasy world take over, a criticism that was directed at "The Royal Tenenbaums."

"Smart people who hated it often pointed to that, but I've been self conscious about that," Anderson said. "At the end of the day I just kept going by my own instincts."

But instinct can lead to self-indulgence: USA Today's critic said the film "gets bogged down in extended-family dysfunction that's not as funny as Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums but has the same tendency toward the precious."

TEAM ANDERSON

Still only 35, Anderson's three previous films won him a reputation as a writer and director that allowed him to attract movie stars and other established actors most young film-makers can only dream of.

For "The Life Aquatic..." he took them to Italy for six months of filming, including weeks in the Mediterranean in the winter -- an ordeal that Murray, who is in practically every scene, described as tortuous, miserable and brutally cold.

Dafoe, who answered a last minute call to play the ship's engineer, said it was an unusual film to work on.

"The economics of it is people wanted to work with Wes so they didn't ask for their normal salaries," he said. The film crew discussed the movie at a media briefing.

Anderson's longtime friend and collaborator Owen Wilson did not co-write the script this time, though he stars as an airline pilot who may or may not be Zissou's illegitimate son.

Sharing the writing credits this time is screenwriter Noah Baumbach, who said he spent the better part of a year working with Anderson in the back of an Italian restaurant in New York, creating the script between rigatoni and Campari. "A lot of the fish are named after items on the menu," Baumbach said.

Anderson compares the writing process to hearing voices in his head, and paints a picture of the two scruffy young men sitting muttering to themselves as diners come and go.

"In a restaurant it's very strange because we'll come out of our trance and see people looking at us," he said.

Huston, who also starred in "Tenenbaums" and whose character is described as the brains behind Team Zissou, said the humor of the film was subtle, perhaps too subtle for some.

"If you don't listen closely a lot can go by ... It takes some concentration. It's not a movie for dumb people."

[tpfkabi]

anyone buy the soundtrack?

[Ultrahip]

I did. Seu Jorge can really wail.

[modage]

anyone buy the soundtrack?

yes, at first listen its not my favorite.  but still pretty good.  although missing the pivotal sigur ros song.  and the seu jorge recordings are sort of low-fi, but i guess that makes them cool.

[tpfkabi]

does Wes have his little note in the liners like usual?
i don't know how full the cd is, as far as time, but i think the Sigur Ros song is 9 minutes. if the cd is already full, then that would mean cutting several other songs. maybe that's it. i'm not sure what song is used in TLA, but the Vanilla Sky soundtrack did have at least one Sigur Ros song on the actual cd soundtrack (3 in the film).

[cowboykurtis]

out of curiosity -- for those who saw zissou; how was the quality of the film print? mine was very washed out and desaturated -- i think it's a result of what I think is a very flawed post technique, digital intermediate. D.I. looks great on dvd and digitally projected but on print it looks muddy and flat. did anyone see a print that had the usual vibrant color pallette that his previous films established. the shitty print really detracted from the film -- curious to see how this looks on dvd. this whole D.I. process is a real problem, that will most likely only be solved once the exhibitors switch to digital projection -- which is far from ideal, but unfortunately the most commmon outcome. i feel if one is going to a projectedd film print, avoid D.I. at all costs -- however one must take into consideration their final dvd image which will benefit form teh D.I process -- its a long winded subject -- any opinions?

[Gamblour.]

It looked great when I saw it. I didn't notice anything wrong really.

[Ghostboy]

It looked fine to me, too. Do you know for certain that he did a DI? I wouldn't have guessed, just from the look of the film.

Myself, I love the look of DI films, and definitely plan to utilize it on all my own celluloid-originated projects. Lord Of The Rings, O Brother, and from what I can tell from the trailers, The Aviator all look amazing, among  many others.