MOVIE: The Phonecian Scheme (2025)

by benmweilertNo Comments
The Phonecian Scheme Year: 2025 Rating: PG-13 Length: 101 minutes / 1.68 hours After a few “COVID years” of Wes Anderson films like The French Dispatch (2021) and Asteroid City (2023), it felt good to get back to an Anderson film that felt classic in its themes and presentation. The Phonecian Scheme (2025) has all the hallmark traits of modern Wes Anderson with its all-star cast, monotone affect, hilarious running gags, and geometric/symmetrical cinematography. But, even more, its plot has a driving force that doesn’t feel as fragmented as the films he made during the COVID years. I have always appreciated modern Wes Anderson films for how they have a signature visual style. The Phonecian Scheme takes it even farther by making the camera almost like a character in itself, almost justifying the head-on centered framing that has been a staple of his style for so long. The colors here are definitely bold, like in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), with the dream sequences featuring...
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MOVIE: The French Dispatch (2021)

by benmweilertNo Comments
The French Dispatch Year: 2021 Rating: R Length: 107 minutes / 1.78 hours Wes Anderson's films are immediately recognizable for their aesthetic, pacing, and ensemble casts. The dark subject matter of these movies is often glossed over through the application of bright colors, symmetry, and ho-hum characters. The French Dispatch (2021) is basically a "greatest hits" of Wes Anderson's oeuvre, both in its stylistic visual choices and its vast cast of common collaborators. There's not enough content for a full movie here, so instead, we get a glimpse into four shorter films tied together via the eponymous "French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun." Over the last few decades, Wes Anderson has explored a variety of different film techniques through his movies. From stop-motion (like in Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Isle of Dogs (2018)) to small-scale models (like in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)), Anderson builds upon his distinctive style with each successive project in his filmography. Perhaps this is what is a...
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