I like seeing Wes Anderson movies because no one makes them like he does. He has a unique voice and vision that is all his own. It’s like seeing a Quentin Tarantino movie, you know you are in for something unique which is half the fun. The Grand Budapest Hotel is Anderson’s 8th full length movie and possibly my favorite.

GBH is the tale of Gustave, a legendary concierge of the hotel between the first and second world wars. We watch as the story is relayed to a writer in the 1960’s by Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who became Gustave’s protege and best friend. It’s a story packed with adventure, love and murder run by some of the most memorable characters (and actors) around.

This movie is an absolute joy to look at. A color palette rarely seen in this age of orange and teal combined with wild set design, crisp costumes and some of the most meticulous direction and staging. Wes Anderson sees his movies long before he films them and somehow manages to get it all out of his head for others to see. It’s almost like watching a doll house come to life. Wes has somehow come up with this style that is like live action animation.  His actors seem to move in a special way for his films.

As much as I gush about the visual brilliance of GBH, the acting (and amazing characters) need just as much praise. Wes Anderson likes using the same actors from project to project and quite a few return for bit parts (Ed Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson). Ralph Fiennes as Gustave is simply brilliant. The manic pace and line delivery never stops with him. F. Murray Abraham as the grown Zero holds a certain gentlemanly glow and pride that Gustave would have been over the moon about. Tony Revolori as young Zero is the epitome of a Wes Anderson character actor. While Gustave and Zero are the stars of this universe, they are surrounded by greatness. Willem Dafoe as the murderous Jopling, Adrien Brody as the angry and hilarious Dmitri and the always lovely cadence of Jeff Goldblum as Kovacs.

Wes Anderson movies are very polarizing. You either love it or hate it. You understand what it is or you don’t get it at all. The Grand Budapest Hotel hits all my marks with phenomenal dialog, distinct and memorable characters and actors who can pull it all off. Unique production that shows what masters of the craft can do and sumptuous directing. A story that is new, weird, funny and touching. Love every bit of it, I know I’ll be coming back to The Grand Budapest Hotel for years to come.

Four movies into this franchise and it’s more of an endurance test to get to the end. The quality has always been all over the place, from a decent start, to a horrific sequel to a much better third movie. Age of Extinction feels tired and dragged out in every conceivable way.

The set up is mostly the same. The Autobots are in hiding after the events of the last movie as the battle in Chicago turned the nation against these aliens. When a new threat arises, the Autobots are needed to fight again. Most of the human cast is new with cookie cutter characters who more or less just run and scream when necessary.

Everything feels very paint by numbers, it follows the Transformers mold without anything really added to it. Sure there are new characters, but they all do the same thing. One city is replaced by another for the last action scene. Optimus Prime is completely unstoppable as he repeatedly gets up from devastating damage. Massive liberties with the laws of physics. Action scenes that are like watching a circus as there is so much going on at once that you don’t know what your supposed to be looking at. Computer generated images just running into each other. It gets exhausting. The quality of CG also varies quite a bit. The third movie has some truly stunning work from start to finish while Age tends to have compositing issues. While the robots usually blend and match well with the live action, it can get sloppy which is distracting. Direction wise, it’s Michael Bay so you know exactly what to expect (there are some sweet explosions).

Somehow they managed to stretch this out to over 2 and a half hours when it has no business going passed 2. It just keeps going and going and going.  I think not making a movie as bad as the second one is an achievement, but there’s nothing here worth paying attention to. Somehow they keep pulling in massive amount of money, so until more people get bored and move on, I don’t think there’s an end in sight.