Wes Anderson movies have a lot in common. You could rename most of them “Ooh, Look At Us In Our Little Outfits!” Some feel like cupcake shops with dialogue. But even if you don't lap up every last morsel of quaintness in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” or “The Royal Tenenbaums,” you're always left with lasting Technicolor images that force you to acknowledge he's a genuine auteur. The uniformly great acting is a nice touch too.
Perhaps the purest example of the Andersonian form is “Moonrise Kingdom,” a movie that blends innocent longing and a Roald Dahl-like cast of grimacing grownups. Since it's available on Netflix to stream, we thought we'd reacquaint you with a few of its best images.
1. Absurd Tilda glamor
“Grand Budapest Hotel” upped Tilda's bar for stunning makeunders, but her turn as Social Services in “Moonrise Kingdom” was nothing but a gorgeous reinvention. A smirking headmistress never looked so radiant.
2. The squareness of Edward Norton
Remember in “Birdman” when Edward Norton played a slick New York actor? There's no trace of that swagger in his “Moonrise Kingdom” performance, where he dons the cleanest khakis of all time while locating the whereabouts of a vigilante boy scout.
3. Merit badge-worthy seriousness
The kids steal the show in “Moonrise Kingdom.” Runaway camper Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) heads off to rendezvous with the wise-beyond-her-years Suzy Bishop (Kara Heyward), and that means we catch a lot of adorable glances from both actors. Check out that withering look. He's somehow both 9 and 90.
4. This.
Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, and Ed Norton crowded into the cutest attic window of all time. I can't think of a more Andersonian triumph than that.