Ranking: Wes Anderson Films

8. Rushmore (3/5)

Easily my least favourite Wes Anderson film and not that I find it bad at all. It's just a little more muted in its impact, always feeling like a pseudo-Catcher in the Rye in its approach. Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman are both good, but it's not either actor's career-best in my opinion. It does show hints of the excellent filmmaker Anderson would soon become though.

7. Bottle Rocket (3.5/5)

His debut film and it is noticeable by the raw feel of its production values (though Anderson did manage to nab James Caan so good job). There's a lot to like about this eccentric sorta heist movie. It's got the energetic Wilson brothers Luke and Owen front and centre, there's some funny lines and sight gags that prevision future Anderson excellence. Not a great film, too scattershot and not in an Inherent Vice sort of way, but a good one.

6. Fantastic Mr Fox (4/5)

Anderson's foray into stop-motion animation is an impressive effort. I must admit not loving it like many do as I do feel Anderson's overall cinematic approach works better with live-action, with stop-motion it occasionally feels a bit caricature-y. There are some excellent sight gags (the fainting dog's rolling eyes always kill me), you have Willem Dafoe voicing a rat, and it's for once an Anderson film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

5. The Darjeeling Limited (4/5)

Firstly I have to say my favourite part of the film is probably the opening 'prologue' short of 'Hotel Chevalier' which is remarkably poignant and atmospheric. The rest of the film is good, never get but always on the verge of it. Adrien Brody is easily the standout of the lead trio of actors, three brothers who go on a spiritual 'self-discovery' journey. Not exactly Anderson's funniest film but in a very low-key sort of way it is quite admirable. I do need a re-watch for this though.

4. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (4.5/5)

I am sorely in need of a re-watch for this. It has a very strong ensemble, with Dafoe and Blanchett being the highlights for me (though I need to re-watch for Murray), and probably the most distinctively beautiful sets and costuming of all his films. I remember it being extremely funny, but many have remarked to me the poignant haunting quality of it that I did not pick up first time round, a re-watch should rectify that.

3. Moonrise Kingdom (4.5/5)

Just a sweet endearing little 'coming of age' film that demonstrates Anderson's maturity as a filmmaker. The child actors are particularly naturalistic and he manages to derive some terrific Wes Anderson-y performances from unlikely places (Edward Norton? Bruce Willis? You betcha). I will say I find the third act to be much lesser than the first two, but that's not to say I hated it, and it certainly ends with one of the most intriguing camera shots of recent film history.

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (4.5/5)

Blasphemy not putting this first, some may say! Well I liked the film a lot but did not love it. Which isn't to say there's anything I felt about it that was lacking; just that it didn't have that 'X-factor' quality that pushes a film to 'perfection' quality for me. It's certainly a fun ride through the life of a bellboy Zero (Tony Reviliori and F. Murray Abraham) and hotel manager Gustav H. - a brilliant Ralph Fiennes who most certainly deserved an Oscar nomination for his endearing, deadpan and even quite moving portrayal of a fastidious and caring father figure. The film is intentionally rather scattershot in terms of plot, and has some great setpieces like the prison scenes, any scene with Gustav H. reciting poetry, and Anderson's marvellous cinematic talents can be platably felt in the likes of the museum scene where tension and humour are macabrely merged together. With time I could certainly bump this up to a 5.

1. The Royal Tenenbaums (5/5)

EASILY my favourite of all Anderson's films. I don't even need to get into the great ensemble cast of quirky choices that pay off incredibly well (whenever someone says Ben Stiller is a talentless one-note hack I point to this film), and Gene Hackman was so oddly snubbed for this performance since in my humble opinion it's all-time great work by a great actor. Superman song choices (Elliot Smith, The Beatles, Paul Simon and to cap off the ending, Van Morrison). The exquisite setpieces from the Royal household to the little tent set up by Margot (Gwenyth Paltrow) and Richie (Luke Wilson). The marvelous screenplay with a darkly humorous first act, an uprarious second and a movingly melancholic third act. Dialogue that's minimalistic and so eloquent in its minimalism, hilarious in its deadpan delivery. I can just show these two scenes below to show that this is not only Anderson at his funniest, it's also him at his most breathtakingly beautiful in terms of his cinematic style.