#mywindowslook

American filmmaker Wes Anderson is known for his gorgeous films with symmetrical shots and beautiful colours. Throughout his career, he has played with romance, heists, and animation, but all of his movies have a distinctive Wes Anderson feel to them. So, with Anderson at work on a new movie, here is a ranking of all of his movies, except for Rushmore and Bottle Rocket, which I haven't seen yet.

Number 7: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou Even with it being ranked last-place, I can't say this a bad movie. It has action, great actors, and amazing visuals. What I can say though, is that this is the first Wes Anderson movie I saw, when I was pretty young, and I did not like it. The familial drama upset me, and I have yet to revisit it because of my initial feelings, but I am hoping to watch it soon.

Number 6: The Royal Tenenbaums

Again, this is not a bad movie. Ben Stiller and his family are hilarious, it has a great soundtrack, and I really enjoyed the softer colour palette. However, it felt a little plodding with mostly talking and hardly any of Anderson's signature shenanigans, my favourite part of his films.

Number 5: The Darjeeling Limited

I did really like this movie, but because of how much I really love his other films, it had to rank lower. The plot kind of confused me and I wasn't as invested in some of the characters. But it had some great symbolism and callbacks, and felt comforting.

Number 4: Isle of Dogs

His second animated movie is innovative through most Japanese characters speaking Japanese, with translations used only some of the time, and I think it makes it a pretty interesting story, adding onto the beauty and realness and humour of the movie. But sadly, the top three films of his are so amazing, it can't be any higher.

Number 3: Fantastic Mr. Fox

There are so many great things to say about this movie. The animation is gorgeous, the characters are weirdly formal and stylized but still completely real, the story is action-packed, and the humour is on-point. I had seen it once as a little kid, but rewatching it recently I was completely caught off-guard in regards for my love of it. It's perfect for kids and adults, and perfect in general.

Number 2: Moonrise Kingdom

I could probably describe this movie as my favourite Wes Anderson movie, but it's not the best. The plot is whimsical, sweet, and beautiful as it explores young love, but he throws in plenty of action, drama, and gorgeous cinematography and colour palette. The whole movie just feels like summer, but with rising emotions and tensions that lead to an absolutely mad-cap perfect climax and conclusion. Moonrise Kingdom is beautiful and a great intro to his work, but it's not his best.

Number 1: The Grand Budapest Hotel

This is his best. I love heist movies, and it does not disappoint. I love perfect cinematography, and it does not disappoint. I love perfect movies, and it does not disappoint. It's full of action and shenanigans, pain and love, amazingly rich colours and overhead shots, humour and serious discussions. Zero and Gustave are the perfect comedy duo, but they're accompanied by superb side characters and subplots that weave in and out to create a shock of a movie that proves why Wes Anderson is one of the best directors of the 21st century.

Me: That’s homophobic

Guy: No it isn’t because most lesbians have short hair. I’m just curious. So are you a lesbian?

Me: No

I love coming of age movies. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager myself, but I love watching protagonists so much like myself go through events so similar to what I'm going through, but with more understanding parents and a better sense of style. With that being said, here are my favourite films in the extremely wide and varied genre.

Lady Bird: Actress and writer Greta Gerwig's directorial debut, this movie starring Saoirse Ronan was critically acclaimed upon its release. Ronan plays Lady Bird, a teenage girl in her senior year of high school dealing with love, friendship, family, and the future. It sounds overdone and predictable, and by all accounts it should be, but instead it is fresh and sweet and beautiful.

20th Century Women: It's 1970s California, and a single mother in her fifties is struggling to raise her fifteen-year-old son, so she calls in the help of her son's best friend (Elle Fanning) and the punk artist who boards at their house (Greta Gerwig). Even though I knew the plot, I was not expecting what the movie actually is at all. It's messy and flawed, just like every person, ever. The cinematography is innovative but accessible, and the soundtrack throws you headfirst into 70s punk. What I love especially is how it completely disregards the notion that a boy needs to be raised by a man, and how it feels like a breath of fresh air regarding how women are portrayed onscreen.

Eighth Grade: Comedian Bo Burnham's directorial debut is so embarrassing I could hardly watch it. Kayla is an awkward thirteen-year-old in her last week of eighth grade, and every thing she goes through and experiences is so realistic and visceral, especially regarding how teens are growing up with social media. And even though Kayla and I are very different - I still don't understand snapchat - the movie held up a mirror, and I saw myself when I was in middle school. 

Skate Kitchen: The Whip It of skateboarding, this 2018 film feels like a documentary by starring the real life members of the all-female New York skateboarding collective Skate Kitchen. It's hazy and loosely formed, but beautiful and sharp. Because the cast is playing characters generally pretty similar to themselves, every aspect feels realistic and perfectly shaped.  

i’m feeling jealous again

making playlists in the notes app at 10 pm again

never knew why never knew why

no one’s here to be my friend

feel like something’s wrong with me again

falling apart like nothing’s wrong again

never let me down never let me down

cause there’s no one here for me in this town

and i’m seeing myself in these songs again

when we’re living across the world again

a nervous wreck, an anxious sea

no one’s here to be my friend

what i’m missing doesn’t exist again

feeling lost and behind again

left alone to sing alone

no one’s here to be my friend

A24 is an American production company, known for creating indie megahits like Midsommar, Moonlight, and The Spectacular Now. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of those. But irregardless, here is my (partial) A24 ranking, of just the ones I’ve seen.

We see female musicians get criticized all of the time, for seemingly everything. Everyone from Taylor Swift - attacked for having too many boyfriends - to alt-rock band Camp Cope being told how to play their instruments - bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich sums it up as “‘Her wrists should be straight! Her guitar is hanging too low! She’s sitting on the drum seat too loosely!” Give me a fucking break.” - have faced the ire inherent in being famous musicians and women at the same time. However, when it comes to criticizing female musician’s skill, we stumble an especially sexist and pointless beast.

One of the most famous cases of this is Meg White, drummer for garage rock duo the White Stripes. Lead singer and guitarist of the group Jack White has received praise and critical acclaim for his playing, but she is often attacked. Her drumming is described as “maddeningly rudimentary”, among other things. So why the discrepancy in the praise? I think it lies in sexism. Listeners think that if a woman is going to be playing drums, she has to be Neil Peart, without taking into consideration the fact that garage rock is supposed to be simplistic, and her forceful drum beats help anchor Jack White’s sometimes chaotic playing. Even Dave Grohl is on my side, saying “Meg White - one of my favourite fucking drummers of all time”.

This lack of understanding for genre is especially apparent in punk music. Bikini Kill, a greatly influential punk band, faced criticism that is best described in a statement from The Punk Singer, a documentary about lead singer Kathleen Hanna. The band said “They said we didn’t know how to play our instruments, and we said and?”. Sid Vicious couldn’t play bass, but nobody gave a fuck because the Sex Pistols are punk! It all comes back around to the same idea, that “When you’re a woman in a band… before you can even step on the stage, you better know how to play guitar like Stevie Ray Vaughan” (Kathleen Hanna). It’s a way of keeping women off the stage, and keeping them quiet. Part of being a musician is getting onstage, failing, and then learning from the experience, but if you are so filled with doubt because every boy you see is shredding and those same shredding boys make fun of you for every little mistake, how much are you going to want to play music? Likely not very much. 

Luckily, there is some solace to be found in the women who get up there and make music no matter what. Artists like the Raincoats, whose first shows found “[Crowds]... used to boys shredding in their bedrooms for the last 15 years before they got on stage...We let all of our stuffing hang out” (Gina Birch). And for all those other women rocking out and making noise, we see you, and we salute you. And for the women who are doubting their abilities, and don’t want to make noise, we see you, and we salute you. 

So, I don’t know if anyone’s ever heard of this, but there was this super cool comedy show in the 90s called Seinfeld, and the whole joke is that it was a show about nothing! So sick, amirite?

Obviously, that was a joke. Everyone knows and loves Seinfeld, although I am a little late to the party in loving it. But, because I’ve finally arrived, here’s my ranking of the four main characters.

1.Elaine

Not to sound like a manhater, but Elaine is my favourite character, most likely because she’s the only woman. But beyond that, she is insanely funny, is played by comedic icon Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and is most definitely a lesbian.

2. Kramer

I love Kramer because unlike everyone else on the show, he doesn’t even attempt to put up a pretense of being a normal person. He’s just the most chaotic person of all time, and he doesn’t care. Also, with all the yearning he does, he’s probably gay too.

3. Jerry

Obviously Jerry is funny and cool, I mean, he’s the star of the show. But his loud nonstop jokes get a little old sometimes, and he is also super gross sometimes, like when he broke up with a woman because he thought she might have had her breasts augmented.

4. George

Once again, George is very funny and relatable, like when he said he chooses his outfits based on mood. But that’s just how it shakes out, and sometimes he’s just a little too stupid and pathetic to be enjoyable.