The two-week holiday period is over – we even took the tree down yesterday to make it official. Â I was actually sad when yesterday was done. Â There’s a lot to look forward to this year, but it was nice to be in a bubble for a bit. Â Well, time to lead off with my left foot and get this year going!
How about some movie quick-hits?
We watched The Trip to Italy on Netflix last night, and it was delightful.  On just the travel porn aspect of it, it’s already in A+ territory, as the two characters are taking a trip through Italy visiting various spots associated with Byron and Shelley.  Plus, they eat a lot.  It’s gorgeous.  But there’s a funny movie here too, as you’re basically along for the ride with these two guys, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing fictional versions of themselves, and they’re hilarious.  Their topics of conversation along with their many many celebrity impressions are wonderful.  There’s really not much of a plot or story-arc to be found here except that they have a wondrous time driving south along the Italian coast, and when the ending title card showed up, I was kind of surprised.  There’s a movie before this one called The Trip with the same guys but traveling England, so I’m guessing this is a concept they plan on continuing.  Fine by me – as long as they keep choosing fantastic locales.
This movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, was one that I kind of missed when it came out much earlier in 2014 (I almost wrote “this year” but remembered it’s now 2015!!!!).  It’s getting huge Oscar buzz and from those I knew who had seen it, including Larry, I heard lots of good things.  The thing with Wes Anderson movies though is that they can be almost too cute and affected to handle.  The Royal Tenenbaums comes thatclose to being that way for me.  So I’m not always first in line for his movies, but damn he can assemble really talented casts.  So I saw that it was now available on HBO and I DVR’d it and hello, I wish I had seen this when it came out in the theater as it is amazing.
The story, which isn’t simple at all to summarize, centers on the proprietor of the fictional Grand Budapest Hotel in the time right before WWII as well as his newly-appointed Lobby Boy. Â A murder mystery, disputed wills and inheritances, prison breaks, and ever-looming fascists ready to make this magical place go away all combine to make a supremely charming story. Â There’s a lot to feast your eyes on as the movie has some great and cute scale models while also finding stunning real-life interiors – but you’ll be charmed mostly by Ralph Fiennes as the proprietor M. Gustave and Tony Revolori as Lobby Boy Zero. Â They have chemistry for days and their story gets surprisingly emotional, as we hear the story almost third-hand and see its impact across the decades. Â The supporting cast is filled with A-List actors and what I also was charmed by was the wonderful soundtrack, which I bought on iTunes shortly after the movie ended. Â I can’t say enough good things about this movie, and I expect it to do very well come Oscar time. Â Go see it!