Best new posit we’ve heard in a long time (via our message boards, we forget who, but kudos): Is Wes Anderson quickly becoming the new Weezer? I.e. A heavily adored, highly influential (relatively anyhow) band that transformed regular fans into devoted disciples who insisted the work remained brilliant despite obvious diminishing returns to the rest of the normal world?
It’s literally the best analogue we’ve heard in a long time. Don’t get it twisted (Fox Searchlight or anyone else), we don’t dislike or hate Anderson or his work, but apostles of any kind with zero critical faculties and fan boy-ish tendencies tend to be wretched and it’s much the same here. It’s like the line in that classic Sloan song. “It’s not the band I hate, it’s their fans…”
This is to say, we don’t have gigantic expectations for Anderson’s first foray into animation with “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Ever since we saw the trailer we stopped being very excited and perhaps that’s a good thing. Expectations keep growing for his films and we keep getting disappointed. It’s not all his fault; there is a lot of the buzz and hype factor that can make the most skeptical of heart get enthusiastic all over again.
Anyhow, chew on that one or discuss, but we love the Weezer/Anderson trajectory idea. Also, we love it for this idea too. Once you accept Weezer for who they are: a pretty catchy, radio-rock, commercial-friendly band and realize they’re never going to go back to the cool indie-emo days of Pinkerton, you can just settle in and enjoy them. Perhaps the same will happen with Wes. He can’t do “Rushmore” forever. Btw, here’s the new poster.
