The Short That Became: Bottle Rocket

(Written for Virgin Media Shorts)

Whether you like his unique style or not, you can’t deny Wes Anderson knows how to tell a story. He’s a filmmaker both equally loved and hated for his quirky, colourful, and comical family dramas. And with his eighth feature film The Grand Budapest Hotel coming next year, we can expect much of the same.

But there was a time when he was simply enjoyed, when he filmed in black and white, when he made the audience laugh, and his style of film-making was only just being recognised as something quite ingenious. Albeit his least successful films, his short Bottle Rocket and debut feature of the same name undeniably launched an impressive career.

Film Review: The Royal Tenenbaums

Directed by Wes Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums follows an estranged family of former child prodigies – Chas (Ben Stiller), Richie (Luke Wilson), and Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) – who reunite with their parents (Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston) when one of their members announces that he has a terminal illness.