Rushmore

So I haven't really posted any movies in a long time and the few I have have been pretty infrequent. When voting on Stan's recent 90's movie tournament, I realized that there's just a ton of movies I want to see! I have no interest in starting up a DVD collection or anything, so my plan of attack is just to check what's playing on all the different HBO channels for a week and DVR whatever interests me. I have a limited assortment to choose from; not all of these will be obvious picks to watch. I'll start with Wes Anderson's breakout movie, Rushmore. I had seen bits and pieces of this years ago, but this was the first time I've seen the whole thing through. And I liked it! The whole movie gets carried by Jason Schwartzman as a young private school student with zero social skills. He's extremely outgoing and is a member of nearly every club in the school, and he manages to make himself somewhat charming to the viewer and a very small number of acquaintances despite being very smug about his successes. He befriends Bill Murray but ends up fighting with him over a female teacher who has not much interest in either, and the whole thing comes together with a surprisingly touching ending. I can see why his style can rub some people the wrong way- I remember really disliking The Life Aquatic when I first saw it, but that was a long time ago so I'd be willing to give that one another shot. But Rushmore was pretty great, and a perfect starting point for my potential re-introduction to Wes Anderson- I've got at least one more movie of his to post soon enough.