Moonstruck with Moonrise Kingdom! But I do not think it belongs in the kingdom as one of the best films of 2012!

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2012)

The Wes Anderson quirky flick "Moonrise Kingdom" is not for everyone; but when we are talking about Wes-stern films, you must know that they are for an acquired taste. His movies are infamous for being unorthodox and strange, which is very similar to my movie reviews minus the wisdom. I personally like many of his films, even though I found a couple of them disappointing; "Moonrise Kingdom" is not one of them. It is very good, even though I do not like it as much as many critics and pseudo-critics do; I belong in the latter category by the way. "Moonrise Kingdom" is set in an island village near the coast of (oops, I forgot!). I should have listened more to the film's Narrator who was marvelously played by Bob Balaban. The movie really stars two unknown child actors, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as Sam and Suzy. They meet and young love commences. Sam belongs to a Scout Troop group, but runs that coup to meet with young Suzy for a childhood romantic adventure. Sam is an orphan, who is a misfit with the rest of his scout peers. Suzy comes from an upper-middle class family that has its share of dysfunction. Suzy rebels against her parents, who are both lawyers. She also has an anger management problem, but takes a sweet liking to Sam. So therefore they plan the "Summer of Sam and Suzy". Edward Norton co-stars as Scout Master Ward who is distraught that one of his scouts has runaway, of course I am referring to Sam. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray Suzy's parents, Walt and Laura Bishop. They are also in disarray when Suzy goes missing. Bruce Willis has been a die-hard fan of Anderson movies, so he rolls into this one as the Island Police Captain Sharp. Willis' sharp performance as the Captain was king. The rest of the cast was also quite sharp, I must say. Besides the aforementioned actors, we also had some good thespian work from Tilda Swinton as a Social Service Agent who went by the name "Social Services"; (you gotta love it), and also from Jason Schwartzman as Uncle Ben, I mean Cousin Ben (sorry I had too much rice). Anderson's direction and writing was worthy, even though he did not bring anything new to the cinematic table which he has not done before. "Moonrise Kingdom" contains the same Anderson ingredients as his past films: family dysfunction, emotionless expressions, and tactile objects as narrative centerpieces, etc. etc. etc. My favorite "Moonrise Kingdom" feature was its spectacular cinematography. Many are predicting that "Moonrise Kingdom" will thy kingdom come to the Academy Award spotlight with several nominations. I would not put it in that pedestal, but I have no reservations why you should not scout out "Moonrise Kingdom". **** Good