Fiennes knocks this one out of the park!

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2014)

I expected to enjoy "The Grand Budapest Hotel" because Wes Anderson is a filmmaker who is generally considered "an acquired taste", and I have quite simply acquired it.
I did not expect, however, to love the film as much as I did. Ralph Fiennes gives an incredible performance at the centre of this movie. What inspired casting. I really hope he becomes a regular in Anderson's stable of actors, because he takes this movie and runs with it with seemingly no effort. M. Gustave is just a fantastic, fascinating character.
The rest of the cast, as you would expect, is quite solid, but make no mistake this is Fiennes' vehicle and he drives this one straight to pay- dirt.
Of course, with Anderson, you can expect a certain level of fairy-tale quirkiness and a set-design and sense of colour that is virtually un- matched in this day and age.
"LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU" has stood tall for many years as my favourite of Anderson's works, but i think that in "GRAND BUDAPEST" we may FINALLY have a challenger to the throne..