The 10 best movies on Amazon Prime in December 2021 – The A.V. Club
The Royal Tenenbaums (available 12/1)
Cases for other movies as Anderson’s best can certainly be made (just as they can be made for other Tarantino pictures), but with 20 years of hindsight, [The Royal Tenenbaums] feels like the Anderson urtext. It takes place in a wistful alternate reality with some resemblance to our own; features loads of memorably costumed characters with the immediate iconography of a great comic strip; is soundtracked by an eclectic mix tape that includes the Ramones, Elliott Smith, and a song from A Charlie Brown Christmas; and chases big laughs (really big laughs—it nearly topped our list of the best comedies since the year 2000) with genuine heartbreak.
Anchored by a performance that feels like Gene Hackman’s swan song even though he made a couple more movies afterward, The Royal Tenenbaums recognizes an essential truth amidst its stylizations: that who we are as adolescents can come to define us as adults, for better or worse. For all his supposed nostalgia, Anderson doesn’t indulge it shamelessly. He gives us characters who struggle with how to stay true to themselves while moving forward, iconic outfits or or childhood crushes in tow. Richie Tenenbaum may have failed to develop as a painter, but Anderson has a gift for revisiting his favorite flourishes and finding new notes within them. [Jesse Hassenger]