We were walking along State Street in Santa Barbara this afternoon when we noticed a theater showing Grand Hotel Budapest and when we checked the times we realized we could take in a matinee and have a timely dinner.  So we rushed to get the car from the distant parking lot with a fixed time limit and move it to a nearby lot where you pay for time parked after the fact.  We were in the theater 10 minutes after the scheduled start which meant we missed the first two coming attractions.

Grand Hotel Budapest is a period piece using the convention of a story within a story within a story.  Everything is very stylized and it appeared that great attention was given to details of positioning and direction of action.  There is much tongue in cheek and lines that just seem to come from a different genre altogether.  There are some wonderful bit parts including a minor role by Bill Murray.  Like a fine piece of music the end returns to recapituate the opening theme.  I hesitate to say more,  the time period is from the great war to the beginning of WW II in Europe.

Carol and I really enjoyed the movie and couldn’t leave as long as the Balilika music continued over the closing credits. Do not leave until the screen goes black!
This is the first movie we have seen on the big screen since October anyhow.  We are watching many more movies on our tv using satellite pay per view and Roku for Netflix and Amazon prime.