Recently re-watched A History Of Violence and Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.
A History of Violence: Mostly holds up from when I adored this movie as it first came out. The movie does a great job of setting expectations, but then taking its time getting to them to the point where you're almost surprised when what you expected to happen actually does. I'm making it sound like a bad thing, but its not. They're building suspense, by being patient and having a very precise and intuitive sense of timing. No payoff waits so long that it fails to meet expectations (LANGOLIERSSSSSS!!!!!).
There is however, this weird perverted sense to the movie. Peoples' touches linger too long, guys stare into each others eyes a beat more than feels comfortable. All the 'intimate' scenes in the movie between the protagonist and his wife are kind of..off-center. It is still a great movie with compelling characters, but it isn't all that it seems..or maybe I mean, it isn't JUST what it seems.
Life Aquatic: I simply loved this movie. The imagery, the characters, the dry humor, the 'preciousness' of it all. I just loved it. I am way more of a Wes Anderson fan than I realized.