Opinions are like assholes so here's mine since no one is asking.
Bottle Rocket, 1996 - the perfect summation of all that independent film can be. Hate to sound like the guy saying "their first album is the best" but A+.
Rushmore, 1999 - I'm almost completely with ya, This Recording -- certainly it can never be repeated and nothing says 'zeitgeist' of my college years more than this film + Fight Club. Perhaps the perfect balance between wide-eyed innocence and dense brainy quirkyness. A
The Royal Tennenbaums, 2001 - Ambitious is rarely a bad thing for me. It shouldn't be possible for me to connect with characters this [choose one: rich/ridiculous/self-absorbed] but I guess that's what New Sincerity is all about, cause I sure felt. A-
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 2004 - But here's where I falter in my faith; Owen's accent just couldn't convince me (living in Kentucky when this opened); starts to feel like it came from the Wes Anderson Factory. Still down with the sprawl/ambition but I have little desire to rewatch this. I wonder if Owen's roles in shitty films like Shanghai Knights, Starsky and Hutch etc were starting to colour things for me by 2005. C+ ... no, wait, B- for class participation.
The Darjeeling Limited, 2007 - A return to form yet also a new direction. Brody is magnificent, the Indian setting stirred many personal associations for me and the visuals were perfect. Instantly familiar in that Wes Anderson way without being repetitive. Not wild about Hotel Chevalier out of context but as part of a whole, I'm down. I wish this was longer. A