Labels: Eric Idle, film, Jonathan Pryce, movie review, Oliver Reed, Sting, Terry Gilliam, Uma Thurman

Terry Gilliam is a brilliant designer. In most cases, he's a miserable director. His films a stuffed with visual goodies, and quirky performances, but they are completely lacking in any emotion or humanity. His films rarely investigate anything meaningful, instead they chase down esoteric philosophical points or overly complex plot situations. Gilliam is capable of some very good moments, but his overall body of work is over-hyped by people who confuse interesting with meaningful.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus tells the tale of the titular Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) who runs a theater troupe that travels London. Parnassus has made a deal with the devil (portrayed by Tom Waits) and has a wager to snare or save five souls. The ante? Parnassus' daughter Valentina (Lily Cole).

Patrons are lured into a mirror onstage, behind which they enter into a supernatural world where their morality is tested and they find pleasure or damnation.

The goofy plot provides Gilliam with plenty of canvas on which to apply his visual flair. The plot unfortunately also gets easily convoluted. Gilliam makes the error of presenting the universe of Parnassus without explaining the details early on. Instead, Gilliam loads the first half of the film with fantastic, but obscure imagery and scenes without explaining what is going on in a logical fashion. The average audience member will most likely tune out of the film before the plot's hook is revealed. For those willing to hang on, the explanation seems more like a cobbled together excuse than a intentional narrative.

The film had a short cinematic shelf life. It would have been completely ignored, like many of Gilliam's other films, if it were not for Heath Ledger's untimely death.

Ledger was working on this film at the time of his drug-induced passing. To complete the film, Gilliam introduced a cheesy element where Ledger's character Tony transforms into different physical forms. This permitted Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to step in and complete Ledger's scenes.

The inclusion of these other actors is conspicuous. These scenes are also, mostly, unnecessary. The added actors are put into scenes where they deal with surreal chase sequences and conflicts. They all give stunted performances Their disconnect with the material is clearly seen in their work.

Ultimately this is a disjointed and unemotional film. Gilliam may have the ability to create quirky and strange designs but he has always flounder giving them any humanity.




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Labels: Andrew Garfield, Christopher Plummer, Colin Farrell, Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Lily Cole, Peter Stormare, Terry Gilliam, Tom Waits

Like all Gilliam's films this is visually overwhelming.

Hopefully, unlike many of Gilliam's films, this will be watchable.





Screenwriters: Terry Gilliam (Brazil) and Charles McKeown (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)
Director: Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys)
Actors: Heath Ledger (The Patriot), Johnny Depp (The Libertine), Tom Waits (Domino), Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Andrew Garfield (Lions for Lambs), Colin Farrell (Phonebooth), Verne Troyer (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), Christopher Plummer (Dracula 2000) and Peter Stormare (Fargo)

Labels: Christopher Plummer, Colin Farrell, film, Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, movie trailer, Peter Stormare, Terry Gilliam, Tom Waits, Verne Troyer

James Cole (Bruce Willis) lives in a future where humans have been forced to scratch a living out underground, driven there by a deadly virus. The powers that be send Cole back to 1996, the year the plague hit so he can gather evidence on its cause. They believe the virus was the responsibility of a group called the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Cole is accidentally sent back too far and winds up wasting away in an insane asylum. There he meets his doctor Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and fellow kooky inmate Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). Cole continues to time travel and interrupts the lives of Railly and Goines as he slowly closes in on the truth.

Not only is this Terry Gilliam's most accessible film but it is also his best. The biggest reason this is his best film is because he restrains his penchant for self indulgence. Like a speaker who loves the sound of their own voice, Gilliam clearly gets so wrapped up designing his films that he forgets to tell coherent stories.

This film is coherent and benefits from Gilliam's strengths. His unique visual style combined with his sense of the absurd. He slowly weaves a complicated time travel story that at first seems muddled and disjointed. The various strings of images and plot points seem to fly around wildly but are brilliantly tied together in the film's final moments. On first viewing, this ending is one of the most satisfying that I have ever seen.

The standout in this film is Brad Pitt who gleefully plays Goines as a stuttering, twitching sociopath obsessed with animal rights. Pitt clearly established many of his acting tricks from this role as you can see traces of Goines in many of the roles he's done since.

This is a great movie. It is layered and well plotted but not overly so. This makes it a smart, fun film that is a good pick if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.


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Labels: Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, film, Madeleine Stowe, movie review, Terry Gilliam, time travel

"It feels like the movies I made when I was younger."

You mean it feels like one of the one's you finished?

I have an appreciation for Terry Gilliam as a designer. He creates very lush images. Its the stories that are lacking. The death of the film's star Heath Ledger will give this film more press than it otherwise would have received. Hopefully it will be worth the hype.




Screenwriters: Terry Gilliam (The Fisher King) and Charles McKeown (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)
Director: Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys)
Actors: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland), Colin Farrell (Phonebooth), Jude Law (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), Chrisopher Plummer (The Lake House), Tom Waits (Short Cuts) and Verne Troyer (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me)

Labels: film, Heath Ledger, movie trailer, Terry Gilliam

Monty Python was all about unveiling and then punching up the absurd in humanity. Anything worth mocking was worth blowing way out of proportion to ludicrous levels. The comedic troupe seems intent on not only crossing the line of good taste but doing so as extravagantly as possible. There is plenty in this film to offend most people, but given that this is the whole point, actually getting offended is pointless.

As the title suggests, they aim their sights on a broad array of subjects from contraception to war to gluttony. Unencumbered by the restrictions of television they let in a myriad of offensive material that clearly was unneeded and gives some of the humor a cheap feel. Having hundreds of children sing a mockery of the Catholic's opinions on birth control in one scene and having a celestial vagina widen and birth the universe in another are clear signs of a production not concerned with restraint. For all of the excesses, and there are plenty, there are some masterful pieces of comedy. The problem with the film is that it is so uneven. For every Mr. Creosote or guests bickering with the Grim Reaper you have to suffer through octogenarian corporate pirates and flat gags about tiger suits. The final scenes of the film are completely wasteful and nearly unwatchable. Their vision of the afterlife and Heaven feels tagged on and undeveloped and brings the movie to an unsatisfying close. This film is much like their classic television show half funny - half not, but the bits that do work are nothing less than brilliant. Keep the fast forward button handy while watching.


Cautions: This is Monty Python's at their most uncontrolled. If you have any issue with crass language, offensive behavior, nudity or violence you're advised to steer clear.

Worldview: The title of the film finds resolution by the admission that the meaning of life is that there isn't any meaning at all. This is suggested by a waiter Gaston "You see that house? That is where I was born. My mother said to me, "Garcon. The world is a beautiful place, and you must spread joy and contentment everywhere you go". And so I became a waiter... Well, I know it is not a great philosophy but..." then, feeling insecure in his admission he spits invective at the audience and tells them "I can live my life in my own way if I want to." In the end it's all about individual perspective and desire for comfort. Fair enough, but the troupe also goes out their way to mock religious belief while also claiming that since we're insignificant when put up against the broad expanse of the universe. If it's all so meaningless and without order than where do they get off mocking anything? The act of mockery suggests that the target of the humor is acting foolishly but such judgments can't exist in a meaningless universe. There's always that old retort that you can't say the universe with without truth because then even the charge that there's no truth can't be true and your argument collapses under its own weight. The fact that these guy's jokes are funny shows that they and their audience hold some truths to be evident. Where's there's truth - there's humor and vice-versa. The viewpoint they're pushing is like reading Ecclesiastes and forgetting the rest of the Bible. There is a meaning to life but despite their sarcasm and clever thinking, these ain't the guys to express it.


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The Brothers Grimm (2005)


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Labels: comedy, Eric Idle, film, John Cleese, Monty Python, movie review, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

In the world of film geeks, Terry Gilliam who can do no wrong. The truth is that he is one of the most self indulgent directors to ever step behind a camera. I consider him to be the Coen Brothers without the sense of irony. Often his works reveal him to be more of a gifted designer than insightful director. This movie about a talk show host attempting to redeem his past is hollow but nicely shot. The performance by Robin Williams as an emotionally challenged transient is way over the top. Opposite this is Jeff Bridges portraying the host. He offers a good performance but is drowned out by the overreaching Williams. Pass on this one.


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Labels: film, Jeff Bridges, movie review, Robin Williams, Terry Gilliam