Coming out in the U.K. on October 16 via Lionsgate, the international trailer for Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” with of course, the final onscreen appearance of the late Heath Ledger is finally here.
And Jesus, if you had issues with the effects in Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones,” which admittedly, we’re beginning to have second thoughts about, you’re really going to have some problems here as well. Marred by a horrible and cornball narration, we do get some glimpses of Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell, but the picture is largely looking like the incoherent mess that most critics felt it was during Cannes.
It’s also incredibly “hey, wacky!” and you kind of expect Howard The Duck to waddle in, midway through. It’s like many have said before, was it Vulture? It sounds like/looks like a hodgepodge mish-mash of everything Terry Gilliam has done in the past, crammed into one overwrought kaleidoscope of color and un-subtlety. It kind of reminds us of that “Mr. Show” skit where the host says in a goofy ass tone, you can do it if, “you imagineer it!” Honestly, after the iffy reports from Cannes and considering Gilliam’s sketchy output of late, we kind of figured this would be a mess. Alas. Like usual, we still want to see it, but we’re not holding out that much hope. We sort of knew this would be troublesome when we read the script back in 2008.
The CGI is deliberately fake-looking because the world within the imaginarium is meant to reflect your dreams. There isn't meant to be a hint of reality whatsoever.
Beyond that, I disagree completely. What can I say? I look at this trailer and I instantly think of Brazil, Time Bandits and Baron Munchausen, all made when Gilliam was at the peak of his powers. A mess? Seems pretty straightforward to me. The only mess in Gilliam's career is The Brothers Grimm, and that's because the Weinsteins screwed him over (Though admittedly he did sign onto a script that even he knew was rubbish.)
I don't care about the iffy response from the American critics at Cannes. Fear and Loathing was torn to pieces at Cannes and yet it's one of Gilliam's best and most popular films. I can't bloody wait for this.
Why would we quote the assholes at Vulture?
Also, might not have been a good idea to have the "death = not permanent" line when we've got footage of Heath Ledger.
Cause when someone says something I'm paraphrasing i try and give 'em credit wherever possible.
Also, Vulture are better than 90% of the film sites out there and have a wonderful sense of humor about things. Sure, sometimes they're to light and silly, and that can get aggravating if you take things too seriously (which I'll admit happens to me occasionally, i love film a lot), but their irreverence and wit is appreciated.
Please tell me what other bloggers i should be reading. Please don't say film critics either. One reads those guys on the weekend. Or at least, that's the only time i have for them.
I just find Vulture so pointlessly acidic and snarky. They don't really seem to like movies unless they can have fun at their expense. This would be ok if they were occasionally funny, but they don't really tickle me all that much.
i hear your point with Vulture, they can get on my nerves sometimes as well, but they're clever and sharp; far better writers than most of the folks out there.
I suppose i agree with them half the time so i don't find them that bad. Maybe you don't like Movieline's similar snark either, but i think those guys are tops too (though the lame US-Weekly TV and celeb coverage I completely ignore and pretend is not even there).
The one thing about Vulture is that they're sort of an entertainment site too so they're making fun of things even if they do like 'em and I get that, because its fun to write with tongue and cheek, pretty much the way i wrote that Peter Berg piece. I have nothing really against him, but I like to write with cheek and the Playlist was way better about that when it started and then i started taking things too seriously unfortunately.
I guess ideally we're mixing passion with irreverence.
Incoherent? Mess? Have all your writers and script readers been eating retard sammiches?
I seriously can't wait until the movie finally breaks so we can see several murders of crow traffic jammed and flailing from The Playlist's every noisy orifice.
BTW, it's a just a trailer.
That visual is… intriguing.
Probably not as "intriguing" as the image The Playlist has created for itself as employed Gilliam bashers.
Hope you pretenders like the taste of feathers, 'cuz dinner is coming.
Hey, don't lump all us Playlisters together. I have a kung-fu grip.
So do plastic toys that pose as heroes.
… and here i thought you were just the good cop in the scenario.
Are we talking about my penis?
Wow, Gilliam fanboys are the worst. That looks fucking gay.
Tom Waits is a Gilliam fanboy.
Maybe The Paylist can run a couple hatchet-blogs against him too, for even having anything to do with this movie.
You know he's done quite a few songs that compliment the theme of this "incoherent" story, perhaps making fun of them and explaining how ridiculous this whole Faustian theme really is, is in order.
Seriously, this thing look silly and retarded the special effects look terrible. Not sure what the fanboys here are on about. Perhaps it's Heath Ledger fans desperate to make this pic a hit.
Has The Playlist tricked people into thinking trailers are actually movies now?
Personally i want to see the film for Tom Waits and Terry Gilliam, two creative geniuses.
blah, blah, blah.
I agree that everything looks a little chaotic but isn't that kind of the point? There were parts of Fear and Loathing where I didn't know what the hell was going on, but that's exactly the point: It's a trip. The imaginarium is also a trip, but only different because it goes into the human mind itself, rather than drug induced hallucinations.
Still, I do get annoyed by movies that lack focus, but the trailer makes the plot seem simple enough to follow. I for one am interested, although I have to be honest, I'm not a huge Colin Ferrel fan and I wish he wasn't in this movie.