Trailer - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
- Thread starter Rincewiend
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Eh. I have very little faith in Gilliam anymore. The last movie he made that I would consider an actual home run is Brazil. Well, okay, Twelve Monkeys, but even that was 15 years ago. Since then, he's been box-office poison.
Parnassus, to me, after reading the script and watching this trailer, feels like a very flimsy construction for a bunch of fantasy scenes ... essentially, visuals desperately in search of a story. And that's generally true of Gilliam's output in general, especially in the last twenty or so years of his career. He's very visually talented, but he's terrible with story, and he's incredibly self-indulgent, needing his movies to scream out, "LOOK AT ME! I AM TERRY GILLIAM! BEHOLD HOW AWESOME I AM!"
The script is very, very strange, much of it being just batfuck creepy.
In any event, it sounds like Sony Pictures Classics has picked this up for the US, and that company is known for very small minimum guarantees. I expect this will land in New York City, Los Angeles and a handful of arthouse theaters across the country.
Looks great.
I've been waiting for this movie for entirely too long.
Heh.
I'm really, really, really excited that it's finally coming out. Gilliam remains one of my favorite filmmakers of all time, and it's great to see him back in something like this after Tideland (which I still thought was brilliant).
Tom Waits as Satan is more than enough awesome for me.
Heh.
I'm really, really, really excited that it's finally coming out. Gilliam remains one of my favorite filmmakers of all time, and it's great to see him back in something like this after Tideland (which I still thought was brilliant).
Tom Waits as Satan is more than enough awesome for me.
Gilliam's awesome. Of course, I think I'm one of the few people who actually *enjoyed* Brothers Grimm. Then again, I acknowledge the fact that the studio didn't let him do his own thing for it, and that is why it suffered from the problems it does have.
I hope this movie will get released somewhere near me... It'd probably be shown in KC, maybe. Unless this really cool little artsy theater near the college here gets it. That'd be cool.
Joy
I hope this movie will get released somewhere near me... It'd probably be shown in KC, maybe. Unless this really cool little artsy theater near the college here gets it. That'd be cool.
Joy
I was going to see this anyway, but now I have a reason to be more excited about it.
I've been waiting for this film for ages. Unfortunately, I won't able to watch the trailer any time soon, but I did see some clips that were leaked out awhile good. Looks to be very good.
Timby: I can understand your feelings about Terry Gilliam. Tideland in particular certainly fits your description of his recent work, but it should be noted that he actually hasn't done much recently. Since 12 Monkeys, he has only done Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (which certainly also fits that description, but in that case it certainly was deliberate), The Brothers Grimm, and Tideland. The latter two aren't his best works, I agree, but I love his films in general and the reviews I've been reading have have compared The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which I think is Gilliam's most imaginative (even though 12 Monkeys remains my favorite of his).
Timby: I can understand your feelings about Terry Gilliam. Tideland in particular certainly fits your description of his recent work, but it should be noted that he actually hasn't done much recently. Since 12 Monkeys, he has only done Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (which certainly also fits that description, but in that case it certainly was deliberate), The Brothers Grimm, and Tideland. The latter two aren't his best works, I agree, but I love his films in general and the reviews I've been reading have have compared The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which I think is Gilliam's most imaginative (even though 12 Monkeys remains my favorite of his).
Yeah, I'll agree Brother's Grimm was a disappointment, but I still thought Tideland was strange, wonderful and quite stunning at times.
Way too weird and fantasy-based for me. Looks like a Tim Burton movie or something.
Yuck.
Too bad. Dark Knight should have been Heath's final performance; not just his final 'complete' performance.
But hey, the studio knew people would want to see Ledger's final work, and knew it would garner them much more money likely, so...
Yuck.
Too bad. Dark Knight should have been Heath's final performance; not just his final 'complete' performance.
But hey, the studio knew people would want to see Ledger's final work, and knew it would garner them much more money likely, so...
I disagree, Fear and Loathing and Tideland are both excellent films, and box office returns have always been up and down like a yo-yo for Gilliam movies, Brazil and Munchausen were both flops before he struck relative gold with Fisher King (another great film) and 12 Monkeys.
Tideland particularly I feel is one of his best films.
The trailer was visually amazing. Not sure I totally understood the story endgame. Will likely watch this.
Speaking as someone who paid good money to see The Fall, I guess I have no rationale for refusing to see a visually sumptuous incoherent mess of a movie. 
Is there an in-story rationale for Ledger's character being played by four different actors?
Is there an in-story rationale for Ledger's character being played by four different actors?
Based on the script -- and tying that into what I've read of the film's production and how much had been shot when Ledger OD'd -- the character always returns to Ledger after he comes back through the mirror.
When the notion to use the other 3 actors came about I read a comment that stated each actor would represent a different part of that characters(Ledger) psyche and that would manifest in the visual representation.
Apparently all the scenes of him returning from this 'wonderland' had been shot already. Makes sense seeing as how the shots of him on the 'other side' might require more set up and time.
Been a fan of Gilliams work going all the way back to Time Bandits. So I'm all over this.
I'd thought this for quite a while myself. In fact, I've often felt that Depp is the only one who could conceivably replace Ledger as the Joker in the Batman franchise. But looking at Ledger's hair & make-up in this movie, I half wonder if Johnny Depp hadn't been Gilliam's original choice anyway.
No, Tim Burton has brief moments of lucidity. Gilliam re-shoots up with fairy dust every time the slightest hint of reality starts to seep in. It really says something when the man's most realistic movie was Monty Python & the Holy Grail.
I'm so-so on Gilliam's stuff. 12 Monkeys was decent but nothing special. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was fun. Brazil was very well done, although very haunting to sit through and kinda depressing. I wish he'd been able to finish The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Ultimately, I'll probably sit through this new film if only to see Ledger's last performance and see how it meshes with what Depp, Farrell, & Law have done.
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