Answers...I need answers. What's going on here? Where am I? Who are you?
[editorial note: Those big bug eyes and this disorientation? This is actually a portrait of me as a moviegoer (they got my eyebrows wrong but still...) when dealing with Tim Burton movies. He has never been great at storytelling but once upon a time (and still, to be fair, in certain sequences) he had no problem widening my eyes by summoning up real movie magic. I worry about Sweeney Todd too much but I'm just hoping it's in the magic camp (Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Pee Wees Big Adventure, Ed Wood) and not so much in the 'Answers... I need answers' camp of lost fandom (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Planet of the Apes). For the record, Big Fish, Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow lie somewhere between those two poles with Mars tipping towards the magic group on account of unmitigated weirdo hilarity. And thus ends todays uncharacteristically longwinded 20:07 installment. Occassionally that happens. Off to the comments with you]
Posts
14 comments:
Big Fish was such a conundrum. That kiss in the tub! That ending! A number of great scenes that just didn't add up. Edward Scissorhands remains the only film of his to feel truly magical ("Sometimes, you can still catch me dancing in it"...? Don't get me started). I hope he hits big again soon.
Yeah, CHARLIE kind of bugs me too. I don't mind Depp's performance as much as most do, since it's one of the few elements of the movie that approaches the dark heart of Dahl's original novel. What kills the movie for me is how it basically turns into a Spielbergian daddy-issues story just to set up a nice happy ending for Wonka. Deep Roy is pretty great as the different Oompa Loompas though.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's charmed by the balls-out weirdness of Mars Attacks. I mean, they... the aliens... they bowl with the Easter Island statues! Multiple Jack Nicholsons! The animals coming out at the end! Sarah Jessica Parker's HEAD ON A CHIHUAHUA!!! It's so odd, and so wonderful, I love it.
MARS ATTACKS! is pretty fun, and I've always been a fan of SLEEPY HOLLOW. It contains one of my favorite Depp performances, it's stylish as hell, and you really can't argue with that supporting cast, Caspar Van Dien excepted. It's maybe the last full-on dark live-action Burton film before he for some reason or other started to go soft.
no mention of Batman Returns? what gives?
BATMAN RETURNS for me is one of his favourite pics. But who am I to say? I'm a fan of his work, and even took joy in watching the delightful imperfections of BIG FISH.
I love CHOCOLATE FACTORY and it is undeniable that fatherhood and family have always been in the center of his filmography (and those twisted trees and dark cinematography sometimes hid that pretty well).
His masterpiece remains SCISSORHANDS for me - and Burton remains one of the few 'auteurs' (worthy of that title) of American cinema.
I'm definitely in the Mars Attacks fanclub. I love it's bonkers everything and the kitchen sink variety. I also really love the two Ed movies, Sleepy Hollow, Batman Returns and Nightmare Before Christmas. I quite liked Corpse Bride but it wasn't the greatest.
Charlie and Big Fish were't any great shakes but had great elements and Apes was horrible. I honestly don't remember anything about Peewee but I know I've seen it.
Phew. What else has he done? I feel like I'm forgetting something.
Pee Wee! BEST MOVIE EVER.
Ranked (you knew it was coming):
BRILL
1. Ed Wood
GREAT
2. Sleepy Hollow
3. Edward Scissorhands
4. Beetle Juice
5. Batman Returns
GOOD
6. Pee Wee's Big Adventure
7. Mars Attacks!
8. Planet of the Apes
AVERAGE
9. Big Fish
10. Corpse Bride
WOE IS ME
11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Haven't seen Batman for years, so I can't rank it fairly. And I am also very scared about Sweeney Todd.
I can't believe you love Corpse Bride so much...its so obviously Nightmare Before Christmas Part II...there are no original characters and all of the songs are basically the same (in a slightly different order)...and I do love me some Burton (although Sweeney is starting to give me sleepless nights of worry) The casting is too disturbing. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
^in agreement with David about Corpse Bride. Possibly the most predictable movie I've ever seen.
thank you moohbear
well if it means anything i do sometimes think i overvalue it. it's definitely the least of the first grouping.
but i must have really needed it right when it came out because i remember feeling "relief"
There was a time when Burton was doing interesting stuff. Pee Wee, Beetlejuice, Scissorhands. He peaked with Ed Wood and then he stopped doing his own stuff and it was remake city.
It's a big disappointment.
Post a Comment