"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and "The Lovely Bones"

[Varthonai]

I saw them both recently, so I thought I'd save you lot the trouble of reading two separate threads. Here are my reviews. I'm feeling lazy, so they'll both be rather brief.

The Lovely Bones: This movie felt like a bad acid trip. I spent 90% of the film going "Huh?", "What the f*ck?", "What the hell?", "What the F*CKING HELL?!" and variants thereof.

I hated this movie. It's a serious contender for the worst film I've ever seen. It made me lose a considerable amount of faith in Peter Jackson. F-. If you're tempted to see it, resist the urge until you can see it without actually having to give the filmmakers any goddamn money for this pile of horse sh*t.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: This movie felt like a bad acid trip. I spent 90% of the film going "Huh?", "What the f*ck?", "What the hell?", "What the F*CKING HELL?!" and variants thereof.

I loved this movie!* It made me lose a minuscule amount of faith in Terry Gilliam, though, because (good as it was) it wasn't nearly as good as any other Terry Gilliam film I've seen. Still, though, it's not quite fair to hold any movie to Gilliam's standards, not even his own, and Parnassus was still an excellent piece. A-. And hey, it's Heath Ledger's final performance--it's not as good a role as the Joker, but you should go ahead and pay tribute while it's still in theatres.

*This verdict is 100% unrelated to Lily Cole's naked feet, sexy though they might be.

[Kreekakon]

And hey, it's Heath Ledger's final performance--it's not as good a role as the Joker, but you should go ahead and pay tribute while it's still in theatres.

I believe that many people, myself included, aren't getting hyped over the actual film. They're getting hyped over Heath Ledger

Watching the movie and comparing his face and performance to that of the Joker's in your mind is just so satisfying for some reason

[leapoffaith]

*This verdict is 100% unrelated to Lily Cole's naked feet, sexy though they might be.

suuuuuuuuuuuure.

Oh and The Lovely Bones is the type of movie that people who write film adaptations of books have nightmares about. Pretty awful pile of crap right there... I liked the visuals though.

[Aval]

I'm beginning to see some sort of pattern emerging in Gilliam's filmography.

[Varthonai]

I'm beginning to see some sort of pattern emerging in Gilliam's filmography.

Yeah, they always seem really confusing while you're watching, and they usually still seem confusing afterward, but after you've given them some thought they start to make more sense. Parnassus is one of those.

The Lovely Bones is just a pile of crap though. It's been four days since I saw it; it still makes no sense and it still has no discernible thematic point. I can't begin to list the ways in which I despise that movie. Even the visuals didn't make it up to me; they were supposed to be wondrous and awe-inspiring, but instead they were just creepy and unsettling.

That was actually the biggest problem with the film--no one knew how to stop being creepy. The actors were all creepy, the cinematographers made every shot look creepy, the CGI people made every effect look creepy, the score composers made every sound feel creepy. If it had been a straight-up horror flick that might have been ok, but it doesn't work so well when you try to insert humorous scenes and heartwarming scenes and beautiful landscapes in Heaven that are just as f*cking creepy as the child molesting antagonist. Also, it was never actually scary, which was another big problem. Never scary, just mildly unsettling throughout.

Note that I haven't read the book, so I'm not being some fanboy who's pissed about some changes they made. It's just a terrible, terrible film.

[Sirrin Nacht]

I saw "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" and found it to be a lot better than I thought it would be. I really liked the portable unfolding stage, and the scenes in the imaginarium. As for "The Lovely Bones", I've been told repeatedly to read the book without seeing the movie.