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“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” is so close to being a great film. Don’t get me wrong, it is good. It just misses the mark on a few scenes. Another thing is that you need to get into the movie early on or it is hard to watch later on. I’ve seen it twice and the second time was harder to sit through. If you get into it, the movie is quite enjoyable and is visually stunning. The script is solid, cast is great, everything is pretty good. The only thing is that it looks like the writers ran out of ideas as to how to segue to the end of the film. A slightly strange scene (which is hard to define in an already strange movie) takes some of the impact of the ending off, but that is all it takes. It seems like a two hour acid trip at some times.
The story begins in modern London, a grim view of the modern squalor of homelessness and alcohol fuelled stupidity. This eventually leads to an introduction of what the imaginarium is and what it can do. I don’t want to ruin anything in the movie but all who enter must make a choice. This choice turns out to be between life on earth, and selling your soul and life to the devil/Mr Nick (played wonderfully by Tom Waits). When the travelling show comes across Tony (Heath Ledger) for the first time in less than happy circumstances, he is confused and has no recollection of who he is or what he had done or anything. He has his natural charm and falls in well with the 16 year old Valentina (Lily Cole), the daughter of Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), who placed wagers with the devil/Mr Nick. Doctor Parnassus is immortal after an earlier bet with the devil but after hundreds of years of life, he realises the stupidity of this bet. Tony’s relationship with Valentina pisses of the other actor in the show, Anton (Andrew Garfield), who is in love Valentina and begins a jealous rivalry with Tony. In the end, Tony doesn’t turn out to be the person they thought he was in the beginning.
The unfortunate circumstances surrounding this film meant that Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell had to fill in some of Heath Ledger’s scenes. Ledger plays Tony, a charismatic, ambitious man, who is saved by the travelling Imaginarium. The other three actors are his three personalities. Depp is the smooth talker, Law is the ambitious opportunist, and Farrell is the politician. It works well to switch between these actors, as they become the three faces that make up Heath Ledger’s Tony. I’ve read that some people think this makes Ledgers performance seem like only half a performance but I think the other actors add depth to the story. And a good performance it is.
“The Imaginarium” uses a dark and dirty view of London, preferring to film the darker hovels of the city, possibly to show the ugliness of the city and the people within it. The sets are interesting as well. The heavy use of CGI in the imaginarium is beautiful though. There are also great transitions from good thoughts to the bad thoughts. The only thing is the plot is let down with the overuse of visual effect. I’m still waiting for a movie that has great CGI, great plot and great script. District 9 is probably the best one I’ve seen so far. And the ending is weak and disappointing. It’s good the first half is so captivating.
This film is good but it really depends on the person who is watching it. I found it good and interesting up until the last half hour, where it became really confusing and strange. Others have told me they didn’t particularly like the film so it’s really a film that is comes down to the eye of the beholder. Heath Ledger is very good and the other three Tonys are good as well but it just gets confusing and hard to watch towards the end. Very interesting though and the first time you watch it the visual journey is good enough, but after that, when the surprise and wonder is gone, it loses some lustre off the shiny CGI package. It probably didn't live up 100% to Terry Gilliam's vision. I’ll give it 3 out of 5. Could’ve been better.
September 21st 2009 06:14
Ah, the Emmy's. American Television's night of nights. To tell you the truth, it's the first one I’ve actually watched in its entirety and I picked a good one. First off, bravo and a tipped hat to whoever decided the mighty Doogie Howser himself, the great Neil Patrick Harris to host is a genius. NPH stole the show from his first song and his pre recorded hijacking of the awards when the accountants were explaining how the results were tallied. His little in betweens when announcing were priceless as well. Most of the time he announced them as a bizarre reference like "Simon Baker, who we all remember from his role as Retaux de Villette in 'The Affair of the Necklace'" as he came out to announce the best actress in a drama series nominees. NPH was classic and I expect him to have a long career as an awards show host from now on.
The rest of the show was as expected, except for the awesome segments where the nominees were asked a question. My favourite quote from the drama directors was from ER's director Rod Holcomb who's best advice to young directors was to learn how to tell actors to "go to hell and they actually want to go". Otherwise, Mad Men and 30 Rock both dominated. In both best writing for comedy and drama, 30 Rock and Mad Men had 4 out of the 5 nominations respectively. And going into the ceremony, 30 Rock had 22 nominations ad Mad Men had 16. They were always going to dominate. In the end though, an upset occurred when Australia's own Toni Collette won best Actress in a Comedy Series over Tina Fey for The United States of Tara. She was the only Aussie to win on the night but it was a big scalp to take. Unfortunately, The Mentalist star Simon Baker and Damages supporting actress Rose Byrne fell short. But then again it is always an honour just to be nominated, or however the cliché to make the "non-winners" feel better goes.
Anyway, here are the winners of the main awards of the night:
Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men
Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, Damages
Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Supporting Actress, Drama: Cherry Jones, 24
Supporting Actor, Drama: Michael Emerson, Lost
Outstanding Comedy Series: 30 Rock
Actress, Comedy: Toni Colette, United States of Tara
Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Supporting Actress, Comedy: Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Supporting Actor, Comedy: Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Outstanding Reality Series: Survivor
Outstanding Reality-Competition Series: Amazing Race
Outstanding Variety Series: The Daily Show
September 20th 2009 06:35
When I first heard about 'True Blood', it was in Rolling Stone Magazine a few months ago. It was saying True Blood is Twilight for adults. Now, I get the comparison, but they both have different meanings about them. 'True Blood' is a pretty good show. It has a large amount of blood and guts and gore and sex and supernatural elements and stuff like that, making it an adult show, thus its R18 rating in Australia. It has a great cast. It is very watchable (I ploughed through the first season in about a week and am looking forward to the next season). But some of the time I felt like I was watching the same thing happen over and over again. It just seems to be murder and then searching for the murderer. Not very complex. But then again it is very easy to watch most of the time.
The cast is lead but the very capable Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse. She lives with her grandmother and older brother Jason (Australian actor Ryan Kwanten, who I vaguely remember watching in ‘Home and Away’ when I was really little) in the town of Bon Temps Louisiana. She also works at the local bar, called Merlotte’s after its owner Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell). The relatively quiet community is in uproar when the first vampire comes to live in their town. Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) is the vampire who was turned while on his way home from the civil war and wants to come back and live in his family’s old community. The final main character is Tara Thornton (played by Rutina Wesley) who is Sookie’s best friend, but is very stubborn which frays threatens their friendship. These characters make up most of the main story lines. There are obviously more characters, but if you want to know who they are and what they do, you’ll just have to watch the show.
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September 15th 2009 04:34
“The Cake Eaters” is a small independent film set in rural upstate New York. The directorial debut of “Fried Green Tomatoes” star Mary Stuart Masterton, is about relationships. Relationships such as the one between the parents and children as well as two families intertwined by circumstance. The twist in this story is in Georgia (Kristen Stewart), who is suffering from Friedreich’s Ataxia, which is a disease attacking her central nervous system and causing her heart damage. Along with that, it makes her shakes uncontrollably, slur her speech and she is living an uncomfortable life. She knows she doesn’t have much time to live and, before she goes, wants to have the quintessential human experience of sex.
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September 14th 2009 01:56
If you are a fan of live comedy, get this movie. Do whatever you can to see it. It is hilarious. For those who don’t know, and if you haven’t seen it already, there is a big chance of this being the case, the Blue Collar Comedy Tour was a tour undertaken by Southern American comics and friends Ron White, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Jeff Foxworthy. What they deliver is 100-odd minutes of laughs. While they have skits in between the live show to break the movie up, the live stuff is just priceless.
All of them have their specific types of comedy. Ron White is the alcoholic bar rat, who is quite a good observer. Larry the Cable guy is more of a Southern hick or hillbilly character. He’s a funny, funny man though and much smarter than his act shows. Bill Engvall, now popular in America via the Bill Engvall Show, is a family man comic. Also his ‘Here’s your sign’ segment is hilarious. And Jeff Foxworthy, the most well known comedian, is a redneck. And proud of it
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“Speak” is a teen drama on the serious issue of date-rape. The victim, Melinda Sordino (very well played by a young Kristen Stewart), has to deal with an incredibly difficult year in which she is ostracised by her friends, picked on by teachers and, of course, deals with the fact that she was raped and doesn’t want to tell anyone. This movie seems to have the aim of bringing those who have had to deal with a similar story out of the woodwork to speak to anyone about what happened, rather than letting it crush them.
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“V for Vendetta” is a film, looking at a very Orwellian view of the near future. It could be a warning like “1984” was from Orwell. Either way it is a fine movie. It mixes political intrigue, a detective story, a maverick revolutionary who lives underground and some mighty fine fighting scenes and explosions. It was created by the same team that created the “Matrix”, which is why the action is actually clear and you can tell what is going on in the fight scenes, which is the downside of so many other action movies. The story, which comes from a limited edition comic series of the 1980’s, follows V, a masked inciter of the people to overthrow the government.
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I haven’t blogged in a while but I felt the finale of Scrubs (which is my favourite TV show) deserved one. When you are with a TV show from the beginning, you always feel a little empty when it’s all over. You expect so much from the end, that you will always remember the episode, that sometimes it is a bit disappointing. The departure of John Dorian from Sacred Heart for the final time was not. It was quintessentially Scrubs. It tells it as it is. In reality there is not the big ending. When you leave a workplace, it is not met with great fanfare. You just leave. But what you take with you is the shared experiences you have had with the people you’ve met and touched, and all you have to look forward to is the future.
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* Please don’t take this to heart if you are religious. I am not against religion and do not want to create a hostile backlash. These were just the issues and reflections that I took from this movie.
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Finally, a movie that tells you exactly what it’s about. No fart arsing about with confusing abstract names to movies. This tells you exactly what is going to happen. Zach (Seth Rogen) and Miriam (Elizabeth Banks) make a porno to get themselves out of their financial problems. It could not be easier. While you might see the name and expect smut, it is actually about two life long friends realising they have more than just platonic feelings for each other. It’s also mixed with some smut, but overall, it is a sweet,
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