I love Terry Gilliam Movies. Brazil is an all-time favorite; combining bureaucracy, fantasy, plastic surgery, and terrorism into one beautiful film is no easy task. Twelve Monkeys was as entertaining as a time-travel film has any right to be, and Baron Munchausen is fairy tale storytelling of the highest caliber.
So it's understandable that when, in the summer of 2003, I heard that Terry Gilliam was making a movie about the Brothers Grimm I was stoked. I thought that it was a wonderful match: Mr. Gilliam's visual style and ability to tell effective stories seemed to dovetail nicely with the dark stories of the Grimm boys. This weekend, after more than two years of anticipation, I saw the film.
I don't know if it was merely how much my expectations had swollen during the intervening time, or if the movie really was that bad, but I was supremely disappointed. It wasn't the story itself that was deficient, it was the execution. The moments that had great potential for fun were bungled, elements that would have benefited from fleshing out were ignored, and whole characters that were confusing and unnecessary were given far too much screen time.
I'd like to think that it was the writing. Mr. Gilliam usually writes his own screenplays, but not so with this one. I'd like to blame the actors, but they did reasonably well with what they had. Unfortunately, I think one of my filmmaking idols simply dropped the ball. I suppose it happens to even the best.
I just consider myself lucky that I don't have to wait
another seven years for Mr. Gilliam to redeem himself: his next film (written and directed) is Tideland- premiering this month at the Toronto Film Festival. Let the anticipation begin anew...
My personal Firefly story
Previously, I told the story of Joss Whedon's tenacity in getting Serenity made. Now, here's my story of how I got into Firefly, and why I love it so, done as a challenge from
Serenity: The Official Movie Website:
I don’t like TV.
Even “good” TV shows don’t generally excite me. Sure, some of them are good for a half-hour of entertainment- a laugh, a thrill or a scare. I can dig the intensity of Lost, or chuckle at the hi-jinks on Desperate Housewives, and I certainly laugh at Scrubs and Arrested Development. My wife can’t get enough of Buffy and Angel reruns, and I enjoyed them the first time around, and I always appreciated the cleverness of the writing and characters, but I never really got “into” them. Maybe it’s the supernatural elements of many shows, maybe it’s the formulaic plotlines, or maybe it’s the commercials, but television shows really just didn’t get under my skin.
And then there was Firefly. I admit I was a latecomer to the Firefly phenomenon. I’m a fan of good Sci-Fi movies (The Matrix, Donnie Darko, and Contact are among my favorites), but Sci-Fi TV never did it for me. Aliens played by humans in make-up and warp-drives always grated on my scientific sensibilities. I guess that’s why I didn’t catch it when it was on the air. In fact, I didn’t watch an episode of Firefly until May 2005.
I mentioned to a friend of mine that I had seen the first Serenity Trailer online, and asked him what he thought. He told me that he loved the series and that he was very excited for the film. I asked him why I should watch Firefly, and his response may seem strange to you, but it got me excited in my infinite science-geekdom. He said the four words that gave me my first impression of the show, which made me want to watch, but was only the tip of the iceberg of my affinity for the show. In his best “Comic Book Guy” voice he said to me: “Best. Space. Physics. Ever.”
So we bought the DVDs and started watching. My friend was right: Firefly does have the best space physics ever: nothing stops or goes without due force, things don’t combust without the benefit of air and of course, there is no sound in space. But this is just a symptom of the true appeal of the show: reality. Sure, it’s set 500 years in the future on a spaceship, but this is possibly the most real television show I’ve ever seen. It’s the characters, it’s the sets, it’s the props, and it’s the stories. They are free of the contrivance and artifice of even the best shows in TV land. Every person has three dimensions, every choice has a reason and a consequence- every action has a reaction. I love the one-liners and the wit. I marvel at the action and the special effects. I get lost in the banter and the conflicts. But Firefly truly gets under my skin; I get “into” it for one reason: it’s so beautifully, heartbreakingly real.
Post contains descriptions of dead bodies and other unsupported. Not for the weak-stomached. This week, the Museum Of Science and Industry (MOSI) here in Tampa is showing (for the first time in America) BODIES the Exhibition. If you've never heard of this, here's a summary: the exhibit features "people" doing normal everyday things, eating, running, playing games. Just without skin.
This group took cadavers and processed them in such a way that all of their tissue was replaced with a rubber/plastic substance, so that the cadavers retained their appearance. The result is a surprisingly accurate
display of the human body's inner workings. Yes, like Inside-Out Boy. The potential learning that could come from this display is pretty obvious, for school children and adults alike. But there is controversy- and it's not about the educational value, it's about the moral.
Apparently, the firm who created this exhibit used unclaimed cadavers from China. These are unidentified Chinese people who may or may not have friends and family, and who may or may not have wanted their remains to be used in this way. So here's the ethical dilemma: is it okay to use the bodies of people who didn't give permission to do so? Well, there's no easy answer- but I have an opinion: as I see it the use of these bodies is not protested by the families or friends of the deceased, in fact there is no friends or family known, and there is no way to determine what their desires would have been, therefore these remains would be buried or cremated unceremoniously if this exhibit did not exist. The alternative to that has so much potential benefit- the research, the learning, the money made by learning institutions- that the objections to this use of the bodies do not outweigh them. I said I had an opinion- I didn't say it would be short.
Now it's getting really interesting because the state's Anatomical Board (who has oversight over bodies used for research and education) has refused to sanction it. Even better, in a dazzling show of defiance, MOSI is planning to go ahead with the opening this weekend. Will the state try to block the opening? Will there be mass protests from those who are morally opposed to the exhibit? Who knows, but it will be interesting to see!
So if you're in Tampa, or if this thing comes to your town- give it a chance. You might be grossed out, you might be offended. But you might learn something. Assuming "the man" doesn't shut it down. There's plenty more coverage of this story on
Tampa Bay Online and
The St. Pete Times Online if you're interested.
I've discussed before on this site how the internet is the future of movie marketing. One way studios are generating interest in a project is by setting up fan communities like
The Browncoats, the fan group for Serenity or
Kongisking.net, a similar site for King Kong fans which is marketing Peter Jackson's remake coming late this year.
But there is a movie that is being marketed a completely different way on the internet:
Southland Tales. You've probably never heard of it. It's not even coming out until mid to late 2006. Heck, the filming hasn't even begun. But there are still a growing number of fans addicted to this movie.
Why? Mostly because of
the website but we'll get to that. First of all, how does anyone find out this thing exists? The vast majority of ST junkies have found out about it researching the director's previous film: Donnie Darko. That's right, Richard Kelley, the young writer director who went from obscurity to cult stardom by making a film about time travel and a guy in a bunny suit. I, for instance, check out my favorite movies and directors consitently on
IMDb, and once I saw the genre was "Comedy/Musical/Sci-Fi/Thriller" I was intrigued.
But it wasn't until I visited
the official site that I was hooked. When I first went there wasn't much there, but the juxtaposition of historical and modern imagery, beautifully tied together with interactive Flash animations amazed me. It's a puzzle, and one that is continually unfolding. Every couple of weeks or so, another step is added to the adventure. It now consits of a decent size site, that links out to several other teaser sites, all of which giving just enough information to entice you to want to know more. If you go there to explore, do make sure you're clicking on everything that can be clicked: you're not done until you've read Krista Now's poetry, flown to Dockweiler Beach, or watched a very disturbing video about SUVs.
What does it all mean? Well, we don't know yet. But I know that I want to know more, and that's how this marketing is working. At the rate I'm going (
and I know I'm not alone), I'll be a rabid Southland Tales fan before I ever even see a trailer. That kind of marketing is hard to come by, indeed.
I love Terry Gilliam Movies. Brazil is an all-time favorite; combining bureaucracy, fantasy, plastic surgery, and terrorism into one beautiful film is no easy task. Twelve Monkeys was as entertaining as a time-travel film has any right to be, and Baron Munchausen is fairy tale storytelling of the highest caliber.
