Big Eyes (5/10): A change of pace from Tim Burton.

“Would you rather sell a $500 painting, or a million cheaply reproduced posters?”

Despite enjoying some of his films, I don’t consider myself much of a Tim Burton fan. Big  Eyes however, doesn’t feel like one of his films considering it is a conventional biopic about a cult painter in the 50’s. The story is rather interesting because it centers on this perverse relationship between Walter (Christoph Waltz) and Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) who lie to everyone about the Big eyed paintings they sell. Walter convinces Margaret to let him claim he is the artist because he believes he can sell more paintings this way. This leads to a bizarre relationship where Margaret has to lie to her own daughter (Madeleine Arthur) and work secretly behind locked doors. Thanks to Walter’s personality he is able to turn the paintings into a popular craze and the couple make tons of money off of Margaret’s work. This may be difficult to understand now, but in the 50’s females were more repressed and despite not wanting to lie Margaret ended up allowing her husband to take the credit for her work. The screenplay was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski who had already worked with Burton a couple of decades ago in his other biopic  Ed Wood. Despite the rather shocking subject matter, they decided to turn this into a comedy of sorts and that aspect of the film didn’t work too well for me.

The cinematography in this film is very colorful. From the opening scene you are seduced by this striking blue and green scenery as Margaret drives through the coast of San Francisco. The film looks great, but the tone is what I had some issues with. Christoph Waltz portrays his character in a somewhat cartoonish way (especially during the court scenes near the final act), while Amy Adams is presented as a meek and weak character. In order for this story to work, I felt as if Waltz’s character should’ve been portrayed as less of a clown because it was hard to identify with Margaret since that made her look much weaker. It didn’t seem like it was fear that motivated her to lie about the paintings, but mostly because she allowed her husband to tell her what to do. This was probably true, but somehow it doesn’t translate well in our present situation. It should’ve been treated a bit more seriously, but that’s just my personal opinion. I also think that the ending was a bit rushed when it should’ve focused more on the later empowering aspects of Margaret’s life. Out of respect for the real Margaret Keane, at least they should’ve focused on the later years of her life when she found the courage to step up and confront everyone with the truth. But that was actually the moment where Waltz upped the comedy and went over the top. Waltz and Adams are great actors, but it is Adams who seems to take her role more seriously here. Terrence Stamp, Danny Huston, Jason Schwartzman, and Krysten Ritter have rather forgettable supporting roles. I could’ve appreciated some more of Schwartzman, but Stamp was at that same cartoonish level as Waltz was here. 

My Review: Dark Shadows (6/10)

¨It is said that blood is thicker than water. It is what joins us, binds us... curses us. My name is Barnabas Collins, and this is my tale.¨

Dark Shadows is the latest collaboration between director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp; it happens to be their eighth time working together. The bond between them just might be thicker than blood. Their friendship began when they worked together in Edward Scissorhands more than 20 years ago and it has developed from there on as they`ve collaborated with each other repeatedly, making some great films together and others not so much. Dark Shadows will be one of those films that fall in the not so great category and may perhaps be a sign that their collaboration together is getting old and repetitive. We all know how great of an actor Johnny Depp is and he`s always enjoyed to play these kind of eccentric characters. That is why Tim Burton seemed to be a perfect fit for him as a director because he`s such a great art director who is able to paint an eccentric vision of the world. Actually that is the only element that worked in Alice in Wonderland, and is what saves Dark Shadow from being rotten: the fantastic art direction. Burton takes us back to the 70`s with some wonderful visuals and recreates a small fishing town to perfection. Johnny Depp also gets to play a very eccentric character once again as he`s a vampire who`s just awoke from the 18^th century, so it plays out as the classic fish out of the water tale. But just like in almost every Burton film, you can`t fit his movie into one specific genre as it mixes dark comedy with horror, fantasy and some romance. Dark Shadows at times fits in all of these categories and at others it’s just hard to figure out what Burton was trying to do.

During the 18^th century the Collins family leaves England and arrives in America with the prospect of building a fishing empire. They do so and end up having the town named after them: Collinsport. They build an enormous mansion and have several servants working for them, but they fall under an evil curse when their son Barnabas (Johnny Depp) breaks the heart of a witch named Angelique (Eva Green). He tells her that he doesn’t love her and ends up falling in love with the beautiful Josette (Bella Heathcote). Angelique curses the family by killing Barnabas`s parents, Josette, and turning Barnabas into a vampire and burying him alive inside a coffin. The story then jumps to the year 1972 where we are introduced to the surviving members of the Collins family residing in the very same mansion which is now in evident decay: Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her teen daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz), Elizabeth`s widowed brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller) and his tormented son David (Gulliver McGrath), and their staff which consists of David`s psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley), and Mrs. Johnson (Ray Shirley). Barnabas is released from his coffin by accident when some construction workers find the coffin and open it. He returns to the mansion which is now in ruins and after convincing Elizabeth of his true identity promises that he will restore the family to its former glory. What he doesn’t know is that the town is run by Angelique now he is still very much alive and hasn’t aged one bit.

The first half of the movie worked for me as a very dark comedy. I actually enjoyed the film, until the final act which just went a little too far in its bizarre act and eccentricities (even for Tim Burton standards). The final act was a disappointment, but I did enjoy most parts of the story. Johnny Depp played his usual strange self and Michelle Pfeiffer was great in her role. She claimed to be a fan of the original soap opera that took place during the late 60`s and 70`s which this film is actually based on. Despite the television show not being a comedy, this film actually plays out as one in the same way most 70`sand 80`s TV series are being turned into in recent years. I am a big fan of Chloe Grace Moretz and have followed her since her work in 500 Days of Summer, Kick Ass, and Let Me In. I wish she had been given more screen time because she is always a delight to watch on screen and had an interesting character. Dark Shadows is a very weird movie and definitely not for everyone; it won`t be ranked among Burton`s best work either (not even close) so I don`t know if fans will actually enjoy this film, but I did have enough of a good time during most of the film to give this film a passing grade.  

  

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My Review: Big Fish (9/10)

¨There are some fish that cannot be caught. It`s not that they are faster or stronger than other fish, they`re just touched by something extra.¨

Big Fish is a beautiful film that truly captures our hearts by its brilliant storytelling; and it couldn’t have been directed by any other than the great and imaginative storyteller himself: Tim Burton. Daniel Wallace`s novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, could have been a disaster in the making if not put in the right hands because the novel is all about imagination and storytelling. Many movies have destroyed stories similar to this one because the effect that imagination has when we read a book isn’t translated in the same way when we see a film. Very few directors leave room for imagination in their movies, but thankfully Tim Burton is one of them. He creates a very beautiful, artistic, and imaginative scenery, and the cinematography in Big Fish is also brilliant. He can turn a simple story into an extraordinary one with his artistic sense. Big Fish is actually all about storytelling and teaching us how our lives can remain immortal through the stories we tell. People can remember us by the stories we`ve told and left behind in the minds of those we`ve touched. John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) did a magnificent job with the screenplay adaptation as well. The entire movie worked well as a whole thanks to the great scenery, great performances from the entire cast, and great dialogues. The movie is great from start to finish, it`s truly beautiful; the scenes and characters will stick in your head even long after you’ve seen it.

Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) has just been diagnosed with cancer and as he lays in his deathbed his son, Will (Billy Crudup), begins recollecting his past and trying to separate fiction from facts. Ed has always been a storyteller, and Will used to love to hear these fantastical stories about how his father caught an uncatchable fish, married the woman of his dreams, and set out to do big things in the world, but as he grew older he became resentful towards his father who always spent a lot of time away from home and making up stories that in his opinion weren’t true. Will`s wife, Josephine (Marion Cotillard), wants him to make up with his dad before he passes away. Ed however claims they shouldn’t worry because he`s seen the way he was going to die and it wasn’t like this. That was just one of his many stories and it`s exactly how Will begins recreating the story of his father. When Ed was a young boy he visited an old witch (Helena Bonham Carter) who showed him the way he was going to die through her glass eye. We later see Ed as a young adult (played by Ewan McGregor) trying to make a big name for himself in the small time he grew up in. He achieves many great things, but realizes the town is just too small for him so he decides to move on to a big city for greater things. He takes a journey that leads him into various interesting characters, such as Karl the Giant (Matthew McGrory), the poet Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi), the Siamese twins Ping and Jing (Ada Tai and Arlene Tai), his future wife Sandra Bloom (Alison Lohman and Jessica Lange as the old Sandra), and a circus owner named Amos Calloway (Danny DeVito). Will tries to make sense of these stories in order to figure out what is fact and what is fiction so he can finally understand his father.

Several of the stories are unbelievable, but they are extremely funny and worth listening too. The performances from Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney as Ed Bloom are really heartwarming as well. Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito are hilarious in their supportive roles, and Alison Lohman is breathtaking in her role as the sweet Sandra. This was also Marion Cotillard`s first American film and she has made quite a name for herself by now. Helena Bonham Carter also had a remarkable role and she is as strange as ever. Billy Crudup has the most serious role as his character is more of a fact sort of guy and is tired of listening to all the stories his father has told him for years expecting him to believe them. He is also very credible as Will Bloom. The entire cast is actually a delight on screen and Big Fish works in great part thanks to their performance. The artistic scenery also caught my attention and it played a huge part in the storytelling. No one could`ve done it better than Tim Burton himself. By the end of the movie I guarantee you will feel touched and moved by this great story which is also helped out by having a powerful ending. It is just one of those pictures that will be hard to get off your mind for quite some time so I really recommend this film because this is the way stories should be told. Just like an ordinary life can become extraordinary through great storytelling, this ordinary film becomes extraordinary through Burton`s storytelling

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My Review: Alice in Wonderland (2010) (7/10)

¨You used to be much more…muchier. You`ve lost your muchness.¨

(7/10) Those are the words the Mad Hatter tells Alice after she has returned to Wonderland, but now much older as a 19 year old girl who has no memory of her last visit there when she was a little kid. Tim Burton directs this classic Disney tale and he teams up once again with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. They have already worked together in Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton`s Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Depp and Burton have a profound respect for each other and it is always a pleasure to experience one of their creative films. When I heard they were going to work together in this film I was really excited because I knew that Burton could do something memorable with Wonderland. He is one of the most imaginative and creative directors and Wonderland was way ahead of its time when it came out in 1951. I wasn`t a big fan of the cartoon because it was missing a story, but the characters and the world that was created was very imaginative nonetheless. Burton had a lot of interesting material to work with here and he did a great job although perhaps I was expecting a bit too much. This is far better than the cartoon because there is a better plot and a decent story this time, but the characters didn`t seem as mad as they were in the original. I was surprised that this time around they all made sense, but I guess you need that in order to have a good story. The visuals and the effects were also amazing so Burton was successful in recreating this world.

The story takes place many years after Alice has visited Wonderland and she has no memory of her visit there. She is now a nineteen year old girl who is getting ready for a banquet which is thrown in her honor although she doesn`t know it yet. Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska who could recently been seen in Amelia) is not happy about having to dress up for the event and she is still dreaming about a different world where she doesn`t have to do what she is expected. She still has some of the same attitudes that she had in the original film. Alice soon finds out from her cousins that the banquet is thrown in her honor because Hamish (Leo Bill) is going to propose to her and that she is expected to say yes because he is a Duke. Alice doesn`t have feelings for Hamish and she can`t say yes and is suddenly distracted by a rabbit that is running across the yard and decides to follow it. She ends up falling through a rabbit hole and ends upside down in a locked room very similar to the one in the original film. She finds a key in the table but it only opens a very small door so she can`t get through it. This is perhaps one of the most similar scenes to the original except that there is no talking doorknob this time, and Alice still has no memory of this place even though she goes through the exact same situation of shrinking and then getting larger. Once in Wonderland, or should I say Underland because the other was the name that Alice had given it when she was a child, she runs into the same creatures she had been with in the past such as Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), the white rabbit (Micheal Sheen from Frost/Nixon), the blue caterpillar (Alan Rickman from the Harry Potter series), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), and the Red Queen (Helen Bonham Carter) among others. There are also some new characters like the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), Stayne the knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover from Charlie`s Angels), Bandersnatch, and the Jabberwocky.

What I enjoyed more about this film than the original one is that there was an actual plot to this story. Alice had a mission this time around and she was not just running after the white rabbit. There is much more action and Burton does a great job at recreating this world. Johnny Depp is great as usual and his character was probably one of the best in the movie and the reason why many people wanted to see Alice in the first place. Mia Wasikowska also does a good job as she has the lead role in the film. Burton still recreates certain elements from the original such as the entrance to Wonderland, the scene where the Red Queen is playing wicket using a flamingo for a stick, and the famous riddle that the Mad Hatter asks, ¨why is a raven like a writing desk? ¨ to which we still don`t get an answer too because there isn`t one really. The movie works and the visuals are great, but you are still left with a sense that there could be so much more done with this movie. Wonderland is a magical place, but to rephrase the words the Mad Hatter tells Alice it seems that this movie was missing something more…muchier. We could have used some more of Burton`s famous muchness.