[Updated with a much higher quality version of the trailer.]
You want it? You asked for it. Here is the first trailer for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It will be interesting to see how well this fairs at its Toronto International Film Festival North American debut. It was served fair reviews at Cannes an Berlin, the only other places the film has screened thus far. Nevertheless, I expect it to be a fairly hot ticket at TIFF due to obvious final film role for Heath Ledger. It is hard to tell from this trailer whether humpty dumpty could be put back together after the death of its principle star, but I must say I'm more excited by the visuals here than in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
Outside the festival circuit, the film is being released in some markets around the world on October 16th.
Wow, ummm... I had no real interest in this... until now! This looks like an absolute blast!
Pardon the language, but that just looks fuckin' brilliant.
Are Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton having a private contest to see who can produce the most outlandish, feverish, dreamlike visuals? I can feel my brain trying to twist in on itself watching that trailer...
I am eagerly awaiting this film, I saw an extended trailer for this a few weeks ago and was blown away.
Man, that's something else. Good as Ledger and his leading men substitutes might be, the real candy here are the old fellows, Mr Parnassus Sound of Music Plummer is always a treat, and to have Mr Waits as the devil is beyond imaginarium.
the cgi spoils it
Gilliam sometimes is a miss or hit, but if this is a hit then it might be quite good.
By the way, there a well done recent talk with Gilliam, long and chatty and full of interesting info, by Moriarty alias Drew McWeeny, in the blog "motion captured" on the hitfix site.
I've seen the film and the CG does spoil things. When characters enter through Parnassus' mirror its supposed to be the most insane "mind-expanding" experience ever, but despite a few moments a lot of it is green-screen acting on less then impressive CG backdrops.
The film itself though is pretty interesting, quite dark (and rather depressing actually), and I did enjoy it, but doesn't come close the recapturing the awe Baron Maunchausen or Brazil exudes. I never really felt the sense of wonder the film keeps trying to convey.
Oh and Verne Troyer is terrible in it and he has a rather substantial role. Ledger and his three other versions are fantastic however, and the narrative technique in which they jump between actors is handled flawlessly.
glad to hear that Jude Bore doesn't massacre the film with his non-presence.
I have also seen the movie, and I did not have a problem with the CG - to me a lot of it had much of the feel of Gilliam's old cut-out animation (the ladders sequence in particular). While I like Tideland for its uncompromising vision, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is easily - for me, at least - Gilliam's most enjoyable film in many, many years. It's also a much more worthy farewell to Heath Ledger than the Batman movie was.
CGI looks terrible. Can't imagine my being able to stay in the film with that much bad CGI. Will give a shot, though. I miss the old TG, I feel like he might be finished, though...
If Terry Gilliam is finished it might be his own fault.
I know I said that he was my God but I have to admit he does have his problems.
He said in an interview for Brothers Grimm that he likes to make CGI look bad.
I think he's stuck in the old ways a bit to much. It seems he'd rather to practical effects rather than use CGI which has all ways surprised me because you would figured that someone with his imagination would want to use a tool that help him meet his vision much more easier. It's a little like Picasso, or a better example Salvidor Dali, not experimenting with new and different styles and techniques to create their art.
Don't get me wrong. I am going see Dr. Parnassus, even just for Tom Waits, performance as the devil.
That is an impressive looking trailer. I, on the other hand, think that Gilliam is getting the hang of CGI which is why this trailer looks the way it does. I will now have to watch the movie to see for sure.
I agree, the CGI reminds me a bit of Gilliam's cut-out animation. This def has a Munchhausen feel. I personally hate CGI, especially when practical effects would have worked just as well, but it seems like Gilliam knows what he's doing. He's not trying to create a realistic world here, which makes the CGI less annoying to me.
I'll cheerfully admit the CG looks bad - as in wholly unbelievable - but this still has me far more excited than [i]Avatar[/i]. Realism is not everything - does Hollywood have to learn this along with the videogames industry? This shows imagination and invention enough I'll still watch it and (I'm fairly confident) enjoy it just for the headrush regardless of whether I agree with the negative reviews.
I'm with Eight Rooks I watched that trailer with with absolutely no idea about what it was going to look like and I actually liked how unreal the landscapes looked, had no problem with them at all.
Avatar on the other hand left me stone cold and with zero interest in seeing it even though Cameron, like Gilliam, is someone who gets my instant respect. With all the hype about how groundbreaking this was going to be and even though I was prepared for big blue people I watched that thing and just said " no fucking way"
Gilliam's movie looks like an interesting mind fuck. Avatar looks like every other video game out there.
and
http://img.denihilation.com/delgovatar.html
bnl771 you're right many trailers can be misleading with the actual film being better or worse.
Like I said the film may be brilliant but with that trailer to go by personally it did nothing for me.
Sorry I didn't find it as interesting as you did.
We all have different things we respond to- you can't wait for Avatar, I can't wait for Kick-Ass. Both may be great, both may suck....and then on to the next cool thing.
Kick-Ass does look great! I guess I had spent all morning reading other sites and comments that were so far into the realm of conjecture and spiteful rhetoric based on that short little teaser that I was a bit riled up. My rant wasn't directed at anyone here per se, but I'm glad I *did* rant here. Twitch always has a higher class of reader and commenter and we can do what comment/message boards are meant for - Have a discussion. :-)
bnl771 you may very well be right about Avatar. If you go to that movieline link above and scroll down to
( the latest post at the moment ) by Bill posted 21 aug 2009 , 8:43 AM
He says the trailer was underwhelming but he went to Avatar day in Oslo and the 3D footage he saw was pretty amazing.
I, on the other hand, can't wait for District 9. It still coming here next week :( Yep, twitch is still the best place to rant.