“Ondine” trailer

Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) always makes interesting films and Colin Farrell’s been making great choices lately, so I’m looking forward to this quite a bit:

Crazy Heart

Others have labeled this 2009’s The Wrestler, and I think that fits it perfectly, both in storyline and quality.  Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a washed-up country singer trying to find his way back to the top.  It’s one of the best roles of his career and I’d be surprised and disappointed if he didn’t walk away with the Oscar next week. 

I am not much of a country music fan, however the music is beautiful.  Bridges turns out to be quite the singer and gives several memorable performances, not to mention Colin Farrell’s performance of “The Weary Kind,” a song which is rightfully receiving a lot of awards attention.  First time director Scott Cooper uses subtlety and a quiet, slow pace to great effect, so everything breezes along and never bores.  It’s a touching film and Bridges’ performance is not to miss.

RATING:  9/10

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Poor Terry Gilliam, without a doubt the unluckiest active director.  His persistent production troubles have been well documented ever since his late 90’s film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote became a catastrophic failure and never even reached the light of day.  Health and weather issues, among many other things, killed that film, and since then Gilliam’s luck has only gotten worse.  The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is his latest, and Gilliam of course had the daunting task of finishing the film after its star, Heath Ledger, passed away midway through production.  This turned Imaginarium easily into the most intriguing movie of the year if for no other reason than to see how in the hell Gilliam would pull it off.

Heath’s unfinished role was completed by Jude Law, Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp, and some clever rewrites.  Of course, the result is pretty confusing.  It’s impressive that Gilliam was able to finish this at all, but in the end even the characters don’t seem to know what’s going on, let alone the audience.  The reasoning behind the constant transformation of Heath’s character is never fully explained, and as you might expect is quite distracting.  However, what does remain of Heath’s performance is fantastic, and it’s wonderful to be able to see his last work. 

So with all the aforementioned flaws in mind, I do have to say that I loved this movie.  Gilliam hasn’t made anything with this much visual spectacle since The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and despite the mess of the story I was more than willing to go along for the ride, if just for all the stunning eye candy.  Some of the sequences were so imaginative that I was in awe, which goes to show that when Gilliam’s at his best he’s hard to top.

RATING:  8/10

Imaginarium character posters

“The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” trailer

Personally, I think it looks amazing.  And man, what a cast.

For those who don’t know, Heath passed away before filming was complete.  His role was finished by Depp, Farrell, and Law (that’s right, they all play the same character).  Should be, at the very least, interesting to see how Gilliam pulled this off.