Die Frau and I went and saw Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm this weekend. It was a lot of fun but there were times where I couldn't figure out if Terry Gilliam wanted to make a great movie and tell a great story or try to create camp and cater to ever-shrinking legion of fans who have come to expect weird touches in his films. Now I like weird just as much as the next guy. And there's no mistake that most of his films are brilliant. But in this case it actually detracted from the story. It seemed like every time I started to get wrapped up in the story (which was convoluted but not unmanageable) Gilliam would pull a Monty Pythonesque stunt which would yank the viewer right out of the story (like Kubrick, only funny) and remind them that this is only a movie. Jonathan Pryce is golden, though, in his over-the-top portrayal of a French general but Peter Stormare (of Fargo, Armageddon and Chocolat notoriety) begins to grate on one's nerves afterwhile despite the fact that he's a terrific actor (one of the pitfalls of his character).
One undeniably terrific aspect of the film was the cinematography. This was one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen.
As a composer of film and concert hall I have to say that the score was incredibly distracting. The composer, Dario Marinelli, who I've never heard of changed one note of Jerry Goldsmith's score to Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man. Distracting and offputting. Overall I thought that the movie was generally entertaining despite its shortcomings but certainly not overly memorable.
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