A local newspaper, The Bulletin, is under new management, with columnist Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) being one of the staffers dismissed to “streamline” the paper, but not before being told to write one final column. Infuriated, Ann prints a letter from a fictional unemployed “John Doe” threatening suicide on Christmas Eve in protest of society’s ills. When the letter causes a sensation among readers, and the paper’s competition, The Chronicle, suspects a fraud and starts to investigate, editor Henry Connell is persuaded to rehire Ann, who schemes to boost the newspaper’s sales by exploiting the fictional John Doe. From a number of derelicts who show up at the paper claiming to have written the original letter, Ann and Henry hire John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a former baseball player and tramp in need of money to repair his injured arm, to play the role of John Doe. Ann starts to pen a series of articles in Doe’s name, elaborating on the original letter’s ideas of society’s disregard for people in need…
Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times wrote that John Willoughby was just the latest of the everyman that Frank Capra had portrayed in earlier films: With an excellent script by Mr. Riskin—overwritten in many spots, it is true—Mr. Capra has produced a film which is eloquent with affection for gentle people, for the plain, unimpressive little people who want reassurance and faith. Many of his camera devices are magnificent in the scope of their suggestion, and always he tells his story well, with his customary expert spacing of comedy and serious drama. Only space prevents us from enthusing loudly about individual “touches”. In the Variety review, there was a more critical look at the plot: The synthetic fabric of the story is the weakness of the production, despite the magnificence of the Frank Capra-directed superstructure. But Robert Riskin, who wrote the screenplay from an original story by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell, leaves the audience at the finale with scarcely more than the hope that some day selfishness, fraud and deceit will be expunged from human affairs.” (Via Wikipedia)
“Meet John Doe” is another fine Frank Capra film from 1941 handling the subject matter of human spirit trying to survive in the midst of the collapse of decency, corruption in local politics, disbelief in the state and the shutting of doors to the needy. Capra communicates the message of exercising tolerance for one another for a better world simply. Both Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper are shining throughout the running time and this being a Capra film we do get an ending on a positive note, even if he did film several darker endings, he did choose the hopeful one in the end.
Triva: It became a box-office hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story. Frank Capra didn’t want anyone to play John Doe except Gary Cooper, who agreed to the part (without reading a script) for two reasons: he had enjoyed working with Capra on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and he wanted to work with Barbara Stanwyck. Four different endings were filmed, but all were ultimately deemed unsatisfactory during previews. A letter from an audience member suggested a fifth ending, which Frank Capra liked and used in the finished film.
In 2600 BC, the tyrannical king Ahk-Ton of Kahndaq creates the Crown of Sabbac to attain great power. After attempting to stage a revolt, a young slave boy is given the powers of Shazam by the Council of Wizards, transforming him into Kahndaq’s heroic champion, who fights Ahk-Ton, killing him and ending his reign. In the present day, Kahndaq is oppressed by the Intergang, a mercenary organization, as Adrianna Tomaz, an archaeologist and resistance-fighter, tries to locate the Crown of Sabbac with the help of her brother Karim and their colleagues Samir and Ishmael. As Adrianna obtains the crown, Intergang ambushes them and kills Samir, forcing Adrianna to read an incantation that awakens Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson), whom she believes to be Kahndaq’s champion, from a slumber. As he slaughters most of the Intergang troops, US government official Amanda Waller deems Adam a threat and contacts the Justice Society to apprehend him. Justice Society members Hawkman, Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone, and Atom Smasher arrive in time to stop Adam’s killing spree and explain to Adrianna that Adam was not an entombed savior, but an imprisoned killer…
Rotten Tomatoes and Deseret News called film reviews mixed, while Variety, Yahoo! News and Common Sense Media stated the film received negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus reads: “Black Adam may end up pointing the way to an exciting future for DC films, but as a standalone experience, it’s a wildly uneven letdown.” Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times wrote “The director does heroic work crafting a film around Johnson that is fast and entertaining.” Writing for Consequence, Liz Shannon Miller gave the film a B grade and said: “On its own merits, Black Adam might feel a little thin in terms of story, but it does deliver plenty of enjoyable moments and a solid ensemble to back up Johnson. But perhaps the most exciting aspect of it is how it might shake up the rest of the franchise going forward.” Helen O’Hara of Empire rated it 3 out of 5 and wrote that the film attempts “to offer a grand unified theory of DC, mixing family-film tropes with a protagonist who straight-up murders people. The result is sometimes a mess, but it’s a generally entertaining one.” Todd McCarthy of Deadline Hollywood praised Johnson’s performance and the action scenes, writing: “The visual spectacle just keeps coming at you for two hours, and the effects are all so stupendous that you could begin to take it for granted. Practically every shot features something epic or at least unusual going on and director Jaume Collet-Serra, who guided Johnson’s [2021] hit Jungle Cruise, takes good care to present the star in the most favorable dramatic light.” Maya Phillips of The New York Times was more critical in her review, calling the film “a dull, listless superhero movie that hits all the expected touchstones of the genre under the guise of a transgressive new antihero story.” Rachel LaBonte of Screen Rant gave the film a 2.5 out of 5 and wrote, “Though suffering from repetitive plot beats and thin characters, Black Adam is powered by Johnson’s performance and its promise of an exciting future.” TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde called the film a “muddled, overstuffed origin story” and wrote: “Most disappointing of all, Black Adam is one of the most visually confounding of the major-studio superhero sagas, between CG that’s assaultively unappealing and rapid-fire editing that sucks the exhilaration right out of every fight scene.” (Via Wikipedia)
“Black Adam” is nothing more than another DC failure if you ask me. Dwayne Johnson is larger than life as Teth-Adam or Black Adam which fits his real personality I guess. It´s one gigantic visually boombastic saga that suffers from repetition and as mentioned wafer thin characters you simply don´t care about. As Marvel, DC does adjustments to characters and their realm which is not always working as in this case. “Black Adam” has too many characters, not much of a backstory, unbalanced acting, wobbly humour, wobbly editing and CGI all over the place that more or less becomes the main pillar in the film and not the storyline. No need to see “Black Adam”.
Yuichi Kimura, “The Father”, boards a bullet train in Tokyo in search of his son, Wataru’s, attacker. Meanwhile, guided by his handler, Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock), operative “Ladybug” (Brad Pitt) is assigned to retrieve a briefcase full of cash from the same train, replacing a sick colleague, Carver. Ladybug is reluctant, as his recent string of bad luck during his jobs resulted in accidental deaths. Also on the train are two English assassin brothers codenamed “Lemon” (Brian Tyree Henry) and “Tangerine” (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who just rescued a man (“The Son”) from kidnappers and are taking him and the briefcase to his father, a Russian-born Yakuza boss called “The White Death”. During the trip, The Son is killed by poisoning. Ladybug discreetly steals the briefcase, but on his way off the train, is attacked by another assassin, codenamed “The Wolf” who recognizes Ladybug from his wedding where his wife was killed, The Wolf mistakenly believes Ladybug to be one of their killers. Ladybug confusedly fights The Wolf, who accidentally kills himself with a deflected knife throw. Yuichi finds the person who attacked Wataru, a young woman codenamed “The Prince” (Joey King), but she overpowers him. She explains that she pushed Wataru off a roof to lure Yuichi to the train as part of a plan to have him kill the White Death. To ensure his cooperation, she has a henchman holding Wataru hostage in the hospital…
Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads, “Bullet Train’s colorful cast and high-speed action are almost enough to keep things going after the story runs out of track.” Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film three and a half out of four stars, calling it “wildly entertaining” and praised the performances, “the creative and blood-spattered action sequences” and most of all the writing. Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, “Bullet Train feels like it comes from the same brain as Snatch, wearing its pop style on its sleeve – a Kill Bill-like mix of martial arts, manga and gabby hitman movie influences, minus the vision or wit that implies.” (via Wikipedia)
To be honest, this is just another Guy Ritchie actioneer copy, set on a train that never seems to end. The storyline is as stretched as a proper bubblegum and borderline ultra violent with a dark twisted Tarantino humour/dialogue which we have seen way too many times before. It´s simply not all that entertaining nor intriguing despite a solid cast and nice cinematography.
Trivia: The film is based on the 2010 novel Maria Beetle (titled as Bullet Train in the UK and US edition), written by Kōtarō Isaka and translated by Sam Malissa, the second novel in Isaka’s Hitman trilogy, of which the first novel was previously adapted as the 2015 Japanese film Grasshopper.
Chris Kringle (Mel Gibson) and his wife Ruth operate a Christmas present workshop on an old isolated farm near the small town of North Peak, Alaska. Struggling with declining income over the years due to children becoming increasingly vicious, the United States Government, who maintains an interest share in Chris’s business because Christmas is a major economic stimulus, starts cutting back on their subsidies. To remedy Chris’ income loss, US military Captain Jacobs is sent to propose a two-month contract for producing jet fighter components which is outright refused. The liaison agents override Chris’s misgivings by implying next year Government’s subsidies will likely decrease and their next offer might not be as “sweet”. Ruth intervenes and manages to restore Chris’s spirits and grudgingly accept their offer only this one time. Billy Wenan, an amoral pernicious child who lives with his old money grandmother and is the quintessential vicious child who commits several despicable acts against people he considers inferiors. On Christmas Eve, Billy receives a lump of coal from Chris and rather than seeing this as his just reward is affronted and swears revenge on the “fatman”. Billy then hires his often used personal hit man, Jonathan Miller (Walton Goggins), to assassinate Chris…
Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads, “Fatman takes a surprisingly serious approach to a potentially ludicrous twist on the Santa Claus legend, aiming for edgy but mostly missing the mark.” John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review and wrote, “Less gonzo than it sounds, for better and worse.” Julian Roman of MovieWeb also gave the film a positive review and wrote, “Fatman reflects the worst instincts of modern times. It shows how selfishness and immorality can lead to violent outcomes.” Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic awarded the film two stars. Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave the film a negative review and wrote, “Yet you get the distinct feeling that the Nelms brothers think this is all a lot funnier, crazier, and more resonant than it is.” Alonso Duralde of TheWrap also gave the film a negative review and wrote, “It never makes it past the idea stage, unfortunately, since mixing these disparate genres together would require an absolute mastery of tone that the film can’t quite muster.” David Ehrlich of IndieWire graded the film a D, saying “Combining the crude spirit of Bad Santa with the grittiness of a Zack Snyder film, Fatman is worse than a lump of coal in your stocking.” (via Wikipedia)
What can you say, I like the effort of creating something “newer” with the Santa Claus legend and it is for sure a different and bloody twist to Santa´s story. It has its moments, but it´s hardly a film you will remember.
In Montana in 1882, “Boss” Spearman (Robert Duvall) is a seasoned open range cattleman, who, with hired hands Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), Mose (Abraham Benrubi), and Button (Diego Luna), is driving a herd cross-country. Charley is a former Union soldier who served in a “special squad” during the Civil War and feels immense guilt over his past as a killer of both enemy soldiers and civilians. Boss sends Mose to the nearby town of Harmonville for supplies. The town is controlled by ruthless Irish immigrant and rancher Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), who hates open-rangers for using his land to feed their herds. Mose is badly beaten and jailed by the town’s corrupt marshal, Poole, after defending himself in a fight with some of Baxter’s men. The only Harmonville inhabitant willing to openly defy Baxter is Percy, the livery stable owner. Boss and Charley become concerned when Mose does not return. They retrieve him from the jail but not before Baxter gives them an ultimatum to leave the area before nightfall. Mose’s injuries are so severe that Boss and Charley take him to the local physician, Doc Barlow. There they meet his assistant, Sue (Annette Bening). Charley is attracted immediately but assumes that Sue is the doctor’s wife and chooses not to stay the night even after being invited. After catching masked riders scouting their cattle, Boss and Charley sneak up on their campsite, disarm, and humiliate them. At the same time, other riders trash their camp and shoot Mose and Charley’s dog Tig dead. Button is badly injured after being shot in the chest. Charley and Boss vow to avenge their friend…
Rotten Tomatoes consensus states: “Greatly benefiting from the tremendous chemistry between Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall, Open Range is a sturdy modern Western with classic roots.” Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars out of 4, calling it “an imperfect but deeply involving and beautifully made Western”. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4 stars out of 5, writing, “Duvall gives his best performance in ages” in a “tough, muscular, satisfying movie”. In particular, the gun fighting scenes were intentionally filmed in giant wide shots and were praised for their intense realism by a number of critics and yet were the reason the film earned an R rating. Kevin Carr of FilmThreat.com said on the gun action in Open Range: “After The Matrix redefined action in the late 1990s, every crummy action sequence tries to repeat the power of ‘bullet time’ often with little success. The action in Open Range is filmed real time, grabbing the audience and showing them that when this kind of stuff happens in real life, it happens faster than you think it would.” A review on Moviola stated that the film has “one of the most exciting final gunfights ever filmed”. (via Wikipedia)
“Open Range” is a fine western directed by Kevin Costner with a solid ensemble cast shot in the beautiful scenery of the Stoney Indian Reserve in Alberta, Canada and the excellent cinematography adds so much to the film making it feel like a western made in the good ol´ days. The film has a classic storyline with revenge as the main pillar, but not without emotional and moral doubts balancing out the structure. The characters are truly believable, then again it´s hard to fail with that when Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall are playing the main characters. You really care about the characters. Nice to see the lovely Annette Bening in a supporting role. There´s also a good balance between being a western, emotional engagement, repentance, love, comradery, revenge and justice. “Open Range” is engaging and entertaining and also amongst the best western made in later years.
Trivia: The film won the 2004 Western Heritage Award, and was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award, an MTV Movie Award (Diego Luna), a Motion Picture Sound Editors Award as well as a Taurus Award for stunt artist Chad Camilleri. It was #48 in TimeOut London’s “The 50 greatest westerns” list.
Veteran Portuguese Jesuit priest Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson) is forced to watch as Japanese converts to Christianity are tortured to death for refusing to renounce their faith. A few years later, at St. Paul’s College in Macau, an Italian Jesuit priest, Alessandro Valignano, receives news that Ferreira renounced his faith in Japan. In disbelief, Ferreira’s Portuguese pupils, the young Jesuit priests Sebastião Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver), set off to find him, guided by Kichijirō, a fisherman stranded in Macau. Kichijirō is seeking redemption, as he renounced his faith to save himself while the rest of his family was put to death. Arriving in the Japanese village of Tomogi, the priests find local Christian populations driven underground in fear of “the Inquisitor.” The villagers hide the two priests, but they are horrified when officials of the shogunate arrive to ferret out hidden Christians and force them to step on a fumi-e, a carved image of Christ. The villagers who refuse are left to drown on the shore and their bodies cremated so they cannot be properly buried. Garupe leaves for Hirado Island and Rodrigues to Gotō Island, the last place Ferreira was seen. Rodrigues finds the village destroyed and Kichijirō betrays him to the authorities, who imprison him in Nagasaki. Rodrigues is forced by the Inquisitor, the samurai Inoue Masashige, to watch as converts are tortured. He is shocked to see an emaciated Garupe among them; as the Inquistor tries to compel Garupe to renounce his faith, the priest refuses and instead swims out to try and save a dying woman. The guards hold him underwater and he drowns. Rodrigues’ faith in God is shaken. When Kichijirō is imprisoned alongside him, Rodrigues reluctantly takes his confession. Rodrigues is taken to meet Ferreira, who has assimilated into Japanese society. Ferreira apostatized while being tortured to save his fellow Christians, and now believes that Christianity has no place in Japan…
Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads, “Silence ends Martin Scorsese’s decades-long creative quest with a thoughtful, emotionally resonant look at spirituality and human nature that stands among the director’s finest works.” Several critics have referred to the film as being among the finest films of Scorsese’s career. Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars, stating that, “Silence is a monumental work, and a punishing one. It puts you through hell with no promise of enlightenment, only a set of questions and propositions, sensations and experiences … This is not the sort of film you ‘like’ or ‘don’t like.’ It’s a film that you experience and then live with.” Richard Roeper awarded the film four out of four stars, saying, “When Ferreira finally appears and we learn the truth about where he’s been all this time, it further serves Scorsese’s central theme about the conflict between adhering to one’s sacred vows and traditional beliefs and doing the right thing, the prudent thing, the moral thing, on a very pragmatic level.” The film also garnered criticism. Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge found major flaws with the film, writing, “Though undeniably gorgeous, it is punishingly long, frequently boring, and woefully unengaging at some of its most critical moments. It is too subdued for Scorsese-philes, too violent for the most devout, and too abstruse for the great many moviegoers who such an expensive undertaking hopes to attract.” John Patterson of The Guardian stated in his review, “I fear that Silence expired in the womb during that long gestation period. It is beautiful to look at, but feels inert, humourless and overly devout (to say nothing of over-long; Masahiro Shinoda’s 1971 adaptation got Shūsako Endō’s 1966 novel on to film using 30 fewer minutes than Scorsese). Perhaps that leap toward the devout is needed to savour it fully–and I found I couldn’t make it.” (Via Wikipedia)
As Variety´s Peter Debruge wrote, “Though undeniably gorgeous, it is punishingly long, frequently boring, and woefully unengaging at some of its most critical moments.” sums pretty much up my opinion. Scorsese´s fascination with faith and belief have taken different expressions over the years, but with “Silence” he hits no positive notes in my book. The main flaw for me is that the acting is not convincing at all and thus you never get engaged in Sebastião and Francisco´s destinies nor do you care that much. Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver fails also to convice you with their silly Portugese/English dialect that just becomes an issue throughout the film. I cannot at all agree that “Silence” is among the finest films of Scorsese’s career. Did we watch the same film? I´m sorry, but that it´s not to me. It´s a 2 and half hour bore and among Scorsese’s worst films in his career if you ask me.
Trivia: A long-time passion project for Scorsese, which he had developed for over 25 years. It received critical acclaim, with both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute selecting Silence as one of their top ten films of the year. It also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. However, the film was a box office bomb, grossing just $22 million against its $50 million budget. Silence is the third of Scorsese’s films about religious figures struggling with challenges of faith, following The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Kundun (1997).
In 1950, George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), the poor nephew of rich industrialist Charles Eastman, arrives in town following a chance encounter with his uncle while working as a bellhop in Chicago. Although George is regarded as an outsider by the Eastmans, Charles offers George an entry-level job at his factory. George starts dating fellow factory worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) in defiance of the workplace rules. Alice is a poor and inexperienced girl who is dazzled by George and slow to believe that his Eastman name brings him no advantages. Over time, George begins a slow move up the corporate ladder and is invited by Charles to a social event, where George meets and falls for socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), who is also attracted to him. They fall in love. Just as George enters the intoxicating and care-free lifestyle his new life with Angela brings, Alice announces she is pregnant and, unable to procure an abortion, expects George to marry her. George puts Alice off and continues spending more time with Angela without Alice’s knowledge. George is invited to Angela’s family lake house over Labor Day and tells Alice the visit will advance his career. Alice discovers George’s lie after seeing a newspaper photograph of George and Angela boating with friends. Alice calls George at the Vickers home and threatens to come there and reveal herself unless he leaves and returns to her. Shaken, George tells his hosts his mother is sick and he must leave. The next morning, George and Alice drive to City Hall to get married but it is closed for Labor Day. George is relieved and, remembering Alice cannot swim, begins forming a plan to drown her in the lake by feigning an accident…
The film earned an estimated $3.5 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office, and earned critical acclaim in 1951. Upon seeing the film, Charlie Chaplin called it “the greatest movie ever made about America”. One impact of the film was from the Edith Head white party dress with its bust covered with flower blossoms worn by Taylor; it was the most popular prom dress style in the U.S. in 1951 and influenced prom and wedding dress design for the rest of the decade. The film’s acclaim has not completely held up over time. Reappraisals of the film find that much of what was exciting about the film in 1951 is not as potent in the 21st century. Critics cite the soporific pace, the exaggerated melodrama, and the outdated social commentary as qualities present in A Place in the Sun that are not present in the great films of the era, such as those by Alfred Hitchcock and Elia Kazan, although the performances by Clift, Taylor, and Winters continue to receive praise. (via Wikipedia)
“A Place In The Sun” is based on the 1925 novel “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser and the 1926 play, also titled “An American Tragedy”. It was inspired by the real-life murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in 1906, which resulted in Gillette’s conviction and execution by electric chair in 1908. The film was a critical and commercial success, winning six Academy Awards and the first-ever Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. In 1991, A Place in the Sun was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. This is a wonderful 1951 drama about the great American tragedy with an excellent Montgomery Clift in the lead, a just stunning Elizabeth Taylor and a great Shelley Winters in the other leading role. This film together with “From here to eternity” shows Montgomery Clift´s magnificent method acting were just his presence says so much about his character´s emotions. It´s just great to see him own this part as George Eastman. Yes, some things in the film might not feel so potent today as mentioned, but that´s not changing the greatness of this film.
Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges), a narcissistic, misanthropic shock jock, becomes suicidal and despondent when his insensitive on-air comments inadvertently prompt a mentally unstable caller to commit a mass murder–suicide at a Manhattan restaurant. Three years later, Jack is working for his girlfriend Anne (Mercedes Ruehl) in a video store, and is in a mostly drunken, depressed state. One night, while on a bender, he contemplates suicide. However, he is attacked and nearly set on fire by thugs who mistake him for a homeless person. He is rescued by Parry (Robin Williams), a delusional homeless man who claims his mission is to find the Holy Grail. Parry tries to enlist Jack’s help in getting the grail, explaining that the Fisher King was charged by God with finding the Holy Grail, but incurred an incapacitating wound for his sin of pride. “A Fool asks the King why he suffers, and when the King says he is thirsty, the Fool gives him a cup of water to drink. The King realizes the cup is the Grail and asks, ‘How did you find what my brightest and bravest could not?’ The Fool said ‘I don’t know. I only knew that you were thirsty.'” Jack is initially reluctant but acquiesces after learning that he is partially responsible for Parry’s current condition. Parry, whose real name is Henry Sagan, had been a teacher at Hunter College. After witnessing his wife’s gruesome death at the same mass shooting Jack had provoked, Henry had a psychotic break and became catatonic. When he woke, he had taken the persona of Parry and became obsessed with the legend of the Fisher King. With Parry as his shielding persona, mentions of reality panic him and he is continually haunted by a terrifying, hallucinatory Red Knight, from a distorted memory of his wife’s head exploding from a shotgun blast…
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that the film “sweeps you up on waves of humor, heartbreak and ravishing romance”. John Simon of the conservative National Review described The Fisher King as “one of the most nonsensical, pretentious, mawkishly cloying movies I ever had to wretch through.” Following Robin Williams’ death, a re-appraisal of the film on RogerEbert.com stated that “no Williams film can hit harder — or be so fully consoling in such heartbreaking circumstances — than The Fisher King”, where his character “gradually simmers to a boil of bristling insecurities, terror and agonizing internalized pain”. Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads, “An odd but affecting mixture of drama, comedy and fantasy, The Fisher King manages to balance moving performances from Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges with director Terry Gilliam’s typically askew universe.” (via Wikipedia)
This Terry Gilliam film is a true child of the nineties in terms of visual direction and cinematography. We get great performances from Bridges, Ruehl, Williams and Plummer, but it´s an unbalanced drama/comedy/romcom/fantasy with great moments and some truly strange moments. Gilliam’s quite absurd over-direction blends too many styles in a film that doesn´t seem to know what it wants to be. In that sense I guess it´s a classic Gilliam film as he likes a mish mash of genres, but that´s also his minus side as a director. “The Fisher King” has a sad storyline that touches you in certain ways, but yet not really keep that feeling throughout the film. It´s too disjointed as a film. I saw it when it came out in 1991, and I liked it then as far as I remember, but it hasn´t really aged all that well to me at least.
Shellmet is a new helmet design by TBWA\Hakuhodo’s creative team and Osaka-based Koushi Chemical Industry Co, made using Hokkaido’s discarded scallop shells.
I love the continuous approach to create great new designs out of discarded material.
Pickadolla 