Tim Burton Marathon/Retrospective, Day Four
Sorry I've been so spammy lately, It's reading week so I've suddenly got a lot more time on my hands.
*____* THIS MOVIE, YOU GUYS. It is one of my only comfort movies without a horrifically depressing ending! I know there are a lot of parts that aren't strictly accurate about it but man, I wish it had gone down exactly like this for real. I just. It is a bunch of weirdos making a movie about a bunch of weirdos making a movie! It is shot in black and white, just because! There is a recurring "Bela Lugosi's Dead" joke! There is so much to love about this movie, seriously.
I really feel like Tim was working through some issues here though. Here he is making a film about an oddball director who befriends and works with an aging horror movie star he loved as a child, surrounding himself with like-minded freaks and weirdos, staying True To His Vision in the face of meddling from all around.... And he makes the worst films anyone has ever seen, and goes down in history for it.
This is an excellent film about terrible films, and I genuinely believe it's Johnny Depp's best performance. And I have seen a lot of Johnny Depp movies. It is about how people don't have to like your art, but not in an offensive, stupid way, more in a "Hey, well, we had fun doing this, so it counts as a win" sort of way. It has sad bits, and really sad bits, but also really funny bits and, like I said, a nice upbeat ending.
SPEAKING of "Hey, we had fun doing this." This is even more of a love letter to '50s sci-fi than Ed Wood is, if that's possible. It's a B-movie through and through, except for the part where it's actually full of A-list actors. How did they get all these legitimately famous people to do this ridiculous, ridiculous movie? IT'S A MYSTERY.
Like, okay, I understand people thinking this movie is stupid, because it really kind of is. (SCIENCE FAIL! The Earth's atmosphere has rather a lot of nitrogen actually, movie!) But if you don't enjoy it, well, I don't know what to think. It is so much fun! Jack Nicholson is the President! Sarah Jessica Parker's head gets put on a chihuahua! The day is saved thanks to boring old-people music and kids who play arcade games! There is inexplicable Tom Jones. Greatest.
Also, the score is by Danny Elfman again this time! (Ed Wood wasn't. There's a story there but The Public isn't allowed to know it. Whatever, dudes, keep your big angsty fight to yourself, it's not like there are people who will be overly emotionally invested in it fifteen years later or anything) He is having just as much fun as everybody else making this movie. The person who made that thing on F!S the other day about how Burton hasn't made an original film since Nightmare and just keeps revisiting those themes is, uh, clearly confused and/or has only seen Nightmare and Corpse Bride or something.
*____* THIS MOVIE, YOU GUYS. It is one of my only comfort movies without a horrifically depressing ending! I know there are a lot of parts that aren't strictly accurate about it but man, I wish it had gone down exactly like this for real. I just. It is a bunch of weirdos making a movie about a bunch of weirdos making a movie! It is shot in black and white, just because! There is a recurring "Bela Lugosi's Dead" joke! There is so much to love about this movie, seriously.
I really feel like Tim was working through some issues here though. Here he is making a film about an oddball director who befriends and works with an aging horror movie star he loved as a child, surrounding himself with like-minded freaks and weirdos, staying True To His Vision in the face of meddling from all around.... And he makes the worst films anyone has ever seen, and goes down in history for it.
This is an excellent film about terrible films, and I genuinely believe it's Johnny Depp's best performance. And I have seen a lot of Johnny Depp movies. It is about how people don't have to like your art, but not in an offensive, stupid way, more in a "Hey, well, we had fun doing this, so it counts as a win" sort of way. It has sad bits, and really sad bits, but also really funny bits and, like I said, a nice upbeat ending.
SPEAKING of "Hey, we had fun doing this." This is even more of a love letter to '50s sci-fi than Ed Wood is, if that's possible. It's a B-movie through and through, except for the part where it's actually full of A-list actors. How did they get all these legitimately famous people to do this ridiculous, ridiculous movie? IT'S A MYSTERY.
Like, okay, I understand people thinking this movie is stupid, because it really kind of is. (SCIENCE FAIL! The Earth's atmosphere has rather a lot of nitrogen actually, movie!) But if you don't enjoy it, well, I don't know what to think. It is so much fun! Jack Nicholson is the President! Sarah Jessica Parker's head gets put on a chihuahua! The day is saved thanks to boring old-people music and kids who play arcade games! There is inexplicable Tom Jones. Greatest.
Also, the score is by Danny Elfman again this time! (Ed Wood wasn't. There's a story there but The Public isn't allowed to know it. Whatever, dudes, keep your big angsty fight to yourself, it's not like there are people who will be overly emotionally invested in it fifteen years later or anything) He is having just as much fun as everybody else making this movie. The person who made that thing on F!S the other day about how Burton hasn't made an original film since Nightmare and just keeps revisiting those themes is, uh, clearly confused and/or has only seen Nightmare and Corpse Bride or something.