The Guy Maddin Collection (Twilight of the Ice Nymphs / The Heart of the World / Archangel)

Rating:
Summary: Noooooo!!!
Review: "Archangel" is one of my favorite movies, but it's been changed for this collection. Two of the best scenes (rabbits in the trenches and attack of the huns) have been color-tinted. In other words, instead of Maddin's beautiful black and white, they are blue or red and white. It looks awful. New intertitle cards have also been added. Most of them try to make the story easier to follow, but too many of them try to be funny but fail. "Twilight" is Maddin's worst film, a failed experiment, but "Heart of the World" is one of his best. The commentaries are amusing, but you're not going to learn anything about the films from them. Maybe someday Criterion will release "Archangel" as it originally was.

Rating:
Summary: Noooooo!!!
Review: "Archangel" is one of my favorite movies, but it's been changed for this collection. Two of the best scenes (rabbits in the trenches and attack of the huns) have been color-tinted. In other words, instead of Maddin's beautiful black and white, they are blue or red and white. It looks awful. New intertitle cards have also been added. Most of them try to make the story easier to follow, but too many of them try to be funny but fail. "Twilight" is Maddin's worst film, a failed experiment, but "Heart of the World" is one of his best. The commentaries are amusing, but you're not going to learn anything about the films from them. Maybe someday Criterion will release "Archangel" as it originally was.

Rating:
Summary: Skip the "Nymph's", See the "Angel"
Review: Guy Maddin is a unique talent. For everyone out there who is SICK of the mainstream and yearning for something original, for someone who thinks David Lynch is pretty straightforward, for the die-hard fanatic of cinematic minutiae I can categorically endorse this DVD. I don't think even Criterion can lay claim to disc packed with this much stuff. And every second of it is amazing, from the features, their equally scintillating commentaries, to Guy Maddin's designs for "Twilight", to the ultimate six minutes in cinema-"The Heart of the World."

Rating:
Summary: He's from my hometown. I may be biased...but I'm not.
Review: Guy Maddin is a unique talent. For everyone out there who is SICK of the mainstream and yearning for something original, for someone who thinks David Lynch is pretty straightforward, for the die-hard fanatic of cinematic minutiae I can categorically endorse this DVD. I don't think even Criterion can lay claim to disc packed with this much stuff. And every second of it is amazing, from the features, their equally scintillating commentaries, to Guy Maddin's designs for "Twilight", to the ultimate six minutes in cinema-"The Heart of the World."

Rating:
Summary: A Great Collection!
Review: No, I didn't care for "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" the first time I saw it but I think I went in with certain dumb expectations like Mr. Maddin was not going to grow and experiment. A few viewings later and it's turned into a favorite. I appreciate the classic fairy-tale qualities, the cast is a hoot, and I love the dazzling over-saturated color--similar to what's used in a lot of modern TV commercials. It's really one of the most gorgeous-looking films I know of.

"Heart of the World" is a masterpiece and no one seems to dispute that. First time I managed to get a copy I watched it about twelve times in one evening. You'll never get the musical soundtrack out of your head. Go, Guy!

I had the pleasure of first seeing "Archangel" during its theatrical release. This is a film that's magical on the big screen. Standout moments (and there are many in this movie) like the bunnies in the battle trenches consistently reach the realm of the sublime. The scratchy, artificially aged soundtrack gives this film a hypnotic quality, perfect for such a dreamlike creation. Another wonderful Maddin product that gets better and better with time.

Just a thought: In a world where every creative decision seems to be made by lawyers, marketing drones, stockholders, Harvard MBAs, and a guy named Eisner, or, conversely, angry art-school types on illegal substances (and their fellow-travelers), Guy Maddin, along with the Brothers Quay, Pixar, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) and a handful of others are the keepers of the flame right now.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Collection!
Review: No, I didn't care for "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" the first time I saw it but I think I went in with certain dumb expectations like Mr. Maddin was not going to grow and experiment. A few viewings later and it's turned into a favorite. I appreciate the classic fairy-tale qualities, the cast is a hoot, and I love the dazzling over-saturated color--similar to what's used in a lot of modern TV commercials. It's really one of the most gorgeous-looking films I know of.

"Heart of the World" is a masterpiece and no one seems to dispute that. First time I managed to get a copy I watched it about twelve times in one evening. You'll never get the musical soundtrack out of your head. Go, Guy!

I had the pleasure of first seeing "Archangel" during its theatrical release. This is a film that's magical on the big screen. Standout moments (and there are many in this movie) like the bunnies in the battle trenches consistently reach the realm of the sublime. The scratchy, artificially aged soundtrack gives this film a hypnotic quality, perfect for such a dreamlike creation. Another wonderful Maddin product that gets better and better with time.

Just a thought: In a world where every creative decision seems to be made by lawyers, marketing drones, stockholders, Harvard MBAs, and a guy named Eisner, or, conversely, angry art-school types on illegal substances (and their fellow-travelers), Guy Maddin, along with the Brothers Quay, Pixar, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) and a handful of others are the keepers of the flame right now.

Rating:
Summary: Skip the "Nymph's", See the "Angel"
Review: This collection of a few of Madden's work is promising at first - you get not one, but two features ("Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" [1997], "Archangel" [1900]) and a short film ("The Heart of the World" [2000]). Regrettably, his premiere feature work "Twilight of the Ice Nymph's" isn't quite worth the top billing it receives on this collection. He's abandoned the faux-expressionism that made early movies a delight in favor of a bold, 1940's Hollywood Technicolor nightmare that makes for great visuals, but that's all the film can really sustain. Both convoluted and clumsy in terms of a plot and acting, this is not his strongest work to date and fans would be better with "Glimli Hospital" or "Careful". "Archangel", however, is more true to the original style and early cinema story-telling we've come to enjoy from him. Whether you had to sit through early Soviet or Weimar republic films in Film School or you just like the strange and unusual, Madden's true and original style never fails to disappoint!

Rating:
Summary: A Must for Cinema Lovers!!
Review: This is an outstanding collection of films from one of cinema's overlooked masters. "Twilight" is like the Bard's Midsummer Nights Dream on acid! "Archangel" is an inspired homage to early cinema that's part Chaplin, part Von Sternberg, and part David Lynch. And to top it all off, the disc contain probably one of the best films of 2001. HEART OF THE WORLD is the best 5 minutes of film you'll ever see.

Rating:
Summary: A Must for Cinema Lovers!!
Review: This is an outstanding collection of films from one of cinema's overlooked masters. "Twilight" is like the Bard's Midsummer Nights Dream on acid! "Archangel" is an inspired homage to early cinema that's part Chaplin, part Von Sternberg, and part David Lynch. And to top it all off, the disc contain probably one of the best films of 2001. HEART OF THE WORLD is the best 5 minutes of film you'll ever see.