Brazil

Rating:
Summary: Gilliam Makes Movies for Intelligent Audiences
Review: For most of the movie the first time I watched it I must admit that i thought it was a typical hollywood 'love conquers' all sappy feel good movie until the ending. Gilliam calls the ending cinematic rape. He shows you such happy images and takes it all away to show reality. The movie leaves you spellbound and the images never leave your head. I have found that the only people who don't like this movie are the people that only like the hollywood mindless blockbusters that the movie companies churn out year after year. Thankfully there is a director like Terry Gilliam who treats his audience with more respect. Gilliam doesn't feel that when a point is being made that he has to beat people over the head with it like most other directors do. This is why I love his movies so much.

This boxed set is the best criterion collection I've ever seen. I loved the movie even more when I found how life was imitating art and when you watch Sid Sheinburg's version you see how far the studios will go to try and make a film that apeals to everyone so that he can maximize the profit and take away all meaning the film has. Anyone who has seen Gilliam's movies will agree that this is his shining masterpiece. The visuals are so amazing that like all Gilliam movies you have too watch it several times before you can grasp it all. There's something new every time you watch it. This is by far my favorite movie.

"We're all in it together."

Rating:
Summary: one of my all-time Favorite Movies and Fantasies.
Review: watch this Masterpiece which is far then the eye could see and it shall be in your fantasy collection. i would also recommend similar Movies to go with this one: " Return to Oz", " Labyrinth", " The Dark Crystal", " Stargate", " Army of darkness" " a Clockwork Orange", and " Nevernending Story".

Rating:
Summary: Mary Poppins did not influence this film
Review: There's a lot to like and a lot not to like in this Monty Python cumCitizen Kane Orwellian Kafkaesque Luddite comedic satire of a RubeGoldberg bureaucracy in a retro-future. Throw in a little sword andsorcery, a remembrance of some bad video games from eighties, a bit ofStar Wars, perhaps the sci-fi novels Level 7 and We, sprinkled withHitlerian mustaches on underdeveloped characters and you get thepicture.

What's good is a script full of witty one-liners findingthe right target, the corporate and governmental bureaucracies, ourpreoccupation with petty power in the pecking order, and our fear ofageing (face lifts) or looking irregular (braces). What's bad is thatDirector Terry Gilliam never got it under control. I'm reminded ofwhat Mark Twain said about his magnum opus, "Anyone attempting tofind a plot here will be shot." The story is slight, lacking anytension and the sets are dark and cluttered to a point past annoyance.I would say the film needed editing for focus, but that would onlyhave spotlighted the poverty of the plot.

Here's the problem in anutshell: recall the line of billboards on both sides of the road mileafter mile without a break. Now that's a nice satire of where we'reheaded as corporate interests increasingly dominate the environment;however like a Rube Goldberg contraption, they don't work since thebillboards are too close for anybody to read them as the cars fly by!In a way the world depicted here is like a parallel universe in whicheverything is essentially the same but differs in a thousand details:the weird little cars, the ridiculous maze of ducts and cables for airconditioning, the oversized bills on the baseball caps, the singledesk sliding between two cubicle rooms, etc.

We can see how Gilliamhas grown as a film maker by comparing this to 12 Monkeys, produced adecade later. In 12 Monkeys there is not only an interesting storyand a subplot, but the characters are developed into flesh and blood.What I think Gilliam has realized is that no director, regardless ofhow brilliant, can long survive without catering in some way to themass audience. Although Brazil ranks in IMDb's top 250 that is onlybecause movie enthusiasts naturally reward creativity. Poll the massaudience however and you'll find a significant percentage thatcouldn't even sit through this film. Notice too that while Gilliamwasted the talented Robert De Niro in Brazil he wised up and used starBruce Willis to the maximum in12 Monkeys.

It will be interesting tosee what Gilliam does next.

Rating:
Summary: Stylish Boredom
Review: If set design and sepia toned sense of bleakness were what was required to mint a movie classic then Brasil would be up there with Citizen Kane. That is not the case and Brasil falls far short. I could use up many paragraphs describing the short comings of this film, instead I will restrict myself to a few words, too long, unconvincing, tedious and in the end annoying. Terry Gilliam is a great set designer, sorry to say little more, this film in common with his other works is all over the place. Cinema would be better served were he to hand the direction of his films over to somebody who can actualy direct and keep control of the artistic direction himself. Six of us watched this film together and at the end only two remained awake. Nuff Said

Rating:
Summary: Terrifying, but Hilarious.
Review: Brazil is a scary, scary vision of the modern world (Perhaps most scary is that most of the reviews here seem to think that it takes place in the "near future." The movie clearly states its temporal setting to be "Somewhere in the 20th Century," and Gilliam has claimed that the look of the movie was meant to be as if the entire century had been compressed into a single moment. That we do not recognize the frightening elements in our current world is quite telling.) The visuals, some amazing lines, and the wonderfully ambiguous ending (not to mention the Sam-as-Jesus theme) combine to make this movie a modern classic. See it. See it again. Discuss it. Fight your own samurais.

Rating:
Summary: A CURIOUS ODD ODDITY?
Review: I must admit I didnt really understand this movie, it was very confusing, my face either had the Duh look, the perplexed frown, or the grinning wonder of an idiot. I gave this strange film 5 stars and I honestly dont know why?

The cool but freaky 'fantasy dream' sequences really appealled to me, I also enjoyed the music, for some reason I found it curiously catchy, (the tune kinda reminded me of 'Batteries not included' even though Brazil is 2yrs older).

I havent seen this on DVD yet but it looks pretty interesting, definately worth getting out again, now Im older perhaps Ill understand it better the 2nd time 'round! (I was 13yrs when I saw it last, Im hoping it will become clearer! ). Anyway even though I was confused, you first timers out there might find something worthwhile so try it watching it, you might be pleasantly surprised!

Rating:
Summary: Brazil? you must see!
Review: It's a real European class movie. It will enter you to retro future. Stop! It's present time in a satirical mirror. But it's not only surrealistic thriller, it's beautiful sad love store. English humor makes viewing the movie a real enjoyment. You will view it again and again. It reminded me world of Strugatkie.

Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny
Review: Even if you have to pay full price, this set is worth it. It's the perfect primer on the politics of Hollywood, and possibly the best example of a director's work being gutted in the name of commerce. Gilliam's obvious passion for his work makes the film even more impressive, and Sid Sheinberg's rants make you wonder how the man ever found himself in a position of power-and to think, this is the man who discovered Spielberg.

Rating:
Summary: Original, haunting, & most importantly, very realistic
Review: This has the best visuals of any film I've ever seen. Gilliam is a master at that. There is so much depth to this movie that it requires at least 3 or 4 viewings to truly get the great political satire.

Rating:
Summary: THAT'S WHAT I CALL A "MOVIE"..
Review: BRAZIL BECAME ONE MY FAVORITE MOVIES AS SOON AS I WATCHED IT AND GILLIAM BECAME MY FAVORITE DIRECTOR RIGHT AFTER KUBRICK AND HITCHCOCK..MAN, THIS GUY IS BRILLIANT..ALSO RESPECTED HIS FIGHT AGAINST THE COMPANY AND ITS VERSION OF THE FILM. AS I COULD NOT STAND WATCHING THE WHOLE OF THIS TERRIBLE VERSION....WHEN WE COME TO SUPPLEMENTS, THIS DVD ROCKS.THE INTERVIEWS ESPECIALLY WITH GILLIAM, STOPPARD AND THE CAST, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCRIPT,WHAT IS BRAZIL DOCUMENTARY,THE FIGHT OF BRAZIL DOCUMENTARY,AND ON TOP OF THEM ALL, THE TERRY GILLIAM COMMENTARY..THE DIRECTOR CUT OF BRAZIL WITH THE FEATURES AND A TOTALLY DIFFENT VERSION OF THE MOVIE MAKE THIS A TOP NOTCH SET..BEFORE CRITERION LOSES ITS RIGHTS,GET THIS BOX.