Big Fish

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not as good as it could have been...
Review: Let me start off by saying that the only reason I really liked this movie was for Ewan McGregor. His performances never cease to impress me. I thought he played his part very well and gave me a reason to love this movie. As for Tim Burton, well, he's losing his touch. After Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes, he needed something good. And I think with this one he was really just trying to say "look at me, I'm still cool!" The movie doesn't have the same feel as Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice or The Nightmare Before Christmas. He just seems to do weird for weird's sake without really digging into the characters. This movie is interesting and visually appealing, but it's trying for a depth it just doesn't have. It seems fake and the relationships forced. The twins seemed to be there only to provide another oddity to the film. They had no depth. We sort of got a look at Carl, but nothing very deep. Everything about this movie got me excited - Ewan McGregor, Danny Elfman, Tim Burton, Alison Lohman and a fantastic plot. But it fell flat.

The strong points of this movie, and the reason for it's 4 stars, were the ideas that could have been great. The witch, for one, was a fantastic idea. That whole thing was interesting and I wish it could have had a little more to it. Also the idea of blending reality with tall tales was fantastic, but it just didn't work right in this film. Ewan did a magnificent job and brought some life to the film, but while it could have been brilliant, it just didn't work as well as it could have.

Rating:
Summary: Big Fish is big on imagination
Review: I saw Big Fish while in limited release in New York City. What a sweet little picture. Too nice infact, it'll be sure to be ignored. You will either love it or hate it because it's just plain sincere and straight forward. I found albert finney to be as charismatic as ever. Ewan McGregor, was a bit type cast, but he's good at playing the perfect guy. It's the most un-tim burton, tim burton has ever been. Which adds to the movies unique look and feel. He allows his imagination to grace the screen but unlike things like Kill Bill it never distracts from the over all experience. Tim Burton said he made this movie as therapy for losing his parents recently. And that what this movie feels like, good medicine. I recently had a scare with my mom going to the hospital, and this movie really made me feel better.

The stories, this is the meat of the movie. They are fantastic. They are funny. I believe they really happened. They are hauntingly surreal and are as intriguing to watch as they must have been to hear. This is where the movie takes off and sweeps you off your feet. I won't ruin stories themselves but they were a complete delight to behold. So much so, that the scenes in between them tend to drag on until the next tall tale comes along.

My criticism are few but if I had to nit pick I would say that the cynical son is almost TOO cynical, and it's really stupid as to WHY he doesn't talk to his father anymore. But when he starts to soften up, that falls to the way side. The movie starts off a little strange, the editing could have been tighter and basically when we dont see albert finney or his younger self things definetly slow down on screen. It has its flaws.

And last but not least, the Pearl Jam song in the credits...PERFECT. I smell a best song oscar for Eddie Vedder and crew.

Good Job Tim. Sweet movie. Don't get so hyped about it folks. It's not Ed Wood and it's not anything else. It's a bit over sweet, so it depends on what kind of mood your in. I for one got hooked and reeled in by the very big heart of this very big fish.

Rating:
Summary: TIm Burton is pure genius
Review: Tim Burton's creative genius has enabled him to create yet another world which is just aesthetically pleasing as it is deep. -A must see!!!

Rating:
Summary: a few laughs a quick cry (part II)
Review: Near the beginning of Big Fish, Edward Bloom, the hero of the movie, is telling the story of how a giant visited Ashton, the town where he grew up. The giant, whose name is Karl, is not created by a computer; he actually has gigantism, and is clearly not a professional actor. His completely unaffected performance is one of the few charming things about this movie.

Anyway, Edward and Karl go off to the city together and Edward of course takes Karl to the circus, where he's bound to be star. Here's the part that bothered me, the part that I think gets at what's wrong with this movie. Danny DeVito, the ringmaster in the circus, plops down a contract in front of the giant and says, "Do you know what 'involuntary servitude' means?" The giant says, "No," and DeVito smiles and says "Good!" This gets a laugh from the audience. Now, this character had already earned my affection, so I wondered what was going to happen to him in this exploitative circus: how's he going to end up?

But they never tell us. They skip to the next tall tale. And this happens again and again: oddities are used essentially as props, and then taken out of the story until they're convenient again. The Siamese twins could just as easily be talking Rhesus monkeys, or four armed men juggling robin's eggs: the movie doesn't care, it just wants weird. Clearly the studio thought, Circus freaks, let's get Tim Burton - but his old creations like Edward Scissorhands had life and compassion behind them. Here's Burton working with someone else's book and screenplay, and I can tell he doesn't care about any of them. Even the human characters are there only to learn lessons or impart them, and a few scenes had emotional resonance only because the actors were so good: the scene in the tub with Edward and his wife doesn't feel real because the characters have earned our sympathy, but because Lange and Finney convey something authentically beautiful in the wider world - the deepening love of couples as they age.

When I got up at the end of the movie, severely annoyed, I noticed that the girl next to me was crying. I didn't understand her reaction, since everything about this movie struck me as false. Maybe the tears were a surface emotion, or Big Fish reminded her of something authentic in her life. I imagine plenty of reviewers will gush about this movie, but just like everyone cried at the end of Titanic, and you now see shelves of the movie unrented in Blockbuster, this film's phoniness will catch up with it eventually. It isn't fair to ask every movie to become a lasting part of someone's emotional life, but when a movie pretends to cast a net of generosity around all of its characters and treats them with either callous indifference or vapid sentimentality, it makes me upset.

Clearly, I didn't react to Big Fish in the way that some other people did - I suppose it's good for a few laughs and a quick cry - but these are disposable emotions brought out by a disposable movie, one that will dull your appreciation for the lovely moments in life instead of intensifying them.

Rating:
Summary: TIM BURTON HAS DONE IT AGAIN
Review: There is something exhilarating about riding two trains and running 27 blocks down the street to see a movie. Living 8 or so miles outside New York City has its perks for one of my new jobs. Going to press screenings of yet to released blockbusters. It's just to bad I'm at the mercy of the New Jersey Transit rail system. With delayed trains and lots of snow covering the ground of course I had 10 minutes to get from Madison Square Garden to Union Square. No small feat if you ask me.

But as I settled down in my chair at the Regal Union Square, and as I sipped on the sweet nectar of the drink called COKE, a film unfolded. A film so good, it made my mad dash to the theater worth every minute and as I reminisce about the filmed triumph that is BIG FISH, I feel a sense of awe and wonder. Tim Burton has created a film better than EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and a film that is worthy of Oscar.

William Bloom (Billy Crudup, Waking The Dead) is mad at his father Edward Bloom (Albert Finney,Erin Brockovich). You see his dad loves to tell stories about his youth. Except none of them seem true. Stories of Giants named Karl (Matthew McGrory, Bubble Boy), Circus Freaks, wandering poets, Siamese Twins from Red China, bank robberies, a witch, and a really big fish. William longs to meet the real man behind all the stories. But when Edward is stricken with cancer, William comes face to face with the man, both the real one and the legend.

BIG FISH is the kind of movie where a new surprise is hiding around every corner. From babies being spit across the hospital floor to a classic car being submerged underwater. The frame is jammed with visions both colorful and humorous. I especially liked the witch whose one eye could tell you how you would die. What an eerie and yet oddly beautiful old woman she was.

I also loved the tender moment that Edward and his wife Sandy (Jessica Lange, Titus) had in the bathtub. It's a scene full of both raw emotion and sweet reflection. Here's a woman who's watching the man she loves die right in front of her face. Every moment counts, and every word and breath sacred.

Ewan MacGregor (Star Wars: Attack of the Cloans) does a fine job as young Edward the adventurous youth of all his older counterpoint fantastical stories. His performance strikes the right cords at the right moments, allowing the audience to take hold of a man who may be the fabrication or the true version of a man who's telling the story.

Tim Burton's directing is top notch. He's proven that he's a master of the visual image, and BIG FISH is the perfect film to allow people to sit up and take notice. He strikes the right cord between humor and tears, joyous circus's and scary forests. His deft eye even takes us behind enemy lines. In a scene that is both inspired and quirky all at the same time.

BIG FISH is also a film about heritage. What's more important in the scheme of things, how we lived or how people remember us? It's a little of both, and this film puts us right in the middle of it all. Watching a life unfold around us.

BIG FISH is the reason I love going to the movies. Sure sometimes you have to dig through the trash to find a gem and this is a gem of a motion picture. If you see one film at all this year BIG FISH is worth a trip, even a whirlwind 27-block sprint to your local theater.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated but still pretty likable.
Review: I wasnt one of the ones who wanted this to win best movie of the year even though all the other movies Ive seen last year sucked a lot.I thought this was a good movie.Nothing more nothing less but I wouldnt pay to own it.Id rent it though.

Rating:
Summary: Big Fish
Review: Big Fish was way worse than I thought it to be.I'm not sure why I didn't like it but there was just something about it.The acting is great with a great performance by Albert Finney.The dialogue was really deep and the stories were great, but what it all comes down to is that the plot is so thin that it's forgetable.This is suppose to be a Tim Burton film the one's that keep you imagining and dreaming but I just didn't get that from this one.Some of you other RT's might like it but I just couldn't get into like Burton's other masterpieces.If you want to see this film then check it out only when you have time.

Told through a series of vignettes, Bloom's stories involve a witch, a giant, a haunted forest, and yes, a big fish. A self-described small-town hero, Bloom explains how he left home at 18 determined to experience anything and everything life could dish out. He worked for the circus, took on daring assignments as a WWII soldier, and rambled across the country as a zany traveling salesman. Utterly unbelievable yet magical and delightful, Bloom's stories just don't translate to his son Will (Billy Crudup) who wants to know his dad's "true" life story. But little by little--through increasingly outlandish tales at which Will cannot resist smirking--the two begin to understand each other, and Bloom weaves his stories into their genealogical fabric.

"The most curious thing about this magical-realist fable ... is how thin and soft it is, how unpersuasive and ultimately forgettable even its most strenuous inventions turn out to be."
-- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Movie Ever
Review: This is the greatest movie I have ever seen. And for all of you people that thought it was terrible, you are either one of three things: mentally handicapped, void of any emotion, or just plain stupid.

Rating:
Summary: It's all true . . . really, it is . . .
Review: This movie, by Tim Burton is by far one of his best. I have enjoyed most of Tim Burton's movies in the past such as, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Edward Scissorhands; so when I saw the commercials for Big Fish I was instantly drawn in. Not to mention, Ewan McGregor is in it, so I was in love instantly! When I saw this movie, I was not disappointed and that is obvious because I saw Big Fish in theatres three times while it was there and the day it came out on DVD, I bought it.
The movie is the story of a young man named Will (Billy Crudup) whose father Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is dying. They had not spoke for a few years after Will's father took the spotlight at his wedding telling one of his outrageous tales. Now, while is father is lying in bed at home, Will who has grown up being told the many miraculous stories and tales of his fathers life, wants to find out the truth about all of the stories. Will does not believe that any of the stories that his father told him throughout his whole life are true and he feels he does not know who is father really is. As the stories and the movie unfold, Will learns more about his father and himself, as well as the reasons for the stories that his father told.
The movie goes back and forth between the present, and the stories being told as back-flashes. Young Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) is the center of all the tall tales that include a witch with a glass eye that shows how people die, a perfect little town called Spectre with no road to it and even a giant named Karl. Each story is told with Tim Burton's usual sense of imagination, sensational imagery and darkness. The stories all revolve around events that happened in Edward Bloom's life, but each tale in the movie reflect a real tall tale.

The actor's in this movie are all wonderful at the parts they portray. Ewan McGregor is excellent as the young, charismatic Edward Bloom. Albert Finney makes the old Edward Bloom glow, even though he is sick in bed most of the time. The contrast between the two actors as young and old is perfect. Jessica Lange as Will's mother and Alison Lohman as a young Sandra Bloom are also wonderful in this movie. The casting in this movie was amazing and adds a lot to the rest of the movie as a whole.
Although Big Fish is a wonderful spectacle to see, I don't recommend watching it while you are tired because then it will seem a little slow. Believe it or not, I watched it once when I was tired and actually fell asleep. Every once in awhile there are parts that seem to kind of drag. That is made up for, however, in the great storyline and the colorful imagination and display of each story. I recommend this movie to be seen by everyone at least once and bring a box of Kleenex for the first time. Big Fish is a movie that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and genders. Since there is very little profanity and slight, but tasteful, nudity, this is a good family film and one that I even thought was appropriate to watch at a church youth group event. If you love Tim Burton's older movies, you will definitely love this one. Even if you didn't love his other movies, I still recommend everyone to rent this movie and see this outstanding spectacle at least once.

Rating:
Summary: Living a fairy tale...
Review: The relationship between a young man and his dying father takes center stage at this original movie, that seamlessly mixtures fantasy and reality in order to create a film well-worth watching.

The son, William (Billy Crudup), wants to know more about his dad before it is too late, but is fed up with the incredible stories he always tell about himself. The problem is that his father, Edward (Albert Finney), cannot help but talk a lot and make reality more interesting, disguising it as he deems necessary. But after telling a story many times, it becomes real to you, and Ed can't distinguish truth from lies any more. But who knows, maybe he doesn't want to...

The talks and fights between father and son, mixed with their interaction with their wives, take them down memory lane, as Ed remembers once again what happened to him from the moment he left his little town as a young man. Ed doesn't stop telling tall tales, but the spectator will be happy for that due to the fact that thanks to the skill of the director of "Big Fish" (Tim Burton) Ed's stories come alive, and we are introduced to witches, giants, werewolves, the biggest fish in the river and even to the charmed town that young Ed (Ewan Mc Gregor) visited in his wandering days. We also get to know how Ed met the girl he knew would become his wife (Alison Lohman, afterwards played by Jessica Lange), and the unconventional way in which he proposed to her.

Those stories are too strange to be truthful, of course, and that is the problem for Will. But soon enough he will realise that maybe not all Ed's stories are complete lies, and that he might know his father much more than he was aware of.

I highly enjoyed this movie, even though it made me cry a little at the end. I want to point out that the general tone is one of optimism, and that "Big Fish" is so visually engaging that you will believe you are living an extraordinary fairy tale. And what can I say?. I love good fairy tales!!!

Belen Alcat