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Topic: Brothers Grimm (2005)

Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 08-29-2005 09:21 PM

quote: Dennis Benjamin
I read an article that the director wanted Johnny Depp in it and Miramax said "no".

If it had starred Depp, the comparison with Sleepy Hollow would have been even more inevitable and painful. Man, even the funny 19th century apparatuses they had weren't as good as Depp's in that movie.

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Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 08-29-2005 09:21 PM

I thought there was a lot of potential in this movie with all of the fairy tale material at their disposal, but after seeing it, I think they blew it completely. The whole sub plot of them being chased by the French or whatever didn't serve any purpose except to get in the way and slow the plot down even more.

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Don Anderson
Master Film Handler

Posts: 312
From: West Bend, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-31-2005 12:03 AM

I thought that it was a great visual treat for the eyes, but a boring storyline. Matt Damon's british accent was dreadful. CGI was kewl, except for the runaway scarf, which was very cheesy. Artistically speaking, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. Content wise - Storyline 2 out of 5 stars.

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Bruce McGee
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1776
From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular.
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 09-02-2005 10:21 PM

The print of this title that I am running came to us loaded with lab splices. The print on the platter looks like an old IB print. Thats where the comparison ends.
'
Anybody else get a splicy print? Ours had at least 2 in each reel. I doubt it will be in our theatre for long.

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Steve Scott
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1300
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 09-03-2005 12:01 PM

I liked the sketchy quality of the CGI, it's appropriate in a Terry Gilliam film, just like winged creatures. Also well played were Damon & Ledger, who appear to really want to be European.

But if anything was clear from this film, it's doubtful that Gilliam will ever have control over a major release since Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas or Don Quixote. His fantastic exaggeration of fantasy was cut down by a mediocre script, a tragically Beckinsale-esque heroine, and an ending with more shuffle than a poker game. Too many scenes that could have been truly horrifying nightmare-fuel were digitally slowed, or cut to cartoonish alternate CGI shots. I overheard two teenaged girls exiting this film that thought it should have been rated "R" at its present cut. I believe that the studios had enough trouble releasing a fairy-tale adaptation with a PG-13 rating, that they would have tried more alternate angles to run for a PG instead! No villian is well-developed. It seemed they were trying to make the French out to be just as scary as the damned woods...

Into the woods, out of the woods... Take one girl, rescue her, take another... Give Damon & Ledger pails of water to haul while they're at it! Problematic at best sums this one up.

St. Anthony Main #1, DTS

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Dan Suomi
Film Handler

Posts: 53
From: Aurora/Oswego, IL
Registered: Jul 2004

posted 09-06-2005 01:23 PM

That's all I got to say about this film.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 09-08-2005 01:56 PM

quote: Bruce McGee
The print of this title that I am running came to us loaded with lab splices. The print on the platter looks like an old IB print. Thats where the comparison ends.
'
Anybody else get a splicy print? Ours had at least 2 in each reel. I doubt it will be in our theatre for long.

Sounds like a case of using up some short ends. ACVL Guidelines say no more than one lab splice per reel:

http://www.acvl.org/handbook/4c.htm

quote:
In release printing, it is recommended that there be a maximum of two splices per 400 feet of 16mm or 1000 feet of 35mm. These two splices may be insert splices, or one of the two splices can be a raw stock splice. There should never be two raw stock splices in the same reel. It is further recommended that spliced raw stock not be used in trial prints, dailies, TV spots or recording prints. It is customary practices to charge a premium for release prints that have no raw stock splices.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 09-08-2005 02:59 PM

But at least Deluxe picked a suitable title to use the short ends on! [thumbsup]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-15-2005 02:43 AM

We're stuck with this thing this weekend due to no prints available of anything else decent. Oh well, I needed a break from being busy I guess.

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Christian Appelt
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 505
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: Dec 2001

posted 10-26-2005 02:46 PM

All you said is true. This movie sucks badly and is a total waste of time. Looks like Gilliam did his usual sketches and designs and some hack director took over from that point, resulting in a kind of sad parody of a Terry Gilliam film.

Better see THE COMPANY OF WOLVES and SLEEPY HOLLOW, or even the danish silent film CHRONICLE OF GRIESHUS where they "borrowed" the design of the GRIMM village. [Big Grin]

- Cheesy special effects, especially the walking trees and the werewolf CGI character lokked really laughable.

- No attempt to create interesting characters, the Grimm brothers are immature idiots - why should an audience care for them?

- Depiction of the French as a kind of fascist suppressors with effiminate manners shows that Gilliam knows nothing about European history. In Germany, the modern legal system was installed by the French. Hope he gets kicked in the ass when he appears at Cannes film festival next time.

- The bumbling Italian torturer was one of the least threatening, least funny villains I can remember.

- I would never expect too much historic authenticity from a fantasy film, but some details indicate that Gilliam's script was slapped together with no respect for the period of his story. Just for the record, at that time it took at least a week to travel from Kassel to Frankfurt (it is said three times that they come from Kassel, "close to Frankfurt", which is like saying "I'm from Washington, near New York".). And a small village consisting of mre ten buildings would never have been called "Marbaden". Not important, but it shows the degree of "who cares?" on this production.

- Bad, bad, bad dialogue. Did Harvey Weinstein decide to turn a Gilliam movie into a "cool" kid's movie? Couldn't believe my ears.

- Total lack of humor. Meanness, yes, but nothing funny. In Monty Python films like THE MEANING OF LIFE death, live organ transplants and torture chambers are funny, but not here.

To make this a perfect evening, BROTHERS GRIMM was shown in a grainy, out-of-focus print with miserable registration (projection was OK), looking like 1980s Eastman VNF footage.
That's the way to keep the audience at home, watching a DVD.

BTW: When will producer realize that it does not save lousy movies if they add Monica Bellucci to the mishmash? [Roll Eyes]

Next time Brad issues such a clear warning, I will listen to it. [Embarrassed]

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