Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Big Fish

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Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 12-24-2003, 10:10 AM:

This was a really good movie about life and death. I am impressed with Ewan McGregor's ability to play diverse roles and this movie got a grade A for his acting.

4.5 of 5

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 01-08-2004, 02:00 AM:

I agree Chris, this was a great movie. I have always liked Burton and his style, and this movie is everything I have grown to love about his work and more. Ewan's performance is great, along with Finney and everyone else. This movie just sucks you in and doesn't let go until the credits role. Once the story starts, you are just dying to know how it ends. Also, a great score by Danny Elfman. Check this one out everyone. My favorite "feel good" movie since Seabiscuit this past summer.

AJG

Posted by Chris Greenwell (Member # 1660) on 01-09-2004, 06:03 AM:

I just finished watching this movie. I thought it was excellent, You definately have to pay attention and not miss any of it.

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 01-11-2004, 08:19 PM:

Chris is right you cant miss a second of this film. There were a few times where I had to go pay a visit to the toilet fairy but I sucked it up so that I would understand it. Overal a pretty good film with some funny parts, and when I think about it, this film reminds me so much of "Death of a Salesman" but with a Tim Burton twist to it. Anyone whos read the book or watched the live action video will understand why. I would really like to know peoples comments on that.

Im not sure if it was just me or was did the color on this print look a little dry or pale? Im not sure if this was intended effect on the negatives but Im sure John P or someone else can answer this.

By the way, when I first saw the trailer I thought the ringmaster was Ron Jeremy but was corrected when someone said it was Danny Devito. That gave me a good laugh.

Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 01-11-2004, 08:47 PM:

I agree .. a very nice film, indeed. Really stays with you, if you have any heart at all. I'm glad it's gone wide.

The print I saw had -very- vivid, almost 'Kodachrome©' hues (in some scenes, at least), which was obviously intentional.

Ron Yost

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 01-31-2004, 02:55 AM:

I don't know if the AMC theater(Parkway Pointe, Atlanta) had a dim bulb, but I found the look to be too dull(with a few exceptions like the yellow flower scenes) and soft. I know the soft part was intentional to give it that other worldly look since the movie about imagination. Still the visual look got tiresome and it contributed to the lack of patience you will notice in the rest of my review. Did the family scenes have to be so drab?

In any case, this is the first Burton movie that bored me at times.
MINISPOILER: The second half does have some payoffs as I was at that point ready to leave because I was getting to be like the son in the movie- ok enough tales. Still it takes a death to really give this movie some resonance. When a movie needs that to make me care about the characters, then the characters weren't that great to begin with. After all was said and done, nothing new really gets revealed about the characters to me. The final sequence starting with the hospital lends a nice touch.
END OF MINISPOILER

Overall, a slow movie with some nice moments. If you liked the trailer(I didn't, but went because of Tim Burton), you will probably like the movie. I didn't hate the movie as much as it seems from my review, but I feel like it took too long for me to get into the spirit of things. Maybe I would have liked it a lot more if this was an hour mini movie.

[ 01-31-2004, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: Pravin Ratnam ]

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 02-17-2004, 09:25 AM:

Finally got to see this film and really liked it.
I don't think there was a dry eye in the house at the end.

The presentation was crap at a Loews 14 plex in Dallas. The sound in the first real was terrible. It sounded like a washing machine coming out of the right surrounds It got better at the reel change. But even when the sound was at it's best (at this theater) it was distorted and crappy. The screen was under-lit

I wonder if the faded look of the film was to simulate a home movie effect?

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 02-17-2004, 05:07 PM:

quote:
I wonder if the faded look of the film was to simulate a home movie effect?

Doubt it... it didn't look that way when it was here.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 2038) on 02-18-2004, 01:41 PM:

We open with "Big Fish" next week and from the reviews above I'm looking forward to seeing it. Running the trailer now and that would have been enough for me to see the movie. Thanks for the tips. I always liked Tim Burton's skewed look at reality.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-19-2004, 11:35 PM:

I could have sworn I'd posted a review of this movie sooner, but it appears I didn't. So here goes:

I saw this movie back on February 1 at the Carmike 10 here in Huntsville and I really liked it. I enjoy movies that are "different" and I found it mentally stimulting. On the way out, the manager asked me what I saw, and I told him "Big Fish". He responded, "I'm sorry." So it's not for everyone.

I guess the main point of the movie was that stories are a lot more interesting if you spice them up and make them interesting, even if the stuff you put in isn't true. Having the more interesting versions of the stories come to life and take the place of the real versions can be wonderful.

My father has a set of stories about his younger years that he's told me many times. He doesn't add a bunch of details to them that aren't true, but sometimes, I wish he would just so they'd be different than what I've heard so many times before. I have an imagination, so it's easy for me to do that to stories, or memories of my past experiences. My mind doesn't replace the real versions, though.

The movie feels real at times and at others, feels like a big complex fairy tale. The movie did a good job of making a lot of things not strike me as real. For example, the Spectre town just didn't look real to me when I first saw it. I was really expecting to find out that it didn't really exist and was just an imagined thing. Most of the things, you really wonder if they existed in real life or not. It was important to leave the viewer with that feeling.

I will definitely buy this on DVD when it comes out, and I highly recommend this movie.