Word: gilliams
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...THIS ULTIMATE RETREAD DECADE, when movie people are so short on ideas that they remake old TV shows and bad French comedies, give Terry Gilliam points for trying something completely different. When the former Monty Python animator does a remake, it's of the moodiest, most elliptical sci-fi film ever: Chris Marker's 1963 La Jetee. Set in a toxic future, this French collage of photos chases time backward to a painful childhood image. Gilliam's 12 Monkeys is an all-star, megamovie elaboration of this theme--just what you'd expect from the director of that brilliant dark...
...worth saving? Dour sci-fi satire always has this message: I have seen the future, and it sucks. In this teeming hellhole (lots of clatter and clutter), madmen get the best lines, and a heroic time traveler hardly stands a chance. Intent on both dazzling and punishing the viewer, Gilliam gets lost in creepy spectacle and plenty of old film clips (notably Vertigo). But at the sight of three giraffes crossing a city bridge, you'll think of a more recent movie. A bad one. In its frantic mix of chaos, carnage and zoo animals, 12 Monkeys is Jumanji...
...sort of Jumanji for adults, Terry Gilliam's new film at least gets points for trying something completely different, says Corliss. Starring Bruce Willis as a time traveling hero sent back in time to find out about a virus that killed most of the world in 1997, this all-star, megamovie chases time backward to a painful image. It's just what you'd expect from the director of that brilliant dark-side retro-futuristic vision, Brazil. But this film is no Brazil, says Corliss: "Intent on both dazzling and punishing the viewer, Gilliam gets lost in creepy spectacle...
...FISHER KING. Trust director Terry Gilliam (Brazil) to hatch the year's most exasperatingly good movie, in which Robin Williams is a holy homeless fool and Jeff Bridges a burned-out case ripe for redemption. To catch the brilliant bits in this handsome botch, you need patience and daring; it's like finding gold nuggets strewn across a minefield...
This is all catnip to Terry Gilliam, deviser of the Monty Python animations and co-director of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. On his own he directed one commercial hit (Time Bandits) and one cult smash (Brazil). Critics, this one included, went crazy for Brazil; but not many citizens felt at home amid all the astringent whimsy. And the director's next phantasmagoria, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, was a $50 million flop...