THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARMESAN

Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, Lily Cole, Tom Waits and some hunks
Release: 16 October 2009

If you like Terry Gilliam you should like this film. If you like imaginative scenery and "whacky" characters you'll be entertained for the 122 minutes that is The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus.
I can honestly say I only have three grievances in relation to Gilliam's latest.

1. This is the most petty of my criticisms, but CGI special effects aren't as good as the old hand-made Python-era models and animatronics. Computerised imagery lack the weight and tangibility of Jonathan Pryce's wings in Brazil or horror of the red knight in The Fisher King.



2. Lily Cole should stick to modelling. Just when you've sunk into the magic of a brilliantly decorated scene she busts in with her hoarse voice and total lack of subtlety or any idea of what acting is above the level of a 12-year-old in Eastenders. Some people may simply see her as a pretty face, but I don't even see her as that. Her head is the wrong size for her body and her mouth is as wide as her acting range (just incase you haven't noticed her mouth is flipping miniscule). Here's hoping she never acts again... just checked IMdb she's lined up for several other films.

My third issue is the non-existant story, but I'm sure you've already read a three star review that mentions that. To be quite frank the lack of story does not affect the overall impact of the film. The visuals and ideas all hit home and the intergration of the hunks to fill in for Ledger is seamless and an enjoyable part of the film. Oh and Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits are great fun and give genuinely brilliant performances which then highlight the amateur overacting of the silly Cole.

Can you put a price on your dreams? Go on Orange wednesdays and you can half that price.

7/10

DEATH PROOF

If I stuck religiously to the reviews within the RadioTimes I may never have watched Death Proof due to it's fairly obtuse mini-review, giving it two stars and then giving "repetetive thriller" as a reason. I suppose it is hard to fit in "Tarantino should be doing much better original stories rather than re-hashing old ideas in an absurd nostalgic fanboy's quest" into that little gap and although I agree with this to a degree, Death Proof is in no way a two star film.

First off you've got Kurt Russell, who I love because of John Carpenter's version of The Thing and Escape From New York and even Sky High, playing a fairly creepy, yet oddly charismatic lead/villain/victim. On top of that you have an excellent soundtrack with one song being highlighted by Tarantino in the dialogue: Hold Tight! by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. I might also add that the first half is nearly flawless and it is only in the second act that my problems with the film rear their stupid female heads. The film, in short, is this: Classic Tarantino dialogue with nice slow pacing THEN AN AMAZING CAR SEQUENCE then a new batch of women that aren't as good as the first batch talk for a bit THEN ANOTHER AMAZINGLY EXCITING CAR SEQUENCE - ABRUPT ENDING. The first amazing car sequence features one of the most fantastically shot crashes I have ever seen and if, like me, you have Steven Speilberg's Dual as one of your favourite films ever you will no doubt enjoy these moments more than anything.

Here are my only problems. The abrupt ending which, by telling you about it, should seem less abrupt, I wish someone had told me about it so I wouldn't have been so taken-a-back. Then there are the morally dubious women in the second act, with the exclusion of Mary Elizabeth Winstead who is supposedly left to be raped by a thick grease monkey.

I do believe Tarantino should pull his head out of his arse and stop making films to show us how much he likes films and Eli Roth, but Death Proof is a bloody good ride while it lasts. 8/10