Tim Burton Discussion

Post by **bullwinkle** » April 11th, 2006, 3:57 pm

Best Tim Burton Movie.

Post by **Riv** » April 12th, 2006, 5:30 am

First post since I started lurking at animated-movies

Where's Ed Wood (Tim Burton's best), Mars Attacks and the 2 Batmans? And apes?

Post by **Ben** » April 12th, 2006, 8:55 am

This is a whacked-out list!

As Riv says - no Batman, Martians, Apes or zero-budget filmmaker biopics?

James And The Giant Peach isn't really Burton pic anyway, and Vincent is only four minutes long. I know you're limited to only ten choices, but some juggling could have been done, or maybe do a "classic Tim Burton" list of films that really reflect him (after all, Apes wasn't really him!).

Post by **eddievalient** » April 12th, 2006, 1:53 pm

Except for "Chocolate Factory" and "Frankenweenie", I've seen every film directed by Tim Burton (he ties with Kevin Smith as my favorite director) and I have to say that his best film by far is "Big Fish". BF is his masterpiece and I daresay it may be the best film he will ever do.

Post by **ShyViolet** » April 12th, 2006, 2:56 pm

Batman without a doubt. It's not really the quality of the film, which is O.K., but the trails this film blazed. The visual storytelling and re-defining of the campy villain spliced with comic book pathos and gritty reality was done here for the first time, and there can only be one first.

2nd choice: Batman Returns

3rd: Edward Scissorhands

4th: Nightmare Before Christmas

5th: Ed Wood. I LOVE this film

6th: Willy Wonka, uh, I mean, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
It was pretty good but considering talent he had with Johnny and the potential to distinguish himself from the other version, it could have been a lot better. For one thing, the set design was way too much like the original.

MEDIOCRE: Big Fish. Never watched this till the end, but for some reason it grates on me. It just feels like a movie. Too many stories, too many characters who don't matter. And we never really get to know the son as a person. (are the flashbacks supposed to be his impressions of his dad as a child, what his dad thinks happened, since his dad seems to be genuinely nuts, or what really happened?) It has nice moments, but all in all, could have been way better.

WORST! Mars Attacks. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! I remember this film coming out and thinking: "Oh that movie looks sooooo funny.." because they kept showing that part with Jack Nicholson saying: "I want the American people to know that they still have two branches of goverment working for them, and that ain't bad!" So funny. But damn those aliens were ugly. And not in a funny way, but in a disturbing way. This movie was...boring!

Post by **Ben** » April 12th, 2006, 5:58 pm

Mars Attacks has some wicked sense of humor...I love it as a slap in the face of the big, Hollywood, mainstream movie, being financed and released by a big, Hollywood, mainstream company as a big, Hollywood, mainsteream movie...and it wasn't!! Ack-ack!!

I agree with you on Big Fish tho - from the first trailer, which stupidly tried to sell it as a Forrest Gump mach II, I was put off it. I really wanted to love it, but thought it rambled way too much and the ending was a complete let down. It, like the stories, felt false, and I think Tim was reacting waay too much to the death of his own father and was too close to the material at the time.

Edward Scissorhands remains his best, all round "personal" movie, for me at least, with Ed Wood his best directed by a long shot.

Post by **bullwinkle** » April 12th, 2006, 8:25 pm

The Nightmare Before Christmas is so the best.

Post by **ShyViolet** » April 12th, 2006, 9:08 pm

I agree with you on Big Fish tho - from the first trailer, which stupidly tried to sell it as a Forrest Gump mach II, I was put off it. I really wanted to love it, but thought it rambled way too much and the ending was a complete let down. It, like the stories, felt false, and I think Tim was reacting waay too much to the death of his own father and was too close to the material at the time.

I agree, and the son was a very unlikable character (wonder what that means?) He was an obnoxious whiner and Albert Finney was just this senile weirdo, like one of those relatives you avoid....The only one who did a decent job was Ewan of course, who can't seem to be able to do a BAD job no matter what movie he's in.

There just didn't seem to be much wonder though. None of the characters were very appealing, the whole movie felt like a script, everything was forced. Maybe if the son had been more interesting, or maybe if he'd just been on the verge of finding out that his dad's stories were made-up, the movie might have been better. The son keeps saying that he doesn't really know who his dad is....and that's true for the audience as well. We don't know who the main character is, or his son. And every other character is an annoying cipher, since this movie is exaggerated charicature city, which Burton movies unfortunately have a weakness for.

Post by **Meg** » April 13th, 2006, 7:56 am

ShyViolet wrote: WORST! Mars Attacks. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! I remember this film coming out and thinking: "Oh that movie looks sooooo funny.." because they kept showing that part with Jack Nicholson saying: "I want the American people to know that they still have two branches of goverment working for them, and that ain't bad!" So funny. But damn those aliens were ugly. And not in a funny way, but in a disturbing way. This movie was...boring!

...And it's also yet another film that scared the crap out of me as a kid.

Post by **Ben** » April 13th, 2006, 4:15 pm

ShyViolet wrote:The only one who did a decent job was Ewan of course, who can't seem to be able to do a BAD job no matter what movie he's in.

I wonder, Vi... have you seen "Down With Love". I think you'd get a BIG kick out of it. Surprised the heck outta me!

Post by **ShyViolet** » April 13th, 2006, 10:48 pm

I wonder, Vi... have you seen "Down With Love". I think you'd get a BIG kick out of it.

Thanks Ben!

I've actually seen most of it on HBO, it's pretty funny and I loved Ewan. David Hyde Pierce was hilarious. Very true to those old romantic comedies.

...And it's also yet another film that scared the crap out of me as a kid.

I'm not surprised. To me it just looked stupid, but I was in High School.
When I was a kid I was scared of Yoda at first, so I'm sure I would have been scared of this too. I also remember seeing part of the Dark Crystal and being terrified!

Post by **chernabog** » April 20th, 2006, 6:36 pm

It has to be Edward Scissorhands. So emotional and probably the most beautiful film ever made. In recent years Burton has lost that special something which defined his earlier films. I really enjoyed Charlie & the Chcolate Factory, but then he let me down with Corpse Bride which was just incredibly dull. It was basically The Nighmare Before Christmas with all the brilliance removed.

Post by **Ben** » April 21st, 2006, 4:00 pm

Ouch!

Post by **chernabog** » April 21st, 2006, 4:02 pm

Haha. Is that ouch worthy? Yikes!

Post by **Ben** » April 21st, 2006, 4:06 pm

For the Corpse Bride comment.

Tim Burton Discussion

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