Brotherly Love

In an unprecedented move last night C and I left the kids at home and ventured out to an actual movie theater. It was nice to spend time with her without the kids like old times. Anyways, we saw The Brothers Grimm.

Because I am an awful geek I haven't seen many Terry Gilliam movies in order to give it a satisfactory comparison. But generally I enjoyed it. It took me a little bit to get into it realizing this was a comedy as well as the obvious horror elements. I'd have to say I didn't see much development in the characters which didn't make them all that initially appealing to me. But I have a feeling that given it's roots firmly planted in twisting fairy tales it was the point to play on those established archetypes instead.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Terry's animation sensibilities and whiffs of Monty Python as well. Because I had some training in animation I now can't watch any movie that has significant visual worth without dissecting it a bit. The animation, interestingly enough, was rather stilted but I think it worked magnificently. Like stop-motion style Clash of the Titans meets Roger Rabbit. Forest trees like spiders, a wolf that flies, and there was a smashing scene involving a gingerbread man made of mud stealing someone else's facial features. Among other things. Fantastic.

Some parents will take their kids to see any old thing nowadays but I think the audience was mildly confused. Maybe they were expecting a more straight forward action/adventure romp as there were a lot of really young children present. It's a spin on folk lore but certainly not another Shrek. Thank goodness for that, though. I think only a few people besides myself found the odd humor throughout it, well, humorous. This isn't one for small monkeys unless you don't mind them seeing mutilated bodies falling from the sky. And stuff.

Speaking of which, I really liked the interaction between the brothers because I can see them as older versions of my boys it's not even funny.

And not that I dwell on these things but in this movie...I could so easily crush on Heath Ledger over Matt Damon any day. Some might get annoyed with his character's mumbling antics but I thought he was very cute. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a bumbling hero with a british accent. (Although shouldn't they have been German in this flick?)

Oh and I saw a full trailer for the Corpse Bride which made me smile when I wasn't looking. All of the sudden I'm going to the movies again. Elder Monkey really wants to see this but I think I may need to see it first.

In completely off topic awful movie news, I was listening to Keith and the Girl this week and they were talking about an upcoming movie called Snakes on a Plane. It's about deadly snakes...that get loose...on an airborne plane. And it has Sam Jackson in it. Um, yeah.

Based on this information someone really needs to give me some money to make a movie. It would be intricate, epic, beautiful and way too complicated for it's own good and end up going way over budget. I'd eventually scrap it because I wouldn't want to undergo the massive public scrutiny. Donations are now being accepted.

Peace,
Simon