Big Fish

[Lorne.t]

It's screener season!
Just watched another screener,this time Tim Burtons new movie "Big Fish".
It's basically about a father that tells tall tales and his relationship with his son over a period of about 30 years.
I mainly thought that it was a so so movie as it didn't do much for me.It reminded me of a cross between The Pee Wee film that Burton made and a John Irving novel.
I must admit that I loved the last twenty minutes and felt it made up for the rest of the film.
It's scored again by Danny Elfman so it's a typical Burton movie...

[hairymel2]

i thought it was pretty good except for the last 2 or three seconds of the last scene which was a bit too much free willy for my liking.

7.5 / 10 although i have been subjected to some awful films this last week so i may not be at my most impartial :blah:


hairymel

[Tom Whitaker]

It moved me more than any film in the past few years... excellent stuff if not quite as entrancing in the mid-section as I'd have liked. Just not a fan of Ewan doing this kind of thing (to clarify: the optimistic, slightly dumb American shtick... gimme the sarcastic Scot of Shallow Grave or his performance in Young Adam over this...)

Anyway, highly recommended.

[Kryten]

I just got back from seeing this at the cinema. I really liked it, great story with some very nice acting. I really liked the eding, it definately stood out above the rest of the film.

7/10 I think (nearly 8/10)

[ryonhilluk]

I saw the trailer last night before The Last Samurai and it looked like a decent enough film.

I will probably go and see it but i don't know when its being released. Any ideas?

[Kryten]

Originally posted by ryonhilluk
I will probably go and see it but i don't know when its being released. Any ideas?

Fri 30 Jan I think. (EDIT: a week eralier in London apparantly)

[ryonhilluk]

Cheers for the info :thumbs:

[JD20]

http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/bigfishscreenings/guardian/

[ralph wiggum]

Good film, well worth going to see :thumbs: .

[JD20]

Thoroughly enjoyed it............however, due to the incompetence of the cinema staff I missed the 1st few minutes.

Could someone put in a spoiler what happens before the baby is born.

Cheers

[ralph wiggum]

Originally posted by JD20
Could someone put in a spoiler what happens before the baby is born.


The film starts with Ewan telling the story of the big fish, firstly to his son, who is in bed, then to his son, who is with friends around a camp fire. It then changes to Albert Finney telling the story at his sons wedding.

The story of the big fish : He had been trying to catch the fish since he was a child. Some people thought it had been around since the dinosaurs, some said it was the ghost of a thief. On the day his son was born, he decided to use the one thing a thief would want......his gold wedding ring. He hooked the fish, but it bit through the line, he then chased the fish up and down river.

Back at the wedding, the son storms out, because he's heard the story so many times. He and his father argue, and they don't speak again for three years.

The son gets a letter from his mother, saying that dad is terminally ill, so he and his wife fly to see him.

The son then starts telling the story of his fathers life, starting with Ewan standing in a river trying to catch the fish. He does and the fish coughs up his wedding ring. The story then moves on to the hospital where he was born. If that's where you came in, you missed about 7 mins.

Phew! :)

[JD20]

Goddammit, missed loads :(

Thanks for the post though :thumbs:

[w_n_s]

I enjoyed it a lot - very uplifting - I love burtons style!

[jdanielp]

Originally posted by agmoore
Took a while for me to get into the film, once in it was a very enjoyable film.
I'm not a massive film buff, but who played the man in the cream suit who was ticking off the names when he went to Spector, and who played the poet? Very familiar faces!

Girlfriend cried at the end, which in turn nearly set me off too haha!

since the bargain forum thread was closed i will reply here...

i agree that it took a while for the film to get going but once it did it had some fantastic moments; the war story was genius in particular :thumbs: i think it was a little clunky in places and maybe a little too sentimental at the end but i liked the idea and style.

i believe that the guy in the cream suit (the mayor of Spectre?) was played by the guy who was the mayor in season 3 of Buffy while the poet was the versatile Steve Buscemi! :wave:

[Riddick]

Originally posted by jdanielp


i believe that the guy in the cream suit (the mayor of Spectre?) was played by the guy who was the mayor in season 3 of Buffy while the poet was the versatile Steve Buscemi! :wave:

Im not fully sure who it was but it wasn't the mayor from Buffy.

[jdanielp]

Originally posted by Riddick
Im not fully sure who it was but it wasn't the mayor from Buffy.

you're right, i should have done my homework before posting :oh-hum:

he seemed remarkably similar though if a little older which is why i thought it might be him :thinking:

[carryonline]

A beautiful film and complete redemption for Burton's last "effort". I have to say I don't recall a film which brought me to tears as often as this one did. I've been hoping that LOTR: ROTK would get the Best Picture Oscar this year after having to wait three years for the privilege but in all honesty Big Fish is IMHO a vastly superior film in every way and so Oscar politics aside, it is for me the film of the year. Proof (finally) that Ed Wood wasn't just a one off.

[Raphph]

Originally posted by carryonline
A beautiful film and complete redemption for Burton's last "effort". I have to say I don't recall a film which brought me to tears as often as this one did. I've been hoping that LOTR: ROTK would get the Best Picture Oscar this year after having to wait three years for the privilege but in all honesty Big Fish is IMHO a vastly superior film in every way and so Oscar politics aside, it is for me the film of the year. Proof (finally) that Ed Wood wasn't just a one off.

I totally agree! :thumbs:

I was simply dazzled by how enjoyable and charming this film was. I simply feel compelled to own it and watch it again. Surely Albert Finney will get the Oscar this year finally(shame for Ken Watanabe in Last Samurai who is almost as good). The 1968 Planet Of The Apes is my favourite film of all time and I absolutely despised the dire remake, but Burton is now back on my Christmas card list.
I even tolerated Ewan for a change!

[McD]

I really enjoyed it, although it fell short of five star greatness for no obvious reason. Perhaps Crudup never really felt right in the role. Alison Lohman is barely in it, but her similarity to Jessica Lange was uncanny, although Jessica ultimately looked far too young and lovely for Finney. Even the hopeless MacGregor - who shouuld have been banned from using an American accent ever again after Black Hawk Down - did well for about the fourth time in his entire career. If you closed your eyes you would probably think it was Matthew McConaughey. But it didn't help that as Burton regains a bit of form, Danny Elfman is still recycling old tricks (all the way to an Oscar nom!). Elfman is now just about as far from his creative peak as Paul McCartney. But Big Fish still gets the thumbs up from me.

[ajw000]

absolutely brilliant utterly enchanting, tops my favourite film of 2004 so far(toppling last samurai and lost in translation)

my girlfriend couldnt stop crying at the end :lol:

[stapp]

Originally posted by McD
I really enjoyed it, although it fell short of five star greatness for no obvious reason.

:confused:

[ben.bayliss]

Fantastic. I know some of the people who worked on the film and scored it, and know how hard they worked on it, and it shows imo.

Incredible film that didn't need anything more than a great story to sell itself. Can't wait for the DVD.

B

[family man]

I really enjoyed this film and was really looking forward to it! I usually like anything thats a bit 'of centre' and am a sucker for sentimentality and 'nice' films.

I think there was something stopping it from being a great film though and am struggling to think what??

All the bits were there it just felt a little bit like they had cut quite a bit out as there were some great ideas but nothing was explored enough for me.

Like I said enjoyed it didnt LOVE it which I almost did............... If you know what I mean???
:confused: :confused:

[Barney_Tabasco]

Originally posted by jdanielp
i believe that the guy in the cream suit (the mayor of Spectre?) was played by the guy who was the mayor in season 3 of Buffy while the poet was the versatile Steve Buscemi! :wave:

It was the musical genius Loudon Wainwright (if we are talking about the same character), father of the even more wonderful Rufus Wainwright!

[Reno]

With this film Tim Burton has finally exhausted whatever goodwill I may have had towards him based on his early films, which were always promising, but never truly great.

Big Fish was treacly bore. Badly structured and deeply conservative at heart, the film was straining to be whimsical and heartwarming, but the characters seemed flat and unengaging to me.

I could tell the film was working overtime to make me feel something because Danny Elfmans soundtrack was so overbearing.

Burton also seems to have lost the ability to come up with something that is visually interesting as I thought the film looked quite dull when compared to something like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands or Batman returns.

[Peter Griffin]

I loved this film. The story was so great and the characters were brilliant.

The discovery of sprectre and then going back to rebuild it was class :thumbs: The giant too was great and surprising enough turned out to be real in some way.

Theres something I dont get though, the witch at the start when he was a boy, who was that? And why did we see her at the end?

Best film Ive seen so far this year. :)

[mikegray]

Hundred percent agree with Reno, myself, but my girlfriend and mate that I went to see this with both thought it was great.

[DVDWotcha]

Wasn't as good as I thought it would be but still good and a nice change of pace following all the big buget action stuff recently.

[kreid]

5.5 maybe 6/10.

[AnnatarUK]

Originally posted by Reno
With this film Tim Burton has finally exhausted whatever goodwill I may have had towards him based on his early films, which were always promising, but never truly great.

Big Fish was treacly bore. Badly structured and deeply conservative at heart, the film was straining to be whimsical and heartwarming, but the characters seemed flat and unengaging to me.

I could tell the film was working overtime to make me feel something because Danny Elfmans soundtrack was so overbearing.

Burton also seems to have lost the ability to come up with something that is visually interesting as I thought the film looked quite dull when compared to something like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands or Batman returns.

Totally Agree.

In fact It was the first film I have been to at the cinema, where I noticed people picking up there things and leaving!

[bob_bob]

Fantastic movie, finally got around to seeing this today. Didnt fancy it but will be getting the DVD (december release???). The wife blubbed at the end.

[axelb]

watched it last night, not sure about it. I'm a fan of Tim Burton's films, this film had an interesting concept about it, but a bit too mushy for me :gag: :gag: :gag:

Some funny bits, towards the end I found myself reaching for the sick bag.

If you like that sort of thing, then worth watching.
I'd give it a 5/10 :|

[MARKMAN]

Made me proper sob, thoughts of my own Dad's death a couple of years ago made it really poignant for me.

Literally got back to my car and wept buckets.

[clarkyboy100]

It was entertaining enough to keep me awake for the whole film and stop me sticking jelly babies up my nose like I did at Love Actually:gag:

I'd give it 6/10. Not a classic but interesting.:wave:

[Ron Hill]

I liked it a lot. Steve Buscemi stole every scene he was in. The bit where he's dancing outside the circle and waving in had me in stitches. Very surreal and dreamy film.

[ryonhilluk]

Went to see it last night and i thought it was fantastic, excellent performances all round and a really great story too.

8/10 :clap: :clap:

[McD]

If anyone wants to see the themes of this film with the fantasy element removed, check out this week's The Barbarian Invasions. It's very similar, even having a French speaker return to his dying father in north America from London - compared to the English speaking Crudup who comes back from Paris!

[ic]

I enjoyed this film, really like the whole thing of fantasy tales - especially the way at the end William got to tell his own story.

For those of you wondering who the Mayor is, here he is (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0572467/).

[Mass]

Really enjoyed it! 8/10

[McMikey]

Saw this a few weeks ago, I was really impressed by Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor was a little irritating though. Overall I enjoyed it but like a few others I don't feel it was a 5 star kind of film and can't put my finger on exactly why. I felt the same way about Lost in translation as well. I noticed a good few people walking out of the film when I was there.

Anyway, It didn't blow me away but it was a big step up from Burton's monkey madness.

[greebofitz]

I. HATE. EWAN. MACGREGOR. DOING. ACCENTS.

AARRRRGGHHHH!!!

Sorry. I can't stand Ewans accents. He was excellent in Trainspotting but every other film of his that I have seen I have found hard to stomach as he is always doing an accent. His accent is done in the most generic way, it's always the stereotypical accent of an alabama dweller or a gung-ho american (Black Hawk Down) and there's absolutely NO sense of individuality or character to it whatsoever. It's so stereotypical that it becomes ludicrous.

This ruined the film for me because everyone elses performances were flawless. I love Steve Buscemi's little appearance. Genius. Ultimately though, I cam away feeling the film was average and nothing more. It just didn't do it for me. That said though I did like the ending. Found that particularly effective.

6/10.

[Pike Bishop]

I liked it, the theme of the man trying to get to know his father is quite personal to me hence why I found it quite moving in parts. The ideas behind why the man is telling all these tall tales is a nice one. I thought it was a good film, different to the usual dross we get hence worth a look. 7 or 8 out of 10.

[mikeyw]

Saw this on DVD last light and simply loved it. I'm afraid i'm a sucker for quirky films instead of the usual dross we get served up. This is very close to Donnie Darko as my favourite film of the last 12months.

Visually stunning, wonderfull music - my only criticism is maybe Ewan Macgregor wasn't perfect for the part.

I'm annoyed I never saw this at the cinema though as it's the sort of film you get absorbed by the screen with and almost feel your part of the periphery.

One final thing - I could have sworn the trailer in the UK for this film used a song very similiar to Salisbury Hill by Peter Gabriel, however it was nowhere to be heard in the film nor on the DVD trailers. Does anyone else remember this or have I got it confused with another film ?

Anyway if you want to switch off for 2hours this film will do the trick nicely.

9/10.

[the thing with no name]

I watched this last night and loved it.

a film about storytelling (a dying art - shame)

beautifully made with some really beautiful moments.

All you lot so far who said they were bored or thought the end was too mushy need to get in touch with your feelings more!

I had tears in my eyes, thats for sure.

Highly recommended - 8.5/10

:clap: :) :cry: :D

[Mike]

I found it hard to believe that an actor as boring as McGregor could possibly become someone as marvellously quirky (and indeed a little hammy) as Albert Finney. Otherwise, thought that this was pretty enjoyable and Burton's best since "Ed Wood".

[ryonhilluk]

I got this on DVD last week, its a really good film.