Best Film by Terry Gilliam

I am assuredly not a Gilliam fan, can't think of one film I really like:  Brazil is overrated, Fisher King jut ain't that great, Fear & Loathing is depraved, and 12 Monkeys is a real piece of sh*t.   It's always form over function with him, and that's a mistake.

Same day of the year for birthday ... November 22nd ... and you already know which director is the one I like the most.

I can not tell you which film is better, or I prefer ... many of them have things that are extremely valuable in a perceptive way ... and here are some ideas/examples.

1. The "dream" lives on ... BRAZIL

2. There is no "reality" ... the theater scene is perfect .. the actor turns left and they are in the desert, not the stage. The shift is so harsh and fast, that most people don't even realize it happened. (Munchausen)

3. Life goes on, sometimes not perfect, but it ... makes it! (KING FISHER)

The great part of all this is that it is all VISUAL ... and this is the hard part of life, so to speak, in that you have to live through these things, good or bad. But in between there are the moments that you never forget. AND, are simply ... unreal!

- Jonathan Pryce in his original role in BRAZIL.

- Robin Williams in King Fisher. Priceless!

- Oliver Reed as Vulcan ... thank you Ken Russell, we would not have known about this and the birth of Venus (Uma Thurman)

- Las Vegas is not an acid trip. GONZO is!

Terry's biggest complaint is how so many studios have cut up so many things from the very first day, up to and including the BBC in the cartoons, which they finally let go by a bit more, when they became so popular. But this was not new ... THE GOONS had problems with "John Snagg", (real or not?) who edited and censored a lot of their scripts, which Spike Milligan took advantage of with his knack for doing sound effects at various speeds, and making FAUST look like an amateur and a silly one, too!

12 MONKEES was probably chopped off mercilessly, and I don't think there was a love story there, but I keep thinking that the main character was hoping that something like that could happen. And the ending, put both together, which made the film a bit too hollyweird'ish for me. Again, I also think the film suffered from poor editing and I wonder how much of the cutting was haphazard so that things that took place that might have thrown off the "love story", would not be shown.

Terry has wanted to do the Don Quixote story for 40 years or more ... he finally has a film sort of about it, but I have not seen it or locate it yet! And he will never find financing for it, via the regular venues, because they want a hit, not a "personal" story! The days of Fellini, Bergman, Bunuel, Truffaut and Godard, are long gone ... Godard, turned to video for many years as a way to flick his finger at everyone! He has made a few films, but now, he has had to get a bit more "organized", and his films are nothing like the incredible satire of film making and everything around it, that they were 40 years ago. His satire on "movie shots" and "film traditions" are no longer visible and ... no one in the audience will understand it anyway ... a line referring to this film or that in the middle of a dinner sequence ... or whatever ... wasted ... gone ... only film critics will catch it!

His book ... is fabulous and it has so many ... everything ... that it is a trip just going through it. I enjoyed it tremendously, because in so many ways we're very complicated folks internally, and we see so many things on so many other things, that it throws off most folks we talk to. It is never surprising to me, when someone disagrees or thinks that my thoughts and ideas are this or that ... my middle name is Gilliam, and my "movie" stands as is ... no sense going back and turning it over in its grave!

I, really, only have a couple of "heroes" in my life ... and all 3 of them could be considered certifiably insane. In order they are ... Chuck Jones, Spike Milligan and Terry Gilliam. 

But I can tell you that what they left behind, was ... some of the best memories in anyone's life!

Just didn't grab me.