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FFA Movie Club - DotM: Tim Burton (1 Viewer)

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Footballguy
Month 1 Steven Spielberg
Month 2 Billy Wilder
Month 3 Martin Scorsese
Month 4 Denis Villeneuve
Month 5 George Miller
Month 6 Richard Linklater
Month 7 Ridley Scott
Month 8 Kelly Reichardt
Month 9 Akira Kurosawa
Month 10 John Carpenter
Month 11 John Huston


Ah, F-it. Let's see how this goes. I will be honest, I forgot about DotM until last night. I debated not doing it again, and hadn't talked to 80s about it yet, so I will just throw it out there and see. Here is a name I had been thinking about a bit the last few months and especially the last month. First, I had been thinking about rewatching some after doing the Oingo Boingo deep dive. Now I like a tie in to @Scoresman 's new countdown and kept thinking about Burton for fantasy movies. I am not much for Christmas movies but I was also thinking about weird families or holiday adjacent movies, and again - brought me back here. Lastly, I know my wife wants to watch Beetlejuice and the sequel, and the fantasy countdown put plans of dusting off my Big Fish 4k for a rewatch, so here we are at....

Month 12: Tim Burton
 
His style is just so well suited for fantasy, and a unique take on it. Although I do think his earlier work stands out more than the recent stuff.

We're not done with him in my countdown.
 
Batman was what I watched last night. I enjoyed it enough and thought it and other movies in Burton's history were interesting enough to give it a go. I would probably say that I am not a fan and he is a bit one note. Then I was looking at his movies more and I wasn't sure how true either statement is. Big Fish I want to revisit, but remember loving. Sweeney Todd was great. Pee Wee and Edward I like, and remember even liking Sleepy Hollow.

As far as Batman, I have mixed feelings. Overall I find it a bit uneven and boring now. There really isn't much action to be seen, and for me the campiness to Joker and other things don't work for me. On the other hand, I did like the way it was shot and there were other times that Joker and other scenes were dark and menacing. I like that zone better. I thought I'd watch Returns tonight.
 
His style is just so well suited for fantasy, and a unique take on it. Although I do think his earlier work stands out more than the recent stuff.

We're not done with him in my countdown.
What made me want to rewatch some of these is that when I think of Burton, by bias is to brush him off as a bit of a one-note hack. He takes a book or property and makes it "weird". Even if that is true, what got me thinking is that David Fincher is that way too, but I don't discount him in the same way. I love Fincher and his movies. When I thought about it more Burton does more in a way because at least he morphs the properties to his visions and worlds, Fincher shoots them as they were.

Anyway, just more thoughts I had last night while watching Batman.
 
Batman was what I watched last night. I enjoyed it enough and thought it and other movies in Burton's history were interesting enough to give it a go. I would probably say that I am not a fan and he is a bit one note. Then I was looking at his movies more and I wasn't sure how true either statement is. Big Fish I want to revisit, but remember loving. Sweeney Todd was great. Pee Wee and Edward I like, and remember even liking Sleepy Hollow.

As far as Batman, I have mixed feelings. Overall I find it a bit uneven and boring now. There really isn't much action to be seen, and for me the campiness to Joker and other things don't work for me. On the other hand, I did like the way it was shot and there were other times that Joker and other scenes were dark and menacing. I like that zone better. I thought I'd watch Returns tonight.
Batman Returns is a good Christmas movie. I will probably watch that this month, I always liked it. However I disagree on Batman. I loved it's balance of dark and camp. It's just so much fun imo and Jack is perfect for The Joker.
 
Pee Wee's Big Adventure was such a wild, weird movie. Stiill my favorite Burton.
It has been awhile for this one. I thought about trying this one out on the youngest, but Large Marge has me wondering. I about soiled myself. These 80s movies did a number on me - Pee Wee, E.T., and Gremlins all messed me up for a bit as a kid. :lol:
 
“Short” place to start could be his six minute 1982 short film “Vincent” narrated by Vincent Price. About a young boy obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe (and Vincent Price), with animation that looks like it was inspired by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I suppose I can see why he did not last long at Disney. :lol:

 
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The Burtons I've watched recently are the two Beetlejuices and Big Eyes, his 2014 biography of artists Margaret and Walter Keane. The latter is a pretty straightforward (by Burton's standards) story about Margaret's talent smothered under Walter's conman charm. Burton's affection for oddball art is obvious. I enjoyed the recreation of mid-century San Francisco and Amy Adams' performance. Christoph Waltz has the tougher role but wasn't entirely successful. I get that the character is supposed to be annoying but he's so smarmy from beginning to end.
 
I went through a bit of a Burton revisit a few months back when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was in theaters. Batman Returns and Ed Wood remain my favorites of his catalog.
 
He certainly has a style. It's not my preferred style, but I like that you can pretty much tell instantly "Oh, this is a Tim Burton movie."
 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Burton's adaptation of Roald Dahl's childrens' novel was one of his biggest commercial successes with box office revenues of almost a half billion dollars. My kids must have been just outside the window for kids movies because I'd never seen this one before.

The film is generally similar to the 1971 version with Gene Wilder. Ironically, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory focuses more on Charlie and his family while the new version spends more time on Wonka in spite of its title. Burton's version diverges from the novel and previous movie by giving Wonka a backstory via flashbacks to his unhappy childhood and his first encounter with the Oompa Loompas. The script also tacks on an ending that's even more maudlin than the original.

The visual style is characteristically Burton--the industrial gothic exterior of Wonka's factory are a stark contrast to the fairy tale poverty of Charlie's house. There is also a greater emphasis on special effects than the relatively low tech original. They're certainly more elaborate but since they're early 21st century CGI, I wouldn't say they're necessarily better. Each of the bad children get a song written by Danny Elfman setting Dahl's words to music. Burton put a lot of effort into the big production numbers sung by the Oompa Loompas. None of the new songs are as catchy as the Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse tunes from the original but the MTV video parody in the Mike Teavee song is pretty clever.

Johnny Depp's portrayal of Willy is colder and weirder than Gene Wilder's was. He's such a creepy and emotionally stilted character that I wouldn't my child go off to live in a factory with he and the Oompa Loompas especially with what we've learned about Depp in the past twenty years.
 
I am 100% going to watch Ed Wood for this. I haven't seen it, it looked weird to me when it came out but now I actually understand what it's about and it sounds right up my alley. Plus it seems like a movie who's reputation has only grown in the last 30 years.
 
Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Burton's first feature is a love story between a boy and his bicycle. It also marked the beginning of a long collaboration between the 26 year old director and Danny Elfman who was also making his debut as a film composer. The movie is a star vehicle for Paul Reuben's Pee Wee Herman character; it followed his stage show and talk show appearances but came before a year before Pee Wee's Playhouse. It's a road movie loosely constructed around the search for Pee Wee's stolen bicycle which is just an excuse Herman to interact with a series of offbeat characters. He eventually finds his bike and steals it back which triggers a long chase through the Warners backlot and a clever meta ending.

Burton was an inspired directorial choice because he shares Reuben's love for Americana and kitsch. The overall aesthetic is much more Pee Wee although there's a dream sequence with clown doctors that's pure Burton. Burton often draw upon silent slapstick conventions, particularly in the scenes with Pee Wee and the giant Andy and the big chase scene. It was an auspicious debut that did good box office and set him up for Beetlejuice.

Your enjoyment of this movie will depend entirely on how you feel about Pee Wee. I love him and still find him hilarious. It's a great warmup for our annual viewing of the Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special.
 
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Sorry I didn't get the chance to contribute to this one; I'm not into the macabre as much as he is yet at the same time, he's made films that make me think I see through his 'weirdness' and see him still as a sensitive little boy with an unconventional style wanting to share what's in his heart to the world.

I had this epiphany about Burton when I gave Ed Wood a chance. Johhny Depp generally annoys me for some reason, and I don't mean his acting, which makes me instinctively avoid his movies. Nevertheless, something prompted me to give it a chance. Despite the campiness of the story and the characters, I picked up on the love and reverence Burton had for both, especially the Bela Lugosi arc. Glad that Martin Landau won an Oscar for his performance. His tirade when he gets confused for Boris Karloff makes me laugh to just thinking about it.

My favorite Tim Burton film is definitely Big Fish. While it has many if not all of his signature qualities (save having Johnny Depp in it), they seem to manifest in ways both brilliant and subdued at the same time, in that the effects and 'quirky' set features come through yet still point toward the action instead of drawing attention to themselves. Also, this is one of the few movies that have moved me to tears. I don't know what Burton has divulged about his relationship with his father, but in this movie i really feel like he nails the essence of the father/son bond and how it always reveals that irrevocable connection that abides through whatever differences exist between the two, and he does all this without being corny or predictable.

:hophead: :bye:
 

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