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Big Eyes Review (1 Viewer)

Yavin

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Tim Burton's Big Eyes -- starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz -- tells the story of Margaret Keane (Adams), the artist behind the portraits of big-eyed waifs that swept the nation in the late fifties and early sixties. Only back then, everyone believed it was her husband, Walter (Waltz), who was behind the paintings. Eventually, the matter was sorted out in court. But it was a long road to redemption for Margaret, a journey that's depicted with both drama and humor in the film.

A snippet from my full review:
Big Eyes may be set some fifty years ago, but it represents an evolution for Burton, who eschews the trademark gothic imagery that has served him so well throughout the majority of his career, in favor of a stylized take on the fashion and architecture of the era.

As for its central character, Margaret, she's a woman with an intense emotional connection to her art. It's a role that plays into Adams' strengths as a dramatic actress, for over the course of the narrative, Margaret goes from being a naive innocent — not unlike the wide-eyed children she paints — to a more strong-willed character, driven by her struggle to break free from the shackles of the male-dominated culture and to retain her artistic integrity (and identity).

Not that Big Eyes can be considered a straightforward drama. In fact, the film often skews towards comedy, partially due to Waltz's exaggerated turn as Margaret's savior-turned-antagonist. Likewise, the performances from the movie's supporting players — including Krysten Ritter as Margaret's friend, Danny Huston as an investigative reporter (and the film's off-and-on narrator) and Terence Stamp as a high-and-mighty art critic — are equally lighthearted.
4 out of 5.
 

Ejanss

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On IMDb, they have artists creating their own Criterion-cover-like "tribute posters" to Big Eyes--
Which I'm not sure is whether it's because it's about artists, or is just neurotic denial from zombified Tim Burton fanboys that ANYTHING Burton still directs, even in the 00's or 10's, is still mandatorily considered "unique genius" on the level of Nightmare Before Christmas. (Which he didn't direct.)
Even if the point of this one was for Burton to dial back and do more "personal" non-marketable movies after Alice in Wonderland went over the studio name-marketing cliff.

I mean, I didn't think anyone still believed "But Corpse Bride MUST be genius, Burton directed it!" after Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie... :blink:
(Still, it's nice to see him trotting Ed Wood back out for more movies instead of Nightmare or Scissorhands.)
 

MatthewA

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Ejanss said:
(Still, it's nice to see him trotting Ed Wood back out for more movies instead of Nightmare or Scissorhands.)
This. That's why I'm actually looking forward to a Tim Burton film for the first time in at least a decade.
 

Ejanss

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Still, when we get lines like:
for over the course of the narrative, Margaret goes from being a naive innocent — not unlike the wide-eyed children she paints — to a more strong-willed character, driven by her struggle to break free from the shackles of the male-dominated culture and to retain her artistic integrity (and identity).
given Tim's own backhandedly misogynistic "feminist identity" portrayals, it sounds an awful lot like we're getting "Ed Wood meets Michelle Pfeiffer Before She Became Catwoman" :rolleyes: (With Waltz as Christopher Walken.)
Adding another character to Amy Adams's 50's-Simp-on-Demand typecasting....Whatever happened to her BSA nomination for Doubt?

(The directorial line between Tim Burton and 80's John Waters is growing dangerously thin--I've said it before, but take someone who's never seen either movie and show them "Hairspray","Cry-Baby" and "Serial Mom", and as a trick question, ask them which one Tim Burton directed. I've got a $20 bill here that says most will say that Cry-Baby was the Burton film, because Johnny Depp was in it. Anyone who wants to test me on this, I'm keeping it in a sealed envelope.)
 

steve jaros

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I saw this the other day. I was impressed by Burton's direction - I would never have guessed this was his film had I not been informed about it.

Positives: Strong acting performances from Walz, Adams, and the hot chick from Breaking Bad. Also, the film captured the late 50s/early 60s time period at Mad Men level of quality.

Negatives: I didn't get a feel for WHY these big-eyed paintings were so popular back then. There was no sense of the broader cultural context that created a wave that this form of art could ride.
Overall, an entertaining film, 3/5 stars.
 

steve jaros

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schan1269 said:
I liked the movie...As for "explaining pop art"...
Ok, but I guess what I was looking for was more of a sense of the zoooooom! process by which these big-eyed paintings took off. Burton did a nice job of capturing the sense of time and place in the film, but these big-eyed paintings just seem to magicially become popular. And not just with the masses but celebrities apparently as well.
 

schan1269

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It's like, in the frame of a movie's limits...Explaining why Warhol's are collectible(and were worth big money while he was alive).I've seen a few of them, in person. I don't get it. But I do get preservation of identity...in a vapid career path.
 

Ejanss

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steve jaros said:
Ok, but I guess what I was looking for was more of a sense of the zoooooom! process by which these big-eyed paintings took off. Burton did a nice job of capturing the sense of time and place in the film, but these big-eyed paintings just seem to magicially become popular. And not just with the masses but celebrities apparently as well.
Well, that's sort of the tradeoff you get with Scott Alexander/Larry Karazsweski biopics, if Tim wanted Ed Wood to happen again:
A&K tend to go for pop-iconography, but as for "insight", write their biopics like a fourth-grader rewriting his school essay out of the World Book Encyclopedia.

(To be fair, A&K didn't write the Anthony Hopkins "Hitchcock" or Paul Schrader's "Auto Focus", but those were so by-the-numbers, they've become the standard by which I judge the "Scott & Larry Biopic Genre" tropes.)
 

steve jaros

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Ejanss said:
Well, that's sort of the tradeoff you get with Scott Alexander/Larry Karazsweski biopics, if Tim wanted Ed Wood to happen again:
A&K tend to go for pop-iconography, but as for "insight", write their biopics like a fourth-grader rewriting his school essay out of the World Book Encyclopedia.

(To be fair, A&K didn't write the Anthony Hopkins "Hitchcock" or Paul Schrader's "Auto Focus", but those were so by-the-numbers, they've become the standard by which I judge the "Scott & Larry Biopic Genre" tropes.)
Don't get me wrong, I'm being nitpicky here. Overall, I enjoyed the film and regretted not taking the wife. She loves these interpersonal movies but being a Tim Burton film I scared her off when I told her it was probably on the weird and twisted side. Of course the Walz character IS weird and twisted, but ... you know what i mean. :)
 

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I saw this movie as well. this is not your typical tim burton movie. He is very removed from it. I saw that as a great thing. you will be asking are you sure you are watching a tim burton movie. its probably his most normal movie I say this after big fish or even the original batman movie.

Jacob
 

Patrick Sun

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I should have liked this film more than I do, as I like art, and having a film hone in on the commercialization of pop-art should have been an entertaining romp, but given the big lie in 'Big Eyes" being a stroll down chauvinism lane of the late 1950s, it just wasn't as entertaining as I had hoped.

Many had said this is the least "Tim Burton" movie he's done in ages, and I can agree with that, but in another sense, I don't think he was the right director for the material either, so I think the film is hit-or-miss, with it being more of a miss for me.

I think I just wasn't really sympathetic enough for the character of Margaret, even though I should have been firmly in her camp, and Walter was a cad, somewhat of a grifter without the nomadic roaming qualities. I guess I just ended up not really caring about these characters.

I give it 2.5 stars or a grade of C+ (mainly for the acting performances).
 

Mikael Soderholm

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steve jaros said:
I saw this the other day. I was impressed by Burton's direction - I would never have guessed this was his film had I not been informed about it.
And the music, by Elfman, as always, did not sound like him at all, but like Thomas Newman, which is not a bad thing.

So, a non-Burton movie with non-Elfman music, by Burton and Elfman, and it was really good. Very nice looking, captured those 50s I never saw just like a story book, truly beautiful.

Great acting by all, my favorite Burton since Big Fish, also non-typical (guess I just like big, non-Burton movies, although I do like Burton, mostly ;))
 

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