tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post2598623825817884740..comments2023-09-08T04:59:38.497-07:00Comments on REELLUSIONS: Burtonified Alice: This rabbit hole is not as wondrous as Lewis Carroll’s!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-78438684724512065922010-03-15T18:35:22.603-07:002010-03-15T18:35:22.603-07:00Masand's Verdict: Alice In Wonderland is under...Masand's Verdict: Alice In Wonderland is underwhelming<br />It's worth a one-time visit<br /><br />Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska<br /><br />Director: Tim Burton<br /><br />Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland is a shockingly underwhelming film that won't please fans of Lewis Carroll's beloved 19th century book, or fans of the filmmaker either. Although its seamless blend of live action and computer animation is predictably impressive, the film has the misfortune of being the first major 3D release to arrive after the Avatar revolution and -- given that the film was shot in 2D and its footage subsequently converted -- ends up looking cartoonish and flat, and not particularly improved by the 3D technology.<br />The original story was about a young Alice and her adventure in Wonderland, but Burton's film focuses on her as a relatively grown-up 19-year-old (played by Mia Wasikowska), who dumps her aristocratic suitor and follows a white rabbit into the magical land of her childhood, of which she has no memory, only a few sketchy dreams. <br />When Alice arrives in Underland, as the residents call it, she is joined by all the usual suspects for a joyless tea party -- Cheshire Cat, March Hare, and of course, the Mad Hatter himself (played by Johnny Depp in clownish ginger hair). They inform Alice of her destiny -- she must slay the dragon Jabberwocky and overthrow the evil Red Queen (played by Helena Bonham Carter sporting a giant bulbous head), making way for the kind-but-kooky White Queen (played by Anne Hathaway) to ascend the throne.<br />As die-hard fans of the original book and its sequel, 'Through The Looking Glass', will tell you, the chief problem with Burton's film -- and the script in fact from which it's derived -- is that it makes perfect sense. The charm of Lewis Carroll's story lies in the fact that it's whimsical, ridiculous and nonsensical, and yet it's so much fun. The film, unfortunately, turns it into a sensible, linear and conventional narrative, which to be fair is a crime against the source material.<br />Visually the film is a confused cross between candy-colored treat and Burtonesque goth, although there is some fun to be had in this world of wonders where animals talk and even flowers speak their mind. The mystical, grinning Cheshire Cat, and the wise blue caterpillar Absolum are the film's more memorable CGI inventions. But the characters you're most likely to remember are the dimwitted egg-shaped twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee (both voiced by Little Britain's Matt Lucas), and Bonham Carter's lunatic, shrill-voiced Red Queen.<br />In the end, if you can forgive the video-game climax and the film's overcrowded feel, perhaps you won't be too disappointed. Johnny Depp, playing Edward Scissorhands but with orange hair, is always a watchable actor, and to some degree he saves this film.<br />I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five and a strictly average rating for Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland; it's worth a one-time visit, but it's unlikely that you'll want to come back again!<br /><br />Rating: 2.5 / 5<br /><br />http://movies.ibnlive.in.com/reviews/masands-verdict/masands-verdict-alice-in-wonderland-is-underwhelming/184743/0Minnienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-14553941652017727082010-03-11T09:26:26.365-08:002010-03-11T09:26:26.365-08:00Alice review in VERSE
Director: Tim Burton
Cast:...Alice review in <a href="http://www.filmfare.com/articles/alice-in-wonderland-559.html" rel="nofollow"><b> VERSE</b></a><br /><br />Director: Tim Burton<br />Cast: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham-Carter, Mia Wasikowska, Crispin Glover, Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry<br />Quick Take: Wonderful<br /><br />Yay, it’s Lewis Caroll’s Alice In Wonderland, so to the preview theatre I fly<br />Depp, Bonham-Carter, Hathaway, Rickman and Burton, Oh my<br />What a wonderful collective of talent and wit so wry<br />The film is magical, the three dimensions so real, you could just die<br /><br />Burton’s visual treat of ‘Underland’ is a masterful infestation<br />Of cuddly Tweedles and magical creations<br />Mad hatters and hares and chimps for chairs<br />Imagination’s at its best, though the dialogue is written without a care<br /><br />Wasikowska’s a find, so like Gwyneth Paltrow in manifestation<br />Depp is satisfactory, Bonham-Carter delightful damnation<br />Hathaway is charming, Glover painfully dreary<br />But Rickman and Fry, oh my, so very cheery<br /><br />It could have been better, but I’m not complaining<br />The 3-D is magnificent, though a bit eye straining<br />Burton is a genius, this you cannot deny<br />If you do, I’ll prick out your eye!<br /><br />Sailesh GhelaniPardesihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05851042208442064258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-77187774409528304902010-03-10T23:25:33.345-08:002010-03-10T23:25:33.345-08:00Alice in Wonderland's box-office triumph masks...<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/mar/10/alice-in-wonderland-tim-burton-johnny-depp" rel="nofollow"><b>Alice in Wonderland's box-office triumph masks a grim portent</b></a><br /><br />After its lacklustre reviews, few would have expected Alice in Wonderland to break box-office records. Yet in spite of the bounty it's appeared to bestow, this film has cast a shadow over the picture-house. It's shown cinemas to be threatened by a tide of change whose origins run deep.<br /><br />To hear the Iliad or a Beethoven symphony, you used to have to turn up. Gradually, successive inventions fed cultural sustenance into our homes. Digitisation, the internet and hardware advances have accelerated this process and extended it to personal gadgetry. Now, most of our amusements come to us; if we venture into the cold, it's usually to seek relief from print and electronic entertainment in an occasional fix of the physical.<br /><br />Music venues, festivals and theatres tempt us with flesh-and-blood action. Cinemas, however, have no live bait to offer. To get us out of the house, they have to rely instead largely on the box-freshness of the films they show. To sustain this, DVDs, downloads, pay-TV, free-to-air, in-flight and the rest are all required to wait in line. Yet the big screen enjoys no divine right to that first bite, and its claim on it is weakening.<br /><br />These days, box-office is buoyant, but distributors and exhibitors have high costs and therefore have to collar most of the take. For the studios, DVDs are more profitable, but their sales are falling. So why waste the thrill of novelty on the theatrical release? Why not unleash films on electronic platforms before, or at least as soon as possible after, the cinemas get their turn?<br /><br />Understandably, the big screen is now being squeezed. Five years ago, the gap between theatrical and video release was cut from six months to four. Since then, studios have tried to reduce this window further for particular films; cinemas have responded by threatening not to take them. Sadly, the outcome of the showdown over Alice in Wonderland suggests that cinemas now need films more than films need cinemas.<br /><br />When Disney told them it was tightening their window, Britain's three biggest exhibitors threatened a boycott. Then, one by one they crumbled. New arrangements were agreed, reportedly permitting further breaches of the four-month rule. In future it seems, cinemas can expect to enjoy less and less of a head-start. Their pitch may therefore have to depend rather more on the experience that they offer.<br /><br />Once, this might not have seemed too challenging a prospect. The combination of a big screen, 35mm picture quality, comfy seats and the Kia-Ora lady used to be hard to beat. Now though, home cinema provides ever bigger screens and even surround sound. Resolution keeps improving, and Blu-ray ensures that the movies get the benefit.<br /><br />Of course, cinemas retain one unique selling proposition: it's the fabled communality that they alone can provide. Only in their immersive and darkly comforting embrace can we be emotionally as one with a like-minded multitude. Only there can we share our titters, gasps and groans, locked in joyous communion with our fellow human beings. Or so they say. Unfortunately, it doesn't always seem like that.<br />.......<br />There are those who see 3D as the cinemas's trump card. Tim Burton's use of it in Alice, however, perhaps shows that it may not always add very much. Anyway, even this thrill is on its way to your home.<br /><br />Alice basked in plenty of advance buzz. It cost a huge amount to generate, but it seems to have paid its way by over-riding those tepid reviews. Suppose, however, that the DVD had been due to appear while that expensive buzz was still fresh. Fewer tickets would doubtless have been sold, but perhaps many more DVDs.<br /><br />If this is to be the shape of things to come, cinema may benefit; but not cinemas. Sooner or later, the back row seems set to find itself having to take a back seat.Pardesihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05851042208442064258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-38809824035487723332010-03-10T23:20:35.595-08:002010-03-10T23:20:35.595-08:00Yes I like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp but this rev...Yes I like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp but this review has ensured I will not see that film.TaggartQuinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-28285589637167529542010-03-10T16:45:19.518-08:002010-03-10T16:45:19.518-08:00'Alice' becomes a box office wonderland
By...'Alice' becomes a box office wonderland<br />By Nicole Sperling, EW.com<br />March 8, 2010 8:08 a.m. EST<br /><br />(Entertainment Weekly) -- Just when we thought no other records would be broken following the culmination of "Avatar's" lengthy reign, we face another round of box office firsts.<br />And this time, the records belong to Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."<br />The 3-D spectacle starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter earned an estimated $116.3 million, the highest grossing weekend ever for a spring release. Not only that, but IMAX -- which pulled "Avatar" from all its screens in exchange for "Alice" -- was rewarded handsomely with its highest weekend gross ever, $11.9 million in only 188 theaters. (IMAX's 9 additional theaters plus "Alice's" shorter run time gave the company the added boost over its "Avatar" numbers.)<br />If there was even a question as to whether or not 3-D was here to stay, it's now officially been answered. "Avatar" was not an anomaly. In fact, what it did was expand the marketplace to all those moviegoers that were nonbelievers in the 3-D technology. They tested it out with "Avatar," were convinced of the stunning visuals, and they are now back for more.<br />In fact, IMAX alone sold out every seat they had for the entire weekend. And Disney counts 65 percent of its weekend gross on "Alice" from 3-D screenings. Kinda amazing, really.<br /><br />Read the rest <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/08/box.office.ew/index.html" rel="nofollow"> here </a>Minnienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-24783818075733133512010-03-10T11:52:43.297-08:002010-03-10T11:52:43.297-08:00Thanks so much Pardesi and Illusionist. You guys a...Thanks so much Pardesi and Illusionist. You guys are way too generous in your praise :-)<br />If someone told me a few months back, I would ever be writing a movie review, it would sound as imaginary to me as Alice's Wonderland :-)<br /><br />@Pardesi: I honestly can't answer the 2D vs 3D question for you, as it is so much of an individual preference. Speaking for me personally, I probably would have preferred the 2D version, but the opinion in my home is divided on that one !!Minnienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-14234588701486422652010-03-10T10:01:57.802-08:002010-03-10T10:01:57.802-08:00Minnie - Thanks a lot for the wonderfully written ...Minnie - Thanks a lot for the wonderfully written review. I am sure i will NOT be watching this movie, so no promise of watching the movie, and then commenting.<br /><br />This is the second movie review of yours i have read, and i have loved each one of them. Even explosion of your random comments (thoughts) have such a narrative flow. Please do more movie reviews, as and when time permits.The Illusionisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13101531156143699648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410627979734163478.post-54259342556991864052010-03-09T22:48:35.916-08:002010-03-09T22:48:35.916-08:00Thank you minnie for your wonderful review. Now I...Thank you minnie for your wonderful review. Now I have suitably lowered my expectations, but wild horses could not keep me away from this one. Only question is, 2D or 3D?Pardesihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05851042208442064258noreply@blogger.com