Thanks for the memories!

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Magical, mysterious and full of stars. Also underrated I think! So creative, from the great setting to how it twists a somewhat familiar plot type. Very good fantasy/mystery movie. It was also the last movie for Heath Ledger.. if any aspect of it sounds like it might be for you, then It's definitely worth a watch!

If you know nothing about the backstory of this film, you'll be in a much better position to enjoy watching it. It's a very strange fantasy whose setting is a cross between a magician's show and a travelling theater group. The ringleader, Christopher Plummer, has made a deal with the devil before the start of the film: he'll live forever but when his daughter Lily Cole turns sixteen, the devil will claim her. After they find Heath Ledger and adopt him into their troupe, their show becomes more strange and fantastical.The film is split into four sections, and once again, if you don't know the backstory behind these splits, it's actually an interesting take on the story. Heath Ledger's character is introduced, and each time he performs the magic show, he's transformed into a different actor to show that the show alters him. The other actors are played by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law, and they're all very believable as changed versions of Heath.The visual aspects are quite impressive, if you like movies like this. As a child, if you loved the odd world of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and you usually like magician films, you'll probably really love The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Parts of it are quite good, but all in all, it was a little too weird for me. Plus, I knew what happened during the making of this film. Once you know what happened, it's pretty impossible to like it.

Going through the world of the battle between good and evil on film has taken its toll on me as I look at the worlds of light and darkness and strive to figure out what are the underlying messages of the creators of films like this that I see. As imaginative as modern movie makers can be with the technology of computer generated effects, it can also be as confusing as the devil's own playground which this seems to be desperate to give viewers a one way ticket to. Even if this does feature an allegedly decent character in Christopher Plummer's Dr. Parnassus, the fantasy story of them fighting to collect souls just strikes me as something spiritually unsound.Thus, I can only look at this for its qualities as a film-through its general story, through its performances and through what it delivers artistically. I can imagine if I had been there in the dinner and have to go to the bathroom, I would never have left my seat. However, on DVD, you can pause it and even walking to the kitchen, you must leave it at the where you left it without missing one second of it. I attribute to how it looks, and the fear that even missing one minute of it could send me scrambling to find my place back and simply taking in every issue as I would a painting in a museum makes it virtually necessary to give its full concentration.Veteran actor Plummer, by all counts, is the leading actor and he shares acting honors with Tom Waits who plays Satan himself. As I have learned through my biblical studies, Satan when he appears is charming, and that is certainly the case here. But Satan is a phony, and it is obvious through looks that way to get through his excellent performance that this man even as tempting as it is can not be trusted at any percentage. Heath Ledger originated the role that is later taken over by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. It is often perplexing to try to figure out how the character of Tony is played by four actors and who the character actually is.Plummer's deal with the devil however leave me cold with the film overall, why he would even consider giving up the soul of his beautiful daughter to Satan, having dealt with him when he pretended to be a younger man in order to seduce the woman he loved. This shows a lack of moral ambiguity to Plumbers character, and that really doesn't create any sympathy for him. It gives the impression that Hollywood films push the idea of eternal youth and that aging gracefully is not a desirable life.Some moment are perfectly convoluted and even though the film is luscious to look at through an artistic vision, you must be in tuned to some views of the occult to understand where this is trying to go. I don't, no matter how much I open my mind to it, and find many elements of the underlying meanings to be massively disturbing. Reminding me of the same director's "Baron Munchausen" with a bit of "Dante's Inferno" thrown in, I won't praise it for what I felt it was trying to do, but I will give it thumbs up for looking as tasty as it does. The temptation maybe there for me to be taken in by this, but fortunately I am able to resist it.

Imaginarium is a film by Terry Gilliam for the contemporary age. Admittedly, the first half of the movie is boring. It gets more interesting as the story continues. The film, with its special effects, reminds me of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. However, this is a better movie. It also stars famous actors such as Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer.The message of the movie is also memorable. It teaches the viewer to judge people for who they are rather than who you want them to be. Choice is also a pretty big theme in the movie.The film is strangely fantastical for one that picks up on Judeo-Christian story elements. Perhaps that is not a bad thing. It might get more people interested in religion in an age that values science and pure reason.In terms of humor, I would not expect that much. There is one scene that I found amusing. For spoiler reasons, I am not going to divulge it; it does involve policemen and violence, though. Since the film is one by Terry Gilliam, it is of course going to simultaneously have understated and outlandish humor at the same time. Again, the film relies on having an over-the-top presentation. In that vein, the film, out of all Terry's films, reminds me the most of his 'the Adventures of Baron Munchausen.' Both movies, if I am not mistaken, seem to tout Counter-Enlightenment values.Mild thumbs up. 6/10