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Quote:With less-than-inspired directorial choices the past decade or so, we’ve been waiting for Tim Burton to get back to more inventive territory. Reteaming with Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, his forthcoming feature Big Eyes looks to be that answer. The drama, which is set to debut this December, follows Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams taking the lead roles of Walter and Margaret Keane, a couple who achieved international recognition during the ’60s with their “pop-eyed paintings” amidst some internal controversy.Ahead of a likely festival premiere this fall, The Weinstein Company recently held a test screening of the film and we’ve got the first exclusive impressions. Our source notes the film, running just under two hours, felt mostly finished with only minor sound and color correction issues, but as always, these are very early impressions that certainly shouldn’t be set in stone. Also highlighting its possible award chances, check out the full set of first impressions below.
Big Eyes is the newest Tim Burton film based on the true story of artist Margaret Keane (played by Amy Adams) and her struggle with dealing with the fact that her husband, Walter (played by Christoph Waltz), was claiming credit for her paintings for years.
Amy Adams gives a perfectly solid performance that is subtle, despite it’s fair share of obvious emotional scenes. However, there’s nothing too loud or showy in the realm of typical Oscar-winning performances like Cate Blanchett last year or Jennifer Lawrence the year before that. She’s definitely good, as she always is, but its nothing we haven’t seen from her. It’s actually all a very one-note performance, unlike her performances last year in American Hustle and Her.
Christoph Waltz is on a roll right now. He’s a two-time Oscar winner and has consistently given excellent performances in films like Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and Carnage. Now, you can add another one to that list. Waltz does an absolutely marvelous job in this film. At first, he comes off as charismatic and charming like he did in the Tarantino films, but also manages to blend in that sense of arrogance and ignorance that he did in Carnage. He’s absolutely brilliant and steals every scene he’s in. Expect another Oscar nomination under his belt. Waltz kind of dominates the screen in the final act to the point where you sometimes forget Adams is also in the room.
Tim Burton has been extremely inconsistent lately as a director. There are times where he really gives it his all directing films like Sweeney Todd, Big Fish, and Ed Wood. However, he’s also done lackluster studio projects like Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, and Planet of the Apes. Here, it’s clear that Burton was invested in the project, adding a uniquely vibrant style to every scene. This is a beautiful-looking movie that is sure to earn a nomination for art direction. Definitely don’t count on Tim Burton being nominated though. You got to respect the guy for trying and you see a lot of passion in the film, but I don’t think he was able to elevate the material to its full potential. This is still his best live-action film since Big Fish though, and a nice welcome back.
The tone of the film is all over the place. Sometimes, it doesn’t suit well for the story at certain points. It felt like there were scenes that were thrown in just to add his own flavor on it. There are times were it works, but quite a few times it doesn’t. At the film’s most outrageous scene, we get what feels like something right out of a horror film.
Along with the inconsistencies in tone, the movie also has an issue with pacing. In the beginning of the film, it felt like the relationship between Adams and Waltz was incredibly rushed. At other points, the movie started to feel a bit repetitive with sequences of Adams painting the big-eyed paintings then seeing Waltz make money off them. I feel like had some of these scenes been cut out of the film to add more development for Adams and Waltz’s relationship, the movie would have felt a lot tighter and smoother as a whole because they worked off each other so well.
Danny Elfman once again created a wonderful score. It is possible that some audience members could get annoyed by it, but it should get nominated in the vein of last year’s Saving Mr. Banks.
The screenplay is one of the films weak points, which is surprising considering that this is the long-awaited reteam of Burton and his Ed Wood writers. A lot of it feels like we’re watching a soap opera featuring one-sided characters while Ed Wood‘s characters were far more humanized and eccentric.
With all that being said, Big Eyes is still a very enjoyable film that has brief shades of greatness. Obvious highlights are the outstanding performance by Christoph Waltz, the gorgeous art direction, and the beautiful score. There’s still quite a bit that could have been done better, but it’s nice to see Burton return to doing films that are actually good again.
Big Eyes opens on December 25th, 2014.
we need more of their work on screen. And Waltz…what a bonus!
A suite is being added to the concert.
https://twitter.com/WeinsteinFilms/status/527146450900504576
First “reviews” : http://letterboxd.com/film/big-eyes/
One describes the music as good. Hard to be more generic but hey, it’s always a good sign when the music is mentioned.
Edit : and the film’s release has been pushed back to February/March in many European countries. Noooooooooo…
Score was cut from the movie and replaced with a Lana Del Rey song.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/big-eyes-lana-del-rey-749904
I’m surprised and disappointed with this… Not a lot of good concrete news about Elfman lately, I hope his next released scores will be outstanding.
And many reviews mentioned an out-of-place pop song. I mean, a song over the credits was inevitable I guess but replacing a fully-working score (it’s Danny Elfman here, you just know it was working) with a not-so fitting song just because it needs one more oscar nomination is fully retarded.
It’s even more surprising coming from Burton, remembering how many time Elfman’s music had a very important place in scenes of his movies…
Is it me or is it the full score ? The timing makes it look it’s just parts of it but every track ends, there’s no fade/cut out.
It’s probably because this is a FYC presentation of the score…They are sometimes quite awful (because, like you, I doubt very much that this is a complete score. And certainly not what we will have on the album, I hope…)
Indeed, tracks like “Seeing Things” or “World’s Fair Stinger” are less than 20 seconds long and are of no interest on a traditional release; it’s just transition cues. However, there’s no fade out, so in more than a few cases, it’s the full tracks.
Grab it while you can guys, I smell a ‘Promised Land’ situation with tracks that we won’t get access to again for a while. However, while the song is encoded at 320 kbps, the score is encoded at…50.
We need a proper release because so far I really like it but you gotta love the VanSant’s Elfman.
I must admit that this score is quite surprising as a Burton’s score. It has really a lot in common with “Milk” and “Promised Land”.
I like it a lot too, but this presentation is quite disturbing to really get into the score. And I hope it will be a bit longer on album…Hmm. I dunno. I liked parts a lot, mostly the Newman sort of stuff. But I thought a fair bit was a little dull to be honest…
Edit: Its growing on me. Can’t help but wish the score was more like ‘Margaret’s Apartment’ though, that’s a lovely track.
I’ve seen a few “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” ads and Danny Elfman’s name is on it. So, I’m glad the Weinstein’s are throwing some support behind the score and not just the Lana Del Rey songs. However… like others have mentioned, I’m not feeling the score. It’s NOT bad, but it’s not what you want from a Tim Burton movie. Then again… I need to watch the movie before arriving at any conclusions. I wasn’t sure about Elfman’s score for Oz: The Great and Powerful, but then I watched the movie and ended up loving the score.
Well, I think the FYC presentation doesn’t help but I kinda like it. It is perhaps more discrete than, let’s say, Hitchcock, Restless or Silver Lining Playbook but I really “independent Elfman” (little Seinfeld reference in there). These scores really grow on me and I end up listening them more than I thought when I first heard them.
And I really thinks it’s a score that will need the images to be best appreciated.
Still no information about an “official” release by the way ? the movie will be out in two weeks, that’s weird.
A little from Elfman on the score here.
http://variety.com/gallery/contenders-the-composer/#!2/big-eyes/
Elfman photo bombs
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