The Museum of Modern Art in New York is honouring Director Tim Burton with a retrospective exhibit of the artwork connected to some of his most beloved films including Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The exhibition will include hundreds of never-before-seen paintings, sculptures and puppets from the artist’s own collection. Celebs including Johnny Depp, Patti Smith, Danny DeVito, Tim Burton and partner Helena Bonham Carter attended the exhibition premier in New York this week (see footage). The exhibition will run from 22 November 2009 until 26 April 2010 and has been described by MONA as an exhibition of Burton’s work “as a director, producer, writer, and concept artist for live-action and animated films, along with his work as a fiction writer, photographer and illustrator.” (more…)

So what’s the greater point in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus? There does seem to be one lurking indecipherably within the subtext. Gilliam, a member of the Monty Python alumni and director of films including The Brothers Grimm, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Twelve Monkeys, is known for his obscure imagination and complicated plot constructions. The Imaginarium delivers some poignant propositions but appears to lack a binding thread – unless one falls back on the grandiose ‘it’s an exploration of human nature’ theme, which is sufficiently vague to suit the film’s irrational tone and is yet supported by the evidence of an occasionally coherent observation or statement that manages to force its head through the Gilliam’s veil of insanity. (more…)

It can only be described as torture! Pure, unadulterated, pain-inflicting torture. My brain was sent into a frenzy of excitement when I laid eyes on the first pictures (released June 22) of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland adaptation. And then the anticlimax of a lifetime! The film is to be released in March of next year. Let me repeat that: the film is to be released in March of next year. How am I supposed to handle the suspense after glimpsing the film’s spectacular Burtonesque vision? The waiting is torture. Pure, unadulterated, pain-inflicting torture. (more…)

La Belle Dame Sans Merci – 1926, Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958)

Cowper’s exquisite painting is a visual representation of John Keats’ poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci or The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy. There are two versions of Keats’ ballad. The first version is from the original manuscript and the second version is the form the poem took when first published. The first version, which is generally considered the best, was altered upon publication in 1920. Keats’ ballad is inspired by an early fifteenth-century French poem by Alain Chartier of the same title: La Belle Dame Sans Merci, which belongs to the tradition of Courtly Love. Courtly Love is a noble and chivalrous expression of love and admiration. Typically, it was a secret affair between members of the nobility and was generally not practiced between husband and wife. Literature that forms part of the Courtly Love convention usually describes a man pining after a woman, who ignores his wooing until he has sufficiently proven his love and adoration for her. Only then will she succumb. The chivalrous and noble man is thus rendered a tragic figure as he faces the virtuous rejection of the woman he so loves. (more…)

The man is just a walking ball of talent. It seems so wrong that so much artistic flair should be allocated to one individual. And yet when one is watching the beauty and imagination of stop-motion Sally falling to pieces as she jumps from the turret of her fortress prison; or the dramatic intensity of Sweeney Todd singing to his razor as he contemplates bloody murder; or the comic tragedy of Edward Scissorhands trying assimilate into suburbia by succumbing to its behavioural demands, it seems so right.

I have just finished reading Burton on Burton revised edition, in which editor Mark Salisbury has précised a host of interviews conducted with Mr Tim Genius Burton pertaining to his films – beginning with his first film, Vincent, and ending with Corpse Bride. The book also features a fabulously entertaining forward by Johnny Depp – the man many refer to as Burton’s on-screen alter ego. (more…)

Ellsworth Toohey once said to Kiki Holcombe: “tell me the movie stars you like and I’ll tell you what you are”. In the spirit of self-discovery and enlightenment I have decided to conduct an experiment according to Mr Toohey’s theory. The road to revelation will be walked on the basis of three easy steps – for those of you who are interested in a consultation with the stars.

Step 1: Follow my example by formulating a list of you favourite movie stars. Here are my faves (in no particular order – barring the number one position): Johnny Depp, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Corpse Bride, Christian Bale, Aragorn, Jack Bauer, Hannibal Lecter, Daniel Day Lewis, Edward Norton, Patsy Stone, Jigsaw, Gandalf, Patrick Bateman, Van Helsing, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Batman, Scarlett Johansson, Dexter, John Malkovich, Jack Skellington, Beatrix Kiddo, Cyrus the Virus, Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands, The Joker, Tyler Durden, Brad Pitt, Domino Harvey, Cate Blanchett, Sweeney Todd and Geoffrey Rush. No doubt the list could go on but…let’s not. (more…)