Holy Grail has some great moments, but it’s more like a series of sketches than a coherent film.
I voted for 12 Monkeys. On re-watching it the other day I was struck by what a well-constructed film it is.
What? Here? This is bat country!
And that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don’t hesitate strongly to recommend.
Hmm no love for the Fisher King (I am biased towards happy endings with redemption involved, which in this case involved not one but two individuals).
I rate them:
- Brazil
- 12 Monkeys
- (Holy Grail)
- Fisher King
It was tough to choose between Brazil and 12 Monkeys, but I finally picked the former. I think I was influenced by a recent Brad Pitt interview in which he lamented that he went a little over the top in that movie, and looking back, I think that’s accurate.
No option for The Crimson Permanent Assurance?
12 Monkeys was great, but Brazil was mind-blowing (it probably helped that I saw it in the theater at age 15). I also don’t understand the hate for Fear and Loathing - it would easily be my #3 pick.
I voted for [1]12 Monkeys* over Brazil by just a hair, because I think it is a more sophisticated film, combining a traditional thriller aspect with Gilliam’s accomplished quirkiness.
It’s a good movie, but I find it somehow annoying. There are some fantastic scenes in it, though.
It’s fun to charter an accountant
And sail the wild accountancy…
Brazil, by far. When I saw it in the theater, I was so gobsmacked that when the lights came up I had a hard time standing up out of my seat. It impacted me more deeply than any other film I’ve ever seen. It is literally a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.
Tough call for me. I voted Fisher King, my favorite TG film because it somehow just really works for me.
But my second fave of his, Twelve Monkeys, is actually his “best” movie.
.
12 Monkeys - one of my top five favorite films
I haven’t seen his last couple of movies, but I love all the rest (except Brothers Grimm, that was awful).
Yeah, that’s me, too. I was another who saw it as a teenager, and that might well have helped. The protagonist is a hopeless romantic trying to figure out his world while trapped in a stultifying bureaucracy where he has no control over his life, and if there’s a better description of high school I haven’t heard it.
At any rate, I found it hilarious, profound, and depressing, and on repeated watchings it’s held up well.
In general, I don’t think Gilliam is a tight director. Other directors I love create intricate puzzle-boxes of movies where everything fits together perfectly. The closest Gilliam has done to that is 12 Monkeys, which didn’t do that much for me. Most of the time he just slops the movie all over the screen. And plenty of those movies do nothing for me: I hated Time Bandits and don’t like Munchausen nearly as much as I want to. But when he gets it right–Brazil and Parnassus–he’s one of my favorite artists.
There’s one little part of Brazil that I disagree with. It showed people eating goo in a restaurant, and there were little signs showing what the goo was supposed to be. This implies that in the future food will be tasteless and formless, but still have nutritional content. The exact opposite is what’s really happening.
LMAO every time I see it.
Robin Williams’ sporadically bombastic performance (“You are MY woman”) and the overload of plot threads & film styles really did it in. Good in spots (the dance sequence is especially memorable), but overall too much of a hodgepodge.
I like all of the fims in the Trilogy of Imagination.
I voted for *Brazil *because I do think it’s his best, but my favorite is The Fisher King.
I voted for 12 Monkeys because of the ones I’ve seen, it’s the one I think is the best film.