A hot mess
Added 11/23/2009
Early in Terry Gilliam's TIME BANDITS, Napoleon Bonaparte (Ian Holm) laughs at a command performance of Punch and Judy among the burning ruins of Castiglione, approving of the show's littleness and its violence. This might be a good characterization of TIME BANDITS itself, which takes quite a lot of delight in both rowdiness and littleness (the six title characters are all little people, and the film itself breaks down into small eisodes that don't integrate well together). The film has some of the most beautiful art direction of any time, and yet despite its beauty it doesn't cohere at all--it has almost no plot, and the mjor characters are less than one-dimensional since you can't hang even the most basic descriptors onto the central child, his parents, or his thieving cohort. Some of the sequences are miraculous in their beauty: in particular the Mycenae episode, with Sean Connery as Agamemnon, which is so perfectly realized that you almost want to weep that Terry Gilliam never directed a full-scale ancient Greek epic film. Others just don't work at all, particularly the heroes' fight at the end with the Evil Being (nicely played by David Warner), where Gilliam seems to have bit off more than he can chew. The whole thing must have been at least inspired, oddly enough, by the famous sequence of the young boy encountering the dwarf circus troupe in Bergman's THE SILENCE, a sequence which called out for further imitation and elucidation. The color transfer of the Gilliam film to this Criterion edition is particularly stunning.
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good service
Added 8/17/2009
They were prompt in getting my movie to me. It was in Excellent condition. Brand new in English, Just like I wanted.
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Great fantasy.
Added 6/19/2009
I have read other reviews of this DVD that weren't too kind and I just don't understand that. Maybe they should just watch Barney. This is among the best fantasy films of all-time. Python meets Wizard of OZ. A bargain at twice the price!
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Purely magical wonderment
Added 6/11/2009
Time Bandits is my all time favorite movie. It's is completely imaginative. This is going to be the movie I remember from my childhood. I've never been able to choose my favorite movie until I saw this amazing piece of work. It's performances are wonderful, with John Cleese and Sean Connery.
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great and ...prefect!
Added 5/28/2009
Its way better than the older stuff. Just looking at the bonus stuff is worth it.. for example..the very same director was the guy who did the monty python animated clips.!!. And theres more..!!
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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A hot mess
Added 11/23/2009
Early in Terry Gilliam's TIME BANDITS, Napoleon Bonaparte (Ian Holm) laughs at a command performance of Punch and Judy among the burning ruins of Castiglione, approving of the show's littleness and its violence. This might be a good characterization of TIME BANDITS itself, which takes quite a lot of delight in both rowdiness and littleness (the six title characters are all little people, and the film itself breaks down into small eisodes that don't integrate well together). The film has some of the most beautiful art direction of any time, and yet despite its beauty it doesn't cohere at all--it has almost no plot, and the mjor characters are less than one-dimensional since you can't hang even the most basic descriptors onto the central child, his parents, or his thieving cohort. Some of the sequences are miraculous in their beauty: in particular the Mycenae episode, with Sean Connery as Agamemnon, which is so perfectly realized that you almost want to weep that Terry Gilliam never directed a full-scale ancient Greek epic film. Others just don't work at all, particularly the heroes' fight at the end with the Evil Being (nicely played by David Warner), where Gilliam seems to have bit off more than he can chew. The whole thing must have been at least inspired, oddly enough, by the famous sequence of the young boy encountering the dwarf circus troupe in Bergman's THE SILENCE, a sequence which called out for further imitation and elucidation. The color transfer of the Gilliam film to this Criterion edition is particularly stunning.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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good service
Added 8/17/2009
They were prompt in getting my movie to me. It was in Excellent condition. Brand new in English, Just like I wanted.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Great fantasy.
Added 6/19/2009
I have read other reviews of this DVD that weren't too kind and I just don't understand that. Maybe they should just watch Barney. This is among the best fantasy films of all-time. Python meets Wizard of OZ. A bargain at twice the price!
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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