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BRAZIL - REVIEW

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Back in 1985, Terry Gilliam directed Brazil , a science-fiction comedy like no other about a dystopian future in which the world is run by totalitarian bureaucracy. It wasn't a big hit in the US but it did well everywhere else and over time it has become something of a cult classic. The film follows Jonathan Pryce's Sam Lowry, a meek government employee whose dreary life is turned upside down when he literally meets the woman of his dreams. The world depicted in Brazil is a gloomy, depressing one with its backwards technology, its inhuman laws, its crushingly industrial metropolis and yet Gilliam manages to find the humour in that setting by emphasising just how ridiculous this society has become with countless larger-than-life characters and awkward tech. The result is kind of a cross between 1984 , Blade Runner and Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life . The dreams Lowry has, in which he's flying, saving a damsel in distress from monsters, look beautiful and work a

TWELVE MONKEYS - REVIEW

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Before Bruce Willis was sent back in time in Looper , he was sent back in time in Twelve Monkeys and, funnily enough, things didn't turn out so good for him then either! Further proof that, if you're going to mess with time travel, you'd better have a Doc Brown helping ya. Terry Gilliam's modern take on La Jetée 's themes is set in the near future (well, the late nineties, anyway) when a virus has wiped out most of humanity leaving only animals to rule the Earth, Planet Of The Apes -style except they don't talk and ride horses, that'd be absurd. The remaining people, who live underground, decide to send back in time some prisoner in order to try and figure out what the hell happened, who started this and perhaps stop it altogether. It's not quite clear how this time-travelling technology works and that's dealt with abstractly, which is probably a good move seeing as it cuts down on what could have been 10 dull minutes of explanation. Being a n

THE ZERO THEOREM - VLOG 23/03/14

THE ZERO THEOREM - REVIEW

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Terry Gilliam once again tackles the meaning of life in The Zero Theorem , a near future London-set sci-fi flick in the vein of Brazil in which a man goes head to head with "Management" and brings his work home with him only to find that the job he's being tasked with has shady ramifications. Christoph Waltz is Qohen Leth, an antisocial Uncle Fester-looking dude who is always waiting for a phone-call from an unknown caller. So far, so Waiting For Godot . After running into Matt Damon's Management clones at a party, he is given a new task which involves him playing some kind of CGI game peppered with cubes which should eventually prove that 0 = 100%. What he hasn't realised is that his bosses are essentially testing him, trying to get him to prove that existence is completely meaningless. His faith is shaken as he meets Mélanie Thierry's sexy gal Bainsley, who distracts him with a new virtual reality program and he starts to struggle with his job more and

THE ZERO THEOREM - OFFICIAL TRAILER

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Terry Gilliam's latest, The Zero Theorem , finally gets a trailer!