|
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam, 1998)
When you get Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro in the same movie, and then get Terry Gilliam to direct it, you set yourself up for an exceptionally high-quality film. When that film is based on the writings of Hunter S. Thompson, you seen almost predestined for true greatness. Why is it, then, that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas fails on almost every level? Simple: because the insanely convoluted script (the story of the genesis of which is even more insanely convoluted than the script itself) takes Thompson's bitter, crazed, hysterically funny satire of American life and turns it into a generic, intensely stupid drug comedy. Granted, it's one with an incredible cast and a usually brilliant director, but make no mistake, 12 Monkeys or Brazil this ain't.
Depp plays Raoul Duke, Hunter Thompson's alter ego, while del Toro is Dr. Gonzo, Thompson's traveling companion and legal aid. (I had always assumed Dr. Gonzo to be based on cartoonist Ralph Steadman, thanks to Thompson's wonderful Kentucky Derby essay, in which Steadman behaves exactly like, well, Dr. Gonzo; the liner notes inform me that Gonzo is instead based on Oscar Zeta Acosta.) They roll into Vegas to cover the Mint 400, a dirt-bike race, and miss everything but the very start thanks to their heavy ingestion of controlled (and uncontrolled) substances. After losing Gonzo along the way, Duke flees Vegas, only to find out, when he calls Gonzo from a pay phone, that Gonzo has set him up another assignment-- covering a police convention focused on what we now know as the War on Drugs. There's a potential vein of humor here that cannot be overstated. Somehow, Gilliam's (and Tony Girsoni's and Tod Davies' and Alex Cox's) script misses it entirely.
It's impossible to watch Johnny Depp on a screen and not like him, but this is about as close as I've ever come. (Okay, it's tied with Secret Window.) And I've seen del Toro play drugged-out maniacs before and liked it a lot better. Usually, either of them can save even the most wooden script, though I admit even del Toro's remarkable talent couldn't help The Way of the Gun. So what went wrong here? I think a great deal of the problem is that Gilliam, in both the script (though how much of it he's actually responsible for we'll probably never know) and the direction, takes Thompson's source material far too seriously. (It's telling that the funniest line in the movie was actually ad-libbed by Gary Busey.) Fifteen minutes in, the movie has already become repetitive-- take drugs. Attempt to be funny. Take drugs. Attempt to be funny. Repeat ad nauseam, sometimes literally. All the ingredients are here for this to have been a great movie. There's a cast of thousands, many of whom are instantly recognizable (aside from the above, Harry Dean Stanton, Ellen Barkin, Verne Troyer, Tim Thomerson, Christina Ricci, Laraine Newman, Michael Jeter, Penn Jillette, Christopher Meloni, Lyle Lovett, and many others put in small appearances). There's a fantastic book at the heart of this. There's a brilliant director-- or, at least, one who used to be. (It's equally telling that after this, he went silent for a number of years; his next outing was the critical failure The Brothers Grimm, in 2005.) And yet somehow it all went horribly, horribly wrong. Amazon reviewer Jeff Shannon accurately predicted that the movie would "achieve some modest cult status over the years", but for the life of me, I can't understand why. *
Rating:  -
On both 5.1 mixes on the DVD, the dolby digital and DTS, there are sound effects that are entirely missing from the movie. Look at points such as 5 minutes 20 seconds into the movie when Duke hits Dr. Gonzo with a beer can, and at 59 minutes 34 seconds when Duke throws coins at the valet, both the sound of the can hitting Dr. Gonzo, and the sound of the coins hitting the ground are entirely missing. It's like this throughout the movie. The dolby digital 2.0 mix is unaffected.
I've contacted criterion about this, and they have not responded. More people should write in about this, to have our discs replaced with those with correct mixes!
Rating:  -
wow! this verson is packed full of Hunter S. Tompson, from the bbc film to the commentery, if you are fanatical of Hunter like me, or even just a fan the special fetures of this movie is a must for your hunter collection. as for the movie itself, forever a classic...
PS. hoked onn fonix diddent wurk soo wel fur me, soory...
Rating: -
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Criterion Collection
I love this movie & the 2 disc special edition is even better. The bonus footage w/ "Gonzo" himself, Hunter S. Thompson, makes this a must have for any body's collection. In my opinion this was Benicio Del Toro's best performance to date!
Also if you love this movie the way I do, do yourself a favor & pick up a copy of the novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter S. Thompson. In which the film is based upon. Thompson's cracked out style of journalism was the stuff of legend! A true original, nobody did it like The Great Gonzo!
R.I.P. Hunter, you are missed!
John G. Youman
Rating: -
I take issue with the Editorial Rant from Jeff Shannon. It seems his superficial judgments are against the backdrop of the film and the context of the characters use of drugs to come to terms with their experience. Why would Amazon appoint a "critic" with such moral apprehensions to appraise a film which is clearly outside of his capacity to undestand?
You aren't into drugs? Fine. Neither am I, and personally, Las Vegas has never impressed me, but that isn't the point. Let's put this film into perspective as a product of a novel story and a cinemotographic achievement. The direction from Terry Gilliam evoke a powerful response from the viewer. To film this story requires such incredible creative genius, few are actually qualified to the task, one attribute being a dark sense of humor. and then the subject matter of course requires some thinking. Then we have the performances. I can't figure out between Benecio and Johnny Depp who stole the show as the performances are spectacular. There are enough cameo appearances to set records, further challenging the idea that this was a disaster of a film descending on hollywood.
The 70's was an unparalleled era and caught within this period are 2 characters awake enough to realize that their own lives were not enmeshed within the forces that guided to the times. So in an attempt to explore their existential quest, they embark on Las Vegas to test the fruits of the American dream through its most celebrated product Las Vegas. There is an element of being lost, desperate to make sense of it all...were they hippies? Rebels? Misanthropic and depraved animals? Why weren't they happy to be a part of it all? So this experiment takes shape spontaneously and within the folds of the adventures, you find a narrative still curious and growing more cynical which if you can suspend your judgment will mirror your own thoughts (at least mine). Seperation anxiety grows, but behind it all is the humor of a certain director. Thus you find yourself watching the drama/comedy/documentary.
Criterion has passionately enhanced the experience of this awe-struck viewer. And I think as time moves on, this film will be lost to obscurity, but not for all. If nothing else, it has +500 reviews as of this writing. Like it or not, it has aroused attention, too bad (for them) if the vast majority of lifeless and sleeping sheep don't get it.
|
