Jackson Booth-Millard Director Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) has done a movie based on a true story once before, that was the fantastic Ed Wood, so I was interested to see another one. Basically in 1958, Margaret Ulbrich (Golden Globe winning, and BAFTA nominated Amy Adams) is supporting her daughter Jane (Delaney Raye) alone in North Beach, San Francisco, after leaving her husband, she gets a job at a factory, painting illustrations onto furniture. At an outdoor art show, while painting portraits, Margaret meets Walter Keane (Golden Globe nominated Christoph Waltz), who is selling his Parisian street scene painting, Walter later proposes to her and they marry. Walter goes to a popular jazz club and convinces the owner, Enrico Banducci (Jon Polito), to let him rent a wall to display the couple's paintings on. A drunk woman is touched by one of Margaret's paintings and buys it, Walter has a fight with Banducci and ends up on the front page of the local newspaper, the club is next packed with curious people. Celebrity gossip columnist Dick Nolan (Danny Huston, also the narrator) wants to know about Walter's art, but is only interested in Margaret's paintings, especially those of subjects with big eyes. Walter shows Margaret all the money they have made from sales, he tells her they make a great team, saying she can stay home painting and he will sell her works. Walter opens his own Keane gallery, promoting the art as his own, selling reproductions, but Margaret is upset he is taking credit for her art, and feels guilty lying to Jane about it. Margaret decides to paint in a different style with elongated features and small eyes, so that she can honestly tell people she is also a painter. Margaret and Walter move into a new mansion together, while going through a crate containing stacks of Parisian street scenes, but she they are signed by another name, she realises Walter paints over the original artist's names and claims them as his own. Margaret confronts Walter about her discovery, he tells her he always wanted to be an artist, but never had the talent. Walter learns of the New York World's Fair and demands Margaret paint something to put on display, when she refuses he threatens to kill her. Older Jane (Madeleine Arthur) discovers her mother working on the large artwork, she tells her mother that she always knew she was the true artist. At a party, Walter is angered after reading the scathing review of the exhibit by John Canaday (Terence Stamp), back at home he drunkenly throws lit matches at Margaret and Jane, they manage to get out after he almost sets the house on fire, they run away. A year later, Margaret and Jane have settled in Honolulu, Hawaii, but Walter tracks her down, he refuses to agree a divorce unless she signs over the rights to every painting and produces 100 more. Margaret agrees and continues sending paintings to California, but then following a visit from two Jehovah's Witnesses, she is convinced that honesty is important, so the next delivery, Walter receives paintings signed "MDH Keane". On a Hawaiian radio show, Margaret reveals she is the real artist behind the big eyes paintings attributed to Walter, this makes national news, Nolan writes an article claiming she has "gone nuts". Margaret sues both Walter and the newspapers that printed his version of the story for libel and slander, the case is taken to a courthouse in Honolulu, with reporters swarming. The Judge (James Saito) immediately dismisses the libel lawsuit against the newspapers, but Walter is left to defend himself against slander, even cross-examining himself as a "witness". As Walter is wasting so much time with his tall tales, the judge decides there is only one way to determine who is the true artist of the big eyes works, both Margaret and Walter are given one hour to paint an artwork. Margaret paints steadily, but Walter is hesitant, claiming that an arm injury has made it hard for him to hold a brush, Margaret completes her painting in 53 minutes and wins the lawsuit, outside she tells the press she doesn't care about the money, she just wants credit for her paintings, she is happy finally signing an autograph for her own work. The end credits claim that Walter continued with his claim that he was the true artist, but never painted again, and died bitter and penniless, while Margaret later retired and opened an Art Gallery. Also starring Breaking Bad's Krysten Ritter as Dee-Ann, Jason Schwartzman as Ruben and the real Margaret Keane as Old Lady at Park. Adams gives a great delicate performance as the manipulated but eventually justified painter, Waltz is wonderfully exuberant as the conman husband, Burton directs this with a real flair, and you can recognise his style with the use of bright colours and a cartoonish look, it is a very interesting fact-based story of plagiarism, fraud and female subjugation, you don't have to necessarily be an art lover to appreciate it, a fascinating and worthwhile biographical drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Production Design, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for the title song by Lana Del Rey. Good!

audrablum This week I watched Big Eyes (2014). Margaret Ulbirch marries a coy, smooth talking salesman named Walter Keane whom she meets at a weekend artist exhibit. Walter immediately sees her talent and within a short time asks her to marry him. Through a series of tangled lies he begins to exploit her artwork as his own gaining national success and recognition, but she plans to take it all back. The film was highly engaging and I was at the edge of my seat watching Margaret's life unfold. I thought about how Margaret was being used, lied to, manipulated, and cheated by a man that she fell in love with. I feel that this was a large aspect of the film that made it so relatable. The writing was a joint effort between Scott Alexander and Larry Karasweski. The film was very well written. The only thing that I wished could have been expanded upon was the daughter Jane's character, relation to the mother, and relevance within the plot. It might crank up the tension to feel torn a little more between Margaret's need to leave Walter for Jane's sake and desire to stay where she is out of fear of the unknown. The film was directed by Tim Burton, so it didn't really suffer from poor direction choices. The most interesting bit about the directing is that it is mostly outside of Tim Burton's style. In fact, if one were to watch the movie not knowing who directed it, Tim Burton would not have been most people's first (or second, or third) guess. The casting was excellent and Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz knocked it out of the park! There were many hands in the editing department, but JC Bond was the primary editor on the film. Some of the image juxtapositions that stood out of this film were moments with nuanced meanings. One such moment was near the beginning of the film was Walter and Margaret's photo is taken and published in a newsletter, which ends up being trodden on the floor of a night club. This was a powerful moment of both symbolism and foreshadowing. Another one of these moments happens right after Margaret lies to Jane about who painted the image on the poster. The next shot Margaret looks up to the cross on the top of a chapel as if she was looking for answers (which she actually does immediately following). The cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel really shines brilliantly in this film. The scenes with light are lit perfectly, and the subject are almost animated in their appearance. Belbonnel also works very well in low light and high contrast settings like when Margaret is in her dimly lit art studio. The light looks both natural and supernatural in its effect. I honestly felt that there was not really much I would have done differently. The movie really deserved all of its praise and acclaim.

Dominik528 I remember learning about this upcoming film from The Nostalgia Critic's scathing review of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. One day, I noticed it was airing on TV and had it recorded to the DVR. Before viewing, I thought it was going to be simply okay - but my expectations were exceeded! It is such a well-made Tim Burton film, especially considering how it's a departure from his usual fantasy stories (albiet some of his own elements are sprinkled here and there, like the hallucination scene). It has a great example on how much it sucked to be a woman in the 1960s (Heck, the very first line in the film say something along these lines) and you really feel for the main character, Margaret Keane - Amy Adams was great as her! I'd never heard of Walter and/or Margaret Keane before this - at least, certainly never seen any of the 'big eyes' paintings - so I found the story to be intriguing and thought-provoking. And I think Lana Del Rey was a good choice for the soundtrack, not just because of the singer's obvious fascination with the era, but displaying the fear and sadness Margaret felt during her life and marriage with Walter.

adonis98-743-186503 A drama about the awakening of painter Margaret Keane, her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband, who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s. As much as i love Tim Burton and his movies such as Batman, Batman Returns, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and many other great films but unfortunately this is one of his worst films it has zero substance and it's simply not that great nothing happens for the entire film and it was neither dramatic or funny it was just weird. I get it that Burton wanted to stay away for a bit from the whole Gothic, Dark and Moody things he usually does but he could have choose a much better film to make and the saddest part is that as far as actors go the film has many great of them such as Amy Adams, Danny Huston, Krysten Ritter, Christoph Waltz and Terence Stamp and yet it ends up being a disappointing film that wanted to be something different but ended up being boring and just uninteresting.