"A DREAM EMPORIUM!"
But anyway, yay, Nightwish made a film! I've got to say, before I go into too much detail, that I had low expectations for everything in this film, except the score. And. It. Was. Fab. It's not strictly a horror, but it definitely utilises enough horror elements for me to cover it.
Imaginaerum is the story of Thomas Whitman, who is on his deathbed. He enters a magical, dream-like world in which he explores his memories, which are slowly fading because he has Dementia or something. It also has a story line in the real world involving his daughter, Gem, and former band mate Ann, who is desperately trying to make his daughter see sense before it is too late.
For the most part, we spend the film in the dream world, which is beautiful. There is some dodgy CGI, but it feels like it fits the very Tim Burton-esque tone of the film. Some of the cinematography is just gorgeous, and due to the tone, Imaginaerum feels almost ageless, with stunning imagery. Acting wise, it really ranges from bad to average, with the best performances from elderly Thomas and Ann, they also got someone to do the worst french accent I've heard since the soldier in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The audience are introduced to the creepiest snowman ever, who promises little Thomas a fantastical journey, but the audience know something isn't right with him, before anything goes horribly wrong.
I'm donating an entire paragraph to the soundtrack because it is superb. Of course, it is just Imaginaerum, the album by Nightwish (obviously), in almost it's entirety, but then, that is a fantastic album, so who cares? The songs are used really well for the most part, with one glaring exception that I will cover when I talk about certain scenes. I genuinely heard the album differently after watching this film, and that must say something.
The pacing is great, there are no boring moments, and the run time just flies by. Quickly, there is a huge plot twist, which I will talk about later, but there is also a lot of character development, not something you would expect from what is essentially a band masturbating over their own album. The daughter changes from a cold-hearted b**ch to someone we feel a lot of empathy for, we also learn a lot about Thomas' character from the real world, and Ann, who starts off sassy and becomes someone with a real back story! Ann is used as a plot device, to explain all the things that Gem hates her father for, but she's also hilarious... So there's that. By the end of the film, the viewer really cares about these characters, and I definitely wasn't expecting such fleshed out characters.
SPOILER TERRITORY
Scaretale is easily my favourite song on the album, and probably my favourite scene in the film. For anyone interested, I will post a link for the video of that song at the end of this review, but without context, it might just leave you scratching your heads. What we are treated to, is the band performing this song at a circus, with kid Thomas as the unwilling participant, and old Thomas the unknowing participant. Kid Thomas watches as Gem cuts her father's head open to remove the brain and memories. Yeah. He watches her destroy his memories out of nothing but malice. Again, link at the bottom.
The other scene I adore is very late on in the film, Thomas, now an old man, fights to write down all his memories in a weird pattern on a huge piece of paper with blood, as the terrifying snowman tries to steal the rest of his memories. To escape snowman of horror, he gets on a CREDDDDDD (roller coaster), with no supports. As if, someone said 'we need a roller coaster for Last Ride of the Day, but we need it pretty quick, here's No Limits, sort it in like... an hour? Cool!' As he rides, he sees more memories, and we get an extra ten seconds of Tuomas, who created the band, trying desperately to act. Out of nowhere, Frosty-the-f**king-scareman appears, and there is a heartfelt exchange as the audience are shown that the terrifying creature was Thomas' father, dragging him back with only dark memories. Thomas realises he has to let go, or he will become just like his father, a bad memory for his daughter.
I'm gonna add in one more crucial scene, which is earlier on in the film, but I didn't want to praise it as much, so forgot all about chronological order. This is that instance of the soundtrack not working I mentioned previously. The audience get a great scene in which the room rotates so we can see Thomas, as Tuomas, and his daughter, as well as kid Thomas and his father. Tumoas throws his snowglobe referred to as Princess and Arabesque in the film, and smashes it. Then Thomas' father puts a gun to his chin and shoots himself... It's not gratuitous, so don't worry there. They use Arabesque as the score for this section, and it does not fit. Arabesque is a fairly upbeat little instrumental song on the album, it felt like they got to the end of the film and realised they hadn't included it anywhere, and thought they'd better throw it in to keep fans happy. The music is so at odds with what we are witnessing. I hate it. Post suicide scene uses Turn Loose The Mermaids, and fits really well, it is a blip.
I genuinely didn't understand what had made this film a 15, but a mildly graphic suicide, and cutting someone's head open (even off screen) might be the reasoning, especially with the dark imagery and creepy snowman. Did I mention how creepy the snowman is? But all in all, Imaginaerum is a fab little film, which was a lot better than I had expected. I might like it more than someone who doesn't know Nightwish, because it might be a little bit nostalgic almost. Tuomas, you have some serious issues, which have produced a great film I plan on watching plenty of times.
And there forever remains, that change, from G to E minor.
7.5/10
But anyway, yay, Nightwish made a film! I've got to say, before I go into too much detail, that I had low expectations for everything in this film, except the score. And. It. Was. Fab. It's not strictly a horror, but it definitely utilises enough horror elements for me to cover it.
Imaginaerum is the story of Thomas Whitman, who is on his deathbed. He enters a magical, dream-like world in which he explores his memories, which are slowly fading because he has Dementia or something. It also has a story line in the real world involving his daughter, Gem, and former band mate Ann, who is desperately trying to make his daughter see sense before it is too late.
For the most part, we spend the film in the dream world, which is beautiful. There is some dodgy CGI, but it feels like it fits the very Tim Burton-esque tone of the film. Some of the cinematography is just gorgeous, and due to the tone, Imaginaerum feels almost ageless, with stunning imagery. Acting wise, it really ranges from bad to average, with the best performances from elderly Thomas and Ann, they also got someone to do the worst french accent I've heard since the soldier in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The audience are introduced to the creepiest snowman ever, who promises little Thomas a fantastical journey, but the audience know something isn't right with him, before anything goes horribly wrong.
I'm donating an entire paragraph to the soundtrack because it is superb. Of course, it is just Imaginaerum, the album by Nightwish (obviously), in almost it's entirety, but then, that is a fantastic album, so who cares? The songs are used really well for the most part, with one glaring exception that I will cover when I talk about certain scenes. I genuinely heard the album differently after watching this film, and that must say something.
The pacing is great, there are no boring moments, and the run time just flies by. Quickly, there is a huge plot twist, which I will talk about later, but there is also a lot of character development, not something you would expect from what is essentially a band masturbating over their own album. The daughter changes from a cold-hearted b**ch to someone we feel a lot of empathy for, we also learn a lot about Thomas' character from the real world, and Ann, who starts off sassy and becomes someone with a real back story! Ann is used as a plot device, to explain all the things that Gem hates her father for, but she's also hilarious... So there's that. By the end of the film, the viewer really cares about these characters, and I definitely wasn't expecting such fleshed out characters.
SPOILER TERRITORY
Scaretale is easily my favourite song on the album, and probably my favourite scene in the film. For anyone interested, I will post a link for the video of that song at the end of this review, but without context, it might just leave you scratching your heads. What we are treated to, is the band performing this song at a circus, with kid Thomas as the unwilling participant, and old Thomas the unknowing participant. Kid Thomas watches as Gem cuts her father's head open to remove the brain and memories. Yeah. He watches her destroy his memories out of nothing but malice. Again, link at the bottom.
The other scene I adore is very late on in the film, Thomas, now an old man, fights to write down all his memories in a weird pattern on a huge piece of paper with blood, as the terrifying snowman tries to steal the rest of his memories. To escape snowman of horror, he gets on a CREDDDDDD (roller coaster), with no supports. As if, someone said 'we need a roller coaster for Last Ride of the Day, but we need it pretty quick, here's No Limits, sort it in like... an hour? Cool!' As he rides, he sees more memories, and we get an extra ten seconds of Tuomas, who created the band, trying desperately to act. Out of nowhere, Frosty-the-f**king-scareman appears, and there is a heartfelt exchange as the audience are shown that the terrifying creature was Thomas' father, dragging him back with only dark memories. Thomas realises he has to let go, or he will become just like his father, a bad memory for his daughter.
I'm gonna add in one more crucial scene, which is earlier on in the film, but I didn't want to praise it as much, so forgot all about chronological order. This is that instance of the soundtrack not working I mentioned previously. The audience get a great scene in which the room rotates so we can see Thomas, as Tuomas, and his daughter, as well as kid Thomas and his father. Tumoas throws his snowglobe referred to as Princess and Arabesque in the film, and smashes it. Then Thomas' father puts a gun to his chin and shoots himself... It's not gratuitous, so don't worry there. They use Arabesque as the score for this section, and it does not fit. Arabesque is a fairly upbeat little instrumental song on the album, it felt like they got to the end of the film and realised they hadn't included it anywhere, and thought they'd better throw it in to keep fans happy. The music is so at odds with what we are witnessing. I hate it. Post suicide scene uses Turn Loose The Mermaids, and fits really well, it is a blip.
I genuinely didn't understand what had made this film a 15, but a mildly graphic suicide, and cutting someone's head open (even off screen) might be the reasoning, especially with the dark imagery and creepy snowman. Did I mention how creepy the snowman is? But all in all, Imaginaerum is a fab little film, which was a lot better than I had expected. I might like it more than someone who doesn't know Nightwish, because it might be a little bit nostalgic almost. Tuomas, you have some serious issues, which have produced a great film I plan on watching plenty of times.
And there forever remains, that change, from G to E minor.
7.5/10
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