Popular reviews

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  Review by Joel Haver ★★★★★ 11

  This movie contains my favorite scene of any movie. If you’ve seen it, it’s the one between Parry and Lydia on the sidewalk. Over the last few years I’ve revisited that scene over and over, I’ve probably watched it 50 times if not more. It incapsulates a love I have for somebody special in my life who I’ve missed dearly like nothing else. After many years I reunited with this person and we watched the movie together, they hadn’t seen it. When the scene came up, that made me think of them for years, they turned around and held me. I didn’t tell them about the scene, they just felt it too. We paused the movie and cried for an hour. I missed them so much. I love movies.

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 16

  The building blocks for the legend of The Fisher King revolve around the hero. No matter the problem or the issue, no matter how modern or ancient in its magnitude; the hero must go on a quest to heal the wounds of The Fisher King, one who is lost, lonely, and in need of purity to cleanse the dirt within his inflicted damages. The emotional anguish and the heartbreak is too much to bear, for when dark times rain down from the clouds, only a hero can bring light to extinguish the dark.

  But what if our hero has scars of his own?

  Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King is a masterpiece. Plain and fucking simple. It's been a few years…

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  Review by Bruno ★★★★½ 12

  Robin Williams has touched and inspired the lives of many people with his work throughout the ages. Cinema just lost one of its legends, but his legacy will live for eternity! The usual fantastical and supernatural elements that are trademarks from Terry Gilliam are present again in The Fisher King and I felt they were used in a very powerful way here. They represent Parry’s traumatic past that won’t let him go and start over. Robin Williams’ vibrant and joyful presence mesh with moments of complete despair, making it one of his best performances. Jeff Bridges makes an impressive turn as well and shares a couple of touching moments with his co-star. I found very interesting the idea that we…

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  Review by Jay ★★★★½ 9

  Recommended by Goliwadekar.

  I never thought Terry fucking Gilliam would make me want to knock on all my friends' doors and give them a hug.

  The Fisher King is a New York fairytale for adults. It might even be the BEST New York fairytale for adults, I'm not sure yet. It's definitely the most I've ever identified with a protagonist in one of these types of stories; from his isolated, disenchanted state, Jeff Bridges trips into what can only be described as destitute Wonderland punctuated by fast-talkers, singers, filth, dirt and wide-angle lenses. Outside of Fear and Loathing, I've never seen Gilliam's wacky craft put to better use.

  This is a story that provokes a lot of thinking, and I…

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  Review by Evan T ★★★★★ 4

  Six years on and The Fisher King still seems intent on reminding me how I’ll never be over the death of Robin Williams, his raw talent immortalised amid the hellscape of New York’s homeless crisis. Here, he gives us the warmth of his smile and the intellect of his soul, the internal conflict of the character adding a bitter relevance to Robin as an individual. He plays scenes of hallucinatory hysteria to absolute perfection, emotions comparative to symptoms he likely experienced through his ongoing struggle with both depression and dementia. It’s in these scenes you see closer into the man he really was, reminding us that nothing is ever what it seems, and that you should strive for kindness with every…

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★★½ 18

  The greatest Robin Williams performances mix the madness of his characters not just with genius, but also a walloping portion of kindness. 

  “The Fisher King” is one of these performances. It may actually be among the best Williams ever gave. 

  Williams and director Terry Gilliam have a tendency to ride the same rollicking rainbow wave of stylized lunacy. Both - geniuses in their craft - but sometimes so off the wall that they ricochet endlessly around the room. 

  Fortunately, in “Fisher King,” they somehow don’t amplify each other’s bonkers bizarreness, but seem to understand one another so well as to focus its usage. 

  The film - about a shock jockey DJ (Jeff Bridges) who grapples with the idea that his…

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  Review by cuckoochanel ★★★★½ 10

  This is entry #12 in a September survey of NYC movies with my beau to redress our foregone yearly trip to the Big Apple with a plethora of city vibes and location shooting—amply embodied by this bold panorama straddling early 90s Manhattan and Brooklyn.

  Jeff Bridges stars in Terry Gilliam’s New York-bound odyssey, The Fisher King, chronicling the wildly oscillating fortunes of Jack Lucas—a contemptuous and narcissistic shock jock who suffers a career-ruining, lifestyle-stripping, sanity-shattering fall from grace after his odious influence stirs a particularly pathetic and unbalanced listener to mass murder-suicide. Bridges’ artfully intricate performance in this highly-stylized, modern fantasy seeking reparation and reconciliation is fueled by Jack’s embedded addictions to stature, avarice, and superiority, while his maladaptive alcoholism…

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  Review by Richard Chandler ★★★★ 11

  "Nietzsche says there are two kinds of people in the world, people who are destined for greatness—like Walt Disney or Hitler—and then there's the rest of us."

  In the wake of the disastrously unprofitable The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam decided for the first time in his career to direct someone else's script, settling on Richard LaGravanese's tale of redemption, The Fisher King. Though often discounted for its non-auteur status within the Gilliam catalog, it retains much of the fantastical spirit that informs his more celebrated works.

  Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) is the king of New York City talk radio, a jaundiced Howard Stern-like figure who cynically indulges in anti-yuppie populism while nonetheless bragging about the size of his…

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  Review by DallasFrance ★★★★ 6

  I wanted more Mercedes Ruehl going tiger style in tiger print pants, and less of her taking Jack back when he doesn’t deserve it. 

  I wanted more of Jack as a shock jock, and less of him as a manipulative schmuck.

  I wanted more of  Robin Williams story-telling in Central Park, and less close-ups of his Wookie-ish body hair. 

  I wanted more of Amanda Plummer’s quivering neuroses, and less of her not being in scenes.

  I wanted a few less scenes shot in canted angles, and more shots relying on the incredible production design, stunning Red Knight practical effects, and workplace cabaret performances.

  
  There were several beautiful and poignant scenes in this film, such as the waltz in Grand Central Station. Not my favorite Gilliam, but it’s almost impossible to top Brazil.

  
  2021 First Time Watches Ranked

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  Review by Hamushy ★★★★

  The Fisher King is a film that succeeds in reaching its goal, despite being all over the map and actually benefits from the wide variety of ideas and concepts contained within it. Part fairy tale, comedy and romance, while part tragedy, drama and social commentary. The Fisher King is directed by the unique visionary director, Terry Gilliam and is the story of a radio DJ who falls from grace after his harsh statements on air causes a massive tragedy. To find redemption he befriends and tries to help a delusional homeless man.

  Terry Gilliam is not your run-of-the-mill director and when you watch a movie of his you are going to have a lot of symbolism and ideas thrown at…

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  Review by DirkH ★★★★½ 11

   Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.10

  Leave it to Terry Gilliam to weave and visualise one of the best modern fairytales ever.

  What is a fairytale? It is usually a fantasy with a moral lesson hidden between the lines, often aimed at children. It is only natural that these lessons are distilled from a certain zeitgeist, a frame of reference or a moral code to pass on to a younger generation.

  A modern fairytale therefore needs to encompass all these elements and by default has to be updated to fit the time it is told in. The Fisher King understands  that perfectly and not only does it appeal to a sense of wonder and amazement, it also carries a…

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  Review by Ben Daniels ★★★★★ 3

  Holy shit.

  What an amazing fucking film.

  Terry Gilliam is a genius. His twisted direction births an askew universe, where an almost bleak and utopian New York City provides the backdrop for a melange of romance, drama and fantasy. Sounds weird? It is, most definitely, and it is absolutely amazing.

  Mercedes Ruehl impressively steals the show with a part that doesn't take up all the screen time, but certainly grabs all the screen when she's on it. You know someone is really great when you don't give a shit what Jeff Bridges is doing on the other side of the shot. She absolutely deserved that Oscar, her performance is utterly consuming and believable. I really cannot praise it enough.

  Robin…