The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Before you bank up your rentals for this weekend, consider these new releases. One is sweet, the other is totally trippy — and both are available for your viewing pleasure starting today.

It's Complicated

Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin play Jane and Jake, divorced parents who reignite the old flame in secret and stir up old feelings. Things really get, er, complicated when Jane begins seeing her nerdy architect (Steve Martin), and a love triangle is formed. Streep, Baldwin, and Martin are a delight to watch on screen, and they take this premise beyond typical rom-com schlock. But also rent it for John Krasinski who turns his supporting role as Streep and Baldwin's future son-in-law into a scene-stealer. DVD extras include a commentary track and featurette.

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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

In what is perhaps best known as Heath Ledger's final performance, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a whimsical morality tale about a group of circus-type performers who welcome visitors into one man's messed-up mind. Christopher Plummer plays the title role alongside Ledger and an ensemble made to look like the late actor, including Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell. The cast is solid, but the story itself is a confusing, tangled mess. Even so, you can't do much better when it comes to interesting visual details to ogle, thanks to the creative mind of director Terry Gilliam. DVD extras include a deleted scene and interview with Ledger.

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Not to be confused with that movie starring Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium), The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is perhaps best known as late actor Heath Ledger’s final role.

You may recall that his death occurred during production, in which case Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law stepped in to finish his role. The good news is that the transition from actor to actor is virtually seamless and works within the story’s construction perfectly.

The bad news? The film is still a bit of an all-over-the-map mess. To hear why, just read more

About midway through watching the new international trailer for The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, I realized I was holding my breath. It's such an unusual-looking film, I don't know which words to use to describe it except to say that it left me feeling excited and a little uneasy. The story is about an immortal doctor (played by Christopher Plummer) with a magical mirror who must give up his daughter (Lily Cole) to the devil (Tom Waits) on her 16th birthday. Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell all play a masked supporting character named Tony.

The movie will be released in the UK on Oct. 16. There's so much eerie, whimsical beauty in this movie, you should check it out for yourself

As director Terry Gilliam says in this teaser video, his fantastical movie The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is "full of magic and wonder, the stuff of dreams." Now having caught a few clips from the movie at Comic-Con (and you can check them out after the jump), I think that's even putting it mildly. This is a lush, dark, whimsical and chilling film that I think we'll feel more than just watch.

Most people know this movie as "Heath Ledger's Last Appearance," and after his death, three high-profile actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell) stepped in to complete his role. As for the actual plot, it follows an immortal doctor (played by Christopher Plummer) with a traveling theatrical group and a magical mirror who must give up his daughter (Lily Cole) to the devil (Tom Waits) on her sixteenth birthday. Ledger/Depp/Law/Farrell play a masked supporting character named Tony (after Tony Blair).

In San Diego, Gilliam explained some more about the movie and Ledger's involvement:

I don't think it's ever happened before that a main actor dies, and three A-list actors come in and take over his part. It tells you how much they cared about him. It was unbelievably brave and foolish. There was no time to prepare. We had Johnny for one day, three and a half hours. He just came in and did it. I'd shown them some clips of some of the stuff that Heath had done. I didn't know that it was going to work, but it did.

There's so much luck involved with this movie. . . . Each one of the choices that were forced upon us improved the film. I've been saying Heath co-directed it — he forced me to do all these things differently, to make a better film than I was making.

The movie opens in the UK Oct. 16. The clips are cool to watch, so to check them out, read more