PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) - Guillermo del Toro's Dark Fantasy Classic Turns 20!!

PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) d. Guillermo del Toro (Mexico/Spain)

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Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Ofelia whose father had died, leaving her and her Mother all alone. The world was a dark and scary place, with war and death everywhere, and so, to save herself and her child, the Mother remarried an Evil Captain to keep them safe. Once the Mother as with child, the Captain sent for her to live with him in the forest where he commanded his troops, stamping out anyone that threatened his power. The Mother was sad, as was Ofelia, but the imaginative young girl had a special gift: she could see and talk to creatures that grown-ups couldn’t see, such as the Faun and the Pale Man (both played brilliantly by expert suit performer Doug Jones). She soon learns she is a Princess with a Destiny to fulfill. And so, her great adventure begins....

THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017) movie review

The Shape of Water (2017) d. del Toro, Guillermo (USA)

This “adult fairy tale” sees Sally Hawkins’ mute cleaning woman falling in love with an unworldly beast after it is captured in the Amazon and spirited away to a generic top-secret research facility, with scientist Michael Stuhlbarg and government thug Michael Shannon vying for proprietary rights. What follows is a Visually Stunning Effort, with all creative collaborators working overtime to deliver a heightened urban landscape of the early 1960s (we hear references to JFK, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement), and the inimitable Doug Jones (Hellboy) donning arguably the most elegant rubber monster suit to grace the silver screen.

Fool's Views (4/7 – 4/13)

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

Howdy folks,

Well, thanks to the deliciousness that was Movieside’s Sci-Fi Spectacular and the arrival of some potentially interesting genre films hitting theaters – Devil’s Due, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, and I, Frankenstein just weren’t hooking me – I finally made it out to the cinema, sextupling my 2014 theatrical intake in one short week.

Seeing a giant, magic-berry-juice-drinking ape duking it out with Japan’s favorite radioactive lizard on the big screen with a near-capacity crowd in attendance is as close to achieving total consciousness as I ever hope to get (so I've got that going for me, which is nice), and Pan’s Labyrinth was just as rewarding as it was the first time. I also went 4-for-4 with my multiplex excursions, although seriously, AMC, those animated red dots and the little pre-film dumbshows have GOT TO GO. Sooooooooo terrible.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) movie review

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) d. Guillermo del Toro (Spain)

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) whose father had died, leaving her and her Mother (Ariadna Gil) all alone. The world was a dark and scary place, with war and death everywhere, and so, to save herself and her child, the Mother remarried a General (Sergi Lopez) to keep them safe. But the General was a selfish and brutal man, who only cared for the Mother as long as she could bear him a son. Once the Mother as with child, the General sent for her to live with him in the forest where he commanded his troops, stamping out the rebels that threatened the Evil King’s power. The Mother was sad, as was Ofelia, but the imaginative young girl had a special gift: she could see and talk to creatures that grown-ups couldn’t see, such as the Faun and the Pale Man (both played brilliantly by expert suit performer Doug Jones). She soon learned from the Faun that she was a Princess with a Destiny to fulfill.  And so, her great adventure began....