even if you had no real time limit 

[b]Pans Labyrinth[/b] [Laberinto del Fauno, El](2006)
Guillermo del Toro's Hollywood efforts may be sub-par at best, but by-god if they make him enough money to continue producing material like [i]The Devils Backbone[/i] and his new film [i]Pans Labyrinth[/i] then I say bring on [i]Hellboy 15[/i]!

Pans Labyrinth starts out almost like a live-action Miyazaki film, with an instantly involving sense of mystery and an incredible attention to detail, but then it gradually becomes more and more apparent that it's certainly not one for the whole family. This is a seriously dark film melding two seemingly unconnected yet seamlessly appropriate narrative strands together that will really keep the audience guessing as to when the Child characters' fantasy world and the grim plight of the Adult characters in civil war Spain will come together.

There's actually a particularly disturbing creature in the film that wouldn't look too out of place in Doom or Quake 1 so if anybody here gets the chance to go and see it, I'd strongly advise that they do.

Just be sure to have a strong stomach, because there's some stomach curdling gore in this that's on a par with the Hellraiser films. 

nt 

I've been hanging out for that one. Even when Del Toro makes duds, they're very stylish. 

Got this last night and overall I really enjoyed it. I thought the film began poorly, and I was prepared for it to suck hard, but once the action got going, all the Superman moneyshots basically hit the target.

I was a little apprehensive about the changes to the costume design I had heard about, but I am pleased to report that my fears were in vain as Brandon Routh looked absolutely fabulous as the Man of Steel.

I'm not sure I like where the series is going with the kid subplot - I think Superman works best as a bachelor rather than a family guy, but hey it could turn out interesting.

I thought Brandon did a fantasic job of filling the gaping hole left by Christopher Reeve. His acting was really believable especially when he took a brutal pounding from Lex and the gang during the third act - that really did make me wince.

Most memorable scene: probably the slowmo (bullet time?) sequence where Brandon, I mean Superman, takes a hot load in the eye from the machinegun guy during the climax of the bank robbery scene. That was some pretty intense cinematography right there.

So in conclusion: two thumbs up 

Army in the Shadows (1969) - Jean Pierre Melville's film about members of the french resistance during the second world war is one of the most atmospheric and moody films you will ever see. It's short on plot, and in fact the narrative structure is not really conventional playing out more like a "year in the life of.." with quite an abrupt ending. The script isnt concerned with The Resistance and what it actually did during the war period but is more focused on painting the state of mind of its members.

The acting is impressive and it probably features some of the best cinematography committed to celluloid.

What stops it from being a flat out masterpiece is that despite being very good at getting into the head of some of its characters, it never really lets the viewer get familiar with any particular character(s) and the result, whilst being undeniably great, is a very clinical and distant film.

8.5/10 

I found it rather fantasic. Sure there were probably things that could have been better but not enough to stop me from loving it. 

Most memorable scene: probably the slowmo [�] sequence where Brandon [�] takes a hot load in the eye from the machinegun guy during the climax

eh, what?

Also: i don't get it. you guys are blaming TOLKIEN for the bad lotr movie? What?! I blame nietsche for the passion of the christ not having the atheist ending i wished for.

meet the feebles is exactly why peter jackson was not the right director for a script that requires as much sublety as lotr. And yes, it requires loads of subtlety. 

You are likely understand the point made better on a second read. Blame is not the correct word to use as it connotes that there is something wrong or perhaps lacking in quality in Tolkein's writing. I never touch the subject.

Tolkein's narrative structure makes it difficult to translate the story into a screenplay; at least, a screenplay that follows the story faithfully. I went over the problem this creates for Return of the King, but the other books have there on structural ticks as well.

Yeah, Kinn

Most memorable scene: probably the slowmo [�] sequence where Brandon [�] takes a hot load in the eye from the machinegun guy during the climax

What's up with that? 

re-reading kinn's comment now, I see your point :) 

Megaman, HeadThump - if you've seen the film you'll know which bit I mean. As soon as Superman starts coming he takes a piping hot load to the face and chest then when he's spent, the bad guy pulls out his own weapon and pops one off into Superman's eye and he takes it like a pro and doesn't even flinch.

Also: I'm not really getting the LotR hate here. I can't even imagine how horrible these films could have turned out in the hands of other directors at the time who might have been interested in filming them. If you'd followed the production of this trilogy you'd appreciate the absolutely crazy shit that the production company were trying to pull on this project and Peter Jackson had to lobby like a madman to get them to even accept a script that resembled Tolkien.

The fact that they even allowed him to make it into three films took nothing less than divine intervention.

Seriously, there is not an alternate universe where these films could have turned out as well as they did. 

i have seen the first lotr ;) it was more a general comment on the way you guys argued

Most memorable scene: probably the slowmo [�] sequence where Brandon [�] takes a hot load in the eye from the machinegun guy during the climax
This just could easily describe a porn movie ;) 

you found the point 

It was almost as much a relief that the lord of the ring films didn't suck as I was happy that they were actually quite good :-) 

what point? 

I just got this on DVD tonight. I was never much of a fan of the first one, but I have to admit Johnny Depp made it supremely watchable, even if the story itself wasn't up to snuff.

I did enjoy this slightly more, although it suffered from similar problems. The plot is spread very thinly to cover the two and a half hour running time but still managed to jump all over the place. I was pretty bored of the constant Kraken attacks towards the end of the film, but Davy Jones and his crew were cool to look at, and a lot more menacing than the zombie pirates of the first film. Bill Nighy made a good Quarren.

Overall though I think this is a perfect case of the film just getting lost in visual spectacle. Less is sometimes more. 

What a great little thriller about a young held hostage under demand on an airliner. Fast paced, but well worth seeing, probably one of the most tense and just creepy films I've seen that didn't involve horror - and came from Wes Craven. 

it was above average and reasonably well made but the silly ending was a bit much.

But way better than I thought it would be. 

Felt so, so contrived. And the heat-seeking missile that locks on to... a hotel room? wtf? 

2. to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme, or the like; manage: He contrived to gain their votes.

Well, yeah. And? 

Les Amants (1958) - The second collabration between Louis Malle and Jeanne Moreau is nowhere near the quality of their first, Elevator to the Gallows, but it's still an above average look at the emptiness of an upper class socialite's life in 50's France.

Malle's direction is good and Moreau once again demonstrates why she was one of the best actresses in history but it feels quite dated and the second half in particular comes across as lazily scripted.

6.5/10


Kenny (2006)- Aussie film done in the Spinal Tap mockumentary format about a portable toilet deliverer.

Very funny, and surprisingly, its also a very good film when it's not being funny. That second apsect is really why I think this really works as well as it does, because while the comedy would have been good enough on its own, it would have become a bit one note.

Plenty of poo jokes and plenty of very funny non-poo related jokes.

8/10 

Daisy (2006) - how you go from making Infernal Affairs to this is hard to understand but this is quite a bad movie. Its well shot but there is next to zero directing ability shown here and the script is a hopeless mess of B grade melodrama mixed with B grade crime thriller.

4/10 

Jindabyne (2006) - another aussie film and this one's a potentially great movie marred by some overportentous (and completely unnecessary) camerawork and background score. Its at its best in the second half, where Ray Lawrence sits back a bit and lets the script and acting come to the fore.

Petty good as it is, but could have been much much more.

7/10 

Casino Royale - return to form ? Sort of.

Craig makes a fine Bond and Eva Green is also well upto the task but this needed to have been trimmed by around 30 minutes. It could have gotten away with its length if the pacing was better, but the movie starts off on acid and is hobbling on crutches by the end.

In the middle of all that is not a bad little action film with competently handled action scenes, but nothing extradordinary.

6.5/10 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) - rewatch, and while the watching on a big screen with surround sound plays up to two of its strengths, namely some fine cinematography and John Williams' impressive score, this still doesnt really work for me.

I find the acting shoddy, the drama not believable and the narrative pretty much non existent.

Worth a watch for some isolated scenes.

6/10