dibot Blog

Wow. A movie finally lived up to its hype.
Director Guillermo del Toro ("Hellboy") directs Pan's Labyrinth, a simultaneously beautiful and horrible story of a young girl who creates a fantasy world to help her escape the harsh realities of a cruel stepfather, sick mother and civil war. The plot seems simple, but I've found myself thinking of it over and over these last couple of days. It's like a children's story but there are spurts of random violence. The cinematography is gorgeous. Even the parts that are set in the "real world" seem like a fairytale. The music, haunting. Del Torro pulls together the best elements of his last few films and combines them to show some real strength as a writer/director. And the end is awesome.
How often does that happen?
Queue it up.

Could Spider-Man 3 have ever lived up to Spider-Man 2? No. It couldn't. Did that stop me from expecting it to? No. It didn't. I pretty much love everyone involved in the film, Sam Raimi, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace. All of the acting is good. The effects are top-notch, especailly the sand. Wow is all that can be said about that. But somehow, I left feeling cold. The story was too much, maybe. Too many villains? Too many emotions? Maybe Raimi knew he wasn't going to make another one and tried to squeeze in everything possible to this? I can't really say. There were some weird side gags that sort of bugged me. The spectacle was great to see in the theater, but the film is just okay.