NevermoresRaven Blog

Guillermo del Toro has a way with films, albeit a very creepy way. Anyone who has seen his previous work(Hellboy in particular comes to mind) will understand his tendency for over the top and very bizzare stylings, and Pan's Labyrinth is no exception from his mold.

The story telling here is top notch, following a young girl who finds out she may the princess of a mystical kingdom. There's a catch, though, as her mother has just married a sadistic and violent Captain for the Spanish military during the Spanish Civil War in 1944. As the fantasy world she may be entitled to and the real world begin to clash, things start to get out of hand. The film draws some references from classic fairy tales by the brothers Grimm, and even from early Greek mythology. The "you must complete three tasks to prove your worth' story screams the tale of Hercules, but not in a blantant theft type of way.

The film is told more through setting, be it weather, lighting, or just constant symbolism. Circles play a big role in this film as far as being symbolic(potatoes, the full moon, ect.). Rain is also a big part of the film in a way, as it seems like it's never sunny when something big is about to happen.

Because del Toro likes to tell a story through visuals there's not exactly what amny would consider a lot of dialouge. There's talking to advance the plot and get names mentioned, but there's a good amount of scenes where not a word is uttered and yet you still know exactly what's going on.

The set design for the labyrinth, and the many magical places that our young princess visit is simply amazing. Dark and light hues mix perfectly, and architecture sends a clear message.

A great film worth seeing a few times, provided you don't mind having to read the sub-titles. A suggestion for anyone who enjoys del Toro's work.

Sometimes a film tries too hard to be different, to be unique, to stand apart from the rest. Christopher Nolan's "Memento", however, does it with a brilliant touch.

The narrative takes a whole new and offbeat twist by telling the film backwards as our "hero" Leonard(Guy Pearce) tries to put together the mystery of who killed his wife. Along the way he encounters Teddy(Joe Pantoliano), who is trying to help him put everything together. He also meets Natalie(Carrie-Anne Moss) who seemingly helps him out of the kindness in her heart.

The film is broken in it's narrative style, with bits of the story repeating in a sort of over-lap fashion that allows the viewer to better put things together. There is, however, a part of the film to goes forward as we see Leonard talking on the phone, and these sequences are shown in a black and white vouyeristic view. At the "end" of the film the two narratives finally collide into one semi-coherient story.

The scenes of Leonard talking on the phone give the viewer a sort of god-like feeling as we look down on him and his life. The other scenes, the ones going backwards, use a much more "hands on" camera feel. The view is shakey and uneven and gives a sense of being there with Leonard as things occur.

Because of the broken and reversed narrative styles the film can be a little hard to follow, so it's advised to see it more than once if you plan to fully understand it all.

Sometimes people confuse the term "stoner movie" for any movie that has someone getting high in it, even if that's not the focus of the film. Such is the case with 2008's "Strange Wilderness". Before seeing this film I saw a few reviews that referred to it as a "stoner movie", which turned me off of it a little bit. However I still saw it, and it's not a "stoner movie".

This film did a good amount of things right, but it also did a few things wrong at the same time.

I'll start with the good, as to not drag anyone down. The voice overs during the old footage of animals is hilarious, and the footage mixing is equally good. Some of the jokes are genuinely funny, albeit a little low-brow at times. Some of the actors played their roles perfectly. Steve Zahn plays Peter with a great passion, or as much passion as a guy like Peter could be played with. Jonah Hill(of Superbad fame) is great as a wise-cracking jack-ass who doesn't really seem to care that much about the show he works for. Robert Patrick(T-1000 from T-2 and older brother of Filter frontman Richard Patrick) has a short part, but it's memerable. A crazed ex-Vietnam vet with some interesting scars seems like a great role for him, and he pulls it off. Ashley Scott(The Kingdom, Just Friends) plays the only real lead female role, and seems to hold her own well enough amongst the guys. She's more or less just some eye candy, which is good that they didn't muddle up the script with some love story between her and Peter. The use of old footage from the original "Strange Wilderness" show at the beginning to sort of set up the film is a good touch, although not really played off of enough to be too effective.

Now for the bad, and I hate doing this part of reviews sometimes. The film is too damn short, only clocking in at about a hour and a half. This may just be me nitpicking, but I expect major hollywood films to at least clock in at 2 hours to be considered "feature length". If not, then it's just a short film to me. Another downer was the rest of the cast, they really didn't stand out at all to me. Justin Long(Live Free or Die Hard) just plays your stereotypical stoner with no clue as to what's going on. Allen Covert(Happy Gilmore) has done some good stuff, like the aformentioned Happy Gilmore, and this film just seemed like her wasn't all that excited to do it. Something else that made this movie difficult to watch(in more ways then one, you'll see) is the high number to male genetal jokes. Be it a joy buzzer to a man's crotch several times, a Turkey attack, or something involving tribal types, there are just way too many. I, personally, cringed at most of them just because I know that sort of thing would hurt like all hell, and I did not need to see it happening. Again the old footage at the beginning wasn't played on enough, which bugged me.

As with any film, some things you see in the trailer aren't there. Fear not, though, the shark with the teeth and the laughing is there, and it's actually a lot funnier on a big screen. There is, however, a lot of breasts(even Ashley Scott's are there for a second) in this film.

If you don't like short films with a few missed jokes, some uninspired acting, male genetal pain, and breats then this might not be the movie for you. If you're looking for some cheap laughs then this would be a great movie, if it didn't cost $9 a pop to see it. I'd say you'd be better off waiting until it comes out on DVD and just renting it, save a few bucks at least.