Well, for one thing it contrasted with the human world to show that, despite all the monsters in her fantasy world, the humans in the film were still capable of behaving more savagely. The lack of closure is quite intentional; it's not as if stories like that which occur in the real world have closure either; this verisimilitude is one of the reasons I hold the film in such high estimation. In the end it's not even clear whether the fantastic events were intended to be real or simply a coping device her mind created to escape the brutality of her real life.
It's quite simply a modern fairy tale. If you look at the Brothers Grimm stories the way they were originally written, they were this gruesome and scary.
As has been pointed out, Del Toro simply inverted the morality and made the humans the most monsterous and the monsters the most human. His sympathies have always been with the monsters if you look at his other films like Hellboy or Kronos.
Although he has stated that (SPOILER)the most shocking parts happen early on, I have to say the scene where (SPOILER)one character takes a sip of a drink is the most cringe-inducting for me.![]()
An Education
3/5 for the film, 11/10 for Carey Mulligan's performance. I was utterly captivated by it. It wasn't the most dramatic performance or the most thrilling or funny, she just simply lit up the screen in a way I've rarely seen before. She was magnetic. It was like watching Audrey Hepburn reborn.
Y-you don't like Tim?
BLASPHEMY!
I watched a movie on Comcasts On Demand last night; Dead End.
Older film, 90's or late 80's I think, and wasnt half bad if you concentrated on the dialogue. It really went downhill after (SPOILER)the smart-ass brother died because he was the best character imho. The ending sucked, the 'resolution' didn't make sense at ALL. So i'll give it a 3/10.
Daybreakers
Not a bad movie, and shouting out 'You just got Willem Dafown'd' got a few laughs...
But I find that when humans seem to have supernatural sneaky powers when put up against vampires.. I just have to groan a bit.
My favorite thing about Pan's Labyrinth is that I don't know whether to feel terribly sad at the end or happy for Pan. Leaving an event up to a reading or viewer's imagination can bother me sometimes, but I always love when the interpretation of mood is left entirely for your decision.
Ahh, I still have to watch this! I saw a poster for it in the theatres in England, but Hux wouldn't see it with me. Shlup sent to it me and I've not gotten around to sitting down and seeing it yet (same with Precious, it's sitting in my torrent folder waiting for some love.) It got a hella good review on Rotten Tomatoes.
I really love A Nightmare Before Christmas - I don't know anyone who disliked it. But every movie since that one (with the exception of Big Fish - I'll explain), has been really poor and vapid, because it's just him trying to rebottle the NBC glory, and it's just not working and it never will. I almost had to stop watching Sweeny Todd, it was such a poor work. I am so tired of seeing previews of movies with fake gloom, tired creepiness, and the butthumping of Johhny Depp. Isn't Johnny Depp tired of playing the same unimaginative characters? I thought he had more depth to him.
I watched an older movie a few months ago that had Johnny Depp - I had entirely forgotten that I even liked him as an actor until I saw it. It was called Chocolat and he was this pirate in an little french village. It was cool and I liked how he had a much more subtle way of acting in it. It wasn't the best movie, but I rather liked it, and I liked his role in it.
And coming back to it; I absolutely love Big Fish, it is one of my favorite movies. I think it is one of the most touching movies and it never fails to make me cry. It has such a big heart, like Amelie. It has his style of quirkiness, but it has warmth, originality, and an actual soul to it. The day Tim Burton stops trying to every single character in his movies ever another Jack Skellington is the day I'll see a movie of his again. I'm hoping that his talent and potential won't be wasted anymore.
EDIT: Whoa, I didn't mean that to sound so srs business. Sorry if that sounded crazy or anything. I just get really passionate about this because Tim Burton has this potential to make really beautiful movies like Big Fish, and he squanders it and it makes me grrrrrr!!! :kaoangry:
I concur with Rye about the Big F and the Pan's Lab connection. However, I think many of Tim Burton's movies were good. He's definitely an acquired taste, but I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who says Edward Scissorhands wasn't a good movie. I'm also fond of the Pewee movie he made. :shiny:
Anybody who likes Pan's Labyrinth should check out The Devil's Backbone. It is also written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. He once called them siblings in some interview, if I remember right. He said Backbone is his masculine "boy" film and Pan's is his feminine "girl" film. The Devil's Backbone isn't as good as Pan's Labyrinth, but it is magic realism too and still a really good film.
The last movie I watched was a Swedish movie called Patrik 1,5. It was sort of cute but really predictable, so 3/5 (lolscores).
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VY0zMyGcu8" target="_blank">Leprechaun.</a> <img src="http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m285/fofonda/pixel/usagi/p-usau-n.gif" title="Never again!" />
This isn't my fault, Monda!
Stay away from me.
La Vie en rose
2/5 for the movie, 9/10 for Marion Cotillard's performance. I have such a girl crush on Marion, I just think she's such a beautiful woman. But yeah, she completely disappeared in her role. She was unrecognizable sometimes. I didn't actually like the movie so much but Marion was lovely.
I watched that movie recently too! Yeah, it's pretty good, but I just love that girl so much that I'd watch anything she made. She's in a movie called Jeux D'enfant, and I really enjoy her in it. Try it! I think she's also in A Very Long Engagement, though a small role in it. She and Audrey Tautou are my favorite french actresses.
@Shiny - Oh, Edward Scissorhands is brilliant! I was more referring to his more uber-commercial Hot Topic humping sort of movies, like his new version of Willy Wonka, Sweeny Tod, The Corpse Bride, etc, etc.