Review: "Pan’s Labyrinth" is a Fantasy Film Masterpiece (Happy B'day, Guillermo del Toro)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 95 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
El Laberinto del fauno – Spanish title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Mexico/Spain/USA; Language: Spanish
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic violence and some language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro
PRODUCERS: Álvaro Augustín, Alfonso Cuarón, Bertha Navarro, Guillermo del Toro, and Frida Torresblanco
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guillermo Navarro
EDITOR: Bernat Vilaplana
COMPOSER: Javier Navarrete
2007 Academy Award winner

FANTASY/DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergí López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil, Álex Angulo, Manolo Solo, César Vea, and Roger Casamajor

The subject of this movie review is Pan’s Labyrinth, a 2006 Mexican fantasy film. The film is directed by Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro.

Set in post-World War II Spain during the regime of Francisco Franco, El Laberinto del fauno (or Pan’s Labyrinth) is director Guillermo del Toro’s adult fairy tale that blends classic folklore with 20th Century political themes in a manner similar to del Toro’s Spanish Civil War-set The Devil’s Backbone (2001).

Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a dreamy girl who loves to read fairy tales, finds herself moved to a forest military outpost with her pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), at the behest of her stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergí López). Ofelia feels powerless and lonely, and except for her mother, makes one new friend, the outpost’s housekeeper, Mercedes (Maribel Verdú).

While exploring the forest, Ofelia stumbles upon a decaying garden labyrinth guarded by a mysterious faun, Pan (Doug Jones). Teasing and enigmatic, he tells Ofelia that she is really the lost Princess Moanna, who rightfully belongs in another world. Pan offers Ofelia a chance to prove herself – three tasks that will prove that her time in the mortal world has not washed away all of her immortality. As difficult as the tasks are, Ofelia must not only face the monsters of magical world, but also the ones in her daily life, especially Vidal and his brutal campaign against a band of anti-Franco rebels who hide in the forest.

Although many directors are called visionary, Guillermo del Toro certainly deserves the label, and I like to think of him as a Latin parallel to director Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). His devotion to gothic horror has resulted in dark, dark fantasy films that are both colorful and moody, as well as being filled with daring and innovative imagery.

Pan’s Labyrinth weighs against blind obedience to ideology, and favors devotion to friends and loved ones. It advocates sacrifice in place of unyielding selfishness and cruelty. Del Toro works these themes through the film using two narratives about two worlds. There is Ofelia’s harsh real world where her mother suffers a difficult pregnancy and her stepfather is a monster. The other world is one of the fantasy quest, which one can see as either literal or simply a figment of Ofelia’s vivid imagination. While both narratives may seem unconnected, they come together. One portrays the danger of belief that one’s ideology makes one superior to others and therefore has the power of life and death over them. The other deals with doing something that feels wrong out of desperation for reward – the end justifies the means.

The lovely performances and ingenious production add beauty to this ambitious and successfully executed story. In the end, Pan’s Labyrinth’s ideas do outweigh its grand imagination, and considering the visuals, that’s quite a feat.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 3 wins for “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta), “Best Achievement in Cinematographer” (Guillermo Navarro), and “Best Achievement in Makeup” (David Martí and Montse Ribé); 3 nominations for “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Javier Navarrete), “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year” (Mexico), and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Guillermo del Toro)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 3 wins: “Best Costume Design” (Lala Huete), “Best Film not in the English Language” (Alfonso Cuarón, Bertha Navarro, Frida Torresblanco, and Guillermo del Toro), “Best Make Up & Hair” (José Quetglás and Blanca Sánchez); 5 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Edward Irastorza, Everett Burrell, David Martí, and Montse Ribé), “Best Cinematography” (Guillermo Navarro), “Best Production Design” (Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Guillermo del Toro), “Best Sound” (Martín Hernández, Jaime Baksht, and Miguel Ángel Polo)

2007 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film”

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

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Adele's James Bond Theme Song Now Available

Adele's "Skyfall", Official Theme Song To Latest James Bond 007 Feature SKYFALL(TM), Globally Available On iTunes Now

"SKYFALL" RELEASE TO COINCIDE WITH 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF JAMES BOND 007

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Columbia Records -- Following Adele's premiere of her latest recording "Skyfall," the official theme song to the upcoming 007 adventure of the same name, globally via her official site (http://adele.tv) at 0:07 BST/London time October 5th, the track is now available to purchase as a download at iTunes (http://smarturl.it/AdeleSkyfall). October 5(th) marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, and thus the James Bond film franchise, and will be celebrated as Global James Bond Day.

After a 90 second clip of the track leaked earlier this week, fans and critics have lined up to praise the "Skyfall" theme, with the Evening Standard calling Adele the "Best Bond singer since Shirley Bassey," The Daily Telegraph describing it as "A Bond song that stirs the heart", and the LA Times saying, "Though only about 90 seconds, what's available of Adele's 'Skyfall' seems to hint at the classic Bond themes of yore," whilst The Guardian called it "A deliciously languid ballad."

The lyric video to "Skyfall" can also be seen at http://adele.tv.

After reading the script for the film, Adele enlisted Paul Epworth to co-write and produce the theme song to "Skyfall(TM)." Adele admits, "I was a little hesitant at first to be involved with the theme song for Skyfall. There's a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song. But I fell in love with the script and Paul had some great ideas for the track and it ended up being a bit of a no brainer to do it in the end. It was also a lot of fun writing to a brief, something I've never done, which made it exciting. When we recorded the strings it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I'll be back combing my hair when I'm 60 telling people I was a Bond girl back in the day I'm sure!" Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, "Skyfall" features the lush accompaniment of a 77-piece orchestra.

"Skyfall" is the first recording by Adele since releasing her massively successful album 21 in early 2011. To date 21 has sold over 24 million albums worldwide and garnered Adele 6 Grammy Awards, 2 BRIT Awards and 2 Ivor Novello Awards.


"Skyfall(TM)" the movie will be released on October 26, 2012 in the UK and on November 9, 2012 in the U.S.


About SKYFALL(TM)
Daniel Craig is back as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in SKYFALL(TM), the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time. In SKYFALL, Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. The film is from Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Directed by Sam Mendes. Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan.

Web Site: http://www.columbiarecords.com

Review: "Bram Stoker’s Dracula" Still a Stand-Out Dracula Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for sexuality and horror violence
DIRECTOR: Francis Ford Coppola
WRITER: James V. Hart (based upon the novel by Bram Stoker)
PRODUCERS: Fred Fuchs, Charles Mulvehill, and Francis Ford Coppola
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Ballhaus
EDITORS: Anne Goursaud, Glen Scantlebury, and Nicholas C. Smith
COMPOSER: Wojciech Kilar
Academy Award winner

HORROR/FANTASY/ROMANCE with elements of drama

Starring: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Bill Campbell, Sadie Frost, Tom Waits, and Monica Bellucci

The subject of this movie review is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a 1992 vampire movie and Gothic horror film from director Francis Ford Coppola. The film’s screenplay essentially takes the familiar Dracula story and emphasizes romantic and sensual elements. The film’s lavish production values helped it earn many honors, box office success, and some favorable attention from film critics.

Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish and colorful gothic extravaganza, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is a three-time Academy Award winner. Dazzling, lush, and sensuous, the film affirms Coppola’s place as imaginative and brilliant filmmaker. The film also testifies to the talents of all the cohorts. Eschewing the (then) burgeoning use of computers to add special effects to films, the SFX, cinematographer, makeup, sets artists, and designers used old-fashioned craftsmanship and artistry to create an amazing movie that harks to the past while looking out of this world impossible.

The film’s story is similar to previous adaptations of Bram Stoker’s novel (although most films are actually based on an early 20th century stage version of Stoker’s novel than the novel itself), but the attraction here is the visual interpretation. Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves), a young lawyer, travels to into the gloomy misty land of Eastern Europe, Transylvania, to meet a mysterious client, Count Dracula (Gary Oldman), who is buying several tracts of property in London. Dracula, a vampire, later imprisons Harker when he discovers that Mina Murray (Winona Ryder), Harker’s fiancée, exactly resembles is late human wife, Elisabeta (Ms. Ryder), who killed herself centuries ago. Dracula travels in secret to London where he seduces and drains the life out of Mina’s friend, Lucy Westenra (Sadie Frost). However, the cautious Dr. Jack Seward (Richard E. Grant) summons his old mentor, Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) who immediately recognizes Lucy’s ailment and subsequent death as the work of a vampire. Van Helsing gathers Lucy’s friends to destroy Dracula, but the undead count has in eyes on Mina, and she, surprisingly, as her eyes on him.

The film is very entertaining, a stunning visual treat, and a unique horror film that hypnotizes you into watching it over and over again. Gary Oldman is one of the best screen Dracula’s ever; he is magnificent and alluring, but also fearsome and awe-inspiring. Winona Ryder is simultaneously demure and spirited as the brave Mina who is also secretly a naughty girl. The rest of the cast is mostly hit or miss. Anthony Hopkins gives a mostly annoying performance as Van Helsing, in which he only occasionally makes the character the brave and resolute leader he was in the original novel. Keanu Reeves is wooden, stiff, and nearly undead himself as Jonathan Harker. How could Mina not choose an undead monster with romantic inclinations over a pebble like Reeves’ Harker. The rest of the cast is functional and has its moments. The attraction here is the amazing work of Coppola and his filmmaking crew, as well as the screen duo of Oldman and Ms. Ryder; they’re the reasons you see this film.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1993 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Costume Design” (Eiko Ishioka), “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Tom C. McCarthy and David E. Stone), and “Best Makeup” (Greg Cannom, Michèle Burke, and Matthew W. Mungle); 1 nomination: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Thomas E. Sanders and Garrett Lewis)

1994 BAFTA Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Eiko Ishioka), “Best Make Up Artist” (Greg Cannom, Michèle Burke, and Matthew W. Mungle), “Best Production Design” (Thomas E. Sanders), and “Best Special Effects” (Roman Coppola, Gary Gutierrez, Michael Lantieri, and Gene Warren Jr.)

Quentin Tarantino to Be Honored at Hollywood Film Awards

Quentin Tarantino, writer/director of "Django Unchained," to receive the "Hollywood Screenwriter Award"

The 16th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Times, is pleased to announce that screenwriter/director Quentin Tarantino will be given the "Hollywood Screenwriter Award," at this year’s awards gala.

"We are honored to present this award to Quentin for his unique and exceptional creative vision at this year's Gala," said Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Awards.

The 2012 Hollywood Film Awards has also announced that it will honor Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman with the “Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award” for “Argo, ”writer/director David O. Russell with the “Hollywood Director Award,” Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro with the "Hollywood Supporting Actor Award," Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard with the "Hollywood Actress Award," Academy Award-nominated actress Amy Adams with the "Hollywood Supporting Actress Award," producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner with the "Hollywood Producers Award," writer/director Judd Apatow with the "Hollywood Comedy Award," actor John Hawkes with the "Hollywood Breakout Performance Award" for "The Sessions," and Quvenzhané Wallis with the "New Hollywood Award" for "Beasts of the Southern Wild." Other honorees include cinematographer Wally Pfister, editor Dylan Tichenor, production designer Sarah Greenwood and visual effects supervisors Jeff White for “The Avengers.” In addition, director Peter Ramsey's "Rise of the Guardians" will be honored with the "Hollywood Animation Award," along with additional honorees to be announced in the coming weeks.

The Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 22, 2012. The event honors cherished stars and up-and-coming talent, and traditionally kicks off the film awards season with the biggest stars and top industry executives in attendance. "We are very proud to be the first stop of the awards season. In the last nine years, a total of 85 Oscar nominations and 32 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Film Awards," said de Abreu.

Last year's awards show reached a total TV audience of more than 41 million media impressions, in addition to more than 300 million online and print readers' impressions.

Aside from celebrating accomplishments on screen, the Hollywood Film Awards established the "Hollywood Gives Back" program to expand and continue highlighting and assisting important local and national charities to raise funds. Over the years, the Hollywood Film Awards has contributed to such charities as the following: The Art of Elysium, Artists For Human Rights, Artists for Peace and Justice, MatchingDonors.com, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, the Enough Project, and Variety The Children's Charity of So. CA, among others. Further, the Hollywood Film Awards selects individuals to be recipients of their "Hollywood Humanitarian Awards" in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large. Prior recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner and ex-President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Father Rick Frechette, and actor and activist Sean Penn.


ABOUT QUENTIN TARANTINO
With his vibrant imagination and dedication to richly layered storytelling, Quentin Tarantino has established himself as one of the most celebrated filmmakers of his generation. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Tarantino's World War II epic, assembled a renowned international cast and was a critical and box office sensation, garnering numerous awards, including six BAFTA nominations, ten Critics Choice nominations, four Golden Globe nominations and eight Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Achievement in Directing.

Prior to INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Tarantino thrilled audiences with acclaimed favorites RESERVOIR DOGS, JACKIE BROWN, KILL BILL VOL. 1 & KILL BILL VOL. 2, and GRINDHOUSE. Tarantino also co-wrote, directed and starred in PULP FICTION, which won numerous critics' awards, a Golden Globe and Academy Award® for Best Screenplay, and the Palme D'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Tarantino's next film is the highly anticipated DJANGO UNCHAINED, featuring an all-star cast that includes Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, and will be released in theaters on Christmas Day.

Review: "Trading Places" is Timeless (Remembering Denholm Elliot)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 83 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Trading Places (1983)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: John Landis
WRITERS: Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod
PRODUCER: Aaron Russo
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Paynter (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Malcolm Campbell
COMPOSER: Elmer Bernstein
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliot, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristin Holby, and Paul Gleason

The subject of this movie review is Trading Places, a 1983 comedy film and satire from director John Landis. The film stars Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy as a snobbish commodities trader and a streetwise con artist, respectively, who plot revenge against two conniving millionaires who cruelly use them in a personal wager.

Rare is the comedy film that enjoys success across a broad spectrum of viewer types and still remain popular even two decades after its initial release. That is exactly the case with director John Landis’s buddy, comic caper Trading Places.

Mortimer (Don Ameche) and Randolph Duke (Ralph Bellamy), millionaire commodity brokers, have made a bet. Randolph believes that he can take a common criminal off the streets, Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy), and make him into a successful businessman, the old nature vs. environment/nurture. Mortimer disagrees, siding with nature, and the brothers bet one dollar to whoever wins. To learn if even a man who has been brought up in the right environment and has gotten everything he wants can go bad, they pick their hand-chosen successor at Duke and Duke, the snobbish Louis Winthorp III (Dan Aykroyd), and frame him for a few crimes. He loses his job and winds up in jail. The Dukes give Billy Ray Louis’s home and job at Duke and Duke. When Billy Ray accidentally discovers the wager, the wily young con artist joins Louis, Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis) a hooker with a heart of gold who has befriended Louis, and Louis’s butler Coleman (Denholm Elliot) to turn the tables on the two callous Duke Brothers.

One of the things that makes this film so much fun is that it plays upon broad socio-economic stereotypes that are very familiar to audiences. What makes these almost stock characters work so well is a combination of excellent comic actors and a good comedic script. Dan Akyroyd is a very good actor, but he is mostly known as a comedian; combine good acting with a great sense of comic timing, and you have a great performance.

Eddie Murphy’s star as a movie actor was rapidly rising at this point in his career, but he was already a quite accomplished player in the cast of “Saturday Night Live.” The Murphy here is still the brash, streetwise, fast talker bursting with the kinda of “black comedy” that both black and white audiences love – you know, the sassy and mouthy Negro who always has a come back or something smart-alecky to say. That Murphy is mostly gone and rarely makes a film appearance now almost 20 years into Murphy’s film career, but looking back, one can see that he makes Billy Ray Valentine both hilarious and loveable – the guy you can root for and with whom you can almost identify.

Kudos also go to longtime screen veterans Bellamy, Ameche, and Elliot for bravura performances that take stock characters and give them flavor and delightful personalities. We also get the added gem of seeing Ms. Curtis in a role that didn’t require her to run from a knife-wielding murder. Up to this point in her career, Ms. Curtis had become the new "Scream Queen" of horror films.

If you haven’t seen this film, you don’t know what you’re missing. If you’ve seen it once before, you should be at least on your tenth viewing.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1984 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score” (Elmer Bernstein)

1984 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Supporting Actor” (Denholm Elliott) and “Best Supporting Actress” (Jamie Lee Curtis); 1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod)

1984 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Eddie Murphy)

New Anime Series "K" Hits Japan and North America

VIZ MEDIA LAUNCHES NEW ANIME SERIES “K” ON VIZANIME.COM

Newest Original Anime Series With Action Packed Psychic War Between Seven Kings Launches On Leading U.S. Anime Streaming Site The Same Day It Debuts In Japan

VIZ Media takes fans to an alternative world of – K - in the North American debut of the new anime series on VIZAnime.com, the company’s own website for free anime, as well as on the free, ad-supported Hulu service and the Hulu Plus subscription service (www.Hulu.com).

K will be presented in Japanese with English subtitles, and debuts in North America the same day it launches in Japan. Episode 1 is now available, and new installments of the 13-episode series will debut every Thursday.

K is set in a world where history has taken a slightly different course from the one we’re familiar with and follows the story of a young boy whose life is caught in a psychic war between seven kings. Yashiro Isana, also known as Shiro, is wanted for a crime he has no recollection of committing. He finds himself being hunted by the groups Homura, led by Mikoto Suoh, “The Red King,” and Scepter 4, led by Reisi Munakata, “The Blue King.” While on the run, another young man named Kuroh Yatogami helps him. Will this fated encounter change Shiro’s life forever?

“K is the newest anime property to be acquired by VIZ Media and we’re extremely excited to debut it on VIZAnime.com the same day as its launch in Japan,” says Brian Ige, Vice President, Animation. “K was developed by GoHands, the studio that created the cyberpunk anime film series, Mardock Scramble, and enigmatic writers’ collective GoRA Project. The highly detailed look of K’s production and its intriguing story will definitely give this new series a strong following. Don’t miss the exciting first episode!”

For more information on K and other animated titles from VIZ Media please visit www.VIZAnime.com.

Review: Original "Frankenweenie" Short and Sweet

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 187 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Frankenweenie (1984) – B&W
Running time: 27 minutes
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Leonard Ripps (from an idea by Tim Burton)
PRODUCER: Julie Hickson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Thomas Ackerman
EDITOR: Ernest Milano

SHORT/SCI-FI/COMEDY with elements of horror

Starring: Shelley Duvall, Daniel Stern, Barret Oliver, Joseph Maher, Roz Braverman, and Domino (Sofia Coppola)

Back in 1984, Tim Burton made a delightful little film short entitled, Frankenweenie, for Disney. Disney didn’t like the offbeat story and refused to release the film. However, after Burton had a hit film with Beetle Juice and landed the gig to direct Batman (1989), Disney released the film on videocassette in the late 80’s.

The film retells the Frankenstein story from a child’s perspective with gentle humor and simplicity. When his pet dog Sparky is hit and killed by a car, Victor Frankenstein (Barret Oliver) revives Sparky Frankenstein-style using electricity. While Victor’s parents Susan (Shelley Duval) and Ben (Daniel Stern) slowly come to accept the resurrected Sparky, the neighbors aren’t so cool with it. The chase Sparky to miniature golf course where Sparky becomes a tragic hero, but can he come back again?

In Frankenweenie, Burton reveals his whimsical gothic style and his penchant for putting the unusual, the weird, and the bizarre in a suburban setting, a theme he’s revisited several times. The black and white photography and Victor’s neighborhood, which the photography turns into a “Leave it to Beaver” wonderland, are a nice fit for this gentle tale about a boy and his dog. Frankenweenie is nowhere near as good as Burton’s great films, but it is a nice and charming little oddity-lite.

6 of 10
B

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