Tag Archives: pan’s labyrinth

DC Cinematic Universe, Movie Lists, Movies, Star Wars

Top 10: Movies Where the Villain Kills the Hero

5 Comments

Sometimes everything isn’t happily ever after for our heroes.  WatchMojo has put together a list for a great topic for discussion: movies where the villain ends up killing the hero.  The hero’s journey doesn’t always end the way we’d hope (those reeling after this weekend’s Avengers: Infinity War are feeling that).  Sometimes a hero sacrifices themselves to ensure their ultimate goal.  Sometimes a hero’s goal IS their own death.  Sometimes….well, sometimes they bad guys DO win.  It goes without saying that unless you feel like you’ve pretty much seen iconic movies GIANT SPOILER WARNING!  What do you think of WM’s selections?  Off the top of my head, Road to Perdition, Shane, and Logan (which is in a lot of ways an homage to Shane) spring to mind.   I think we can definitely find two better selections than The Wicker Man and Batman vs. Superman (seriously, guys?). What other films do you think should have made this list where the hero didn’t make it to the end credits?Mel Gibson in Braveheart

 

movie review, Movies

Movie Review: The Shape of Water (2017) *Del Toro Returns to Fairy Tales*

11 Comments

Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in The Shape of Water
Most people think fairy tales are for children, and maybe they are in modern times but that was never their intent.  Fairy tales, the Grimm kind, were morality plays full of fear, violence, and horror.  Guillermo del Toro started his career making these kinds of fairy tales with his early films like Chronos, The Devil’s Backbone, and his masterpiece: Pan’s Labyrinth (even the Hellboy films have elements of fairy tale storytelling to them).  The Shape of Water is del Toro’s return to this style of storytelling after a decade, and he’s been showered with critical acclaim.  However, despite being a technically perfectly made motion picture, The Shape of Water is no Pan, and lacks the storytelling magic del Toro usually brings to a film. Continue reading Movie Review: The Shape of Water (2017) *Del Toro Returns to Fairy Tales* →

Movie News, Movies

Best Pictures of the Last 25 Years: KT Pick vs. Oscars

2 Comments

Oscars

The Oscars are three weeks from tomorrow, and a new Best Picture (likely The Revenant) will be crowned.  Each year, during Oscar Week, we reveal the KT Community choice (which you  can currently vote for on the homepage) and I do The Renaissance Film Awards, which is how I stay sane (ish) during Oscar ceremonies that manage to incense me more than most Presidential debates.  The Revenant was a great film, no doubt, but this year was so good that it’s not even in my top 10 anymore.  Thus, the Academy and I will be disagreeing on Best Picture again, a historical trend that I am bored enough today to document in detail.


Here are the Best Picture winners from the last 25 years vs. my pick for that year’s best film.  Beside the Academy’s pick I have where I would have ranked it that year (there is a massive spreadsheet behind this fixation) and beside mine how it fared at the Oscars.  Even with the expansion of the Best Picture to a max of 10 nominations, I’ve only agreed with the Academy twice in the last 25 years (though they picked my runner-up thrice), and the trend seems to have us moving further apart, whereas there was a good decade stretch where my pick was at least among those nominated.  Take a look and see which you’d pick. Continue reading Best Pictures of the Last 25 Years: KT Pick vs. Oscars →

Movies, Top 5

Top 5: Foreign Language Films

4 Comments

Hero, Zhang Ziyi

Here’s a phrase that I hate hearing emerge from people’s mouths, “Ugh, I hate subtitles.  If I wanted to read, I’d have stayed home with a book.”  First off, no one who says that actually reads books, so don’t pretend.  Second, if you restrict yourself to only watching English-language films you’re missing out on some of the best films that have ever been made.  Yes, you may have to do a little work and access your brain (dusty up there, I know), but the payoff is completely worth it.  Most foreign films are poorly marketed in the States so one of the few things I actually depend on the Academy for is to identify foreign films for me to try out.  This, ironically, would not have worked for 60% of my top 5, which is why we’ll bring this thought full circle: the Academy is dumb.

Hero (2002)


Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

 

Intouchables (2011)


The Sea Inside (2004)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

 

Honorable Mentions: Red Cliff, The Orphanage, The Secret in Their Eyes (not the remake coming out), Incendies, Ip Man, The Lives of Others and Kung Fu Hustle.


Movies, Trailer Time

Trailer Time: Crimson Peak Trailer #2 (2015) *Del Toro Gets Back to His Roots*

Leave a comment

I don’t often enjoy being scared at the movies, but when I do….I watch Guillermo del Toro.  Stay frightented, my friends.


In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds… and remembers.

When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger, she is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak.
Crimson Peak, Guillermo Del Toro