StandingWater Creations

Yesterday was Saturday. I started to feel better. With that said, I spent most of last week (all of last week) feeling pretty stinkin’ sick. Truth told, I was either way too hot or way too cold and wanting to sleep the majority of every day. That was pretty much over Friday (sometime) though I did spend a portion of the day yesterday (and again today) wanting and actually sleeping. ‘Twas fun. Not really. It’s probably bad (the sleeping) when I feel like I’ve been sleeping way too much. I feel like I’ve been sleeping way too much.

Anyway, Erin and I went and saw Pan’s Labyrinth on Friday. It was written and direction by Guillermo del Torro. He directed (in the States) Hellboy and the forthcoming Hellboy 2. As I recall there wasn’t a lot of public support for the first Hellboy; but it must’ve done well enough to justify a second movie. Actually, most movies make their money off of DVD sales. So… you know, if it sells well enough in DVD you can pretty much bet it will get a reprieve from obscurity and be made into something more.

Actually, Family Guy was brought back from having been cancelled after DVD sales (and rebroadcasts) pulled a lot of fan support. Actually, Fox allowed Futurama a reprieve on Comedy Central after that show showed better-than-average DVD sales and fan support. So, sell enough DVD’s and the studios and networks will greenlight new production for (even) cancelled shows. S’probably why Babylon Five has survived mostly intact and in movie formats since it’s initial five-year broadcast run.

So, with all of that, we went to Pan’s Labyrinth on Friday night. I become interested in the film because Neil Gaiman (and his children and their friends) were shown a special screening of it and he actually gave it some pretty positive reviews. Why this is important is that Neil Gaiman reviews things and, when I am (sometimes) gutsy enough to take the plunge and read/listen to/watch something that he’s reviewed I find that for whatever (mostly unexplainable) reason I also tend to like it. Actually, I find that my tastes seem to mirror my brother Jack’s more than other siblings; so, with all that said, I found myself absolutely fascintated with and by Pan’s Labrynth as we sat in a relatively packed theatre and watched the movie.

It is not for the squeamish or for those who do not like (or can tolerate) violent imagery. It is also important to note that it is rated R. The movie deserves the rating. Neil Gaiman was shown the movie because he is friends with Guillermo del Torro and the writer/director wanted Gaiman’s opinion of the movie. It was positive. If you were to Google the movies website and do some searching you can see del Torro’s sketches and concept designs for the movie and the characters.

In review, the movie was good. It was excellent. It was absolutely amazing. It was a visual festival of eye-candy that you don’t see in American Cinema, at least not as often as I would like to. Movies like What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams are hailed for their visual imagery (and granted they are not the same kind of visuals), they pale (in my opinion) when being compared to the landscape, the abject beauty, and the masterful use of visual for storytelling that this movie presents. It was amazing.

The story is about a young girl, Ofelia, who is interested in fairy tales (my catch) and who is accompanying her mother to “The Mill” to live with her step-father. Immediately we are drawn into the world as is (fascist revolutionary Spain) where The Captain (her step-father) is commanding a garrison of soldiers who are fighting the fascists. He is not a nice man. The revolutionaries are simple. The workers in The Mill are scared. And we pretty much follow the story through Ofelia’s eyes.

As the story opens they are riding through the woods in cars. Her mother is sick. She asks that the cars be pulled over. Ofelia gets out and walks some distance ahead of the cars. She finds a carved piece of stone (from another carved stone) and replaces it as an eye. As she does so, an insect crawls out of the statues mouth and Ofelia feels that she has seen a fairy.

What happens next is that she is introduced into a dual world. In one sense she is a child in a garrison with an abusive step-father who is only interested in two things: 1) Having a son to carry on his name; and 2) beating the fascists by destroying the resistance. For both The Captain uses strong-handed techniques and makes everyone cowtow to his whims.

In the other sense, Ofelia is also introduced to a fantasy world where a little girl is separated from her real father who is the king of a fairy kingdom beneath the earth. Ofelia may be that girl but to prove her worth, she has to perform three tasks that prove she still has a mostly magical spirit before she can be accepted back into her father’s house. Enter a faun.

The faun is her guide on her quest to return home; while, in parallel, Mercedes (the lady in-charge of the house and kitchen) is her guide through the real world.

The story revolves around multiple conspiracies in both the real and fantasy worlds. It is an interesting romp and the farther into the movie you get the more you come to like Ofelia and Mercedes, wonder about the faun, and absolutely HATE The Captain. All at the same time. By the time the movie over you hope that Ofelia is a magical creature; you hope that Mercedes survives; and you hope that The Captain dies. All at the same time.

To juxtapose this, Erin and I eventually made our way to my house where we watched The Illusionists. As we watched that I could see that, compared to most American Cinema, it is better cinematography, it was really good. However, I turned to Erin and said, “This isn’t as good as Pan’s Labrynth.”

She said, “Of course it’s not.”

Granted, The Illusionist is pretty much a long con told in the 19th century and about a magician and about a stage show and about a royal conspiracy. Erin said, “It’s good and then it’s really bad and then it’s really good again.” She slept through most of it. My roommates (who were at home) sat and watched it with us. They seemed to agree and the part that was “really bad” was actually not so good.

I share this because, watching Pan’s Labyrinth - even with the subtitles, was a real pleasure. It was fun. The imagery was amazing. Erin and I talked about it for about an hour just because it affected us in a way that neither of us thought it would. The movie was what cinema is supposed to be; what it can be; and yet, we get The Illusionist which is not a bad movie and yet it becomes bad when placed (in comparison) next to something that is really so much better there is no comparison between the movies.

Seriously, Pan’s Labyrinth is an absolutely amazing movie and, at the same time, I can’t suggest it to anyone I am related to (outside of Jack) or to most of the people I associate with. However, given the storytelling I think it is one of the best things I’ve seen in a really, really, really, really long time. If they make a DVD and the special features even remotely talk about the visuals from this movie and how they did some of the special effects (SFX) I will buy the movie just for that.

After all was said and done, Erin and I were talking about never wanting to see the entirety of the movie again (some of it is really kind of disturbing) but, at the same time, we are both VERY fascinated with the movie in general and, I think, when it is released on DVD I want to see if it will tell me how they did some of what they did from creatures to SFX to makeup to the monsters.

The movie was amazing.

Amazing.

One more: Amazing.

Anyway, that’s really it. We didn’t watch any movies yesterday. We did watch the Pilot episode of Bones so that I could get Erin addicted to it (in perpetuity) so that it makes sense when I talk about some of the TV I enjoy and why I purchase some of the DVD sets I buy. She enjoyed it. Said, “If I watch enough of these shows I am going to want to become a forensic anthropologist.” I smiled.

Really, I was interested in her watching the show because the principle protagonist, Temperance Brennan, is all about woman power, standing up for herself, she’s take charge, kick-butt, and in the end, something I thought Erin would enjoy outside of the CSI-esque qualities of the show in general. She appeared to, though, for most things, we are pausing her catching up to me in TV shows until May when her housing situation changes, school is out, and we are a mere three months away from the whole wedding day.

That’s really it, for now.

John Hattaway | Alicia Grey | smokingpen | Denny Crane | Bond. James Bond