Have seen Cronos and didn't care for it. Never saw enough of The Devil's Backbone to even form an opinion.

However, I didn't like Hellboy at all. Mimic was crap as far as I'm concerned. So was Blade II. Let me put it this way. His track record as been decidedly below average. Even if I give you The Devil's Backbone, the rest of his resume is ugh!

But like I said, I definitely want to see Pan's Labrynth and would love for him to prove me wrong.

When did we go from "IMO" to "Empiric Fact"?

I think if I saw it again, now knowing how it's constructed, I'd probably enjoy it more.

I guess I can see how someone might think this is a kids movie from the trailer, I was also expecting more fantasy, but with an R rating, why are there still freakin' kids in the theater? Isn't the R a tipoff that this isn't a movie for kids? I saw this today at a matinee, and some jackass had 4 9 year old kids with him. My first thought was, this is subtitled, how long are these kids gonna last. Then I heard 2 of them crying "Papi, Papi!" when some of the violent stuff happened. So I guess they didn't need subtitles. At that point I figured the guy would realize this wasn't a children's movie when they started acting up, but they stayed for the whole thing. I think everyone was pretty pissed. Why are theaters even letting children into R rated movies at all?

As for the movie, I thought it was great. Although a bit disappointed with less than expected fanatsy, it was still a very moving film. And the little girl was such a good, young actress. You compare performaces like hers to the over the top, eyes welling, lip trembling performances of Dakota Fanning and can't imagine what all the fuss is about.

It was much more violent than I was expecting. It's rare that I avert my eyes from the screen, but I did on this one.

Wasn't this supposed to open in wide release today? It's still not playing anywhere in Atlanta yet. This sucks.

Anyone else get a Clive Barker vibe from that monster?

I thought the movie was okay. I didn't love it like Children Of Men. Cinematography was nice. The young lead was excellent. With a few tweaks and deletions I think it could have been a stellar movie for kids.



I wouldn't mind seeing more flims on the Spanish Civil War. We don't seem to get that many, at least in the US.

Not in Tampa either. According to the website a lot more cities are being added the 19th.

I too was expecting a dark R rated fantasy film. What we got was a film that was 90% about the War and 10% about dark fantasy. Although I think It was a good film. I was really dissapointed that they are misleading in the marketing of the film which pissed me off.

holy crap! I can't say how great I thought this was....it was the saddest, most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time...now I need to find a copy of Paperhouse (http://imdb.com/title/tt0098061/) because part of this made me think there were similar themes...
I thought about this movie for a long time and still can't find any flaws in the story or direction.

I thought this was a truly beautiful production.

I'd say it's more 60-40.

Personally I liked it that way. Watch it again with the proper mindset, now that you know what to expect, hopefully you can enjoy it for what it is, not for what the commercials fooled you into thinking.

f1shf00d, you may be interested to know that,

ok...

...yes, I know it's just fiction, but tell the millions of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars nerds that and they'll strike you with their plastic swords/sabers. a good story is a good story, and we might as well appreciate them when they show up.

After watching this film earlier, the first thing I thought was how great a movie about the back story of the fantasy world would be. Also,

Everything I'd hoped it would be. My fav of last yr (though I have not seen Children of Men or Babel)

****

I'll finally see it this weekend as it finally opens here in my market of Omaha, NE.

Now for Inland Empire....

I loved it. It was dark, fascinating and moving. Del Toro is a favourite of mine and he doesn't disappoint here - easily one of the 10 best of 2006 and almost instantly demands a second viewing. I'm glad it lived up to the hype (from the media and my own personal hype) which has been pretty rare of late. Well worth seeking out. (However, my only gripe about the film is that the Captain is given a few too many "he's evil" moments, more specifically the but that is a MINOR flaw in a very engaging and original flick.

MATT

Saw this last night. Beautiful, dark and superb movie. Touches all sorts of emotions. I definitely agree with mdc3000, one of the 10 best movies of 2006. Parents be warned, this is NOT for kids.

quick question (havent read the thread due to potential spoilers) - is it in english?

It's in Spanish.

I disgaree with you, mdc3000, about that moment being evil. That isn't something that only evil people do to begin with. I think it was there more to show how self-reliant Vidal was. He did do everything himself and that was just another instance, at its most extreme, of him being self-reliant. I think it was one of the most important scenes for Vidal's character.

I thought it was great. It's like a live action Miyazaki film but darker.

Well, they've got Iñarritu, Cuarón, and Del Toro. Two of those guys happen to be some of my all-time favorite directors.

Saw this last night and I can't get it out my head, It's certainly my favorite movie of 2006.

A weird coincidence...I just started a class this semester called History of Literature for Young People and we have been reading alot of gothic fairy tales. Most of these original fairy tales are actually quite a bit darker and more adult than they have evolved into, more like Del Toro's film. And it struck me when watching this movie that it is probably the most effectivlely constructed Live Action fairy tale ever made

...although I am a pretty big fan of Jim Henson's Dark Crystal as well.

I'm one of those who is going to take my 11 year old son to see it. Why? Because he is a little movie buff who will probably grow into a big movie buff. I knew that he would love movies because when he was 5, I started watching 2001 at midnight. He came in to watch it with me and put his head in my lap during the movie. Two hours later he asked me "Dad is the computer going to let him in the space ship?"

I have screened it, determined the level of violence is acceptable, and we will go. If he does not like it, (there are many he doesnt) he will fall asleep.

I think the problem with many kids in R rated movies is that parents do not know their children nor to they research the movie. There are so many movies I will not let my son see, I know what he can stand and understand. There are also many parents like myself, who do the research and take the time to determine the threshold (and steer well clear of it) of what their children's movie going experience can be like. It is to bad that the parents who do not know this and cause their children to wince and whine during the movie gets all the attention.

I'm not as high on this film as many others are. Perhaps it's the character of Capt. Vidal that just didn't work for me, basically evil incarnate, in this tale. I would call the film brutally unflinching, but its impact on me just left me cold or indifferent to the outcome, be it ambiguous or wide open to personal interpretation. After the film ended, some scenes just made me scratch my head as to why they were even in the film, besides to just make the viewer uneasy. The pacing of the film wasn't all that tight, and the intermingling of the real world and Ofilia's "mythical" world never meshed for me.

I guess it's worth a matinee, but it didn't work for me.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.