Movie Critique #6 Pan's Labyrinth

This movie is amazing. The story is just so different from anything i have ever seen. The Fairy Tales that we all hear in Grade school has nothing on this. The movie opens with a fairy tale. A young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), lies on the ground bleeding, while the narration explains that long ago, Princess Moanna of the Underground Realm, curious about the world above, escaped to the Earth, where the sun blinded her and, forgetting her past, she weakened and died. Nonetheless, her father retains hope that her spirit will eventually return to him.

Ivana Baquero plays Ofelia, a young 10 year old girl who is very curious, very imaginative, love reading and has a certain love for Fairies. Her mother Carmen played by Ariadna Gil is the complete opposite of Ofelia. Carmen hates that her daughter doesn't leave books alone and that her imagination is getting in the way of the real world. Ofelia's stepfather, Captain Vidal played by Sergio Lopez, is a brutal Military captain and father of Carmen's unborn child. The Fawn is played by Doug Jones and is the main element to the Pan's Labyrinth. He is the one who gets Ofelia back to her kingdom in the Underground Realm.

The Story unfolds with a narration that talks about the Kingdom of Ofelia and the reason for which she got to earth and has to pass tests to get back. The Fawn is the one who tests her and leaves clues for her and brings her back to her Kingdom. The story takes place in 1944 post-Civil War Spain. The Captain Vidal and his military are stationed at a mill next to an ancient labyrinth.

These characters were just perfect for these parts. Sergio Lopez who plays Captain Vidal was the actor that did a tremendous job in this film. He was just so brutal and and violent and through him it was shown how this war created evil people. Ivana Baquero who plays Ofelia also did a great job in creating a strange yet normal relationship with her imagination that basically carried this film and added effect to her strong character as a princess.

This movie changed the way fairytale are told and I recommend watching it to anyone who likes a thriller. Oh and one more thing. i recommend watching it twice to fully understand it, ITS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!

Movie Critique: Three Amigos

Three Amigos is HILARIOUS! Steve Martin is great in this movie as well as Chevy Chase and Martin Short. Their characters Lucky Day (Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms(Chevy Chase) and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) were the perfect characters for this comedy. Their comedy is so original. "Three Amigos" is a story about three unemployed actors that receive a miss interpreted letter that tells them about a acting gig in Mexico, when it really is a call for help. A small village in Mexico is in need of help from "El Guapo", a bandit that threatens the small village. When the three actors get to the village they start realizing that the situation is real and that their very own lives are in danger. Losing the courage to fight, they leave the village running like cowards but then return to same the girl of course. In this film it was comedy packed but at some points there was quite a silence, but other then that the movie was very funny. What caught me the most about the film was that the people in Mexico talked English fluently.

Movie Critique # 5: Raiders of the Lost Ark

In this film Harrison Ford plays an adventurous character.He plays Indiana Jones. Karen Allen plays Marion, Indiana's lover and John Rhys-Davies plays Sallah, one of Indian's trusted archeologist. Through out this film H.Ford and K.Allen have have a strange relationship but it is very believable. They both hate each other but then in the end they both love each other. The acting of H.Ford and K.Allen were both great. the other actors did bring a great effect to the desire of the Lost Ark, which made it seem like the Ark was really looked for by these people and you wanted them to find it. There was great humor through out the movie. Action was a major part of the film. H.Ford was very young and though he did succeed in making the last Indiana Jones a success, I believe this film is way better than any of his other films. Obviously its Steven Spielberg I should be crediting but Harrison Ford does an excellent job of play this role as Indiana Jones. He has a great transformation from being a Professor to an adventure hungry archeologist.An archeologist doesn't go through what Indiana goes through in real life, but it does give some sort of basic idea of what an archeologist is. The great deserts of Egypt were a great location for the movie to take place whether the movie was filmed in Egypt or not, It all did seem very real. I liked this movie a lot. Harrison Ford did a great job as Indiana Jones.

Of Mice & Men Review

Wow. I did not like this movie. I love the book but not the movie. Lennie (John Malkovich) is a big guy who isn’t smart. He is a slow character. George (Gary Sanise) is a normal guy looking for work. George always brought Lennie around ever since Lennie’s Aunt Clara died. They go from job to job because Lennie always seems to get into trouble. Lennie loves touching soft things. That is his problem and it follows him through out the story. Lennie loves rubbing mice because of their softness and kills them because he doesn’t realize his strength. He doesn’t do it on purpose. Curly (Casey Siemaszko) is the boss’ son and always picks on Lennie because of Lennie’s size. Curly hates guys that are tall because he himself isn’t. Curly’s Wife (Sherilyn Fenn) is some one who wants attention. She usually tries talking, seducing the workers at the farm. Slim (John Terry) is a well respected character at the ranch. He is the one in charge. Curly doesn’t even try to take charge when Slim is around. Candy (Ray Walston) was and old person who worked at the ranch. He was disabled and just there basically to die.
This story takes place after the depression so these characters had it tough looking for jobs. Now that they found one, they try heard to keep it. This film is not as good as the book. Steinbeck (the writer of the book) did a great job creating the characters. In the film the main characters aren’t as close. I believe that that is the most important thing that the movie had to capture. It didn’t.

The Shining: Review

The Shining… Wow such a crazy, thrilling and entertaining classic!! I saw it for the first time 2 days ago and it was absolutely amazing! One of my favorite films now. Jack Nicholson is such a great acting and he brings such a great vibe to the production. I honestly have never seen his supporting actors before but they brought an ok performance.

Well the story starts of with a normal, quite family that just wants to go somewhere. Jack(Jack Nicholson) plays the father of a small family. His wife Shelley(Shelley Duvall) plays an odd character. She is one of those people that looks like their on drugs. Their son Danny(Danny Lloyd) plays a child who has a weird imaginary friend who talks to him by moving his finger. Jack Nicholson’s character starts off rather normal, a man with a small family looking to go somewhere in life by writing novels. When he gets a job staying at a hotel to watch over it over the winter, he and his family begin to see changes in him. He seems to be going crazy, his only desire is to finish his novel in peace. Of course Danny finds some fun in the hotel by riding around in his tricycle, but his mom not so much. She feels alone and bored. Seeking attention from Jack she finds his true side.

The relationship between Jack and Shelley is pretty dry. Its not very intimate and is looks like they are just together for the kid. There isn’t any violence or negative talk between them but there isn’t any emotion towards each other that often in the film. Same situation between Jack and Danny. Jack is a workaholic (alcoholic as well) and doesn’t seem to care much for Danny, and is probably why Danny has an imaginary friend in the first place. I believe that there is some sort of relationship with Danny and Shelley. Shelley isn’t his mother but there seems to be a comfortable bond between the both of them.

The setting is incredible. The hotel and the scenery surrounding it is amazing. Although this film gives it that creepy feel. One of the most famous scenes in the movie is when Jack is chasing his family throughout the hotel with an axe. The lighting adds so much effectiveness to the creepiness of the hotel and the music just like any other horror movie, gives it that extra scary rush.

I believe that this is one of Jack Nicholson’s greatest performances and I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes a thriller.

Favorite Movies:

-Longest Yard
-Without A Paddle
-The Sandlot
-Goodfellas
-Resevoir Dogs
-Bronx Tale
-A Knights Tale
-Forrest Gump