Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label Guillermo del Toro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guillermo del Toro. Show all posts
Ron Perlman's titular hero brandishes a grotesquely oversized weapon on this poster for Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Hellboy is not the most discreet of superheros, but he is the best, now that fearful monsters are on the loose.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army is written and directed by great Mexican-born American filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Cronos (1992)), with Mike Mignola contributing story elements and based on his Dark Horse Comics character. It is a sequel to Del Toro's Hellboy (2004).
The story here completely escapes me and seems really weak, but this is also said in light of the fact that I simply cannot engage myself in this universe's baroque 'characters'.
There's humor, production design and special effects in excess in just about all scenes of the film, and Del Toro's unique nerd's mind and enthusiasm is definitely present: His monsters are incredible to look at, and they are the main reason to watch the overlong Hellboy II: The Golden Army for my money.
[Hellboy II: The Golden Army premiered 28 June (Los Angeles Film Festival) and runs 120 minutes. Shooting took place from June - November 2007 in England, including in London, Northern Ireland and in Hungary, including in Budapest. The film opened #1 to a 34.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 75.9 mil. $ (45.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 13.9 mil. $ (8.3 %) and Russia with 8.5 mil. $ (5.1 %). The film was nominated for the Best Makeup Oscar, lost to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film additionally grossed an estimated excess of 53.9 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. The film's flop killed the opportunity for a third despite the wishes of the filmmakers. The character was instead rebooted in Hellboy (2019), also a flop. Del Toro returned with Pacific Rim (2013). Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley (2021)) returned in Outlander (2008). Hellboy II: The Golden Army is fresh at 86 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Incredible Gothic imagery teases on this poster for Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth
Ofelia is a girl in General Franco's fascist Spain a few years after the civil war, who is so horrified deeply by the effects of the war, her pregnant, ill mother's plight, and her Falangist captain father's ways that she disappears into a dark fairytale.
Pan's Labyrinth is written and directed by Guillermo del Toro (Cronos (1992)). The original Spanish title translates to, 'the labyrinth of the faun'.
The escapist adventure of Ofelia is strange, and I appreciate it in segments but also feel that I need to revisit Pan's Labyrinth. It fails to bawl me over emotionally, which is likely because the film's symbolic expressionism becomes too thick for my tastes. The banality in the film, (purity and innocence meeting darkness and evil), is almost too much.
But the fantasies and creature effects of Del Toro and team are undeniably beautiful and fascinating. The ending is left up for interpretation, SPOILER though I personally found it deeply tragic.
[Pan's Labyrinth premiered 27 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 120 minutes. Del Toro passed on directing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) to make Pan's Labyrinth. Shooting took place from July - October 2005 in Spain, including in Madrid. The film opened #21 to a 568k $ first weekend in 17 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,143 theaters (different weeks), grossing 37.6 mil. $ (44.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 11.7 mil. $ (14 %) and Mexico with 6.8 mil. $ (8.1 %). The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for Cinematography (Guillermo Navarro), Art Direction and Makeup. It lost Best Original Screenplay to Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine, Score (Javier Navarrete) to Gustavo Santolalla for Babel and Foreign Language Film to The Lives of Others. It also won 3/8 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a Golden Globe, won 7/13 Goya award nominations, was nominated for a Grammy and won a National Board of Review award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #137 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between Casino (1995) and Unforgiven (1992). The film additionally made in excess of 55 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Del Toro had plans for a sequel but scrapped them to make Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), which was his next film. Ivana Baquero (Sister of Mine/Demonios Tus Ojos (2017)), who plays Ofelia, returned in The Anarchist's Wife/La Mujer del Anarquista (2008). Pan's Labyrinth is certified fresh at 95 % with a 8.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Several eye-catching characters stand out on this throw-back painted style poster for Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy
Though he is a demon from hell, Hellboy grows up to become a protector of good in the world, and an enemy of monsters and evil.
Hellboy is written by great Mexican filmmaker, co-writer/director Guillermo del Toro (Cronos (1993)), with Peter Briggs (Thunderbirds Are Go (2015, TV-series)) contributing story elements, adapting comic series Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (1994) by Mike Mignola (Joe Golem: Occult Detective 2015-18)).
It is very hard to give a real summary of the story of the movie, which is certainly occult, colorful, edited with rapidity - and forgotten again with rapidity. There is nothing sensational to Hellboy; everything here has been seen before, and notably better also.
Though the title character is marketed as an 'evil' hero, he is really naturally not the least bit evil. His bizarre look is another barrier for me against which the atypical movie finds itself on the wrong side of. Sweet Selma Blair (In Their Skin (2012)) seems miscast as a super-woman here. There are slimy monsters and hyper-stylized images in almost every scene. Hellboy is a tiring companion.
[Hellboy premiered 30 March (Los Angeles) and runs 122 minutes. Del Toro was inspired by the classic effects work of Ray Harryhausen for the film, but Harryhausen refused to participate with the making of Hellboy, thinking modern films too violent. Shooting took 130 days from March - August 2003 in the Czech Republic, including in Prague. The film opened #1 to a 23.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#2-#4), grossing 59.6 % of the total gross (60 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.6 mil. $ (5.6 %) and Spain with 4.7 mil. $ (4.7 %). The video release of the film went #1, selling more than 500k units in its first week. Del Toro returned with Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Ron Perlman (Run with the Hunted (2019)) returned in Quiet Kill (2004). Hellboy is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
2. Donnie Darko - Richard Kelly + Best Debut Movie of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Jake Gyllenhaal+ Best Youth Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year
3. Ghost World - Terry Zwigoff + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Coming-of-age Movie of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year: Thora Birch
The Pledge - Sean Penn + Best Ensemble of the Year: Jack Nicholson, Benicio Del Toro, Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Shepard, Harry Dead Stanton, Tom Noonan, Mickey Rourke + Best Nevada Movie of the Year
[The
loss is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films.
Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other
auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]
1. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within - 102.96 mil. $range 2. Bandits - 47.96 mil. $ range 3. Evolution - 40.68 mil. $ range 4. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - 25.44 mil. $ range 5. The Pledge - 23.24 mil. $ range 6. Formula 51 - 21.24 mil. $ range 7. Blow - 19.72 mil. $ range 8. 15 Minutes - 19.48 mil. $ range 9. Freddy Got Fingered - 8.28 mil. $ range 10. A.I. Artificial Intelligence - 5.64 mil. $ range
= Combined losses: 314.64 mil. $ Biggest hits of the year:
[The
gain is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films.
Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other
auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - 305.04 mil. $ mil. $ range 2. Spirited Away - 113 mil. $ range 3. A Beautiful Mind - 67.4 mil. $ range 4. Amélie - 59.56 mil. $ range 5. Hannibal - 53.64 mil. $ range 6. The Fast and the Furious - 44.88 mil. $ range 7. Gosford Park - 15.28 mil. $ range 8. Nowhere in Africa - 1.82 mil. $ range = Combined profits: 660.62 mil. $ Notes:
