Pan's Labyrinth (El Lebertino del Fauna)

[ericl]

Have you guys seen this? Excellent movie!! Go see it.

[Mike Anderson]

I just saw it, was blown away.

I love dark fairytales like that. My all-time favorite is City of Lost Children, which has a more interesting plot IMO, but this movie had better acting, better effects, and was just beautifully shot.

Anybody who didn't get choked up lacks a functioning heart.

[Mike Anderson]

BTW, Eric, I've got my 3.6Rs now, you should come by and check 'em out sometime.

[ericl]

BTW, Eric, I've got my 3.6Rs now, you should come by and check 'em out sometime.

Sweet! Let's do it soon. I've got both a Rega Apollo and Scott Nixon USB Tube DAC on hand, if you're interested I can bring them by. What works better for you? Weekend, weekday?

eric

[Mike Anderson]

Sweet! Let's do it soon. I've got both a Rega Apollo and Scott Nixon USB Tube DAC on hand, if you're interested I can bring them by. What works better for you? Weekend, weekday?

eric

Weekend - drop me an email: mikeand1 at comcast.net

[Dusty Chalk]

No, but I saw the trailer for it and am intrigued -- definitely my kind of movie. Is it in theaters or out on DVD already?

[thekid]

We want to go see it but it is not showing in our area.
The trailer says the movie is only running in selected cities-does anyone know if they are planning to run a wider release??

[ericl]

I guess it's still on a limited release. I don't know what the hold up is. It's a great movie.

Oh yeah, here's the website:
http://www.panslabyrinth.com/

[noddin0ff]

Sweet! Let's do it soon. I've got both a Rega Apollo and Scott Nixon USB Tube DAC on hand, if you're interested I can bring them by. What works better for you? Weekend, weekday?

eric

I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about the Nixon DAC. I've been considering the Chibi or the USB Chibi as an entry level good dac. I'm calculating various budget options...Airport Express + Chibi / computer direct USB to Chibi / or Squeezebox...

I don't think I'd spend for the Tube DAC. But I notice that I like the analog feed from my CD player better than using my receivers DAC, so a modest DAC expenditure is likely worth it for me. Chibi VS Squeezebox I suppose is the heart of the matter.

Opinions on Nixon's DACs?

[Mike Anderson]

No, but I saw the trailer for it and am intrigued -- definitely my kind of movie. Is it in theaters or out on DVD already?

Definitely see it in the theater, don't wait for the DVD. The cinematography is phenomenal, and worthy of seeing it on the big screen.

[Kam]

i just saw this and wow. i loved it too!! what a perfectly heartbreaking story. this, along with the Devil's Backbone, is really pushing del toro up to my fav filmakers list.

beautifully told story that just kicks you in the nuts with its soul. highly highly reccomended!!! if you haven't seen it, please do! such a shame this is barely available in markets yet the next sandler movie will be plastered everywhere... such is life.

[ericl]

Opinions on Nixon's DACs?

It's incredible. It's just plain fantastic.

http://www.audioreview.com/USBTDcrx.aspx

[noddin0ff]

There was a really amazing interview with Director Guillermo Del Toro on NPR yesterday.
Link here for the audio stream

I haven't seen any of his movies, but I want to now. This was really an impressive interview. The guys thoughts and ideas and humanity... worth a listen.

He gave his thoughts on war, religion, kidnapping, monsters, reality, art...

[ericl]

There was a really amazing interview with Director Guillermo Del Toro on NPR yesterday.
Link here for the audio stream

I haven't seen any of his movies, but I want to now. This was really an impressive interview. The guys thoughts and ideas and humanity... worth a listen.

He gave his thoughts on war, religion, kidnapping, monsters, reality, art...

I heard a portion of that. It was great. I liked how the part about his grandmother exorcising him twice as boy because he was always drawing monsters and demons. And then his lesson from this: "You can love a person for their flaws and because they are different from you"

I want to see more of his stuff now too.

[Troy]

I didn't love it like everyone else seems to. It was just too grim, too dour, too gratuitously violent. It was utterly devoid of charm or humor.

SPOILERS FOLLOW:
The shot of the Captain sewing his face back together served WHAT purpose? Wasn't it already very well established that he was a monster? Ditto the torture victim wound close ups. Jeeeeeesus. I felt like I was watching a snuff film. And it's not like I'm bothered by violent films . . . I just think this movie would be better served without the graphic violence. Only alluding to the grotesque and letting our imaginations fill in the blanks is the way to be really scary . . . but that's actually harder to do that than to show every minute detail.

At what point does having an anti-violence message be delivered by depicting graphic violence defeat the purpose? This film will attract viewers wanting to get off on the violence, which throws Del Toro's message right in the mud.

Even the fantasy sequences were brutal and morbid. The Faun was seriously ugly and the actor in the suit moved poorly. I had no suspension of disbelief when it appeared on screen. It looked like a guy overacting in bad make up.

The ending was numbingly depressing. So the girl dies and fantasizes eternal life as a princess as she's in her death throes? Unless you don't believe that her fantasy world was real. It was a very similar to the ending of Brazil in that regard, but without the wit, the sly wink.

Children of Men is the one to see. Also shockingly violent and brutal, but the violence serves the story.

[ericl]

Normally i don't dig on graphic violence, but I don't agree that it was all gratuitous. I think cutting his mouth and then sewing it up was to demonstrate the extent of her insult against him. A simple stabbing wasn't enough for her to demonstrate her contempt for him.

I like that it wasn't a happy ending. I find it refreshing when a movie has the balls to not have a f*#&ing disney cartoon happy ending. A kids movie it ain't. thank god.

You might get a different perspective on del Toro and the film by listening to the NPR interview. His background is in make up and creature design. He's had a lifelong fascination with monsters, and he finds beauty in them. Even when they are disgusting. It's a great interview, you should check it out.

I didn't love it like everyone else seems to. It was just too grim, too dour, too gratuitously violent. It was utterly devoid of charm or humor.

SPOILERS FOLLOW:
The shot of the Captain sewing his face back together served WHAT purpose? Wasn't it already very well established that he was a monster? Ditto the torture victim wound close ups. Jeeeeeesus. I felt like I was watching a snuff film. And it's not like I'm bothered by violent films . . . I just think this movie would be better served without the graphic violence. Only alluding to the grotesque and letting our imaginations fill in the blanks is the way to be really scary . . . but that's actually harder to do that than to show every minute detail.

At what point does having an anti-violence message be delivered by depicting graphic violence defeat the purpose? This film will attract viewers wanting to get off on the violence, which throws Del Toro's message right in the mud.

Even the fantasy sequences were brutal and morbid. The Faun was seriously ugly and the actor in the suit moved poorly. I had no suspension of disbelief when it appeared on screen. It looked like a guy overacting in bad make up.

The ending was numbingly depressing. So the girl dies and fantasizes eternal life as a princess as she's in her death throes? Unless you don't believe that her fantasy world was real. It was a very similar to the ending of Brazil in that regard, but without the wit, the sly wink.

Children of Men is the one to see. Also shockingly violent and brutal, but the violence serves the story.

[Troy]

Normally i don't dig on graphic violence, but I don't agree that it was all gratuitous. I think cutting his mouth and then sewing it up was to demonstrate the extent of her insult against him. A simple stabbing wasn't enough for her to demonstrate her contempt for him.

I like that it wasn't a happy ending. I find it refreshing when a movie has the balls to not have a f*#&ing disney cartoon happy ending. A kids movie it ain't. thank god.

You might get a different perspective on del Toro and the film by listening to the NPR interview. His background is in make up and creature design. He's had a lifelong fascination with monsters, and he finds beauty in them. Even when they are disgusting. It's a great interview, you should check it out.

I read a similar interview with him at the Onion. No question he's an interesting, creative and articulate guy.

Your comment about his face cutting only reinforces my comment. Yes, she cut him a new one and it was well deserved. Did we need to be beat over the head with it by the camera dwelling almost lovingly, watching him sew it up? It was almost pornographic. In fact ALL the violence in this film had an oddly fetishistic quality I found off-putting. Am I supposed to be shocked and appalled that humans can actually do things like this to each other, or am I supposed to go "Wow, THAT was cool!"?

[Kam]

I read a similar interview with him at the Onion. No question he's an interesting, creative and articulate guy.

Your comment about his face cutting only reinforces my comment. Yes, she cut him a new one and it was well deserved. Did we need to be beat over the head with it by the camera dwelling almost lovingly, watching him sew it up? It was almost pornographic. In fact ALL the violence in this film had an oddly fetishistic quality I found off-putting. Am I supposed to be shocked and appalled that humans can actually do things like this to each other, or am I supposed to go "Wow, THAT was cool!"?

i believe, and this is just my take on it, that it goes into archetype storytelling and the Hero's Journey (ala greek mythology, lord of the rings, etc). where we all know a charater to be the monster, the monster is then fully revealed, discarding his human "disguise" and then tries in vain to still "hide" amongst the other humans by trying to don its human disguise again.

i think the ending also goes into faith/belief/etc. issues. do we believe we go to a better place after we die? is her entering the fairy kingdom real or just a figment of her own imagination, and does it matter? she's dead either way. It's very much like Life of Pi in that regard (SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK DON"T READ THIS ANALOGY)
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it all goes into what make's the better story. the outcome is the same either way. what do we/you want to believe?

[ericl]

I read a similar interview with him at the Onion. No question he's an interesting, creative and articulate guy.

Your comment about his face cutting only reinforces my comment. Yes, she cut him a new one and it was well deserved. Did we need to be beat over the head with it by the camera dwelling almost lovingly, watching him sew it up? It was almost pornographic. In fact ALL the violence in this film had an oddly fetishistic quality I found off-putting. Am I supposed to be shocked and appalled that humans can actually do things like this to each other, or am I supposed to go "Wow, THAT was cool!"?

I do not really have an answer for you, because i tend to agree completely. But it just didn't bother me that much with this movie for some reason.

[thekid]

Went to this movie last week.
Thought it was very good and I am glad they left the ending open ended and did not go with the traditional happy ending.

Even with subtitles my 17yr and 14yr old kids thought it was very good and held it their attention.