Friday, July 13, 2007

Half-assed update

I've neglected this for a little while, but here's a couple movies I've seen recently.

Pan's Labyrinth (****)

Deserving of every bit of the praise it's received, this is a brilliant movie from Guillermo Del Toro intertwining a dark fantasy story with a period drama set in the Spanish Civil War. The story follows a young girl as she migrates between the real girl and the fantasy world which may or may not exist outside of her own head. The visuals are amazing, and the story is effectively and beautifully simple.


Transformers (***)

It has many of the trademarks of a Michael Bay movie in that its obnoxiously loud and more than a little bit cliche, but I have to admit that it was fun to watch. The Transformers are great to look at, and the movie has a number of amazing action sequences. Despite the inherent campyness of a movie based on '80s action figures and the one-dimensional nature of a lot of the characters, the movie can be touching in some parts. A decent popcorn movie.