pans labyrinth | the m0vie blog

260. El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) (#146)

Posted on November 13, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guest Jack Packard, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.

This time, Guillermo Del Toro’s El laberinto del fauno.

In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, a young girl named Ofelia moves to her new stepfather’s house. As Captain Vidal ruthlessly hunts down the remaining rebels, Ofelia discovers that there is something enchanted lurking in the nearby woods. A mysterious faun promises to secret Ofelia away to a magical realm, if she can complete three tasks. As Ofelia finds herself caught between fantasy and reality, she discovers the sometimes the worst monsters are the human kind.

At time of recording, it was ranked 146th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: childhood, coming of age, Fairy tale, fantasy, feminism, guillermo del toro, horror, jack packard, metaphors, monsters, pans labyrinth, podcast, Spanish Civil War, The 250, the shape of water, violence | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Agnosia

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.

There were a lot of reasons to get excited about Agnosia, one of the anticipated highlights of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. The movie was written by Antonis Trashorras, the writer of The Devil’s Backbone, perhaps the film that put director Guillermo del Toro on the map. In fact, this film comes with an endorsement from del Toro himself, which has quite a large amount of weight among the film community. However, Agnosia lacks the magic or elegance of del Toro’s work, with director Eugenio Mira (whose last work was in 2004) able to craft a stylish visual design for the film – but never quite able to create a sense of magic or engagement.

99 Schwarz ballons...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: agnosia, agnosia (film), Antonis Trashorras, Devil's Backbone, Eugenio Mira, film, guillermo del toro, jameson dublin international film festival, MacGuffin, Movies, non-review review, pans labyrinth, review, Salvation Army, spain, spanish cinema | 2 Comments »

My Top 50 Movies of the Decade…

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Darren

Alright here it is, my top fifty films of the decade. I’ve decided to stop complaining about Donal Clarke’s list in the Irish Times and just let rip myself. There’s more than a few crazy choices down there, but – after a week in the works – I’m happy with it. I doubt that a lot of other people will be.