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Three years ago I did a semi-humorous, shaggy-dog piece about Pinocchio and the Fascisti (“Pinocchio: The Face of Fascism“). Its jumping-off point was talking about several Pinocchio films in the works, particularly a long-awaited stop-motion animation feature directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson. (more…)
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Extraordinary! There are three—maybe four—Pinocchio films now in development or newly released. They all promise to reveal dark, hitherto unexplored aspects of the famous marionette’s saga. One is a Robert Downey Jr. project that’s been hemming and hawing since about 2012. Initially Downey was planning to play both Geppetto and the title role. Now he’s older, so he’ll just play Geppetto. A new live-action Pinocchio premiered last month in Italy. (more…)
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English original here
Film Inception režiséra Christophera Nolana mě ohromil, a tak jsem se rozhodl dát jeho staršímu počinu Batman začíná (2005) další šanci. Napoprvé se mi nelíbil. Vůbec. Musel jsem však být při sledování něčím rozptýlený, protože napodruhé mi přišel skvělý. Nolan odložil kýčovitý styl předchozích snímků o Batmanovi a soustředí se na vývoj postav a jejich motivace, což film Batman začíná a i jeho pokračování Temný rytíř dělá psychologicky temným a intelektuálně i emocionálně strhujícím. (more…)
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The “monster” movie is so simple that it begs for self-important critical analysis. Any first year film student can tell you about how films like Attack of the Giant Crab Monsters are actually ways Americans of the 1950s expressed their anxiety about nuclear weapons. (more…)
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English original here
Après avoir été bluffé par l’Inception de Christopher Nolan, j’ai décidé de donner à son Batman Begins (2005) une nouvelle chance. La première fois que j’ai vu ce film, je ne l’ai pas aimé. Pas un seul instant. J’ai dû être distrait, car cette fois je l’ai apprécié. Nolan rompt avec le style kitsch des premiers films de Batman, se concentrant sur l’évolution et les motivations du personnage, (more…)
Photo by Richard Goldschmidt
Photo by Richard Goldschmidt
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Editor’s Note:
Unless you’re living in Tora Bora, you probably know that Christopher Nolan’s third Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, is coming out this week. (more…)
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French translation here
After being blown away by director Christopher Nolan’s Inception, I decided to give his Batman Begins (2005) another chance. The first time I saw this film, I did not like it. Not one bit. I must have been distracted, because this time I loved it. Nolan breaks with the campy style of earlier Batman films, focusing on character development and motivations, which makes Batman Begins and its sequel The Dark Knight both psychologically dark and intellectually and emotionally compelling.
The Angel of Death
The Angel of Death
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Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) looks like director Guillermo del Toro’s audition for The Hobbit. (He got the job, but backed out because of scheduling problems with the studio.) The root mythology is Tolkienesque: In remotest antiquity, elves, trolls, and other beings shared the earth with mankind. The visual style is pure Peter Jackson: The elves look like Tolkien/Peter Jackson elves; the trolls look like Tolkien/Peter Jackson trolls; etc.
Hellboy
Hellboy
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Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy (2004) is grounded in a highly entertaining fusion of occult history and lore—including elements of Traditionalism, Esoteric Hitlerism, and even H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos—although cut and pasted and juggled around without any regard for truth.
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Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director whose films I have been watching since I learned he was directing The Hobbit, which is being produced by Peter Jackson, the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a LOTR fanatic, I wanted to get a sense of how Del Toro might handle The Hobbit. This is the first of three reviews I hope to write on his work so far.