Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro in 2006 stars Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil and Sergi López. The story follows Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a naïve book child, desperate to explore and live in her fantasy world. Ofelia and her mother are sent to live with her new husband, the captain. Ofelia’s mother is pregnant with a baby boy and is soon to give birth. At the arrival at the captain’s house, Ofelia rushes of to explore the grounds. On the captain’s property, Ofelia finds an old deteriorating labyrinth. Later in the movie, Ofelia returns to the labyrinth to explore it in disregard to the risks. With Ofelia’s mother in bed most of the day and the captain busy with work, Ofelia has a knack of getting in to mischief. In the labyrinth, Ofelia meets a wise old faun who believes her to be part of a prophecy of another world. She is believed to be a lost princess who is deemed to return to her kingdom. But before returning to her world, the faun gives her a series of task’s that must be completed. But they turn out to be much different than anyone expects.

This movie being made in Spanish, and having to read English subtitles throughout the movie can be a little tiresome. But, the acting, costumes and set design will make you hold on to the end. The labyrinth was extremely spooky and all the monsters were fabulously done. Every monster strayed away from their stereotypes; Guillermo del Toro really paints a new, fresh and creative look on the creatures on the labyrinth and the underworld. I enjoyed watching all the actors perform in this movie. In the end of this movie, almost everybody turns out to be not exactly how you might expect them to be. I don’t want to give anything away to anyone, but surely you will notice splendid character development. Anybody will most likely enjoy this film above the age 10-12 and up. With a few intense scenes, young viewers might easily get scared. All in all, loved this movie for all its aspects. Worth the money 100%.

5/5 stars

Shane Sullivan

2001: A space odyssey

2001: A space odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick stars Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood and William Sylvester. The story of the film is a lot like Five React gum, everyone experiences it differently. The main plot that can be interpreted follows a space crew on a mission to discover artefacts on planets that mysteriously appeared first on the moon. For roughly the first 30 minutes of the film, a crude theory of human evolution is shown. Two separate tribes of chimpanzees are fighting over a water hole. The tribe that is exiled from the water has two options: it will either die, or must find a way to survive. One day, a chimp picks up a strong bone from the skeleton on a dead pig. He swings the tools around and smashes it against other bones, realising its power. The exiled tribe returns to the water hole, with their newly found weapons a gains control of the water. And so, tools are invented. The rest of the story follows a space team and the high-tech computer, Hal 9000 on a mysterious journey to uncover and explain the artefacts found on the moon.

I enjoyed the acting of this movie but wasn’t sold on it. But I would argue that it’s not about the actors in the film but more-less the film as a whole, the idea of the film. The film is about us, as humans and the unanswered questions we ask every day. “Why are we here?” “How did we come to be?” This film represents and presents a plausible hypothesis on what happened and what’s going on today. The film represents the determination that humans have to learn more, discover more at nearly any cost. This film gets better the more I think about it. You can relate to it, but also make you own conclusion about the film and of human purpose. The film makes the audience reflect, pause and think. Not many films have every done that. But if someone is going to watch this film, consider watching it with someone who’s seen it. Together you can try to interpret its powerful messages by expressing your own point of view and considering others P of V.

5/5 stars

Shane Sullivan

Night Of The Living Dead

Night of the living dead, directed by George A Romero stared Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman and others. The movie was released in 1968 and was one of the first ever “Zombie” movies. The Movie starts with Barbra (Judith O’Dea) and her brother at a cemetery, placing a wreathe over their father’s grave. While Barbra and her brother are walking back to their car, a strange pale man is sulking towards them. Barbra walks nervously by the man when, he grabs her and attempts to bite her neck. Barbra’s brother tosses the strange man of her, but the man is too strong. The man grabs a hold of Barbra’s brother and smashes his head on a gravestone, killing him. Barbra runs of through a field and finds a house to escape the zombie, and later joins up with other survivors from the un-dead.

The acting in this movie was fabulous. The story was easy to follow but certainly draws the audience into the movie. Part of this is thanks to well played roles of the characters. Judith O’Dea played exceptionally well the role of a distressed woman after seeing her brother brutally murdered and chased by the un-dead and Duane Jones (Ben) played his role of a quick thinking street though. Ben is very resourceful, for example he rips apart furniture to provide wood to board up windows and doors and finds a gun and ammo. The copper family, in my opinion portrays the stereotypical American family. They are motivated by personal gain, oppose to teamwork suggested by Ben.

This movie was fantastic! Never before until this movie had I seen a zombie/survival movie aside from “Zombieland”. Great story, great character development, great movie. This would be a great movie for anyone to watch likely above the age of 10.

5/5 stars

Shane Sullivan

North by Northwest

North by Northwest, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1969 stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason follows a New York advertising executive (Cary Grant) who, by fluke is mistaken for a government spy. Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is hunted across America by foreign spies. Towards the beginning of the movie, when Roger is mistaken for a spy, Roger is taken captive by foreign spies who suspect him to be trying to shut down their operation. Multiple time, roger is nearly killed by the thugs while trying to uncover this mystery of his second identity. Roger meets up with Eva, the spies boss. Eva seduces Roger but turns out to be a government agent, working for the foreign spies undercover. Eva and Roger team up to take down the spies.

Before watching this movie, I had an odd dislike for Alfred Hitchcock. After seeing North by Northwest (as well as psycho) I am in love with he’s movies. The attention invested in this movie is superb. The story is thrilling as well as suspenseful; Hitchcock had me on the edge of my seat in anticipation. Hitchcock presents a great example of the Hollywood style by dragging the audience in the movie with the edgy characters, believable story line but most of all, a great acting cast.

Cary and Eva really play exact opposites. Cary, socially awkward advertising executive is naïve and not at all out spoken. Eva plays a timid girl, but always has a trick up her sleeve. I got the impression for Eva she knew more that she was letting on.

For a movie in the sixties, Hitchcock exceeded his talent and the HW style. I hope everyone gets a chance to see this movie at least once in their lives. Wish I could see it in the theatres!

5/5 stars.

Shane Sullivan