NORBIT Is #1 At The Box Office + PAN'S LABYRINTH

I mentioned to a co-worker over the weekend that I read an article about how NORBIT (#1 in the USA right now) may hurt Eddie Murphy’s chance at an best supporting Oscar for DREAMGIRLS. She said “it’s bigger than that. NORBIT is hurting America.”

I went with some friends yesterday to my favorite home town theater to see: 

PAN’S LABYRINTH (Dir. Guillermo del Toro, 2006) 

At the end of this film (don’t worry – no spoilers) I heard someone in the audience say “WTF?” – that’s right they said the initials as the kids today are known to do – and yeah I could see where they’re coming from.

This dark grotesque gothic tale is exhausting and weirded me out to the edge of my seat many times. Seen through the eyes of a young girl - Ofeila (Ivana Baquero) in Fascist Spain in 1944 we witness the violent cruel realities mostly via an evil Captain Vidal’s (Sergi López) that she and her sick pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) suffer daily after relocating in a remote hideout in the wooded hillside under Vidal’s rule.

Ofeila slowly discovers and gets drawn into a netherworld with a faun, a few fairies and one large disgusting toad. In this world she may be a Princess and may be able to find the key to open the portal to…oh jeez – this is a bit much with the over-simplified plot description! So I admired this movie more than I actually enjoyed it. While it’s freaky and fantastical to at times exhilarating extremes it could have done with a little more fun.

More later...