<b>Director:</b> Guillermo Del Toro

A long time ago, in the underground realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamed of the human world. She dreamed of blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased every trace of the past from her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died. However, her father, the King, always knew that the Princess' soul would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning...


Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil
Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Thriller

Running time: 118 minutes




My review:

This film is a total masterpiece from Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. The story is a mixture of drama, fantasy and thriller. The story is set in Spain, 1944. Young Ofelia is taken by her pregnant mother to live with her Fascist commander stepfather in a remote town. There she meets a faun who tells her that if she performs certain tasks she will become queen of a magical land. It has all sorts of different qualities. It is a film that has a lot of high ratings but is yet a really bizarre film. I think it is so well rated because it is written so well because it is just so creative. This film is really well written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Ofelia is a young sweet little girl who tries to look after her pregnant mother and her mother wants her to come with her to where the Spanish army is. Captain Vidal is the captain of the Spanish army. He is a really vile and cold character. He is clearly one of the coldest movie villains of all time. He is desperate to have a son to replace him when he passes. That is quite similar to what Henry VIII did with Edward VI. Mostly Captain Vidal reminds me a lot of Amon Goth from Schindlers List because of his cold nature and how he kills the people. Vidal has trouble with her stepdaughter Ofelia because she enters a magic world while there is war going on with her family and in the town she is staying. I really hate the way Vidal kills the people. Mostly they are innocent people who havent done anything wrong to him. Doug Jones united with Del Toro again before Mimic and Hellboy. He portrays the Faun and the Pale Man. The faun is a character that assigns Ofelia to do three tasks for him then she can become queen of the magical land. The Pale Man is a character that Ofelia meets in her second task. She has to find a key inside the room and must not eat any of the food that she finds. The Pale Man hasnt got any eyes on his face but he places his eyes on his hands and raises his hands up so he can see where he is going. The Pale Man is a really heavy eater who eats fairies, other normal food and even eats people which are seen on pictures of when Ofelia enters the room. Despite how cold and sick this film sounds it is a really beautiful film too because of its clever art direction, make up and even the music score. This is a very graphic film aswell because it has quite a lot of graphic blood that looks real. I bet all of the make up and the costumes that Doug Jones had to wear for the Faun and the Pale Man were so uncomfortable. It must have irritated him during filming. I was really impressed with the performances from Ivana Baquero as Ofelia and I was really impressed with Sergi Lópezs performance as Captain Vidal. Despite that we couldn?t see Doug Jones face at all in this film because of the make up he still was really good as the Faun particularly because the Faun can talk but the Pale Man cant talk at all. This is the sort of film that must have taken a very long time to write and to actually film and produce. At first when I saw the trailer of this film and saw it in the shop I thought that it would be a a similar sort of story to Peter Pan but when you watch it, it is nothing like Peter Pan at all. I am only going to say one little point about the ending that it sort of reminded me a lot of the Fountain because it was a beautiful atmosphere that has beautiful colours and really inspiring and beautiful moments just like The Fountain. The only difference is that I didnt like the Fountain but I loved this film an awful lot. This film has become a total triumph and has become of the best fantasy films of all time. This film deserved all three Oscars it got. It got Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Make Up. It should have won the oscar for the Best Music, Original Score, Best Foreign Language film of the year and maybe should have been nominated Best Picture.

You will obey my orders, follow protocol, and stay focused at all times!

You know, with your accent, that word - "fock-yoosed" - I wouldn't use it that much.


Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, James Dodd, Jeffrey Tambor

Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy

Running time: 114 minutes




My review:

After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it's up to the planet's toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it's time to call in Hellboy! There are quite a few different ways why this film made me feel good, thrilled and even emotional at times too. The sceneries of the film is just beautiful as its best and also the costumes of the film are just really brilliant. This film obviously is a dark story but for me it brings some lighthearted delight towards me. The characters were all absolutely superb and they all made me feel really good because most of them were really dark characters. This is quite thrilling because I could sometimes see what was going to happen and it sometimes did but yet it didnt sometimes either. This is very emotional too because we learn a bit more about Hellboy and about his past too. The ending of this film is really funny and really beautiful and peaceful too. This film was ever so funny aswell because there were a few quotes that made me laugh like Your royal assness and then there is You woke the baby. and then Hellboy shoots the monster. Also there is Im not going to kill him, babe. But I am gonna kick his ass. Hellboy is really sarcastic and makes hilarious comments when he is in danger or anyone else is too. Ron Perlman delivers a brilliant performance once again as Hellboy but for some reason I found it more of a dark performance rather than a bright character even though Hellboy is a hilarious guy. Selma Blair delivers a better performance as Liz Sherman. She wasnt brilliant but she was better than she was in the first film. In the second film, I dont think that Selma was neither miscast for the character nor amazing for the character. Doug Jones is really good as Abe Sapien. This film he portrays two other characters too aswell: The Angel Of Death and The Chamberlain too. Doug also portrayed Pan and The Pale Man in Pans Labyrinth. I really like Doug Jones as an actor because he has a dark yet a beautiful attitude towards the characters he plays. I really liked Luke Goss as Prince Nauda because Luke made the Prince quite a terrifying character and a character for nobody to ever cross. Hellboy 2 shows that Guillermo Del Toro can be a very visionary filmmaker. I think Del Toro cares more about his visual style more than the plot of his films even though the plot is still obviously important. There are a lot brighter colours in this film than there is in Del Toros previous film Pans Labyrinth. For example there is gold used in most of scenes rather than a dark blue and green like in Pans Labyrinth. This is a typical Del Toro film because of the visionary make-up and visual effects that are used in this film as they are in all of his films. That is one thing about Del Toro that never seems to change. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army brings a whole new visionary level to fantasy action films forever because of Guillermo Del Toro and the way it is filmed. This film begins really beautifully because it is like a flashback of Hellboys childhood and also it is like a beautiful beginning to a beautiful film. It sort of shows the audience of whats to come in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Hellboy and Abe Sapiens friendship grows even more and they both become personal toward each other and want to help each other as much as possible. I didn?t find that there wasnt really that much love and romance between Hellboy and Liz like there was in the first one. But there was romance between Abe Sapien and Princess Nuala. Hellboy, Abe and Liz make a really good team because they are all different creatures but want to combine together for the best. There is a twist that occurs in this film that changes Hellboy and Liz relationship and then truly shows Hellboy who he really is and also there are some emotional scenes that take drastic turns aswell and yet beautiful ones too. There wasn?t that much bad language but there were some of the odd typical ones like Sh*t and Cr*p. The violence wasnt really human violence or anything but mostly comic mythical violence that involves the typical Del Toro characters. There obviously werent any sex references either which sort of surprised me a bit because Liz and Hellboy were a couple and they didnt have any making out moments at all. It didnt disappoint me it just surprised me thats all. Del Toro uses dark cinematography and dark camera angles in every single scene and yet there is very heart touching beautiful sceneries that Del Toro has never shown and didn?t show in the first Hellboy film. The make up is outstanding in this film because it looks really real when obviously it really isnt. I feel the exact same thing about the visual effects too. The make-up was amazing on Hellboy once again and also on Prince Nuada Silverlance but the best make-up is definitely on Abe Sapien. I think this film could be a close contender for an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up and Best Visual Effects. I would be ever so surprised if this film doesnt earn any nominations at all. It would be a major snub if it wasnt particularly for Best Art Direction and Best Make-Up. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is a film that I thought at first didnt seem to look as good as the first film but I thought it was better. The first Hellboy was still brilliant though. This film shows once again that no matter how you appear it is what lies in your heart which shows you who you are. This film has made me love Del Toro even more than I already do. This film made me go into greater depth with his work just like Pans Labyrinth and Hellboy. I really want to see Del Toros other films like The Devils Backbone, Mimic and Cronos. But I certainly cannot fucking wait to see Del Toros next feature film The Hobbit and its sequel. Especially when I love both Lord Of The Rings and Guillermo Del Toro. This film achieved as one of the best summer blockbusters of 2008 but doesnt quite beat The Dark Knight, WALL-E and Iron Man. My second favourite Del Toro film after Pans Labyrinth. At first I thought that the first Hellboy film was hard to beat and now the sequel is released I certainly think the second one is better than the first one definitely! For some reason, I dont think Del Toro should do Hellboy III because it is turns out a disaster, he might lose his taste for films like this and also for the Hellboy franchise aswell so personally I think Del Toro shouldnt do anymore Hellboy because both films are superb! A Del Toro masterpiece that will always be remembered!! I have seen three Del Toro films and he has always made an unusual masterpiece that I loved. They are the two Hellboys and Pans Labyrinth.

In the absence of light, darkness prevails. There are things that go bump in the night, Agent Myers. Make no mistake about that. And we are the ones who bump back.


Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, John Hurt, Rupert Evans

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy

Running time: 122 minutes




My review:

Hellboy is a film that a lot of people love and a lot of people hate. It is a film that a lot of people have mixed feelings about. In 1945, a Nazi secret society summons a demon, but the ritual is disrupted and the creature taken by Professor Bruttenholm. Now Hellboy, the star employee of the US Bureau For Paranormal Research And Defence, must stop evil monk man Rasputin, who wants to immolate the world. This film made me laugh a lot because Hellboy is a big red mythological creature. I am unsure what creature species he really is. Hellboys funny attitude sort of mocks himself of what he appears as and what he can do with his size, particularly his huge red wooden right hand. His funny attitude acts a bit like Wolverines attitude in the X-Men films. Wolverine goes Holy shit or Oh, crap! when he thinks he cant beat somebody or he has made a mistake. Hellboy is a film that first properly made Guillermo Del Toro a famous director because this film shows what sort of films that Del Toro can really do. He adds more visual style to his films rather than care too much about the storyline which is why I really like Hellboy. His best film and one of my favourite films Pans Labyrinth is like that aswell with the stylish visual effects and the make-up. Del Toro collaborates with Doug Jones in both of the Hellboy film where he portrays Abe Sapien in first and second film but he portrays The Chamberlein and the Angel Of Death in sequel. In Pans Labyrinth, Jones portrays Fauno and the extremely bizarre pale-man. Ron Perlman is the perfect actor for Hellboy because he has all of the characteristics that Hellboy should have. Things like the brilliant humour, the style of voice and the build of the body for Hellboy. I liked Selma Blair in this film as Liz Sherman. Hellboy is a comic book adaptation that is unappreciated by the viewers and critics alike. This will hopefully be appreciated now because Del Toro has made some more great films and there has been a sequel of Hellboy which will probably be better than the first Hellboy.