tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post8727923766828267831..comments2024-03-24T20:15:00.996-04:00Comments on Critic After Dark: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo del Toro, 2008)Noel Verahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-56807626288263686582008-09-21T20:33:00.000-04:002008-09-21T20:33:00.000-04:00Early promise--admit I haven't seen Lucas' short. ...Early promise--admit I haven't seen Lucas' short. But beyond the kind of wan hopelessness of the feature THX, the bright pop nostalgia of Graffitti (which is partly do to Haskell Wexler mixed with '60s rock, partly due to an acting coach hired to help out with the cast, what else has Lucas done? Star Wars itself was a hodgepodge of influences, from Yojimbo to WW 2 films to Hidden Fortress to (for the final shots) Triumph of the Will.Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-11567506341503610972008-09-21T11:23:00.000-04:002008-09-21T11:23:00.000-04:00True, maybe it's just my bias against the general ...True, maybe it's just my bias against the general overuse of CG, etc in Hollywood films. But Del Toro is probably the most artful in his use of it among the bunch. Yup, EMPIRE took the characters and the performances to a whole new level. But there's no denying the influence the first STAR WARS had over a whole generation of filmmakers. The new ones I couldn't care less for. I think Lucas' best film might be his college short of THX1138, shot while he was at USC. I remember being astounded at the tech brilliance of it, the fact that a college student had made it. And it was pretty arty! When you see his work at that stage then the idea of APOCALYPSE being originally designed for him to direct suddenly doesn't sound so far-fetched or totally left-of-field. But that version of George is long dead and buried. Hope Del Toro doesn't go that way....then again, next stop-New Zealand?ricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13159962742460749699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-32814020549320169872008-09-21T03:57:00.000-04:002008-09-21T03:57:00.000-04:00Rico, two quibbles with your otherwise fine commen...Rico, two quibbles with your otherwise fine comment: video games are fine but maybe a more useful analogy are swarming ants, reinforced by the soldiers' beetlelike look--I for one tended to itch when I saw them crawling inwards at Red and company, like a choice piece of steak dropped from a picnic table. <BR/><BR/>And there's an unearthly beauty to the soldiers' bright-red inner glow, I submit, a visual gorgeousness that lifts the sequence beyond any video game. It's supposed to give the impression of overwhelming power, of course, which isn't the whole climax's point--that's just preparation for Red's showdown with Nuada, and (most pointed of all) what happens to resolve <I>that</I> (in effect the film's emotional climax). After which one can only sing, softly, to poor Abe <I>"'tis better to have loved and lost than..."</I><BR/><BR/>As for the troll market, I submit the sheer invention and (again) visual beauty surpasses Star Wars' equivalent scene which, I suspect, was lifted from an early scene in Kurosawa's Yojimbo (all it needed was a dog to give it fully away), and this may only be me, but Star Wars was always an overrated pic (maybe the single piece of film related to Lucas that ever delivered the real goods wasn't even directed by him, but by Kershner).Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-66198619681349164112008-09-20T02:10:00.000-04:002008-09-20T02:10:00.000-04:00Noel, just saw this yesterday. Fuggin' awesome, m...Noel, just saw this yesterday. Fuggin' awesome, man! Knocked my socks off. In some ways, the best script and movie of Del Toro. My only quibble is that the climactic fight with the golden robots seemed kinda rushed and had a somewhat generic "video game" quality to it. Though the wushu/kung fu fight with the Prince was top-notch and spectacular. Boy, the troll market scene was another classic, you can add that to a theoretical "best of creature movie scenes" list, one also containing the famous bar scene in the first Star Wars. And what a VO performance of the Dr. Krause character in the diving suit!! Amazing!ricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13159962742460749699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-28719617114906795482008-09-13T14:16:00.000-04:002008-09-13T14:16:00.000-04:00This is probably the only big movie I've really li...This is probably the only big movie I've really liked this year, myself.Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-38654440006601200332008-09-13T08:23:00.000-04:002008-09-13T08:23:00.000-04:00I'm not really drawn to big movies of this sort, b...I'm not really drawn to big movies of this sort, but with Guillermo del Toro at its helm, I'm all up for it. He's a visionary!Visual Velocityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02704619227593199993noreply@blogger.com