Guillermo del Toro's
Pan's Labyrinth is a film to be watched over and over again. That need can be induldged: the grim fairy tale is released today on DVD. Also Karen Moncrief's woefully overlooked drama
The Dead Girl and Darren Aronofsky's spectacle
The Fountain.
Not many major movies star bookish, little girls. Guillermo del Toro earned my respect and admiration straight away by creating the character of Ofelia. Adolescent actress Ivana Baquero might seem dreamy and fragile at first, but she admirably stands up to her fascist stepfather and an untrustworthy faun in this all-engrossing, adult fairytale. Pan's Labyrinth is a film to be watched over and over again.More »It's often done in fiction: interwoven short stories are published together in a single collection for extra resonance. In Karen Moncrief's The Dead Girl, the technique seems brand new. Five short films, all of them strong pieces of filmmaking on their own right, focus on a different aspect of a young woman's death: her final moments, her mother, the woman who discovers her body, and so on. There are many notable performances from the ensemble cast, which includes Toni Collette, Marcia Gay Harden, Brittany Murphy, Kerry Washington and Rose Byrne.More »It took Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream), for four years to complete this epic-sized, science fiction love story about the search for eternal life starring Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman. Critics either loved or loathed this oversized movie.More »
