Posts Tagged ‘Guillermo del Toro’
Film Review – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
For those of us that came of age in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the title Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark may be familiar. It was a trilogy of books that collected short horror tales written by Alvin Schwartz. But what made them memorable…
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Film Review – Pacific Rim: Uprising
What to say of Pacific Rim: Uprising, the big, dumb sequel to Guillermo del Toro‘s big, dumb robots vs. monsters spectacle of 2013? (I know the original has its defenders and I find his output, in general, worth a watch but ultimately discarded Rim as a feast…
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The MacGuffin’s Top 10 Films of 2017
One of the nicest things about writing for The MacGuffin is that all the film reviewers on this site have such varied tastes. Since we do not all live around the Los Angeles and New York City areas, the films that receive awards buzz may…
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Film Review – The Shape of Water
In their truest form, fairy tales, especially the ones that have lasted over time, have a dark undercurrent to them. They might be about something fanciful, but often there is something sinister lurking around the edges of the story in their original form. The Little…
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Film Review – The Handmaiden
My favorite Chan-wook Park film is Stoker partly because it is inspired by Shadow of a Doubt – my best-loved Alfred Hitchcock movie. He takes the two central characters and asks what would happen if they did in fact have similar natures. He’s not remaking…
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Blu-Ray Review – Pan’s Labyrinth
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Guillermo del Toro’s Academy Award winning Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). To commemorate the occasion, the good folks over at the Criterion Collection have graciously bestowed upon us a beautiful blu ray edition of the film (Spine #838). This director-approved…
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Top 15 Films of 2015 – Allen’s Picks
I know what people say: “Lists of anything are dumb. How can you take something as subjective as movies and rank them in order?” Well, that’s kind of the beauty of it: no one list is definitive. If anything, putting out one’s favorite films only reveals…
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Film Review – Crimson Peak
Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak (2015) is a perfect example of how advertisements can misconstrue audience expectations. Trailers and posters would have us believe that this is a horror film. That is not the case. Although there is plenty of spooky atmosphere, ghouls that lurk…
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