Category Archives: Film and Television

Movie Reviews and TV Shows

Film and Television, Pop Culture

Must-See Movie Of The Week: Pan’s Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth Movie Poster
The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of

When you plan a trip to your local movie theater, do you secretly wish to find an arty, foreign language film that manages to combine elements of Through The Looking Glass with Saw, while also giving you a Reader’s Digest condensed peek at life in rural Spain during Franco’s fascist regime? If so, I’m happy to tell you that all of your cinematic fantasies have come true with a film I just saw yesterday call Pan’s Labyrinth. This movie may be about the dark, reality-blurring adventures of a lonely, freaked-out ten year old girl named Ofelia but, trust me, it’s not for children. Unless you’re one of those deranged parents who think it’s appropriate to take your eight year old to see Hostel, in which case, pack up the whole brood!

Pans Labyrinth Monster
When you see this Dude, Get Ready for Some Fucked Up Shit to Go Down

My favorite part of Pan’s Labyrinth was when Ofelia drew a door on her bedroom wall with some chalk and pushed her way through to the banquet room of The Pale Man, who she has to sneak by in order to steal, I don’t know, some kind of thing that’s behind a locked compartment. Honestly, I wasn’t paying that close of attention. I was too absorbed in trying to figure out what the fuck was up with this naked, fleshy creature seated before a huge, sumptuous feast with his eyeballs on a plate in front of him. Hardcore!

Pan’s Labyrinth is directed by Guillermo Del Toro, the same guy who did cool films like HellBoy and Chronos, so if you liked those films go see it and then write me an email and let me know how much you think it rocked.

Film and Television, Pop Culture

Farewell, Joe Barbera

william hanna-joseph barbera-min
Animation Greats William Hanna and Joe Barbera with Tom and Jerry

Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, passed away Monday, December 18th , a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95.

I don’t know about you, but I was rasied on Hanna-Barbera cartoons — The Flinstones and The Jetsons being two of my favorites — and even had my first crush on animated boy adventurer, Johnny Quest. The picture below represents many of Hanna-Barbera’s most popular and enduring/iconic characters. That really takes me back. Maybe it’s cheaper to make all cartoons in Asia these days, but you sure don’t see the same quality as you did back in the day.

Film and Television, Pop Culture

Best Survivor Ever!

Survivor Season 13 Final 4
The Survivor 13 Final Four

I don’t think it’s ever happened in any previous season of Survivor (and I’ve been there since Tagi and Pagong) that my two favorite players went to the final two together. That changed last night, when Yul went up against Ozzy (with Becky thrown in the middle for…some pointless reason) at the final tribal counsel to decide who wins the million dollars.
Continue reading Best Survivor Ever! →

Film and Television, Pop Culture

This Week’s Must-See Movie: The Prestige!

The Prestige Movie Poster

Yesterday I went to see the film The Prestige, which I’d been REALLY looking forward to seeing for weeks even after reading a lukewarm review on Salon.com. As much as I’m all over Salon.com, that reviewer must be dead from the neck up, because The Prestige rocks. I don’t want to give anything away, because the movie kept me guessing right up until the very last minute. Continue reading This Week’s Must-See Movie: The Prestige! →

Film and Television, Pop Culture

Separated at Birth: Lorenzo Borghese and Trent Reznor

Lorenzo Borghese
Bachelor Number Nine

Has anyone out there noticed that Lorenzo Borghese, star of the 9th season of the semi-retarded reality freak show The Bachelor bears an amazing resemblance to the professionally morose Industrial music genius Trent Reznor? I sure did.

Trent Reznor 2006
Trent “Nobody Loves Me” Reznor

Of course, this line of thinking gets me to hypothesizing about how fun and utterly twisted it would be if ABC recruited Trent to be the next Bachelor contestant. Can you just imagine Trent looking for his potential life mate among 25 assorted Type O Negative fans and would-be-Myspace-Porn-Stars diluted with a few blonde-and-brainless-cheerleader types? How much would that rule?

Again, it reminds me of this silly article I wrote for the print version of Ink19 about ten years ago (back when I was a confused, horny fan who hadn’t yet figured out what an utter fraud Trent is) called Dream Date With Trent Reznor. Good times. I wish that piece was archived somewhere because it would be good to haul it out for a few belly laughs. But hopping back on my original train of thought, maybe if Trent could find true love and get laid on a regular basis, he could write some songs that didn’t go on and on about how depressed he is and how much it sucks to be a millionaire rock star who’s probably turned more sex than I’ve had. Yawn City.