Hellboy Returns (Sort of…)

This is an image of Ron Perlman as Hellboy from Guillermo Del Toro’s 2008 movie, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. If anyone could be said to be destined to play a character it’s Perlman, who’s Hellboy looked like he was pulled from the pages of Mike Mignola’s comic. Flash forward to 2017 when the third […]

The Water Seems Fine

I have to admit that when I learned a bit more about Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water I was somewhat underwhelmed (partially because the color palette of the trailer seemed too evocative of earlier Del Toro films and partially because it also seemed like a stealth Hellboy prequel, which sucks because we never ended […]

Del Toro’s Fantastic Voyage

Guillermo Del Toro ranks among my favorite directors, though what I have seen–which is exclusively the trailer–of The Shape of Water left me underwhelmed. Color palette-wise it feels a lot like Blade II, while story-wise and visually it feels like The Further Adventures of Abe Sapien (though part of me hopes the movie is a backdoor […]

Mother! – Trailer

Darren Aronofsky is nothing if not a director who appears resistant to pigeonholing due to the variety of genres he tends to work with (though that he’s not exactly a prolific director may have something to do with it.  His last film, Noah, was three years ago; Black Swan was seven) From Requiem To A […]

The Defenders – Trailer 2

Marvel Television, as far as I can tell, is in a bind entirely of their own making. While I enjoy the series that have done thus far–with a particular emphasis on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.–I do feel a certain reluctance on their parts to embrace the fantastic wholeheartedly (which is an interesting, though odd, problem […]

Bright – Official Trailer

David Ayer’s Bright is the ‘fast-talking cop teams up with Orc’ movie we didn’t know we needed. Watching the trailer I’m shocked at how long it feels (I haven’t seen the movie, yet it feels like I already have). I also get the impression that the movie is treating orcs as Ordinary People, except for […]

The Shape of Water – Trailer

Guillermo Del Toro is, visually speaking, one of the most distinctive directors working today. The way he lays out a scene, the color palette he uses…typically unique and unlike any anyone else. So, why am I (atypically) lukewarm toward his latest project, The Shape of Water? Maybe because it looks very much like things we […]