Archives For guillermo del toro

I really can’t remember exactly when I started out the Top Flicks About Chicks list on MUBI, but it must have been around the same time I wrote how Chick Flicks was a doomed genre in regards of critics. So it might be almost 4 years… and I’ve finally reached 300 titles in the list!!!

A Chick Flick should center on little girls, girls, young women and women… as students, as neighbors, as friends, as daughters, as granddaughters, as sisters, as mothers, as lovers. They are simply women. With that alone, we can tell all sort of other stories that have little to do with romantic comedies.

The purpose of the list, of course, was to encompass an array of female character — not only in the binary sense, since the list also includes men/boys who identify as women/girls… and viceversa — of various cultural, ethnic, social backgrounds. Not favoring one genre over the other, not valuing dramas over comedies… just simple stories about different women.

Though I’m sure the list could be longer, that’s 300 feature length films out of the 2896 (counting shorts) currently rated on the site- that’s roughly 10% so I suppose the list could expand to up to 500 or maybe 1000 once I reach 5000 or 10000 rated films on the site.

top-flicks-about-chicks

1. Treeless Mountain 2. Welcome to the Dollhouse 3. Juliana 4. Labyrinth 5. Fuckin’ Amal 6. Mirrormask 7. Gun Hill Road 8. Pariah 9. Bend it like Beckham 10. Swing Girls 11. The Land of the Deaf 12. Sunny 13. Whip It 14. Stoker 15. Maria Full of Grace 16. Breaking the Waves 17. My Marlon and Brando 18. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 19. Dil Bole Hadippa! 20. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 21. Kotoko 22. Violeta Went to Heaven 23. Skin 24. Raise the Red Lantern 25. Incendies

I picked 25 of the 300 films to illustrate some of the variety (I hope it’s AS varied as I intend the list to be), though I ran out of picks and couldn’t include any of the ‘older’ female characters. If I could pick 5 more, they’d be: Lemon Tree, Frozen River, Late Bloomers, Mother, For 80 Days.

lmgtfy-ashida-mana-google

Well, something worth pointing out from the Pacific Rim fans. How awesome is “let me google that for you” ??? It’s awesome. And perfect. So for those people that might be wondering- no, she’s not a newcomer, you guys.

Here

A dose of Ashida Mana’s cuteness pick-me-up~

ashida-mana-melts-your-cold-heart

I know she’s growing up so quickly, and she’s got a small role in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim — probably that one small scene for which she got papped in Toronto. I suppose she’s playing a kid version of Rinko Kikuchi… I never though they would look like each other, but I guess it works for Hollywood.

I swear, every time I search for photos of Ashida Mana, I end up cooing and awing. She really melts all my sorrows away. It doesn’t matter if she grows up because we will have Mother, and hopefully (giving much much good vibes for that) she will have a good childhood and grow up to be a sensible adult and not be effed up by this business. Those are my wishes. Will always be.

My mother says that she could stop wars with that smile.

After some flame from their compilation of 135 Shots That Will Restore Your Faith in Cinema [1], Flavorwire is back with a new compilation~~~ this time around focusing on faces, their emotions and their beauty… to relative success. I don’t think I could fault them… I had enough with Wong Kar Wai (included multiple times), multiple Zhang Yimou shots (and a double appearance of Gong Li to boot!), there was Park Chan Wook, Guillermo del Toro, Leslie Cheung’s face.

It was a thing of beauty.

The only face I could possibly suggest would have been Greta Garbo’s last shot on Queen Christina, but I’m content.

Nick, over at Anomalous Material, did his list of 13 Iconic Movie Images (for him). I thought I would share mine here since things have been a little on the weak side lately.

I dunno exactly why 13, but… it suits me fine. It gave me room to include things I wouldn’t have included in the first place. I’m surprised I cut so many from my Top10 Fave Films, but I did manage to squeeze half of them in. LOL I also set myself two rules… no black and whites, or animated films. ;O

So here we go~~~

Tony Takitani


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First, let me begin saying that I thought 2006 was a great year to watch films. Also, funny thing to point out — it was really, and I mean… REALLY tough to pick my Best Supporting Actress picks~

Many of my favorite films have a 2006 tag in them, so this list might seem a little bias, even though I really tried hard to not be. You might noticed how hard I tried not to be bias. LOL — check the Best Actress category~

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It’s 35 films this year! Woohoo! Well, not much to celebrate since some of those were really REALLY bad, but they count for the movie countdown~~~
In the meantime, I’ve decided to put my list of Best 2001 films.

It was really difficult to choose some, as I seem to not have seen many 2001 films, so many of my nominees are the same as the Oscar, I feel. Remembering the films made me remember about the first time I actively waited for the Oscar. I mean, the event in itself was something I did, but that year was the year I said I’m gonna watch the Oscar to see who will win. American Beauty won that year, as did Kevin Spacey and The Matrix. 1999 Films, wow~~~ I was 13 going on 14.

Anyway~ without further ado~~~

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Some more YAM

February 14, 2009 — Leave a comment

It’s V-day, so my non-V-day gift to all of you it’s more YAM. Yup, 2nd issue is done.

YAM - Issue 2

Featuring Coraline, which opened this past Thursday here in Lima (only dubbed). We are also taking on Best Picture Nominees, and our picks that shoulda been BP. We are also talking about Duncan Sheik, Melinda Doolittle, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Lee-Hom Wang, Franz Ferdinand… and many other reviews!

Now, if you’re ready~~~ head over here to get it.

This post has nothing to do with Body Odor. HAHA.

I just recently found out Guillermo del Toro was interested in directing HP7 (a.k.a Deathly Hallows) – which would be nice… and a smart move by The WB. I mean, Yates… bah. Buhumbug! HP5 was one of my favorite books on the series, but the film was just annoying. Watch it as clips, it’s great… watch it as a whole, it’s utter trash. Why they hired him for HP6, which is also a crappy book, it’s because HP5 made more money $$ for The WB than HP4 and HP3, but the master of money-making has been HP1, so this is my theory.

Everyone wanted to see Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone (HP1) because it’s a novelty… all fans go, all curious go… that equals a lot of cash into WB’s pockets, they think they have a success thanks to Chris Columbus. But let’s face it, HP1 wasn’t so good looking back, so people kinda lost some interest in it, people lost the novelty… there’s no curiosity factor anymore, so Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (HP2) comes out, and surprise! It doesn’t do better than HP1, probably something The WB didn’t expect. Critics and the public are not very surprised, and Chris Columbus is gone! Ciao!

By this time, people have lost interest… and critics are not attracted… yet here comes Alfonso Cuaron, a decision that sparks a bit of interests in movie buffs and critics, but not your average movie goers. People have already lost interest over HP1, and the horrible HP2… so they are not expecting to see HP3. Results? Only hard-core fans and movie fans go see it. Results again? Hard-core HATE it, movie fans LOVE it! Critics praise the film, yet Hard-core fans are the one who go to the film over and over to watch it, but since Hard-core HATES HP3, it makes even less money. Cuaron is dropped! Ciao!

Mike Newell comes on board for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (HP4)… critics want more Potter now, but fans are skeptical. Hard-core fans think it can’t be worse than Cuaron… HP4 results in a summer flick full of action, but no meat. Results? Critics are divided over the fact that it was entertaining, yet lacked growth… but the average movie maker finds it fun, and the hard-core fans are in peace. In the end, HP4 is more successful commercially than HP3, but not even close to HP1. Oh, well… Newell! Ciao!

So The WB goes and picks David Yates… most people go WTF – but this decision sparks interests from movie buffs and critics. People enjoyed HP4, it was fun! Such a great summer flick… yeah, yeah. We should so totally see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (HP5) – then the keywords here were, Clips & Trailers. Everyone wanted to see, oh! the trailer looks amazing, the clips are so good! A rebellion you say? Voldemort’s back? Results? Everyone flocks to the theater to catch HP5. Results? Critics aren’t so sure, new fans from HP3 hated the choppiness of HP5, and they would’ve preferred watching separate clips, than watching all as a whole. But hard-core fans don’t care… they have their precious book… it’s the last book, oh yeah~ we should all go see the movie, because it’s the last book. Results again? Best commercial success, but still not as good to push HP1 of the #1 spot. Meaning, Yates is back for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (HP6).

M y B.O predictions are, people who didn’t like HP5 will not go watch HP6… they will probably catch it on TV, or find a digital copy. Book 6 is a bad book, meaning there’s a slim chance it will make more money $$ than HP5, meaning… Yates! Ciao! What will happen with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (HP7)? That will depend on how HP6 does in Box Office, how the critics treat HP6, and who they will choose for directing HP7.

If HP6 does as crappy as I think it will do, and critics aren’t as excited about it, as they were with HP5… The WB will need to choose some high-profile director… be it Peter Jackson, or Guillermo del Toro or someone critic-friendly to create a new buzz for the last film… because HP7 was a pretty crappy book, and The WB will only cash in more money $$ because of the director.