Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) - Movie Review

My original intention with making today a Pinocchio double feature was that I would look at a film I was fairly certain wouldn’t work out (and then it did, at least in my opinion) with the Zemeckis version, and then I’d look at this Guillermo Del Toro-directed version to see it done right. Well, that would imply that the two are comparable, even in regard to their shared source material, but this really is an entirely different beast. It’s also, as much as I will go to bat for the Zemeckis film, even better.

Nightmare Alley (2022) - Movie Review

Having managed to contextualise his entire career with his last film The Shape Of Water, it somewhat stands to reason that Guillermo Del Toro would then decide to stretch out into new territory with his following release. Stepping away from the more speculative genre fixtures that have populated his filmography up to this point, he’s now stepping into down-and-dirty film noir, with a sideways-remake of the 1947 Tyrone Power film of the same name (itself adapted from the William Lindsay Gresham novel of the same name). However, out of a want to keep whatever plot revelations are in this story intact so I can get the most out of them (after The Witches, I want to give Del Toro the best chance possible for a rebound), I have not watched the original nor read the source material. But even in that gap, this film has more than enough going for it to be worth recommending.

Antlers (2021) - Movie Review

This film should’ve been an easy lay-up for someone like me. A Guillermo Del Toro produced creature feature about Indigenous mythology and the purpose of cultural storytelling. I know I can end up digging myself into my own navel with these kinds of topics, but I genuinely find them to be fascinating, so I was definitely curious to see how this film would turn out. Well, while it definitely has its points of interest, it also suffers from a real lack of focus that ends up hindering its juicier aspects.

The Witches (2020) - Movie Review

There was always going to be some level of disappointment to this for me personally. I’ve gone on record about how Nicholas Roeg’s The Witches is one of my all-time favourite movies, and the idea of something coming along that can do that story better seems unlikely. But to give this production credit right off the bat, all the pieces are certainly in place for something that can at least stand out from the original, if not ascend it. Between Robert Zemeckis as director/co-writer, who knows how to use cinema technology to tell a gripping story, and creature feature maverick Guillermo Del Toro teaming up with creator of the -ish franchise Kenya Barris to add to the script, there’s a chance for this to take the source material into an interesting new direction. But while there’s certainly traces of that intent in here, it still can’t manage to escape the shadow of its predecessors.

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (2019) - Movie Review

When it comes to genre films (AKA the stuff that the Oscars consistently overlooks), one of the most common retorts is to put down its status as fiction. Or, more accurately, its place as fiction that takes a further suspension of disbelief than others. It can be about ghosts, ghouls, robotic zombies, time travel, Danny Huston playing a character that you don’t want to punch in the face; some things are just too much for others to buy into.

And even as someone who leans in hard when it comes to speculative fiction, to an extent, I get that mentality. But what that tends to leave out is the notion that stories like that, even the most fantastical, are influenced by reality. Sometimes, fiction is the only way to externalise very real, very dark, very serious thoughts and feelings. And it is here where this film shines.