Holiday

Hey just posting to say that i'll be leaving to go to Chichester in the countryside today. So there wont be updates in a while, sorry bout that, however as you may have noticed i have left two new posts to suffice.

I'll be back in a week so until then, see you later and take it easy.

Cheers
Alec

First Critical Review for Volver

Hey, well now heres the first crictal review for the second film im studying Pedro Almodovar's Volver released in 2006. The following review is from the Empire Online website.

"Plot
A story about three generations of women. Raimunda (Cruz) works menial jobs to support her daughter (Yohana Cobo) and deadbeat husband three years after the death of her mother (Maura). Her sister Sole (Dueñas) is lonely, and her friend Agustina (Portillo) suffers from cancer and the disappearance of her own mother.

Verdict
A mature and beautifully told tale of family and the ghosts that haunt us.


Reviewer: Helen OHara"
****

As ever for the full Empire review just click on the title.

Cheers
Alec

Reception for Pan's Labyrinth

The post deals with the success director Guillmero Del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth' enjoyed when released November 2006.

Awards included the film winng 3 Oscars as well as another 55 wins & 51 nominations for other awards which were:

Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Makeup

Ariel Awards
Best Director
Best Movie

BAFTA Awards
Best Costume Design
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Makeup & Hair

Constellation Awards
Best Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-series

Fantasporto
Best Film

Goya Awards
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Makeup and Hair
Best New Actress (Ivana Baquero)
Best Original Screenplay
Best Sound
Best Special Effects


National Society of Film Critics
Best Picture

Saturn Awards
Best International Film
Best Performance by a Younger Actor

Spacey Awards
Space Choice Awards

Also the film made $37 million in North America while making $80 million worldwide. In its native country Spain, it almost made $12 million, and it is the fourth highest domestically grossing foreign film in the United States (according to Wikipedia).It has made a furhter $16 million from its DVD release.

Second Pan's Labyrinth Critical Review

Hey, after viewing Del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth', which I throughly enjoyed, Im now back to post another critical review of the film, this time from Total Film.

The following review is from their website.

"In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) travels with her pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) to stay with her new stepfather Captain Vidal (Sergi López). As Vidal hunts diehard anti-fascist rebels, Ofelia discovers a magical labyrinth in the forest and is given a series of tasks by mysterious faun Pan (Doug Jones)...
A young girl draws a magic chalk door on her bedroom wall and pushes it open. She steps into a banquet hall, where a slumbering monster sits at a table loaded with food. The Pale Man (for that is his name)doesn’t notice her; his deformed, domed head has no eyes, just a bloody mouth and two gaping nostrils. The little girl approaches, terrified but brave. Forgetting every warning, she steals a morsel of food. The Pale Man jerks awake, picking up his eyeballs from the plate in front of him. He inserts the peepers into the palms of his hands and chases her through the corridors...

Sometimes even adults need fairytales. Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is Grimm for grown-ups, its pantheon of monsters destined to send ankle-biters screaming back to playschool. It’s refreshingly mature, a dark and majestic piece of fantasy full of satyrs, toads and fairies more likely to shape-shift into praying mantises than Tinkerbell. Imagine Alice In Wonderland marinated in the bug/body horror of David Cronenberg, Spanish painter Goya (the gory picture Saturn Devours His Children is a touchstone) and del Toro’s favourite Victorian illustrator Arthur Rackham (Google away... it’s worth it).

A stark, disturbing fairy story for adults. Its provocative vision of the monsters of fascism and childhood packs chilling power."

Blimey, quite alot eh, however for those of you who wish to read on, as always click on the blog title.

Cheers
Alec

Pan's Labyrinth Critical Review

Heres a short review for Pan's Labyrinth from Empire Online.

"Plot
Spain, 1944. Young Ofelia (Baquero) is taken by her pregnant mother (Gil) to live with her Fascist commander stepfather (López) in a remote town. There she meets a faun (Jones) who tells her that if she performs certain tasks she will become queen of a magical land.

Verdict
Dark, twisted and beautiful, this entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war-movie horror to startling effect.

* * * * *
Reviewer: Kim Newman"

As always for those of you who wish to view the full review, just click on the Blog title.

Cheers
Alec

Volver

Hey me again, heres the second film i'll be looking during my critical research, Volver released in August 2006 last year, directed by Pedro Almodovar. Well lucky for you i have both the original Spanish and UK trailer.

Original Spanish Trailer


UK Trailer


Well hopefully you should be able to see the differences in marketing, between the two trailers.
Well thats me for now.

Cheers
Alec

Research Methods

Here are several types of research i am planning to use throughout my critical research.

Quantitavie Research - Usually based on numbers, statistics or tables, that attempts to 'measure' some kind of phenomenon and produce 'hard' data. It often involves working with large groups of people.

Qualitative Research - A type of research that attempts to explain or understand somthing and may necessitate much discussion and analysis of people's attitudes and behaviour. It usually involves working with small numbers of people or 'focus groups'.

Primary Research- First hand research; interviews, questionnaires, surveys.

Secondary Research- Second hand research, data found/created by someone else.

Pan's Labyrinth

Hey back again, now that my Hypothesis has been listed, heres a trailer of one of the two films that show will show how Spanish Cinema has been marketed to more conventional western UK audience, the trailer is for Pan's Labyrinth released in December 2006 and directed by famed Spanish director Guillmero Del Toro.



Well thats the Western Trailer for now, if found the original Spanish trailer shall be posted as well. Oh and if you want try, analyse the trailer and see if you can see several ways it is marketed to UK audiences.

My Hypothesis

Ive decided that my critical research will be based on how World Cinema is marketed towards Western audieneces.

My Hypothesis is, "How is Spanish Cinema marketed to a UK audience?"

Seven Samurai 1954

Hey new post here, this post deals with the idea of how certain films from other parts of the world have influneced Western cinema, a particular good example is 'The Seven Samurai'. The following plot summary is from Wikipedia.

"Seven Samurai is an Academy Award-nominated, 1954 Toho film co-written, edited and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film takes place in warring states period Japan (the late 16th century, around 1587/1588). It follows the story of a village of farmers that hire seven masterless samurai (rōnin) warriors to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops."

Hmmm sounds familar dont it, well in the West, a film called 'The Magnificent Seven'was released in 1960, which many movie fans and 'film buffs' feel and agree that it is/was heavily influenced by Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai'.

As always feel free to click on the title if you want to read more.

Cheers
Alec.