Pan's Labyrinth

Tonight we watched Pan's Labyrinth. More than anything else on this blog I've probably mentioned how every time I think a movie is going to be really good I am disappointed and whenever I think a movie is going to be terrible I am pleasantly surprised. Not so this time. I've been wanting to see this one for a few months, thinking that it would be really good. And it was. The movie is very dark and somewhat disturbing, yet very beautiful. I can think of nothing to say about it that wouldn't ruin it for anybody who might want to watch it. If there was anything wrong with it, I missed it... possibly due to the fact that it's in Spanish and requires reading subtitles. I will give one warning about it. It is gory. Very gory. With normal movies if your stomach can't handle the visuals you can look away. If the movie uses a language other than your own, this doesn't work so well.

So I guess I should say at least something about the actual movie. The basic idea is Ofelia, a young girl, is taken to live with the father of her soon-to-be-born brother. He is not a very pleasant man. Her head is full of fairy tales and stuff and she escapes to these magical adventures to avoid her terrible reality. Other critics have put it in a category with Alice in Wonderland and Spirited Away. I would say it's much more like the Neverending Story (anybody else love that movie when they were a kid?) except the main character is a girl and the special effects look like they used more than $100.

This is probably the best movie I've seen in the theatre since Return of the King.... oh, and one more reason why this is a great movie... as far as I know it's original. It's not based on a book, not a remake of an old movie, and it's not a sequel. So if you've got the time, the money, and can stomach a little gore, definitely watch this movie.

On the way to the movie we stopped by Jon Schmidt's apartment to pick him up. His apartment is pretty amazing. It's in an old mansion that's been turned into seven apartments. One of his rooms is round. I think he has pictures on his blog... you'll have to go back a few posts to when he moved in i think. (The link is to the right where it says "Jonathan").

After the movie we grabbed supper at a big restaurant/bar called MacBehr's. The decorating there was terrible. It may well be the only place that is fancy enough to use tablecloths and cloth napkins and sloppy enough to have a 5' cardboard standee of a bottle of budweiser wearing a football helmet. Anyhow the food was really good. We all had sandwiches of some sort. Meg told me to be sure to mention that we had sweet potato fries and that they were really good... or at least Meg and Jon did... sweet potatos are not my thing. So I guess what I'm trying to say is if you like Sweet Potatoes, go to MacBehrs in Sioux City.

I was going to try to be smooth and edit more into my paragraphs about the movie, but I want to go to bed so I'll just make this post extra long instead. Anyhow... I should also mention that the movie is quite intense. I think Meg had her hand over her mouth for about half of it. I just thought I should mention that as another disclaimer so that nobody who can't handle real intense movies (hi mom) sees that I recommended this and goes to watch it.