Thanks to Sylvia and Andy for hosting the latest Club Moofie. A very tasty assortment of Indian curries for dinner followed by an abundance of sugary overload to keep us going into the nights discussions.
The latest moofies for review had a distinct fantasy theme this time. First up the dark fairytale Pan’s Labyrinth, followed by the quirky gender bender Orlando.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
The Moofie Club was impressed with this highly immersive and imaginative film. The characters created were so engaging and rich in depth. The demonic ‘Pale man’, with eyeballs in the palms of his hands was a scary and totally unique creation. Special effects work to enhance the storyline without being distracting. It was violent and quite gory in parts, but arguably not gratuitous. Emotional content is richly complex and subtle.
As IMDB puts it, Pan’s Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups.
Scores
- Andy 4.5
- Sylvia 5
- Paul abstain
- Beck 3.5
- Wendy 4
- Renny 5
- Clint 4.5
- Jayne 4
Memorable Quotes:
—–
Sylvia: Visually amazing, magical and childlike but plunged the depths of what people go through
—–
Andy: It’s hard to describe without sounding like a gushing idiot. Loved it
—–
Jayne: I fell for it hook line and sinker, but the ending let it down
—–
Orlando (1992)
What a curious film this is. In the court of Elisabeth the 1st, an attractive young male Orlando catches the Queen’s eye and is told, ‘Do not fade, do not wither, do not grow old‘. Orlando obliges and for the following hundreds of years up to the modern 20th century, he stays forever young. The film leaves and revisits Orlando as he skips from a romantic adventure in Russia, to war in Constantinople, to the gentry of England (complete with sex change to a woman).
The film is perfectly suited to Tilda Swinton’s androgynous look. The sex change scene when Orlando changes from a man to a woman is interestingly done.
Orlando was received by the Moofie Club with a mixture of curiosity and guarded appreciation. It is quirky, somewhat strange, never uninteresting. Definitely worth a try for those looking for something a little different.
Scores
- Paul 2
- Jayne 4
- Renny 3.5
- Wendy 3
- Beck 2
- Sylvia 3
- Andy 3
- Clint 3
Memorable Quotes:
—–
Clint realising Elizabeth was played by a man: Was that Queen Elizabeth? I thought she looked pretty horrible..
Renny: …It was a guy!
—–
Beck: I didn’t dislike the film. I did slightly fall asleep at one point
—–
Beck on the sex change and Billy Zane: I thought the sheet’s going to slip away and he’s going to have a pair of breasts
—–
Clint: The sex change bit was pretty good, and not just for the nudity, although that was pretty good
—–
Paul: I prefer Tilda Swinton rumpy pumped
—–
A short blog entry this time. Coming up next time we review the last of our selections for 2011, The Messenger and the new release, The Adventures of Tintin. On the same night we also recap the year that was with the 2011 Moscars awards!
All the best and bye for now.
cj
