filmfan's diary

August. Not what I was hoping for this year, seeing as I had to wait ‘til it was all but over for the big guns to come out, and everything else looked average at best.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army 

If The Dark Knight was the brooding teen, Hellboy 2’s his kid brother. Fun and full of cool ideas – brimming with a different sort of creativity. 

Following the first, in 2004, of what may be a trilogy, Hellboy 2 follows the eponymous red hell-beast turned good guy. Together with his pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz and best mate Abe, an amphibious blue, fish-man creature as they must fight a new evil. Namely Prince Nuada, from the mythical realm, who wants to end a truce between his people and humanity by regaining control of the Golden Army. This is an ancient, indestructible army, 70 times 70 strong –  which were forged long ago to fight against humanity at the behest of King Balor, the Prince’s father, a decision he soon regretted, choosing to hide them when he saw the death and destruction they caused.

Better than most 2 of 3’s, Hellboy 2 has a surprising amount of laughs as it goes about setting up the threequel that’s not yet absolutely, definitely going to happen. Director Guillermo del Toro has a lot on his plate before he can make Hellboy 3 – a ton of producing for different films, plus co-writing and directing The Hobbit movies, two films that take place before the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

I wouldn’t bet against a Hellboy 3 though. Guillermo del Toro clearly has the energy and creativity of that metaphorical kid. Hellboy 2 is beautiful. Visually stunning throughout, he cleverly mixes the volcanic steampunk styling of the Golden Army with the otherworldly influences of the numerous trolls, goblins, evil fairies and the like into a believable world. His alarming attention to the little details, like something smaller than a loaf of bread dying theatrically or the intricate workings of the headpiece of a soldier of the Golden Army, make me wonder if I could hear the cogs working in del Toro’s head if I got close enough.

Clearly then, I loved this film. I loved the characters, the humour, the imagery, and the ideas. The plot could have been better or just resolved better, but with this much going for it, this is a minor problem. 

4/5
 

The Wackness

This ain’t the new Juno. It doesn't matter that I saw it in the same tiny screen where I saw Juno, but with even less people. I don’t care that it stars Olivia Thirlby (Juno’s mate Leah) because she’s playing a different character. It’s not even her story, the same time or the same setting. Instead its 1994, NYC and follows Luke (Josh Peck), teen pot dealer and loner, through the summer after high school. He’s the guy who’s everyone’s friend and nobody’s. The closest he really has to a friend is his psychiatrist Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley) who has enough issues of his own. With everyone else from school leaving for the summer, Luke faces further loneliness. That’s until he learns that his hot classmate Steph (Thirlby) is staying in the city too. Shame her stepdad is Dr. Squires and he’s dead set against the relationship. This film is not about what happens, but how and why it does, and how Luke deals with it that matters. He’s just a normal kid trying to get through life. He does have extraordinarily good taste in music though, so the soundtrack’s worth checking out. In case you’re wondering, ‘The...