T2

Fantastic movie. One of the most visually stunning movies of the last 20 years. There is a scene where there is a creepy guardian of sorts that's found inside a room that you get to through a door in the wall, anyways this creature is insanely creepy. He has this thing where his eyes are on his hands... wow. When that scene came up everyone in the theater kind of gasped, truly oddly creepy scene. Pan's Labyrinth is unusual in the sense that it combines historical suspense drama with an insanely fantastical dark world. A movie that makes you think not only about the history of the events that it depicts, but makes you question everything you thought you knew about the world of fantasy. One of the best movies I have ever seen. When it's over you get that feeling of, 'what the hell am I supposed to do now'.

Mainly interesting for its documentation of life behind the Berlin Wall, I was disappointed with The Lives of Others, as it received a lot of critical acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2008. The premise sounded intriguing: A Stasi (East German Secret Police) investigator's socialist ideology shifts as he observes members of the East German cultural movement after having bugged the house of a notable playwright. Through his observations both inside the bugged apartment and outside it of his superiors' abuse of power, he grows increasingly sympathetic to the Playwright's cause. Unfortunately, I found the development of the story and the characters therein generally unconvincing. The shift in ideology follows a handful of contrived sequences where the investigator discovers literature (a 5-second clip of him enjoying a banned book stolen from the Playwright's home) and sheds a tear at the beauty of music. It's not as if the denouement didn't make sense at all, it's ... Read more

Undeniably one of the best films of 2007. It's a war/fantasy film that takes place in a WWII Spain. Beautiful storytelling, incredibly emotional music, stunning cinematography and gifted acting all come together to create something unlike anything out there. I highly recommend it.

Somewhat reminiscent of Coppola's "The Conversation", "The Lives of Others" bases its narrative on the eavesdropping activites of the Stasi, East Germany's secret police. Ulrike Muhe plays a lead interrogator whose personal life, in contrast to those he voyeuristically monitors, is barren and sterile. He's superb; subtle and intense in conveying the character's burgeoning sense of dissatisfaction and yearning for a fulfillment he's never experienced. For a film with little "action", the proceedings are engrossing from beginning to end, and it's a peerless cautionary tale about the excesses of intrusive, repressive governments, and those fallible human beings who make such excesses possible.

I echo most of what the earlier reviewer said- Pan's Labyrinth was a terrific film.  There is a sequence with a particular 'monster' that stuck in my head for days later until I finally figured it out- it looked like a child's nightmare.  It's a strange, haunting, and beautiful film.

One of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. The movie works on so many different levels you need to watch it a few times.

A magical film that just might open a closed mind or two. You don't need LSD to experience this enlightening trip.

The Academy got it right in awarding this the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It's wonderfully done. Great acting, direction, and story. Wholly absorbing; kept me on the edge of my seat. Such a bittersweet, unforgettable ending. This is one you've got to see. It's on my all-time favorites list. In German with English subtitles.

This quietly observant tale of an elderly Japanese couple who visit their(adult)children in Tokyo,but find only their widowed daughter-in-law makes them welcome,is among the most humane,wise and poignant films ever made,rightly considered a true masterpiece of world cinema.(voted 3rd best film in the "Sight and Sound" international poll,1992).It also happens to be my wife's personal favourite.

A beautiful poignant film about family. It will leave you heartbroken after watching it. Genuine brilliance from Yasujiro Ozu's masterful pallette.