Guillermo del Toro: Genius Or Moderately Talented Weirdo?

[Chip]

or BOTH?

[raven]

Hmm well I FLOVED Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone.   I thought the former was pretty original and the latter fantastically well done and creepy.  Both were very atmospheric.  I also really enjoyed Pacific Rim, which was just a ton of fun.  Don't be Afraid of the Dark was weaker than Pan's and TDB, but not a bad flick, with the usual very nice atmospheric touches.

 

The Strain - I'll check it out the TV show.  I read both that one and The Fall and read a synopsis of The Night Eternal because though I was curious to see how the series ended, I was so disappointed in the Fall that I didn't want to read the last one.

 

Anyway I don't want to spoil, I will say that I thought the opening scene in The Strain was very well done, very creepy.  I liked the fact that the vampires were nasty.  I thought the books failed on characterization though so I'm interested in seeing how the TV show handles that.

 

I don't know if GDT or Chuck Hogan is to blame for my disappointment in the second novel so - brilliant filmmaker and not so brilliant author??

[Omar G.]

Oof, characterization on the episodes I've seen so far is pretty terrible.  But I'm optimistic that could improve. There are characters on "Walking Dead" who have evolved far beyond their comic book counterparts (or who don't even exist in the comic like Daryl).    Very curious what everybody will think about the pilot come Sunday night.

[AimingforYoko]

What is it with del Toro and names? Ephraim Goodweather? Abraham Setrakian? Stacker Pentecost?(Pacific Rim)

[Omar G.]

http://www.mess.be/inickgenwuname.php/

[millennium]

Overrated and under-talented.   Mediocrity incarnate.

[shapeshifter]

http://www.mess.be/inickgenwuname.php/

Awesome. Taking this to the Small Talk Thread

[Omar G.]

This is actually a really good conversation with Del Toro.  Turns out he's way more hands-on with this show than I expected, even as far as doing color-correcting on the show and supervising all effects shots. 

Very hard not to love the guy after hearing him talk for an hour. Now I find myself hoping the show improves dramatically.

 

Nerdist with Guillermo Del Toro:

http://nerdist.libsyn.com/guillermo-del-toro-returns

Edited July 27, 2014 by Omar G.

[Crim]

^ That interview is great and restores my hope in The Strain a bit. I can't say that I like everything he made though.

 

I thought of Cronos when I heard of The Strain (vampires, rich guy trying to procure said vampire, even the family issues), and I liked Cronos, slight as it was. In fact, Cronos as a series sounded awesome. Alas, this show is not.

 

Pan's Labyrinth was simply great. The Devil's Backbone was good, but I wasn't particularly impressed with it; it's probably the movie that left me most indifferent of what I've seen of his work. It probably didn't help that I've seen after his other movies, so it felt a tad rehashed, although it's in fact the opposite: Pan's, especially, revisits some themes. I went into Pacific Rim expecting to like it a lot because I like mecha anime, and I did enjoy it, but thought the script was unbelievably awful. Hellboy was fun. Blade 2 had some awesome imagery, better than Blade 1, and that's the first movie of his I watched, so that was a very positive first impression.

 

Basically, I liked pretty much all del Toro, but I can't say that I'm a fan.