Hellboy II: The Golden Army

The B.P.R.D. Team in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal)

In the interest of full disclosure I should probably reveal that I have something of a Hellboy shrine in my office. I have one of the Comic-Con exclusive Hellboy action figures (the other Hellboy figures are at home), a poster from the first film, and a prop replica of Hellboy's Good Samaritan gun (this was kindly given to me by a colleague who had two of them after dressing up like Hellboy one Halloween - thanks John Munoa!). The only thing my shrine is missing are some candles but I deemed that too much of a fire hazard. I reveal this because I want to be upfront about going into the new sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army (opening July 11 throughout San Diego) with high hopes. Hellboy II was the film I was most looking forward to this summer. (You can also listen to my KPBS Morning Edition Film Chat.)

Hellboy II Web Feauturette

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (opening July 11 throughout San Diego) is probably the film I have been most eagerly awaiting this summer. I am a diehard fan of Guillermo Del Toro's work but I have been especially excited about the Hellboy sequel ever since Del Toro appeared at Comic-Con and said that the script was so good that if you read it you would cry. (That was before Universal had given the greenlight to the sequel and Del Toro was still trying to convince people it was worth it.) In anticipation of Del Toro's new film I have been watching all of his old ones, and he just keeps getting better. Anyway, I thought I would share my enthusiasm by posting a video I cut together from the clips and interviews provided by Universal in their electronic press kit (highlighting the stuff I thought was cool like using trampolines for some of the fight scenes). Ron Perlman returns as Red along with Selma Blair as Liz, Doug Jones as Abe, and Jeffrey Tambor as Tom. I hope this whets your appetite like it did mine.

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Takashi Miike Double Bill

Controversial Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike in 2004 with KPBS film critic Beth Accomando.

To an Asian Extreme film fan such as myself, Takashi Miike is a genius. He's not a household name in the U.S. but in Japan he's known for his amazing productivity and his penchant for pushing the medium and audiences to their breaking point. But with films such as Dead or Alive, Ichi the Killer and Audition, he's building a devoted cult following around the world. CSUSM will be testing Miike's popularity here in San Diego on May 8 with a campus screening of Visitor Q, his disturbing portrait of a dysfunctional family brought back together by a mysterious stranger, and The Great Yokai War, his fantasy film inspired by Japanese folktales. The event has been curated by Chuck Bailey, Literature and Writing Graduate Studies Teaching Associate and Master's degree candidate at CSUSM. I will be introducing the films, preparing people for what they are about to see and hopefully placing the films in a context that will keep people from running for the exits -- an impulse some will definitely feel. There will be a panel discussion following each film and featuring Maya Mealins of Kangaidai University, Osaka, Japan; Dr. Pamela Redela, Ph.D.- Women's Studies, CSUSM; Brandon Cesmat, MFA, CSUSM; and hosted and moderated by Bailey. The presentation begins at 3:30 pm in Academic Hall-102 (with additional screenings in Markstein Hall-125). The event is being sponsored by CSUSM Associated Students, Inc. (ASI), the San Diego Asian Film Foundation (SDAFF), and the CSUSM Communication Department. Join me for Visitor Q, if you dare.

Del Toro Confirmed to Direct The Hobbit

Guillermo Del Toro (here directing Picturehouse' Pan's Labyrinth) is set to direct The Hobbit.

This isn't exactly breaking news (sorry I was a little slow to catch this one) but... The upcoming film version of The Hobbit has stirred a lot of buzz and debate as rumors have been circulating about exactly who would be involved. Since Peter Jackson did such a kick ass job bringing J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings to the screen, fans were hoping that the New Zealand director would take on The Hobbit, the novel that precedes the storyline of the LOTR Trilogy. But negotiations, scheduling issues, and what not made it seem like Jackson would not be at the helm. A few days ago that was confirmed. But the good news is that Mexico's Guillermo Del Toro (director of Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth) has been signed on with Jackson producing. So the idea of Jackson and Del Toro collaborating should make fans happy. If anyone doubts Del Toro's ability to tackle this fantasy classic, just check out any of his films: Cronos, Mimic, The Devil's Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy or Pan's Labyrinth. Del Toro definitely has a flair for the fantastical and for finding the humanity in any story -- even if it involves bizarre monsters and creatures. The only down side of this is that Del Toro will aparently be moving to New Zealand where it will take four years to make two films back-to-back. The first film is slated to be a straight adaptation of The Hobbit. But the second is reported to be  "an entirely original film, set between the end of The Hobbit and the beginning of The Lord of the Rings trilogy." That means Del Toro will be focused on Hobbits for the next four years. Not terrible news, but I always liked the way Del Toro alternated between big productions and small personal works (Cronos, The Devil's Backbone). So this means we're unlikely to see a personal film from Del Toro for a few years. Oh well. But here's looking forward to what the fertile imaginations of Del Toro and Jackson can come up with. This is a creative marriage made in heaven... or at the very least in the Shire. I can't wait.

George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead

The dead are coming back to life... again. Diary of the Dead (The Weinstein Company)

Let me be upfront about this – I love zombie movies. I don’t know what it is about the lumbering undead that I find so endearing but they definitely charm me. And George A. Romero is THE master of zombie horror, having essentially created the genre with his 1968 black and white film, Night of the Living Dead. (There were some zombies before Romero but he defined them as we know them today, and anyone who saw him at his panel at last year's Comic-Con should be convinced of his master status in the horror genre.) This year, the 67-year-old Romero delivers his fifth zombie film, Diary of the Dead  (opening February 15 exclusively at the AMC Palm Promenade Theaters), so run, don’t “shamble,” over to catch the undead’s latest uprising.

The great thing about Romero’s zombies films is that you can enjoy them in any of a number of ways. If you just want a zombie gorefest, he delivers a bloody thrill ride of horror fun. But his films can also be appreciated as truly independent filmmaking in which Romero has complete control of everything; his films serve up primers on how to make a film on little or no money outside Hollywood. And finally, if you want something a little meatier, you can always find social commentary mixed in with all the blood and gore. Romero’s latest, Diary of the Dead, satisfies on all three levels.

George A. Romero Interview

George A. Romero reanimates the zombie genre with Diary of the Dead (Weinstein Company)

When George A. Romero made The Night of the Living Dead in 1968, he essentially invented a genre. But potential distributors were not initially impressed. In fact, they asked him to change the film's bleak ending. But he simply said, “F--k you.” That pretty much set the tone for Romero's relationship with the mainstream film industry. Like John Waters, he's a filmmaker who has remained outside the industry (Pittsburgh for Romero and Baltimore for Waters) making the films he wants. This year he delivers the much-anticipated zombie outing, Diary of the Dead (opening exclusively at the Palm Promenade Theaters).

“It's not a continuation, it's not sort of a fifth film in the series,” Romero explains, “It goes back to the first night when the dead are coming back. I sort of felt that I had gone far enough with Land of the Dead, and I was ready to get off of that train… There was a collection of short stories, actually two volumes, called Book of the Dead, and they were all stories about what happened on that first night. I came to realize that I could sort of keep doing stories about different people over those first two or three nights.”

The Orphanage

If you have ever seen or met Guillermo Del Toro at the San Diego Comic-Con, then you know he's a filmmaker who is sincere about two things: championing the horror genre and helping young filmmakers. I was meeting up with Del Toro at the Comic-Con for an interview a few years back and was impressed by the fact that he took time to speak with filmmakers who came up to him after his panel. He also willingly accepted DVDs of their work. In fact, at one point he turned to his assistant and asked, in reference to the DVDs that had just been handed to him, "where are my treasures?" Now I've seen filmmakers toss the DVDs handed to them at the Comic-Con, but not Del Toro. And he apparently even watches them as well, although he says it may take some time before he gets to each. Now Del Toro shows his support for both horror and neophyte filmmakers by producing the feature debut of Spainish director J.A. Bayona and writer Sergio G. Snchez, El Orphanato/The Orphanage (opening January 4 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas).

If you are familiar with Del Toro's work then you can immediately see why he would be eager to support Bayona, Snchez and The Orphanage. Snchez' story has much in common with Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone. Both deal with orphan children and the supernatural in unexpected ways. Both Bayona and Snchez then approach this ghost story with the same kind of humanism as Del Toro. But The Orphanage does not come off as a Del Toro imitation. Bayona and Snchez imprint their own unique stamp on the film and reveal themselves as promising filmmakers.

Cast Your Oscar Votes

Clint vs. Marty again

It's Oscar time. And like the car wreck on the side of the road that you can't help but look it, the Oscars always manage to draw attention. Check out this year's nominations, make your predictions or just gripe about what great film got overlooked. The award ceremony is Sunday February 25 at 5 pm.

I've always had conflicted feelings about the Oscars. As a kid I thought the Oscars were bestowed on the best Hollywood had to offer. But the more movies I saw, the more I realized that the best were overlooked. I now have to live with such Oscar facts as Alfred Hitchcock never won one, but Sally Field, Hilary Swank and Tom Hanks have two each. And actors that I love have won the award for the wrong film. A prime example is Al Pacino winning for A Scent of a Woman. Geez, what about Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather, Serpico? I think the last time I was happy with the awards was when Silence of the Lambs swept. This year, Martin Scorsese will yet again face off against Clint Eastwood for best director. The current score between the two: Scorsese 0; Eastwood 2. I pray the Academy will finally bestow on Oscar on Marty so the poor man can go back to making great personal films rather than big Hollywood films that seem to beg for an Oscar. Peter O'Toole, another oft-nominated and overlooked talent has yet another (and possibly last) chance at the gold this year with his performance in Venus.

Pan’s Labyrinth

Ofelia ventures into a nether world in Pan's Labyrinth

This awards season Guillermo Del Toro is one of three Mexican directors stirring Oscar buzz. Del Toro delivered the Hollywood hit Hellboy in 2004. But this year his film Pan's Labyrinth (opening January 12 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) is Mexico's official submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

Guillermo Del Toro represents a new breed of Mexican filmmaker, one who straddles multiple cultures and works globally. Take his new film. Pan's Labyrinth is a co-production of Mexico, Spain and the United States. It's set after the Spanish Civil War, but Del Toro says it was inspired by the political climate in the U.S.

The Best and Worst of 2006

South Korea's A Bitter Sweet Life

As 2006 comes to an end, it's time to reflect back on the films that came out during the year to sort out the best from the worst. First of all, in determining the best of the year there are always a few films that have quirky releases, and I never know whether it's fair to include them or not. But two films that played for only a day each at the San Diego Asian Film Festival deserve mention even if they never received a theatrical release here.

Hou Hsiao Hsien is quite simply one of the world's premier filmmakers. For Three Times, the Taiwanese director serves up three segments involving a romance and each set in a different time period but with the same pair of actors (the lovely Shu Qi and Chang Chen) performing the leads. Hou's film explores how the culture and social limitations of each era affect the relationships of the characters. The film is ravishing to look at, with Hou crafting a dazzling and deceptively complex work. A film of a very different nature but equally worth checking out is Kim Ji Woon's A Bittersweet Life from South Korea. With A Bittersweet Life Kim delivers an action film with a dark soul and aching vulnerability buried at its heart. If you can find either of these on DVD, check them out. They would make my Ten Best in any year.