ntertainment
The
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Clackamas Print
Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2’007
‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ Oscar-worthy
. Tayo Stalnaker
11 A&E Editor
Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark, brutal
and tragic movie that asks many
questions about obedience and the
loss of innocence. It’s also one of
the best films I’ve seen in years.
The film is set in Spain circa
1944, right after the Spanish Civil
War, and focuses most of its atten
tion on a young girl named Ofelia
(Ivana Baquero).
Ofelia moves into a small coun
try cottage with her pregnant mother,
Carmen (Ariadna Gil), and her step
father, Vidal (Sergi Lopez), who’s
a captain in Franco’s army and has
been sent to this little hovel with his
soldiers to exterminate a group of
revolutionaries.
As soon as they arrive, Ofelia
discovers a labyrinth behind the
cottage. Later that night, she follows
a fairy into the labyrinth where she
discovers a faun (Doug Jones).
The faun informs Ofelia she is
the long-lost daughter of the King
of the Underworld, and that she is
to perform three dangerous tasks in
order to go back to her home world
and reunite with her real father.
From here on out, writer-direc
tor Guillermo del Toro {The Devil’s
Backbone, Hellboy) brilliantly juxta
poses Ofelia’s fantastical adventure
with the harsh reality of Franco’s
Spain.
The acting is virtually flawless,
especially by Lopez, who plays the
incredibly wicked Captain Vidal.
Lopez’s performance was so real
istic and believable that one would
think he’s always played a villain,
but no, he’s mostly been in Spanish
comedies.
It really irks me that Pan’s
Labyrinth wasn’t nominated for
best picture at this year’s Academy
Awards. The six films nominated
are all good, but they’re mostly
the same kinds of films that get
nominated every year. There’s the
bio-pic, the pseudo-indie film, the
film directed by a legendary director
and a couple of others that nobody
cares about.
Everyone, watchPan s Labyrinth
instead of the Oscars. It offers up
something we haven’t seen in a
while: creativity.
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Internet
The Faun (Doug Jones) tells Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) one of the tasks she must perform in
order to reunite with her real father in Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, Pan’s Labyrinth.
Blue Man Group beats on tubes, sells out Memorial Coliseu
. Laura Cameron
| The Clackamas Print
“Like dropping acid and then
watching the Smurfs.”
So one audience member
commented as he left the Blue
Man Group concert Saturday
at the Memorial Coliseum. I
wouldn’t know, having never
tried acid, but the experience
certainly was overwhelming.
The same can’t be said for the
opening act. DJ Mike Relm was
unimpressive, doing nothing
more than repetitively scratch
ing and occasionally playing
The Blue Man Group entertains thousands at a sold-out
stadium show during their Complex Tour.
with a beatbox over the top
of unmixed classic songs. Such
mediocre fare, especially when
played over the Charlie Brown
theme song, did not do much to
excite the audience.
More joy was derived from
the text crawl on the screens
behind the stage, encouraging
the crowd to “please yell if you
are paying attention” and ask
ing various questions meant
to determine if there were any
“megastars” in the audience. “If
you think it’s a good idea to
climb a palm tree after drinking
an entire bottle of Jack Daniel’s,
please yell now,” the screens
instructed. “If you just yelled:
congratulations. You are Keith
Richards. If you did not just
yell: congratulations. You are
not Keith Richards.”
And when Relm finally
vacated the stage, the screens
informed us: “Ladies and gen
tlemen: it is now time.
“To pee.”
At which point the lights
came back up for a 15-minute
intermission.
The Blue Man Group put
on a fantastic show. They are
very much percussion-based,
but go far beyond basic drums.
Using different lengths of tubing
and flexible rods to make their
music, they sound completely
unlike any other band out there.
The focus of the tour - “How to
Be a Megastar” - was hilarious
and guaranteed plenty of audi
ence participation.
Most of the songs played
were from their latest album,
The Complex. Admittedly, most
of the lyrics from The Complex
are rather emo, returning
often to the theme of “masks
worn in public” and railing
against a homogenized culture.
However, they manage to avoid
the whiny, teen-angst vibe,
and the whole concept is later
mocked in the “How to Be a
Megastar Instructional Video,”
absolving the group of any emo
wrongdoing.
The finale consisted o
very dissimilar songs,
was “Exhibit 13,” a slow,
instrumental played to a via
montage of papers, that hk
into the courtyard of Blue M
Group’s New York studiB
Sept. 11, 2001. It was mercin
devoid of patriotic browbefl
or overbearing religiosity)-
touching tribute to a tragedjl
obviously affected them dost
The night ended witH
explosive rendition of The Whj
‘Teenage Wasteland.” The»
was perfectly suited to Bluep
Group’s style and instrunLi
The strobes, black lights!
lights]
paper streamers - fired out o
the crowd with the messa
“You’re all wasted” - wa|I
perfect ending to a high-cnet
highly creative show.
I
Blue Man Group are talen
and superb performers. No wi
der their show sold out - sot
thing that doubtless could
be said about the Blazers la
going on at the same time. I
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Wonder Woman film hasfans’ panties in a bunc/1
V
isual
LITERATURE
by Adam J. Manley
Bat-nipples.
When someone mentions the
dreadful Batman & Robin movie,
there are many tilings to gripe
about: the horrible script, the terri
ble casting, the utter disrespect for
beloved characters and the camp
ing up of fandom's beloved dark
knight Yet, somehow, it all comes
down to the bat-nipples on George
Clooney’s rubber-clad chest.
Clearly, when it comes to
adapting comic books to
film, costumes are a hot
button for comic geeks and
movie aficionados alike.
The comic geeks
want a true adaptation
of their favorite hero or
heroine’s iconic costume.
Moviegoers want to s^e
something that doesn’t
look like Gene Simmons
and Michael Jackson tried
to design costumes for
the WWE’s production of
Jesus Christ: Superstar.
Vibrant, colorful cos
tumes and underwear on
the outside look gorgeous
on the crisp, pen-inked
page. But when translating
a comic to the silver screen, the
audience would be hard-pressed to
believe in a gruff, tough Wolverine
dressed in yellow spandex and
blue briefs.
When filmmakers change the
costumes for the movies, however,
fans gripe. Many a pimpled fan-
Joss Whedon, at the helm
of the upcoming Wonder
Woman movie, and his
proclamation that the
iconic Amazon will not
bear her signature “star-
spangled panties.”
For those who don’t
know, part of Wonder
Woman’s
traditional
costume includes a blue
bottom with white stars
arranged in patterns that
vary depending on the
artist. For a long time, this
pattern stuck close to an
almost polka-dot scheme.
No offense to Lynda.
Carter, Wonder Woman
internet Photo
of 70s television, but it
looks ridiculous on screen.
boy threatens that even the slight
In recent years, artists discov-
est change to his idol would bring ered they could arrange them into
about a scenario involving torches, a more pleasant, “V”-shaped for-
pitchforks and scathing blogs.
mation. It makes for a much prêt-
It’s happening right now: one tier picture.
of the big comic-to-film debates
Until, that is, one imagines
on the Internet right now is over what it would look like in 3-D
A.
fl
and realizes that it’s nothing mofl
than a patriotic arrow screaming]
“ Vagina
Vnoin« here!”
a
Sure, Superman gets away wi
flashing his bright red underoos at
the world, but he’s the exception
that
the rule.
___ r proves
____________
_ ÛI
Superman is cheesy. Hl
intentionally cheesy. He’s a sya
bol of the good old days, of me®
innocent times that never actual^
existed. He’s a dream, an ideal
The character exudes naïveté. Thf
fact
that he puts his clothes on
~
in the wrong order is part of that
appeal.
But most comic book char
acters don’t weak in that mold
"
to face rea
and comic
ity: for the characters they' love
to be loved by the movie-watdH
ing masses, the colorfill pedophH
outfits have to go.
■
No, we don ’ t need bat-nippfl
But
don’t __
need
feel
_ we
_ also
~
* to J
obligated to stand and recite the
Pledge of Allegiance to a patntjc
crotch.