Pan’s Labyrinth. Wow what a superb film. The quality of the acting and the story manage to somehow keep from you (until about an hour after it’s finished) how tragic the story really was. A great mix of fantasy and history, the story tells of the daughter of the King of the Underworld who escapes to the world above and is blinded by the light and loses all of her memories… then cuts to the closing part of WWII in Spain. I won’t go into the story any more but it was so beautiful… and *extremely* violent in a couple of its scenes. It’s hard to explain how the film manages to weave together fantasy and relationships and war and reality so seamlessly. It’s something that very few films ever manage. 8.5/10. p.s. the image is from the films scariest creature, thank god it wasn’t in it for long!

Blood Diamond. I dunno, I just couldn’t get into it. I found the relationships a bit messy, it was just too long, and well, I just find the whole Africa thing so depressing. I think when you have such a depressing subject that you have to treat it in a not too preachy/well meaning manner. For example God of War managed it perfectly. 6/10

World Trade Center. Pretty good, far too long again but still well done. The only big criticism is that with such a slow paced film it was extremely rushed in the last 10 minutes. It should have just ended quietly. 7/10