First up, is Pan's Labyrinth, a movie that received much critical acclaim, and extremely well-liked by a lot of people that I've talked to.
I didn't like it.
Honestly, it wasn't terrible. It wasn't even bad. I could see why people would like it a lot. It just wasn't my sort of movie. I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre, at least fantasy movies like this one. I'm picky about them, I guess. I didn't really like Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Princess Mononoke, etc. (I think I'm more into the sci/fi-nerdcore side of fantasy, like Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.) I really didn't like the character of the faun. He was just too creepy for me. I thought that the gore, though relevant in spots, was a little too over-the-top and sometimes unnecessary. The plotlines that I was interested in weren't as developed as the ones I didn't care about. But, I can see how people would really like this movie, I don't want to totally trash it. I just want to explain my position. So it gets 3 Flenker Thumbs-Up (one being AI, 5 being Trading Places).
The next movie that I saw was Knocked Up. I caught a matinee of it yesterday with a couple of friends. Now I was a fan of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, so I kind of new what to expect. And while this wasn't that creative or inventive of a movie, I definitely enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty hilarious, the kind of movie that I appreciate on occasion, where I can just sit back and laugh. There were a few parts (none that I can think of specifically right now, of course) where I was the only one laughing at something maybe a little more subtle than the rest of the movie (I of course, get all kinds of humor, nothing passes me by. Especially sarcasm.) but for the most part it's pretty straight-forward, jokes about beards, masturbating, and a pretty good "Gabe Ruth" joke. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes funny stuff. It gets four-and-a-half Flenker Thumbs-Up.
Now I'm not saying that I think Knocked Up is a better piece of cinematic work than Pan's Labyrinth, I'm just saying that I enjoyed it much more, whatever that's worth. Apparently, it's worth one-and-a-half Flenker's.
