Comments on: The Essentials: Guillermo del Toro’s Best Films

By: Thislalife

Thislalife — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

Pans is great but is a pretty serious rip off of The Spirit of The Beehive, which is incredible. I agree the Del Toro cult is strange, his movies are not THAT good. Cuaron is more interesting I think. I should say Devil's Backbone is a masterpiece.

Also I've found the bulk of the Del Toro worshippers have only seen Pans and point to that, as its been said, its great but just full of creature design n heavy emotions. It's like the trippy foreign film for the masses. Art! Spain! Monsters! Why couldn't the The Shins have been on the soundtrack?????

By: Thislalife

Thislalife — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

I'm surprised you'd put Hellboy II above Hellboy. I felt that Hellboy II built up to a rather anti-climactic and unsatisfying ending.

By: Piotr

Piotr — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

I am convinced the fan love for this guy is entirely manufactured. What has he *really* done? Hellboy wasn't even that good. Name one scene from a Hellboy movie. You can't, can you? Because they're not that good at all. They're unmemorable. I'll admit I want to go see Pacific Rim, but only because I like Godzilla, and more than anything I'm curious. But back to my point – Del Toro is manufactured. There are very few "fanboys" in the world who love this guy as much as is being sold. Most everybody I talk to says they're "meh" to "whatever" on the guy. Yet the media will have us believe that he is the ultimate geek master God. I realize I sound like an insane person when I refer to "the media," like they all get together at brunch and decide what they're going to write about, but there is a certain "if all your friends jumped off a bridge…" quality to what gets reported. People associated "geek" with "del Toro," and "monster" with "del Toro," and "fanboy" with "del Toro," so that's what we hear about so often. I think, in reality, this guy is really a non-entity. My un-love for Matthew Vaughn is well documented (what does that mean? well documented where?), and I'd rank del Toro in the same camp. He's a… nothing. He directs movies. That's about it. Is he good? Is he bad? He's nothing. He's just… nothing. The end.

By: Gregg Calumet

Gregg Calumet — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

I would argue that "Blade 2" deserves to be higher. It is not only the BEST out of the "Blade" trilogy but works not only as a vampire film, but an action film and minimal tragedy.

By: SAD, REALLY

SAD, REALLY — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

Del Toro seems like a really interesting filmmaker, but he just hasn't made any really good movies

By: nightgoat72

nightgoat72 — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

I tend to be in the opposite camp of most Del Toro fans. I definitely think Blade II and Hellboy II are his best work. Never cared much for The Devil's Backbone or Pan's Labyrinth.

By: cirkusfolk

cirkusfolk — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

I'll defend this list and these grades. Hellboy 2 and Blade 2 are his best English language movies, I haven't seen Pacific Rim yet, chock full of great action set pieces. I'm sure Pacific Rim won't disappoint.

By: James

James — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

Pan's Labyrinth is amazing and Devil's Backbone is pretty good, but the rest is mostly garbage IMO. Blade 2 a B grade? Hellboy 2 a B+?

whatever.

By: MoB

MoB — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

All those fingers in pies and producer creds and you left off the best, El Orfanato(orphanage).

By: owdl114

owdl114 — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

I'm surprised you rate Cronos so lowly in his oeuvre. I think it's a much better film than you seem to give it credit for. Federico Luppi is outstanding for instance.

By: cineman

cineman — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:33:52 +0000

Blade 2 and Hellboy 2 easily rank as his worst movies for me (tacky over-CGI'd tripe that felt and smelt stale at the time). Kind of astounded you rate them as high as you do.