The Petrified Forest is the only other one with these two I watched.

Coincidentally, I just watched that, if you hadn't already guessed that from my tag.

Hellboy II is one of those very rare exceptions to the rule -- the sequel is better than the original (which wasn't shabby). Great characters including memorable villains, great action, great costuming/ art direction/ SFX. I think I need to see it again to take it all in, because there's so damn much happening in the corners of shots, et cetera.

Yeah, it's much bigger and more ornate and visually interesting. And the villains were better, too. I think the first one had more of a human element to it, though; this one had so much whiz-bang fantasy there wasn't as much time for the character business.

Also, great use of Barry Manilow.

Our entire theatre was cracking up during that scene.

I like del Toro's ideas about fantasy and would like to subscribe to his newsletter.

Fo' shiz.

Question re. Hellboy II. I am neither familiar with the comic nor have seen the first movie. Would I get hopelessly lost if I went and saw Hellboy II?

Not at all. I haven't read the comic either (but I plan to). And the movie is completely comprehensible to someone who hasn't seen the first one, really. You'll pick up on any backstory from the first movie pretty quickly. In fact, they give you a couple title cards in the beginning, so I think they're counting on people not having seen the first movie still coming to watch this one.

We saw Hellboy II last night, and it was fantastic.

What is the attraction? Can someone explain this to me. I'd never heard of them until the posts here and the EW article and I still don't understand why the books are compelling.

I think part of the attraction is that the main character is such a huge MarySue that every teen girl who reads the books thinks that she is Just! Like! Bella! Plus swooningly gorgeous vampire who is tormented by his attraction to you Bella, yet loves you Bella SO MUCH that he doesn't eat you. Her.

Honestly, the books are poorly written, and I'm very confused as to why they're so successful. There are FAR better YA vampire novels out there.

I saw Wall-e and adored it! The only thing I can add to what others have already said is that I loved the use of my two favorite songs from "Hello Dolly"!

I can't wait to see it again!

Hellboy II: my favorite parts were probably the Troll Market, because that is one of my FAVORITE fantasy tropes, and the puppet sequence for when the professor is reading Young Hellboy the bedtime story.

I agree that Hellboy II is a better movie than the first one, and I say that as someone who was delighted with the first Hellboy movie.

One of the trailers we saw with Hellboy II was for Quarentine, which I hadn't heard of before. It looks like all sorts of zombie-riffic fun. (Watch it not be about zombies, and boy will I be miffed.)

saw The Happening. "huh." is about all i can muster. definitely not going in my favorite Shyamalan movies.

I guess I'll be the odd man out, but I didn't like The Golden Army as much as Hellboy. It's more beautifully filmed, but I don't think the story is nearly as good. And I want to lay a curse on whoever cast Seth McFarlane as the voice actor for Johann Krauss .

That said, The Angel of Death was worth my $8 .

great use of Barry Manilow.

Wrod.

Death was very cool. Hubby said it reminded him very much of "Pan's Labyrinth," and when I pointed out the directors were the same, Hubby said, "That makes sense."

I found it fascinating how no one was truly the bad guy, in terms of "so and so must die to save the day." The line "If you don't command you must obey" was very telling.

Not at all. I haven't read the comic either (but I plan to). And the movie is completely comprehensible to someone who hasn't seen the first one, really.

Excellent. I might go see it in a matinee tomorrow.

I think part of the attraction is that the main character is such a huge MarySue that every teen girl who reads the books thinks that she is Just! Like! Bella! Plus swooningly gorgeous vampire who is tormented by his attraction to you Bella, yet loves you Bella SO MUCH that he doesn't eat you. Her.

Honestly, the books are poorly written, and I'm very confused as to why they're so successful. There are FAR better YA vampire novels out there.

I agree with Jilli pretty much down this line. Both of the main leads are incredibly insipid, but easy to insert into fantasy life. Really, it appeals to the same people that really bad fanfic does, only the audience is much larger because YA Fantasy Is Societally OK Now (thanks Harry!). I disliked the first book enough that I'm surprised I read the second, where at least they inserted a character that didn't glow, so I stayed on. And by then I was hooked to the bad.

The treatment of Meyer as the next JKR is understandable by the booksellers (the third book in the series is the one that knocked HP7 off the top of the Best Seller list) and by some fans who never get past the surface, but it drives me crazy. JKR has some writing issues, but at the very least her main characters have some dimension to them. And she's able to go 10 paragraphs without describing the hotness of Harry. Boringly.

...despite all this, I will definitely be reading the last book. Some types of crack are just too addictive/disastrous/freeing to give up. (To be fair, I also read 10+ books in the Gossip Girl series, so I may be extra-susceptible to this sort of trap.)

In other news, I want to see Wall*E and Hellboy II and I keep not having time to go to movies. Uggh.