Links: Feel the Love

Here's an edition of "people I hate" links [someone shoot these people, please]

#1 on my list: Dick Vitale
GWB praises Julie Aigner-Clark
Dakota Fanning

And now to happy it up, Jesse Jarnow has an excellent, if not dubious, set of links. Meta-Star Wars analysis? New Charlie Kaufman pic? Giddy up! Check 'em out.

Onto the formal portion of our program... last night, before a pretty darn good Cold War Kids show (maybe you'll get a review later), I caught Pan's Labyrinth. If I may retroactively update my favorite 2006 movies, this gets top billing... by far. Maybe the best movie I've seen in a long while. Really, this is what cinema is all about. One of my favorite filmmakers is Miyazaki and this one has the feel of a darker, moodier live-action Miyazaki film, right down to the prepubescent heroine at the movie's center (not to mention the narrow strip of sanity separating reality from fantasy). The story is engrossing and the settings are a wonderful balance of stark reality and utter fantasy. One thing that sets Pan's Labyrinth on that next level is just the way the movie sounds. The crinkle of supershined leather boots, the scrape of a straight-edge blade against whiskered skin, the whistling of fairy wings fluttering around the screen -- it's a full-body experience. This is a fairy tale in the truest sense of the word. I strongly urge you to check it out.

Some other Pan's Labyrinth reviews
I saw it here, my first time at that theater -- very nice.
Dinner was here: damn good cheesesteak, open late.