Largey about Stardust
I have been very bad about replying to flister posts lately, my apologies. I do read every single post on my flist that is not a comm post. *note to self. be better about replying*
Anyway, we went to see two movies this weekend: The Simpsons Movie and Stardust. I loved both. Though if I never see another set of trailers as bad as the ones before TSM, I'll be a happy woman. People are annoyed at Tom Cruise for being a crazy scientologist, but my beef with him is his movie Jerry McGuire giving prominence to Cuba Gooding Jr., thus leading to movies like Daddy Day Camp.
The Simpsons Movie was hilarious. I don't remember last time I laughed so hard in the theater. And I've seen about three Simpsons eps total, in my life. And now, Spiderpig song is stuck in my head...
Stardust was simply lovely. It was a fairy tale for grown-ups, something that is very rare in Hollywood, though there are a number of lovely Russian movies in this genre. It was scary and funny and moving and colorful. Also, great cast and casting. Much as all the side characters were amazing and attention-grabbing, the two protagonists, Tristan the shopboy on a quest (Charlie Cox) and Yvaine the falling star (Claire Danes), never got lost in the shuffle. Also, (because it's me and I am bound to be shallow at regular intervals) Charlie Cox is hot once he learns to swashbuckle.
The story is about a 19th century English young man, Tristan, who crosses into the faerie realm of Stormhold, to bring back a fallen star in order to win the heart of the girl he is infatuated with. But when he finds her, the fallen star is actually a beautiful, lost (and snarky) young woman named Yvaine. And a number of unsavory individuals are after her, including a witch who wants to eat her still beating heart to restore her youth and a murderous royal family who want to settle the right of succession.
The whole thing is, on some level, like one of those Grimm fairytales. The original versions, with toes being cut off and eyes plucked out by pidgeons, not the Disneyfied versions. The faerie realm of Stormhold really is a wondrous place: a place full of wonders, some of which you might even survive.
Tristan and Yvaine:
I love this shot so much. They are like something of a Gothic tale:
Pre-hottified Tristan and Yvaine:
Tristan and Prince Septimus:
Pretty village:
Pre-hottified Tristan being slavish to Victoria:
Yvaine:
Captain Shakespeare, the swashbuckling flying pirate:
The dying King of Stormhold:
Lamia, the evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) seeking Yvaine in order to devour her heart:
Tristan with spoiled Victoria:
I found the duality of manifestation really interesting. What I mean by that is the fact that objects exist in both places, but manifest differently in both. I am not even talking just metaphorically, with Tristan being a shopboy in England, but a swashbuckling (eventually) prince in Stormhold. It's more physical than that. In our world, a fallen star is a bunch of stardust. In theirs, it's a beautiful woman. That lightning Tristan had in a jar would probably manifest as something else in our world. And I don't think witches would have any power.
And I liked that Victoria, the girl Tristan was infatuated with, wasn't evil. Just shallow and silly. At the end, she wanted him anyway because he was all adventury and manly and hot, even though he was without the star. But of course, by then he didn't want her. Which is as it should be.
Oh, and Yvaine/Tristan was very romantic, wasn't it? Last time I saw that many scenes of people accidentally falling on each other and staring breathlessly was in a drama.
Oh, and another awesome thing: the Chinese period martial arts drama Men and Legends, starring Peter Ho and Dylan Kuo (as calledinvain pointed out correctly, the Asian Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom) is coming subbed to DVD on Aug 31. Yay.
Anyway, we went to see two movies this weekend: The Simpsons Movie and Stardust. I loved both. Though if I never see another set of trailers as bad as the ones before TSM, I'll be a happy woman. People are annoyed at Tom Cruise for being a crazy scientologist, but my beef with him is his movie Jerry McGuire giving prominence to Cuba Gooding Jr., thus leading to movies like Daddy Day Camp.
The Simpsons Movie was hilarious. I don't remember last time I laughed so hard in the theater. And I've seen about three Simpsons eps total, in my life. And now, Spiderpig song is stuck in my head...
Stardust was simply lovely. It was a fairy tale for grown-ups, something that is very rare in Hollywood, though there are a number of lovely Russian movies in this genre. It was scary and funny and moving and colorful. Also, great cast and casting. Much as all the side characters were amazing and attention-grabbing, the two protagonists, Tristan the shopboy on a quest (Charlie Cox) and Yvaine the falling star (Claire Danes), never got lost in the shuffle. Also, (because it's me and I am bound to be shallow at regular intervals) Charlie Cox is hot once he learns to swashbuckle.
The story is about a 19th century English young man, Tristan, who crosses into the faerie realm of Stormhold, to bring back a fallen star in order to win the heart of the girl he is infatuated with. But when he finds her, the fallen star is actually a beautiful, lost (and snarky) young woman named Yvaine. And a number of unsavory individuals are after her, including a witch who wants to eat her still beating heart to restore her youth and a murderous royal family who want to settle the right of succession.
The whole thing is, on some level, like one of those Grimm fairytales. The original versions, with toes being cut off and eyes plucked out by pidgeons, not the Disneyfied versions. The faerie realm of Stormhold really is a wondrous place: a place full of wonders, some of which you might even survive.
Tristan and Yvaine:
I love this shot so much. They are like something of a Gothic tale:
Pre-hottified Tristan and Yvaine:
Tristan and Prince Septimus:
Pretty village:
Pre-hottified Tristan being slavish to Victoria:
Yvaine:
Captain Shakespeare, the swashbuckling flying pirate:
The dying King of Stormhold:
Lamia, the evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) seeking Yvaine in order to devour her heart:
Tristan with spoiled Victoria:
I found the duality of manifestation really interesting. What I mean by that is the fact that objects exist in both places, but manifest differently in both. I am not even talking just metaphorically, with Tristan being a shopboy in England, but a swashbuckling (eventually) prince in Stormhold. It's more physical than that. In our world, a fallen star is a bunch of stardust. In theirs, it's a beautiful woman. That lightning Tristan had in a jar would probably manifest as something else in our world. And I don't think witches would have any power.
And I liked that Victoria, the girl Tristan was infatuated with, wasn't evil. Just shallow and silly. At the end, she wanted him anyway because he was all adventury and manly and hot, even though he was without the star. But of course, by then he didn't want her. Which is as it should be.
Oh, and Yvaine/Tristan was very romantic, wasn't it? Last time I saw that many scenes of people accidentally falling on each other and staring breathlessly was in a drama.
Oh, and another awesome thing: the Chinese period martial arts drama Men and Legends, starring Peter Ho and Dylan Kuo (as calledinvain pointed out correctly, the Asian Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom) is coming subbed to DVD on Aug 31. Yay.