Stardust: A Review
Okay, so I'm kind of obsessed with this movie (hence the new layout).
I saw it a few weeks ago and absolutely fell in love with it. It has the humor and irreverance of The Princess Bride, but better characterization on the part of the female characters. Yvaine (the fallen star played by Claire Danes) is no shrinking violet, and Lamia (an evil witch played by Michelle Pfeiffer) is certainly no one to be toyed with. It also has excellent fight choreography, nicely handled special effects (the only part that stuck out to me as obviously CGI is a jar of eyeballs at the very beginning of the movie), and a beautiful romance between Tristan and Yvaine.
And I shouldn't neglect to mention that Charlie Cox is OMGSOCUTE! :o)
After seeing the movie, I did go to Borders and purchase the book, which I read over the weekend and enjoyed very much. It was interesting seeing how they turned things from one media to the other -- there were some plot changes, but not much that I noticed (embellished certain parts, and played down others). What I did notice were the character differences. Motives were changed slightly, and the characters became less gray, so to speak, but for the most part the changes made sense considering the movie they were making. Ambivalent motives work great in books, but don't play well on stage or on the screen.
All of the reviews I've read have been discussing how excellent Michelle Pfeiffer is (and make no mistake -- she is excellent), but the real scene stealer is Robert DeNiro, and if I explain why it will ruin that section of the film for you. Just know that the twenty or so minutes of the movie that he is in is worth the $9 admission price alone.
Unfortunately, it looks like the marketing on this one is not going well and it probably won't be playing much longer (same thing happened to The Princess Bride which was considered a flop in the theater but sold incredibly well due to word of mouth on VHS) so go see it as soon as you can. altodescant and I will probably be heading out to see it again this weekend (yes, it's good enough I'm going to pay another $9 to go see it).
And, I do have to say, out of all of the movies I saw this summer (SiCKO, Ratatouille, among others) this is probably my favorite, and I will totally be adding this to my DVD collection as soon as it comes out.
I saw it a few weeks ago and absolutely fell in love with it. It has the humor and irreverance of The Princess Bride, but better characterization on the part of the female characters. Yvaine (the fallen star played by Claire Danes) is no shrinking violet, and Lamia (an evil witch played by Michelle Pfeiffer) is certainly no one to be toyed with. It also has excellent fight choreography, nicely handled special effects (the only part that stuck out to me as obviously CGI is a jar of eyeballs at the very beginning of the movie), and a beautiful romance between Tristan and Yvaine.
And I shouldn't neglect to mention that Charlie Cox is OMGSOCUTE! :o)
After seeing the movie, I did go to Borders and purchase the book, which I read over the weekend and enjoyed very much. It was interesting seeing how they turned things from one media to the other -- there were some plot changes, but not much that I noticed (embellished certain parts, and played down others). What I did notice were the character differences. Motives were changed slightly, and the characters became less gray, so to speak, but for the most part the changes made sense considering the movie they were making. Ambivalent motives work great in books, but don't play well on stage or on the screen.
All of the reviews I've read have been discussing how excellent Michelle Pfeiffer is (and make no mistake -- she is excellent), but the real scene stealer is Robert DeNiro, and if I explain why it will ruin that section of the film for you. Just know that the twenty or so minutes of the movie that he is in is worth the $9 admission price alone.
Unfortunately, it looks like the marketing on this one is not going well and it probably won't be playing much longer (same thing happened to The Princess Bride which was considered a flop in the theater but sold incredibly well due to word of mouth on VHS) so go see it as soon as you can. altodescant and I will probably be heading out to see it again this weekend (yes, it's good enough I'm going to pay another $9 to go see it).
And, I do have to say, out of all of the movies I saw this summer (SiCKO, Ratatouille, among others) this is probably my favorite, and I will totally be adding this to my DVD collection as soon as it comes out.