Saturday, February 23, 2008

A handful of Stardust

We had a very pleasant surprise with the latest Netflix arrival today! After a number of duds or "everyone's watching it so we have to as well" movies, Neil Gaiman's Stardust came without the highest of expectations from either of us, and instead we both really enjoyed it. Brett says it had some predictable moments, occasionally the effects seemed a little transparent, and we both agreed pacing sometimes went from too-rushed to a little too slow, but I didn't let any of that sour the movie for me. On a scale of 1-to-10, I'd easily give this a 9, possibly a 10. I easily immersed myself in the world of faerie and magic, enjoyed the characters, enjoyed the plot, etc...


I did feel I SHOULD like it because I've always been a fan of Claire Danes ('My So-Called-Life' anybody?!) and Michelle Pfeiffer, plus I love me some good fantasy, but not having had any friends recommend it, I was skeptical. Then again, it's based on a comic by Neil Gaiman (and I looooved his Sandman and Death titles! Still have my Death t-shirt from...wow...mid-90s?). Oh, and it's even got Robert DeNiro in a very...entertaining role!

Instead we got a very entertaining movie with beautiful scenery (some on par with Lord of the Rings!), good acting, and, oh yeah, introduced to hottie mchottie Charlie Cox...



Dreeeeeamy!!!

And a number of scenes in the movie, especially the following one, looked like they could've been taken straight out of a Charles Vess illustration. I've had other stuff illustrated by Charles Vess (even wrote him a fan letter once in my younger days!), and have always loved his work.




I highly recommend you consider renting or buying this movie. In the meantime, I'm going to see about getting my hands on either the graphic novel/collection, oooor see if it was originally a novel.

Enjoy!

5 comments:

Dave E. said...

Yeah, I thought it was very enjoyable - I'd give it maybe a 7½ or 8. You know who else was in it? My future spouse, Henry Cavill - a.k.a. Charles Brandon, the (first) Duke of Suffolk, on Showtime's 'The Tudors.' Mmm-mmm-mm-mm-MMM! NOM! >;-)

Jeph said...

Oh nice!! Although, from what I can tell from Google images, he was the guy I DIDN'T like in Stardust - but we really weren't supposed to like him.

The pics from The Tudors, on the other hand...nice! I've actually been thinking I should add that to our Netflix - gotta see if Brett approves!

Is your "NOM" like my "num num", as in lip smackin' good? Or does it stand for something else?

Dave E. said...

Yes, "nom" = LOLcat/ICHC-speak ... c'mon, you know that! And now I've outed myself as a fan - I hope you're happy now!

Jeph said...

You're the crazy old cat lady now!

(Actually, that'd be me, what with having Simon in my lap, and Moxie up on the back of the sofa behind me, while I work on knitting a heel flap for the last hour!)

Peter said...

Conrad and I went to see it last summer at the Theatre - the first film he saw with me in 2007. Which is a little odd and sad.

It's a nice date movie, though hardly a great film. Danes is good. De Niro is less so. Also, I've decided that Gaiman is better suited to comic story arcs where his compulsive need to cutely tie everything together isn't so immediately obvious.

But I am glad you liked it!