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Choices, choices.

22 Comments

My brother and I are standing outside the Giant, Improved Cinema-World, when he turns to me and says, “Rogue super spies, or sky-pirates in blimps?”

He knows me so well — I have a weakness for movies with air-ships. Give me a movie with witches, swordplay and air-ships — there’s no contest.

Stardust it was.

Good movie. It actually has a plot, and the Bad Guys are Bad, the Good Guys aren’t, and the Good Guys win.

Advance warning: the plot is heavily romance-driven which may cause some uneasiness on the part of any stray Neanderthals, but there’s more than enough humour, hocus-pocus and stray thumpings to make up for any perceived mooshy-ness.

If you didn’t enjoy The Princess Bride, then this movie probably isn’t for you. If you did enjoy it, go see Stardust.

Michelle Pfeiffer was deliciously evil, Bobby DeNiro appeared to be having a monumentally good time with his role, the kids were earnest without being stiff and the extras were well into the spirit of things.

This one gets the LawDog Paw of Approval.

LawDog

Oh, sonova--!
This is exactly what I'm talking about ...

22 thoughts on “Choices, choices.”

  1. I’m actually watching The Princess Bride now. It’s one of the DVD’s that I brought with me. I’ll have to keep an eye out for Stardust.

  2. I saw a commercial for Stardust being on at the theaters. I’ll probably wait till it comes out on DVD or they put it on tv. I never saw The Princess Bride, but Stardust didn’t strike me as one I’ll hate more and more each time I don’t see it. (I saw a commercial earlier this evening for a movie that automatically gave me a negative reaction and now I can’t recall what it was. How’s that for dumb-sounding?)

    I didn’t realize it was Robert DiNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer. I’ve liked some of each of their work. It could be interesting that way too.

    mustanger98 on THR

  3. This is based on the [1999] book of the same name by Neil Gaiman. You might remember him – he and Pratchett were the co-authors of “Good Omens”. BTW, you haven’t dropped a Pratchett reference in some time.
    Maybe you could get the two of them to finish up the gorilla story for you. I’d buy a copy. OldeForce

  4. Mustanger, don’t let the name fool you– The Princess Bride is one of those great movies that was aimed at kids but is utterly enjoyable (deliciously so) by adults. I’ve only watched it about… 10 or 15 (?) times. There’s actually some very decent movie swordplay. I first saw it back in ’91, at a party put on by our fencing team.

  7. I haven’t read the book, but I was excited about Stardust as Gaiman is exceedingly clever. Good Omens is one of my favorite books of all time. From the trailers, this looks like a fantastic film, and that– taken with your recommendation– is good as gospel for me.

  8. Did you like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, speaking of films with dirigibles?

  9. How much of this stuff is Steampunk? Reason I asked, I saw commericials for Sky Captain and W.O.T., but haven’t gotten around to seeing it yet. I did see League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. If you didn’t realize it was Steampunk SciFi based on a comic book, you probably wouldn’t enjoy it.

    mustanger98 again.

  10. MattG, Now, I generally like a good movie swordfight. Speaking of which, what did you think of Man in the Iron Mask, Mask of Zorro, and… I’m trying to think of a couple more titles that won’t come to me at the moment.

    That Zorro film… that reminds me that they did a sequel with Antonio Banderas and whatsername and I haven’t seen how it turned out.

    Now, for swordplay combined with comedy, I haven’t seen anything that beats Danny Kaye in The Court Jester.

    mustanger98

  11. Apeaking of swordplay and things of a sharp nature, ask the Dog about fish hooks….
    LawMom

  13. World of Tomorrow
    – Oh dear god, ow that was bad movie. Badly acted.. will in fairness badly cast, incoherent plot back story. UGH STINKER

  14. I’m sorry, Anonymous (the one who panned “World of Tomorrow”), but I only read movie reviews from people who are somewhat literate, and whom I respect. I’m afraid that lets you out on both counts.

    By the bye, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was a lovely little bit of Computer Generated Animation cotton candy. Admitted, the plot was minimal, but the sets and historical interpretation were marvelous, and the cast included Angelina Jolie and a regeneration of the late Sir Laurence Olivier (among many others). On the whole, the film was as nicely put together as the marvelous Ms. Jolie.

  15. You might want to check out the movie of “Neverwhere”, another of Gaiman’s writings.
    (0007)

  16. I used to have an advanced copy of Stardust. when I first saw a poster for the movie (I think on the way down the hall to see the last Pirates), I almost messed myself. See, Stardust was the first Gaiman novel I ever read, and I loved the story…

    well, the girls and I went to see it last night. I enjoyed it: there were some major changes in the story from the book, but it was an entertaining flick.

    Wasn’t aware there was a movie of Neverwhere. Have to check that out tomorrow!

  17. My daughter and I went to see Stardust last night. It was marvelous! I headed to Barnes and Noble immediately after the movie and bought the book and can’t wait to see the differences; this movie will be purchased when it comes out on DVD. It’s a definite keeper!

  18. Mustanger98-

    There’s not a whole lot of steampunk in the Stardust, although the lightning ship would definitely catch your attention as would the coach with not-so-anti-lock brakes.

    The Princess Bride is one of those movies that gets funnier as you watch it, and is one that should not be missed.

    The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was…eh, in my opinion. The Nautilus was very cool, but the rest of the plot, even with the pretty steampunk additions was…blah.

  20. Lawdog – you told me to go see the movie if I had seen “The Princess Bride” so I did. What? The guy at the beginning, so romantic, loses track of his quest to find a ring for his beloved and just shacks up with a gypsy along the way.

    The romance was already lost on me right there.

    The Princess Bride was very romantic, along with being silly and funny, in fact, I saw it with the one guy I’ve ever been in love with. It has a special place in my heart.

    I took your advice and found the movie to be quite a boorish version of a movie I loved. Along with not being romantic, the dark elements of the movie also made it not so funny.

    Now I’m wondering how you perceive things to be and if I should trust your judgment in the future. I guess we just don’t see things the same – sigh!

    There – now those are the comments I should have written in the first place!

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