A Modern Classic: Stardust

So last night I decided to kick back and watch an old favourite of mine; Stardust. It's actually not that old I guess, but it has a slightly timeless quality.

Well, how best to describe it? First of all it's based on a Neil Gaiman story, who, if you didn't already know, is an especially famous and well loved author. His stories are typically in the genres of fantasy or science fiction, and  personally I have a huge appreciation for his works. And so this story is essentially a classic tale of an under-appreciated, less than handsome boy who leaves humble beginnings to lead an epic adventure across vast and unimaginable landscapes to save the ever beautiful damsel in distress. Throw in a healthy dose of witchcraft and wizardry, along with a few extra companions to provide some comic relief, and you're on for a winner!

Perhaps I sound sarcastic or like I'm intending to point out the cliche, but I'm actually not. Stardust is one of the movies where you just forget yourself, you give over to the mythos and enjoy its cute little quirks and variances.

Honestly, there's little else I can really say. Yes, it's a simple film but it's heart warming, it romances you into disbelief.

And it goes without saying that the performances of its all star cast are excellent. I was particularly impressed with Claire Danes, I felt she could brilliantly convey the absolute myriad of emotions the role demanded of her

Overall, a very enjoyable movie, and one I recommend whole heartedly to all my readers.

Movie of the Month: Looper

So we're just days away from the UK release of Looper and I couldn't wait to write about it, so here's a sneak peek of what's to come.

Looper looks set to be an all-out action thriller set in a world in which time travel has enabled presumably criminal organisations in the future to send back into the past any shady characters they want knocking off. Joseph Gordon Levitt plays the role of one of those who do the knocking off, but his world is turned upside down when one day the man he is sent to kill is actually a future version of himself, played by Bruce Willis. From here on little is obvious from the trailer, but it looks like we're in for a healthy dose of chase scenes, gun fights and car chases.

I'm very excited for this one and will hopefully get a chance to catch it this weekend.

Remember Shaun of the Dead?

This is one of the few Edgar Wright movies I haven't already blogged about! It's actually not one of my favourites but still very funny and fantastically British.

It's basically your classic zombie survival movie, except in this the lead roles (played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) are a bit slow on the up take, and  even after they have realised what's going on, they're more inclined to panic and run off on crazy missions than to actually try to stay safe.

What I love about this movie (and this applies to most stuff by Edgar Wright) is that it's funny and perhaps a little silly without being slapstick or derogatory the way that a lot of modern Hollywood comedies are.

If you've seen and liked Hot Fuzz, then you'll love this. Otherwise, I strongly recommend both!

Amazing "Reel Heroes" sleeves

Today I thought I'd kick things off by talking about the new "Reel Heroes" covers which have been released by Universal studios for a whole host of their comic-book and superhero movies. I actually stumbled across these quite by accident while walking through my local HMV store, and ended up coming away with Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead on Blu-ray. I would have bought Scott Pilgrim vs. the World too, if they'd had it in stock, but then along came Amazon and all was put right.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my purchases. The covers are of a good quality (they're card sleeves, slightly embossed, with the same design on the inside case) and look great on a display shelf.

V for Vendetta - Review

A few days ago I decided to re-watch one of my favourite comic-book movies, V for Vendetta. Some of you may already be aware that the original story for V was written Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell, and creator of the Joker character in Batman), but due to his difficult experiences with Hollywood in the past, he declined to have anything to do with V or any subsequent adaptations of his works (which I personally think is a great shame seeing as how V and Watchmen are among my favourite films, though I will agree that Hollywood did ruin From Hell and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

So then, how best to describe V for Vendetta. Well, the first thing you should know is that it was produced by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), so as you'd expect the fight scenes are pretty spectacular. But what still impresses me most about this movie is its honesty to the story, and yes, I know the screenplay actually differs a fair bit from Moore's original work, but in my opinion the core principles are still there and as strong as ever. I love that as much screen time (perhaps even more) is given to detectives trying to find V as is given to V himself, and I love that I feel as though I'm seeing the world through their eyes and not just his. And of course the performances of Huge Weaving and Natalie Portman are both excellent, as it that of Stephen Fry.

I think this will remain one of my favourite movies for some time.

Prometheus Review

Let me start off by making it clear I'm not an Alien fanboy. In fact I'm not sure I've even seen them all? But I certainly have nothing against them. So I went into Prometheus with almost no expectations. I barely even saw the trailer.

So, what struck me first was of course the incredible CGI and the elaborate set design. It really is very pretty and very believable, so top marks there.

As the film progressed I then became enamered by the role played by Micheal Fassbender, which is essentially that of a slave. He is a robot tasked with keeping the ship in order and the crew happy. What I love about Fassbender's performance is that even early on you get the distinct impression that his character resents his job, but it's very subtle.

Of course, the plot quickly moves on and the human crew is off exploring the depths of some unknown planet until the inevitable happens, and actually this part of the film is fairly gripping, but while watching it I can't help but feel a bit lost, because I don't know which sub-plot I'm supposed to be more interested in; the humans fighting to survive in the caves, or the robot back on the ship struggling for equal rights. I think the writers want me to care more for the humans but I just don't. By this point in the film I don't know them well enough to care, although most seem perfectly likeable.

But maybe I'm nitpicking. Ultimately it is still entertaining to watch what's going on in the caves. And the other performances are good as well.

So, my overall thoughts? It's a very pretty film with a nice score and some impressive escape scenes, but for me it just lacked direction. I didn't really care when characters died. So, maybe give it a watch if you find it on Netflix, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.