Back from a free movie!

[cleolinda]

Awww, Stardust ! It was really sweet and fun and funny, and although the climactic battle/struggle/whatever could have been tightened up some, and I wasn't terribly fond of the score (there's a lot of THUNDERING SUSPENSE! USUALLY ON HORSEBACK! music, some of which sounded ripped straight out of Bram Stoker's Dracula), it was a solid three stars, two thumbs up, would pay to see again, will buy the DVD, etc. It's got pretty much everything important from the book (except what I always think of as The Best and Tiniest Part, but it was PG-13), but several things are changed to make it a bit more action-oriented towards the end, and the Captain Alberic character who gets all of four pages is now Captain Shakespeare, Robert De Niro, and hilarious. Yes, I'm easy like that. (Okay, some of it went on a little too long. Again: easy like that.) Also, it's got metric shitloads of "HEY WAIT WAS THAT--?" faces (and voices. "Awww, Uncle Gandalf's gonna tell us a story!"), including but not limited to Peter O'Toole, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais, Henry Cavill, Nathaniel Parker (who looks so incredibly much like Gregory Peck in this movie that it's not even funny), Jason Flemyng, Charlie Bucket's Grandpa Joe, Prince Caspian (fwoarrrr, he fine) and Mr. Weasley, who gets to play a goat. Hand to God, y'all. Also, it's got a really great, creative swordfight near the end, and y'all know how I feel about swordfights. In conclusion: if you remember loving the book but haven't read it in a while--and don't have the particulars fresh and sacred in your head--you'll probably really enjoy the movie.

Comments

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Henry Cavill AND Prince Caspian? Want. NOW.

Honestly I knew about the Henry Cavill part, but the Prince Caspian comes as a surprise.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I know! I spent the first five minutes all like, "Who he? HE FINE," and when I got home and looked it up I remembered that I'd actually heard in advance that young Dunstan was Ben Barnes. Complete and utter confidence in the Caspian adaptation now, let me tell you what.

[derangeddarling.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Stardust. I guess I should? The movie didn't really look that appealing. I haven't read The Golden Compass, either, but that one looks so cool. Whee, a talking polar bear!!

I guess I need to read these things. It seems like a lot of books I've been meaning to read have been turning into movies lately (A Series of Unfortunate events, Eragon...and those just off the top of my head.)

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

Fuck.

I JUST HAD TO.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU, I FEEL COMPLETE NOW. Seriously, I wanted that in there SO BAD.

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

I am so very looking forward to seeing Stardust!

[elvinborn.livejournal.com]

this? is exactly what I have been hoping to hear about Stardust. I've been looking forward to this movie for what feels like forever. I can't wait to see it next week!

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Sorry, how did you see this for free, and when is the movie coming out?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Next Friday--my mother found a giant stack of free passes on the counter at the salon where she was having a manicure last week. It was totally random, and it just happened to be a movie I wanted to see.

[9-happyducks.livejournal.com]

I got to see an advanced screening of this tonight. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised. The trailer was totally misleading, as I thought this movie was going to be shite. At the beginning of the movie I kept leaning over to my friend, asking her if this movie was serious. We didn't know at first. By the middle of the film we had fallen in love with the movie. We're definitely going to see it again when it hits theatres.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I actually never bothered watching the trailer at all--I'd seen stills, they looked pretty good, there we go. But Neil Gaiman was saying on his blog that the marketing people, well-meaning as they might be, didn't seem to know what to do with it, so I figured a trailer would be pretty worthless.

[wicked-goddess.livejournal.com]

Stardust is one of my favorite boos,and I had the pleasure of seeing the film at Comic Con. I absolutely loved it! One of the best book to film adaptions I have ever seen. Yeah there's stuff missing that I, well, missed, but on a whole I really adored the movie.

[wicked-goddess.livejournal.com]

Err...it's one of my favorite booKs.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Aww, I shall miss the Best and Tiniest Part, but I am so looking forward to this movie! Especially if there is a kickass swordfight, which is one of the few things missing from the excellent book.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

I think the cast is so awful I don't think I'll see it. I haven't read the book in a few years, but I loved it and this cast just seems totally off. Not a fan of Claire Danes (I think she's wildly overrated) and DeNiro's participation just seems wrong.

Film adaptations of Gaiman's work just never seem to work out to me.

[cattikins.livejournal.com]

GRRRWANTWANTWANTSOJEALOUS

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It comes out next Friday! You don't have so long to wait! JUST DON'T REREAD THE BOOK WHATEVER YOU DO.

[krazycat.livejournal.com]

Did she call him an idiot and he declared it was the nicest thing a man ever had been called? I guess they left that out, but it's one of my favourite sentences in a book ever.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that wasn't there either. There is a really sweet moment in the witch's wagon while he's a dormouse, though.

[msilverstar]

Neat! I haven't read the book in ages, we'll probably go see the movie.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Excellent--I remembered the beginning very clearly, and the very end very clearly, and I remembered most of the bit with the inn, but everything else was kind of a blur, and this is probably the best way to go into the movie, because you won't immediately realize what they've changed.

[greenleafgurl17.livejournal.com]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20097968/?gt1=10251

I...I'm not sure what to say about this. Might do for good linkspam though.

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

Jim Bob. The dad's name is Jim Bob. o.O

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

I read the book awhile ago, and wasn't too impressed. It was pretty and all, but I had the same problem I have with most of Gaiman's books- there was no plot. And after an entire book of *almost* getting caught and battling the witch, I just wanted to shout, "Have a fucking final battle already!" And then there wasn't! There was just, "Oh, the heart doesn't belong to me anymore. Sorry." And the witch just goes on her merry way without fighting for it or anything- WFT? This is the book's antagonist? Suddenly transfomed into a sweet old Granny? What. The. Fuck?

So that was my problem with the book, in a nutshell. Not to mention that I guessed that Tristran was the grandson of Lord Stormhold as soon as that subplot was introduced. The movie looked good in the trailers, though, and I have high hopes for it. Especially since you said that there was actual *action* in this version.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I love the book, but there is a giant final battle with the witch in the movie, although I do feel it gets dragged out a little too long. It does, however, include a really fun swordfight between Tristan and Septimus (I think the second R has quietly been dropped from Tristran's name in the movie).

[paradise-loved.livejournal.com]

is it just me or is mr. weasley in every semi-british movie EVER?

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad to hear you liked it. I can't wait to see it.

(Are you going to order any of the BPAL scents? I really want the Yvaine one)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

They sounded lovely--but I'm broke at the moment. I can't wear florals, and I think most of them were, so that's something, but I still would have liked to smell them, you know? But they'll be up for a while, won't they?

[wmetoile.livejournal.com]

HOLY GOD HENRY CAVILL.

Okay, I'm convinced, I should see this now. Or just go rewatch all the episodes of The Tudors where he ain't wearing no pants.

Wait, what was I talking about?

[kudzita.livejournal.com]

*dances around in glee*

You just made my day - I really adore the book and I've been so worried that the movie would be a huge letdown. Squeeness!

[lyn-thorne.livejournal.com]

Woot for good movies, and another 'woot' for ones that are free!

I have never read the book before (although I did mean to...I just kinda spent all my money on Fables, oops.) But I'm seeing that you are telling people not to re-read the book, so maybe I won't be totally lost?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely read the book--but AFTER you've seen the movie. My sister didn't even know what the movie was supposed to be about, and she really enjoyed it, so I think it'll work okay for folks unfamiliar with the source.

[l-m-n.livejournal.com]

Henry Cavill?! Well, I'm sold ;)

I too saw an early screening...

[cleojones.livejournal.com]

Me thinks they're hoping for word-of-mouth/sleeper territory?

But yeah, my thoughts (http://dcmoviegirl.blogspot.com/2007/07/preview-stardust-and-little-potter.html) are pretty much in line with yours.


P.S.
That was my first and only website plug on your site. ;)

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

I just read the book this weekend, and I was surprised by how different it was near the end. But...I liked what they did in the movie better, sometimes. Like you said, it was more action-oriented, and the plotlines actually converged. The book was kind of anticlimactic, with the Witch plot and the Septimus plot both kind of fizzling out for no apparent reason. I'm pretty easy, though, like you.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I think the fizzling worked in the book as a way of subverting the normal tropes--but then, the whole book was a lot quieter and more bittersweet. With the movie--I don't know, you want something a little less bleak. My only problem with the climax of the movie is that I wanted less fakeout from Lamia and sooner "shining" from Yvaine. Like, seriously, I loved the swordfight, but let's move on with it, you know? Voldemort's already done that glass-smashing thing way better anyway.

[gracefulfool.livejournal.com]

Whew! Just back from Stardust myself and I had to add to your list of 'Wait, was that...?' because, yes, the guard of the wall was Charlie Bucket's Grampa Joe, but more importantly, he was Mr. O'Reilly in 'The Builders' episode of Fawlty Towers, i.e. the builder who infamously never finished the wall he was supposed to build for Basil!

[gracefulfool.livejournal.com]

Oh, and p.s. - I'm curious - what's the Best and Tiniest part of the book (which I've read) that they left out?

[lifeinsomniac.livejournal.com]

Just got back from seeing Stardust.

I played the "Wait! Was that...?" Game with JUST the seven princes. The utter hilarity of the ghostly peanut gallery during the creative sword fight toward the end had me rolling on the floor.

And Nathaniel Parker! Hi, Inspector Lynley!!