Susannah Deuk, 16/08/2008
The story line goes something along the very obvious lines of boy fancies girl who doesn't deserve him, goes to prove his love for her and falls in love with another girl who needs rescuing, who starts out despising him and then falls in love with him after all etc.etc. All been done beofre surely - it is just another boring love story isn't it? Wrong, wrong wrong. Expect romance - yes, adventure -yes, fantasy - yes. But completely unexpected will be Michelle Pfeiffer in a beauty to sagging breasts role and Robert De Niro in a hilarious dance that just has to be watched over and over again till you fall out the chair laughing. Claire Danes as Yvaine the beautiful star just raidates in her role. Charlie Cox as Tristan is suitably good looking and believable as a young man who goes to find his true love (or so he thinks) a bit of the star and ends up finding out that his real true love is in front of him and worth far more. Whilst Octavious and his brothers who search for the pendant to become king and become ghosts along the way add that little bit of darkness and subtle humour that keeps you diverted whilst watching the romance between Tristan and Yvaine blossom. The fact that there is another world just across a wall seems completely believeable and right from the start you get drawn into this film and feel like it just might be. In fact I'm off to cross the wall at the bottom of my garden to find myself a Tristan....
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Marianne Ross, 20/03/2008
Stardust (2007)
Something I don’t understand:- in this age of fast editing and shots (how slow do old sitcoms look now?), why does the film industry insist on keeping with the traditional long lead-in to a film? How many films do you watch where you wait for it to ‘get going’? Long, explanatory beginnings. Quite. Most films. So how refreshing to find one which takes off straight away; Stardust credits the viewer with some intelligence.
This continues throughout the film; there is no tedious explaining of events…just because this is a fantasy film we do not need to have every ‘strange’ happening explained. Further note to film makers:- we’ve already entered into the bargain by buying the ticket / DVD - we know the currency in this world is different thanks, and are pretty much up to the job as an audience.
Michelle Pfeiffer has an acknowledged star performance here; brilliant; Clare Danes is the other stand out for me, yes, I’m going to (mis)quote it, she does indeed ‘light up the sky’ and the film, from her first entrance. With a lot of lovely ‘starlight’ lighting, granted, but all the same. The Take That song, especially the lyrics, thoughtfully fit this film by the way – as opposed to the usual one-size-fits-all ballad tacked onto film credits - a travesty Rule The World didn’t make the final nominations list at the Oscars. Ilan Eshkeri’s music scoring is magnificently shaped to drive the action along.
Superb use of location – Scotland is used to great effect, and the Iceland beach scene is better than any CGI concoction. (Sad that it took the commentary to relay this; we are so used to CGI now we can barely appreciate real locations.)
Nice commentary by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, genuine insights into what didn’t work and was cut, editing, budgetary compromises etc.
Lots of original and witty touches in this, particularly those written for Mark Strong’s Septimus and the ghosts.
Great narrative and flow to the film; more from this team please, it was nice to be treated as an adult for once. I’m sure younger viewers would agree too; they also usually know more than they’re credited with.
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