Sometimes you see a movie that captivates you so that it defines an genre all by itself. For me that movie was The Princess Bride. I have always considered it the perfect fairy tale for my generation. Sure there were many great fantasy movies, stories that were in no way deficient, but in comparison, Stardust is the new standard that I will hold fantasy fairy tales to.
I can’t understand the lack of fanfare that brought this movie to theaters. In turn, I am also disappointed with the lack of buzz after it’s release. The cast is incredible. The story is perfect. The cinematography is wonderful. The special effects are dazzling, and the over all work is a masterpiece.
You will leave having smiled, laughed, marveled and thoroughly enjoyed Stardust. The reviews I have read and seen have all been the same. For a great review, check out the relevant episode on The Totally Rad Show.
I am completely aware that this review is pretty late. I missed this movie in the theater but I caught it last night on DVD. If you are a netflix junkie, log out of my site and put this in your queue right now.
I am a big fan of horror and suspense movies. Usually, unfortunately, my lack of emotions (as my gf might joke from time to time) prohibits me getting invested in these movies with any sense of tension or fear. Last night that changed. While Dawngrrl slept beside me, I was wide awake. I felt my heartbeat raised a bit and I was genuinely worried for the protagonist. Shia LaBeouf really does a great job in the role, and David Morse is particularly serenely evil in his character, but it’s the movie’s pace and timing that lull you into a relaxed state before turning up the heat and giving you some real tension.
The story is well crafted and truly brilliant. I always try to refrain from giving too much of the plot away, so I won’t say what in particular I thought was so genius, just that it was and you should definitely check this flick out. I purchased it as an impulse buy and am very glad I did, it will be a welcome suspense/thriller to the DVD collection that I am sure to watch again.
I intentionally withheld this review until the new Totally Rad Show episode came out. I figured they would review it and I had to hear their take on the “shaky cam” way in which it was shot.
If you haven’t seen the Bourne Ultimatum yet, don’t worry, I won’t throw out any spoilers here, I just wanted to give my basic impression of the movie and it’s story, and bitch a little bit about the production choices.
I have always really liked this series. The movies are great, the action is hot and Matt Damon really pulls off the ass kickery that is Jason Bourne. This movie, in principle is no different. If you loved the first two, you will really enjoy this movie.
That being said, bring your barf bags folks. This movie is shot in a very Blair Witch style, camcorderish, shooting over the shoulder kind of cinematography. It was rough for me to watch. Dawngrrl had to turn her head away in several of the action sequences. This movie is shot close up and in the action. Even in the single headshot scenes where they give you the story via dialog, the camera is shaky as hell.
I wish I was exaggerating. This is definitely shot documentary style. The TRS guys, Alex Albrecht, Dan Tractenburg and Jeff Canata seemed to really like this style and I have to say I was quite surprised. I really have to disagree on this one. Please, by all means watch it, it’s a great movie. After you watch it, leave me some comments and tell me what you thought.
