Stardust
I didn’t expect much going into it, except for a relatively good time, and just a fine way to spend a night of nothing to do, but what I got was a lot more.
The direction by Matthew Vaughn is very good, and was surprised that his only other direction credit comes from a gritty crime film, which I also thought was innovative. He uses some of the charm from his other film, L4yer Cake by making the “PG” action scenes very interesting, as well as tense. He also had a lot of ‘fanatical’ vision, which also was very surprising. He did a great job with good material, and made the movie a huge summer surprise for me.
As well as directing the film, Matthew Vaughn adapted the screenplay from the novel, alongside Jane Goldman. The screenplay is very interesting, with it’s captivating plot, great characters, and a lot of good humor, done very well by the cast. I assume that it’s a good adaptation (never read the book), because it contains everything a good ‘fantasy’ film should have, which is a lot of interesting ideas, unrealistic but yet “plausible” story (plausible meaning ’suspending your disbelief’) and character’s you won’t find anywhere else. A true fantasy film, and certainly one of the better ones in awhile.
The ensemble of the film was extravagant. From the unknown lead of the film Charlie Cox, to the hilarious cameo from Ricky Gervais, the cast was basically flawless.
Starting with Peter O’toole in his small role as “The King“, which is an important role, because he sets off the entire plot. The small time he has on the screen isn’t a problem for Mr. O’toole, as he transforms such a seemingly average role, into something much bigger. In his few minutes on the screen, he creates tension, great comic timing, and delivers some very weird lines, perfectly.
Sienna Miller, who I assumed had a much larger role, was pretty good in her small role as “Victoria“. I was disappoint with how little screen time she had. She just played her role, that’s it. Nothing too special about her character, hence nothing too special about her performance.
Mark Strong was very impressive in his role as “Septimus“. His character is full of fury, and a lot of evilness, and he pulls the role off so realistically, that it’s scary at how easily he transformed into a monster. He delivered all of his lines with a fiery attitude, which made his story the best of the 3.
Robert De Niro plays a character named “Captain Shakespeare“, and if you’ve asked around about the film, most people will tell you his performance is excellent, and I’d have to agree. I think he was made for the role, because no one can pull off such an interesting character like Robert. Every line delivered was either hilarious, or true to real life. Never before in my life have I seen an 8 minute role done so well.
Michelle Pfeiffer plays the true antagonist of the film, and with such magnificent attitude. She plays a ‘witch’ (I’d say), named “Lamia“, who is kniving as well as full of pure hatred for everything, and everyone. Michelle truly captures the essence of the role, and does a wonderful job with it. She is one of the only actresses, I can call a true ‘character actress’.
Onto the leads of the film, starting with Claire Danes, who is love or hate. I personally, think that she is a good actress, but nothing more. She can turn a great performance, and she can turn an average performance, but so far hasn’t impressed me. In this film, she plays ‘the fallen star’ Yvaine, and does a good job in the role. She works her emotions either just right, or over the top. She has good chemistry with her co-lead in the film Charlie Cox, having a few great scenes with him. On a side note, her eyes irritate me at times, because when she delivers an important line/monologue, she opens her eyes wide, and it makes me take what she’s saying very lightly. Onto the main character of the film “Tristran“, played by Charlie Cox, a predominantly unknown British actor. Honestly, I didn’t expect a good performance from this young actor at all. I thought he was just meant to be in this role, because he could attract teenage girls, but I was wrong. He was cast in the role, because he truly fit the part. Cox delivers his lines with poise, and never falters throughout the entirety of the film. He could’ve done more with the role, but considering I hadn’t heard of him before this film, he did a very good job, and is certainly someone I’d like to see more of.
The technical aspects of the film range from excellent to average.
Starting with the average, the score by Ilan Eshkeri is basically that. He doesn’t bring any new ideas with his composing, and just brings around the same, ‘cliche’ adventure score. To me, it seemed as if he stole a lot of his ‘ideas’ from Hans Zimmer’s score in Pirates of the Carribean.
The cinematography by Ben Davis, who also did a great job with Hannibal Rising earlier this year, brings a lot of great settings for scenes. He creates a very mystical atmosphere, which draws you into the film more, giving you a better feel for the story and situations.
The visual effects were pretty good as well. Sometimes a little on the corny side, but still good. There was nothing fancy about them either, which was a relief because lately films focus more on their special effects, rather than the film itself.
The sound of the film was also very well done, no flaws that I saw of at least. A lot of realistic sounds from very unrealistic things.
The art direction was wonderful. From the decrepit, pale interior of a house inhabited by careless people, to the extravagant kingdom, it’s very well done. The same can be said for it’s costume design. It ranges from the prestigious clothing of a king, to a very torn, ragged robe.
Superbad
Going into the film, I expected a Knocked Up-light, but left with a lot of laughs, and a good time. If you’re in high school, this film will really hit a chord with you, because it is very realistic.
In Seth Rogen’s and Evan Goldberg’s first attempt in writing a screenplay, they struck comic gold. There were a lot of great scenes in the film, none too memorable (except maybe 2 or 3), but it’s certainly something with tremendous re watch ability. With a true ‘high school’ storyline, and a lot of one liners, the script made the 2 hour film fly by.
Though Greg Mottola is no Judd Apatow, he still comes up with some pretty good direction for the movie. He set up the film in a very good way, got some great performances out of the actors, and had a nice dramatic moment.
From the small, hilarious cameos to the just as funnier leads, the film is one of the greatest comedic ensembles in a long time.
Bill Hader plays “Officer Slater“, who surprisingly has a much larger role than I expected, seeing as I assumed the officers would have small roles, but no he’s a significant portion of the script. He had a lot of good lines, and played off of his partner in the film, Rogen, very well. Sadly, he was overshadowed by Rogen’s delivery of lines at times, “Officer Michaels” played by Seth Rogen, who was absolutely great in his supporting role. He spends the majority of the film with “Fogell” and all of it with “Officer Slater“, and really uses them to his advantage, throwing out a lot of great lines, and using his ‘charm’ as I call it, to make funny lines, funnier than they seem with his quirkiness.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse who spends most of the film with the cops, plays “Fogell/McLovin’“, a very geeky kid. At times, his character got annoying with his lame voice/catchphrases, so I know how the main characters in the film felt around him 
. I actually thought he’d be a leading character in the movie, but he is more supporting than leading, which was shocking to me. He had a few good lines, but the way he said it made it funny… if it were any other character saying those lines, they would’ve been horrible.
Onto the two leads of the film, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. Jonah Hill along with Seth Rogen & Nick Swardson are the most underrated comedic actors of the last few years, and this year the first two people I mentioned have gotten their big breaks, both in films that are alike.
Hill plays “Seth“, one of the two leads of the film, who is ‘ugly, fat, lonely & horny’, so he basically plays most fat high schoolers. Jonah does a really good job in his first leading role, and he was hilarious. The only thing that bugged me about the performance is he yelled too much in his role, other wise his performance would’ve been the best of the film, but that honor goes to… Michael Cera who plays “Seth’s” best friend, “Evan“. Wow, just, wow was this kid ever good. I’m also very proud of him because he lives in the same city as me, and went to the same high school (pretty cool, eh). His performance was the funniest and the best of the film, because he played the role of ‘awkward teenage’ so perfectly. He had some of the best lines in the film, and certainly the most memorable scenes. This also caused some of his more crude jokes to be spontaneous, thus giving him more versatility in his comedy.
There weren’t very many technical aspects in the film, but I will comment on the few that the film had. For one, the film editing was very good, like Knocked Up’s. It kept great pacing, didn’t have any dull moments, and it also contained a bit of flash.
The costume design played a small part in the film, getting a few laughs from me because of it, but it wasn’t anything flashy, or stylish enough to get my attention at all.
The only other ‘tech’ the film had that was any good was the soundtrack (which isn’t really a tech). It added a retro feel to the film, though it wasn’t retro at all, which gave it a weird vibe that was cool, because when they tried to be cool, a song from the 70’s played, which showed how uncool they were, it was great.
Golden Globe Nominations (6 nominations in each category)
Best Picture [Comedy/Musical] (#4)
Best Actor in a Leading Role [Comedy/Musical] – Michael Cera (#3)
Best Film Editing (#5)
Overall – A year full of great comedies, and this certainly is one of them. 8.5/10
On A Side Note – I will be posting my nominees of the year before I go to the film festival, and I will update it afterwards.
