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Wag
 
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Last Login: Today @ 8:03 AM
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| Got to be one of my favourite movies of recent years- it's been a while since I read it but it seemed to stick to the story, Robert de Niro was brilliant as Capt' Shakespeare and the whole thing just had the right feel about it.
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Heroic Knight
Group: Game Moderators
Last Login: Today @ 7:56 AM
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Not read the book. Awesome film though.
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LT: Harod the Mercenary and Staff Ref (retired)
Maelstrom: Josef Arteman and one time Staff Ref (retired)
EOS: Head Referee and Head of Rules
"You don't stop playing games when you grow old, you grow old when you stop playing games"
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Wag
Group: System Moderators
Last Login: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:39 PM
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| The whole 'skyship' bit is in the book only as a minor, less than a page cameo and any scene with Ricky Gervais is not in the book. The ending is also a complete fabrication (as in the book the hero never even knows about the witches much less fight them). Yes, I read the book soon after seeing the film as I was sure there were differences but could not remember what they were.  In all, however, I feel the film version makes a better film while the book makes a better book which is how it should be and the core of the story is still there including my favourite character - a good old fashioned Maccam witch
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Knight
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They filmed in Norwich me and my friend charlotte stole robert deniro's orange woohoo!
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I do talk a good fight
Group: System Moderators
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Here's the review I posted up on LJ (no spoilers):
It's a film based on a Neil Gaiman novel that was illustrated by Charles Vess. I find Gaiman to be a flawed genius; I won't deny his genius in the slightest, but I find around 50% of his work to be either annoying, pretentious, incoherent, or some combination of the three. I don't mind that; the rest is of such superb quality that I'll forgive him.
It's a modern fairytale. I hate using that phrase. It is, though; no attempt at a review of the movie can get away from that fact. It's probably the only movie in the last 20-odd years that I can say that of, & have it be strictly true.
It's a fairytale that would have enthralled the audiences for _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ as readily as the readers of Lord Dunsany's _The King of Elfland's Daughter_ or the listeners of _How Cormac Mac Art Went To Faery_. Stormhold, the separated-from-Victorian-England-by-the-tiniest-thread realm where most of the action takes place, is the Otherworld, as recognisable as the fairyland of any of those classic tales, despite the absence of any creature one might identify as a "fairy" by their appearance (as most readers of this LJ doubtless know, the little cute wingy things are basically an invention of Victorian artists anyway). Stormhold is more than that, too; it's mostly fairy but it has a couple of tiny elements of the better sword-and-sorcery fiction, the likes of _Amber_ or _A Song of Ice and Fire_, without drawing in any of the dodgier tropes of the wider fantasy genre. More, still, there is a strong element of the New World to Stormhold; I suspect many aspects of it, particularly the visual look of the landscapes, the scale of the place, and the sense of wilderness, of wildness, are based, perhaps unconcsiously, on Gaiman's own experiences of travelling to the USA from Britain, of discovering those wide open spaces that Britain hasn't had for thousands of years.
I like fairytales. I don't like most films or books that get called "a modern fairytale". But I loved this movie.
It's been compared to "The Princess Bride", and there are similarities. Both films have strong romantic comedy elements to them; both are clearly within the broad genre of "fantasy" but owe nothing to Tolkien or his many imitators. The Princess Bride is wittier, and has better swordfights and more quotable lines. Stardust, though, is more cohesive: it tells one strong, self-contained, consistently themed story, from start to finish, without diversion. (In the days of meta-plot, anti-plot, and multi-plot movies, the use of a mono-plot in this way is quite a refreshing change, & makes the movie as whole the strongest I've seen this year.)
There are no especially mind-boggling special effects. The dialogue is elegant, economical, and occasionally very funny, but rarely scintillating. The sets and costumes are perfect for their purposes, but never reach the level of opulent or gritty detail & sheer design genius of, say, those in the recent Narnia movie or The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Yet the script is the best thing Gaiman's been involved with in years; the story is the strongest I've seen since Casablanca; the theme is the strongest I've seen since Sin City; the acting is superb throughout, with not a single lacklustre performance. DeNiro steals the show in his brief but wonderful role as the hard-bitten pirate captain with a secret, but every part is played to perfection.
Go see it. Then buy the DVD. Then watch it again. Watch it some more. It's that good.
http://www.hyboriantales.com
PD: Ghostdance ("The most irritating curse I've ever encountered" -- NPC played by H.)
Riftworld: Rossar Kuug ("Clearly mad, because he thinks he's a Com-Trow Skirmisher" - Aela)
Hyborian Tales: Crew, cook, dogsbody, general labourer, toilet cleaner ("Dangerously overoptimistic ref" -- Tom Nowell)
Otherwise usually crew ("Quite spry & fit, & willing to wear a big costume & run around a lot" -- various event organisers)
"My other oversized foam weapon is THE LORD" -- Questionable Content
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Heroic Knight
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Friday, September 12, 2008 9:55 AM
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| Absolutely loved it amazing film best in a while
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Champion
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Sorry but I am a naysayer on this one. I just couldn't get into it at all. I ended up being bored. I tried to read the book and couldn't get past the first page. I love his comics, but find his prose very hard to read.
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EOS: Azameer: Argen Pathfinder
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Apprentice
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| I haven't read the novel, but I was really happy with the film, one of the best that I'd seen in recent times (I'm sure that the quality of films is going down by the month...) Robert De Niro was probably the best of them in it...he has self-deprecation down to a fine art. ~Emma/FitPiggy
http://www.rulenumber7.com
FitPiggy: Because WiiFit is the bomb!
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Champion
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 6:04 PM
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