Stardust

I know it's been awhile since I've posted a review, but I've had a very eventful and enjoyable summer to keep me busy. Hopefully now things will settle down (and at the same time speed up) so I can get into a more regular routine of posting. The last movie I saw was Stardust, a movie based on the book by Neil Gaiman. This will be a two part review, as after having seen the movie I immediately ordered the book and read it in a single sitting cover to cover.

Stardust hardly had a star studded cast. Certainly there were big name actors in the film though. Michelle Pfieffer as Lamia, one of the Witch Queens of the fantasy world the movie takes place in was fantastic. Claire Danes as Yvaine, the fallen star was both literally and figuratively luminous. Robert Dinero in the much expanded role of Captain Shakespere was hilarious, almost unecessary, but hilarious. Ricky Gervais on the other hand was unnecessary, and that's that. And Peter O'Toole's almost cameo role as the dying King was enjoyable.

The surprise performances that really shine out are the actors who aren't big names. Most notably is the actor who played Tristan Thorn, Charlie Cox. He was really quite good. Starting off as a lovestruck doof, and turning into a reluctant hero who always had it in him seemed to come naturally to Cox, whose transformation from bumbling shopboy to starsaving hero is pulled of fantastically. He really made the character come alive.

There were also great performances from the seven brothers, Mark Strong as Septimus was especially good.

The story is what gets the highest marks from me though, beyond all these great performances and the now standard fancy special effects (which thankfully in this movie were all appropriate, not overly wrought, and sharply presented) , at the heart of this movie was a great story...which leads me to the book.

At 250 pages long, it's not huge. On the Tolkien Scale of book size, I'd say it's maybe a four, and compared to Tolkien it's a million times easier to read. Much of that is because Gaiman doesn't really go into extreme details in his magic world. He doesn't do a whole lot in the way of setting, and zips through a lot that could be expounded upon, but that's really only nitpicking from someone who wishes he had more to read of the story. It tells the tale of the young Dunstan Thorn, who crosses over the Wall and makes love to a young slave girl (totally the girl's choice, I'd say she took more advantage of him than him of her). He ends up with a baby in a basket that she's named Tristran (which I'd say the moviemakers did a good job of renaming Tristan). We see a little of Tristran's home life, and it's established that he is ridiculously in love with Victoria, a girl that is beautiful but totally wrong for him.

Then he ventures beyond Wall into Stormhold in order to find a fallen star to being it back to Victoria. He instantly befriends a local, who helps him get to the Star, who turns out to be a beautiful girl by the name of Yvaine. Everyone is racing to get the Star for different reasons. The sons of the dead king want to get to her at first to claim the jewel she carries, which knocked her from the sky and will also make them king if they get to it. The Witch Lamia wants her to cut out her heart to make her immortal, and soon the princes do as well. But in the middle of that Tristran finds himself protecting her without at first knowing why, he does it by instinct. The situation neatly resolves itself without much violence, much of which is added for the sake of the movie.

I don't think the movie had to add the climax scene at the end, but I can see why they think they needed to. I like that they expanded the role of the pirate captain, and even goofyied him up a little. It made some of Tristran's emotional advances seem a bit more lifelike, and really brought more life to the growing love between him and Yvaine.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was one really out of the blue swear word, and two unnecessarily graphic sex scenes that don't jive at all with the more kid friendly tone of the book. One slight part of one of them might seem useful, but still not really needed. Still I found the book as a whole to be extremely enjoyable, and I was sad when it ended. Likewise I found the movie to be excellent, and more than most movies I have seen in recent years it was an extremely faithful adaptation of a book. It really made it come alive.

Go read the book, then see the movie.

Transformers and Live Free or Die Hard

It's been awhile since I've been here, for which I apologize to my two readers. I've been busy lately planning a Road Trip, with work, and a lot of other little things. But I haven't been slouching off on my movie watching. There's been a flurry of movies released recently, with dozens more to come in the next few months, but the two I'm most excited about in the last couple weeks are the title of this Independence Day review.

Transformers

Now I'll admit up front that I have a bias towards this movie. I loved Transformers as a kid, and seeing it rendered live action on the big screen is something I've always wondered about. Though that could really cut either way, given the expectations I have for this movie. But I've spent the last couple months getting ready to hate this movie. I knew they were changing some of the characters around, and the plot wasn't really going to be recognizable as anything I've seen, it was going to be Transformers started from scratch. So I was ready for them to steal everything I loved and make a bad movie with it. But I was pleasantly surprised, and I was wrong.

The movie centers around the human characters, in this case Sam Witwicky, who is an amalgam of a few different real human characters from the comics and cartoons. He gets his first car, who ends up being Bumblebee, and it turns out that his grandfather discovered Megatron buried in some ice a hundred years ago, and now all the Autobots are protecting him while the Decepticons search for him so they can find a giant life giving cube that America has locked away some where. So like I said, it wasn't what I expected. But the action was beautiful. Seriously if they don't win an Oscar for visual effects I will have no faith in that establishment anymore, which will destroy the TINY amount of faith I have left. The movie was fun! It took all the boyhood excitement I had for this franchise and ran with it. The dialogue for most of the characters was spot on, even the little bit of sniping between Megatron and Starscream. I won't go on ad naseum about how great this was because I don't want to ruin it, but I'll give this my highest recommendation that you go see it soon.

That said, it wasn't without a couple problems. The Transformers themselves needed a lot more dialogue. They have a complex past, and the conflict between the different groups needed to be explored a lot more than just some good vs. evil mantra. The hokey dialogue from Optimus was exactly his character, I loved it, and if anything I wanted more of that and less of him and his cohorts stomping around the yard smashing up land gnomes. There was a lot of extraneous, goofy stuff in this movie having to do with the humans that should have been cut to give more screen time to the Transformers themselves. I know it would have been more expensive, but they should have done it, to make the movie right. It's something I can forgive for this movie, but for the sequels that have already been greenlit I will expect more exposition and less doughnut eating throwaway characters, and less goofy super secret government agents.

Die Hard

Now Die Hard followed almost the exact plot formula as the previous three movies. There's a complex plot that is never what it appears to be on the surface, but is instead layers within layers within layers that John McClane always somehow gets himself caught up in. But anyone who has ever seen and loved a Die Hard movie knows that you see it for only a couple reasons, and those are stunning action scenes, shootouts, and McClane's racy comedy. You don't go see it for believability, you don't see it for a masterful plot. It was funny, especially with the addition of Justin Long as his sidekick, even if I do miss Carl and Sam Jackson. Long was funny, though he needs to learn how to grow facial hair. The action was intense, non-stop, and eye popping. Yes, it edged on the side of ridiculous when he was driving a semi up a ramp that had just been destroyed by an F-35, then jumped onto the F-35, which was then damaged and crashed, and then jumped off the F-35 and slid down the ramp that was just destroyed as a fireball rushes after him, and then dusts himself off, runs across the street, and saves his daughter. But those are what Die Hard is all about, outlandish, outrageous, unapologetic awesomeness. If you want to talk yourself out of having a good time, then analyze this movie to death. If you want to enjoy it, and you liked the first three, put yourself in that same frame of mind and enjoy the ride.

If anything I thought this movie lacked the swearing the first three had. Usually I'm never one to say a movie needs MORE swearing, but it seemed really out of character for John to be swearing so little when it was clearly his favorite set of words in the first three movies. PG-13 be damned.

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I won't have a ton more reviews, but you can expect a review of both the next Harry Potter movie and Deathly Hallows when it comes out later this month. And when I finish it, a review of Al Gore's new book will also be reviewed.

Children of Hurin

Children of Hurin (or Narn i Chin Hurin if you prefer the Sindarin), is the newest published complete Tolkien story since The Silmarillion in 1977. Edited and released by Christopher Tolkien, son of JRR, it joins a pantheon of books released after Tolkien's death, such as The Unfinished Tales, and The Histories of Middle Earth (all 12 volumes). Anyone who loves the Lord of the Rings has probably tried to read the Silmarillion at some point, but many who try find it too boring or dry, and lose interest before getting to the good stuff. Though this isn't a review of the Silmarillion, it's good to have some background on it in order to understand how great the Narn (that's shorthand for the Children of Hurin used by Tolkien geeks) is. The Silmarillion is a creation myth, and covers the First Age of Middle Earth to its end, and touches on major events of the Second Age such as the Last Alliance and the forging of the Rings of Power. The style of storytelling is archaic, it was written in the 1920's, and there isn't much dialogue, it almost reads like a history book (which it quite literally is). Personally I love it, but then again I'm an History Major, so I have a natural advantage.

Now enter the Narn. One of what Tolkien considered to be the three great stories if the First Age of Middle Earth, the Narn tells the story of Hurin's children, Niniel Nienor and Turin Turambar. The tale is tragic, rich, dark, and beautiful, and none of those descriptions is bestowed lightly. Tolkien's stories make it impossible not to admire or love the characters he's writing about, but this time in Middle Earth is dark, when all of Beleriand (west of Eriador where the Shire is, these lands did not survive to the Third Age) was under the shadow of Morgoth, creator of Balrogs and master of Sauron.

The story is cobbled together from a shorter version written in the Silmarillion, a long poem written by Tolkien that was not included, and pieces taken out of the Book of Lost Tales and Unfinished Tales. Chris Tolkien added little to nothing of his own words, this is purely a JRR Tolkien story, fully completed. Those who fear it is as dry or boring as the Silmarillion have no fear, for it flows easily and begins immediately with tragic action. The dialogue matches the archaic narration, but it adds a power to the words you don't find in today's often simple or clever dialogue. One might even use the word majestic to describe it. The best part, which anyone who has read Tolkien might fear, is that the story never drags, as Turin, whom the story focuses on, is always on the move.

During the story Turin will face a dragon, fight mighty battles, live amongst outlaws, kill both friend and foe alike, both in anger and in haste. He falls in love, and falls out. Never is there nothing happening in this story. And for anyone who loves Tolkien and the wonderful world of Middle Earth, this is a must read addition to your reading list.

A great bonus to this printing is the original artwork done by Alan Lee for the initial release (samples provided below). Alan Lee did much of the original artwork for the Lord of the Rings over the years, and it was on his drawings that most of the LOTR movies were based. The man is simply amazing when it comes to taking an imaginary world and giving it actual form for us to see. Many of the drawings are exactly how I pictured the events in my mind, and it's great to see this special bit of richness added to the book.

I will say this, in warning: The depth of the stories includes a cavalcade of names. It isn't uncommon to find a single character who has a half dozen names throughout the story. Turin himself gives himself a half dozen different names through the story, depending on his mood and what role he is playing. Also the Elven habit of naming kids after their parents means you get a very important family with very similar sounding names (good luck parsing out Finwe, Finarfin, Finrod, Fingon and Fingolfin). In the back of the book there is a guide to the names of the different characters, places, and items in the book, which is a very handy reference guide for a first time reader. Personally, it took three read through's of the Silmarillion to get all the names straight, but many of these characters do not play a huge role in the Narn, so it shouldn't be that big of a problem, just be ready for it.

For anyone who is wondering, Tolkien considered the greatest tales of the First Age to be the Lay of Beren and Luthien, the Fall of Gondolin, and the Children of Hurin. A short form of all three can be read in the Silmarillion, and one hopes that some day Chris, or perhaps his son Adam, might finish those three stories for us all to read in their entirety. Beren and Luthien were the first union of Men and Elves in marriage, and it is from them that Elrond of Rivendell, Arwen, Gil Galad who died in the Last Alliance, and Aragorn himself are born (yes that's right, Aragorn and Arwen are related, 64 generations removed). The Fall of Gondolin tells the tale of Tuor (Turin's cousin) son of Huor (Hurin's brother), who came to Gondolin, last free fortress of the Elves, hidden away in a vale of mist and mountains, finally discovered through the treachery of a jealous Elf, and destroyed, ending the last domain of Elves in Middle Earth. Tuor was the second marriage of Elves and Men, he married Idril, daughter of Turgon (lord of Gondolin). Their marriage was also responsible for the birth of Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn (among many others) as their child, Earendil, eventually marries the granddaughter of Beren and Luthien, Elwing.

Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings

I was initially both apprehensive and excited when I found The Fellowship of the Rings: The Complete Recordings. I should start this by saying that I am a great lover of soundtracks. Soundtracks can make or break a movie or TV show. Recently the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean have been the most oft played in my CD player, with other standbys like Gettysburg and Glory, and the world's best workout music: Rocky IV. Loving these masterpieces as I do, and even more so, being a huge fan of the Extended Editions of the films, I always decried the lack of a soundtrack for all the extra music written for those added minutes. I'm sure many of you as well wish you could have easy access to the Houses of Healing song by Liv Tyler, or Eowyn's Lament for Theodred, or smaller scenes like Gandalf singing "The Road Goes Ever On." Well rest assured, these extended soundtracks have all of that, and perhaps more. The part that made me apprehensive was the price. This four disc set (3 CD's and 1 DVD) weighs in at a whopping $60, which is actually more expensive than the Extended Edition DVD and the regular soundtrack ($30 and $20 respectively) combined. Recently however a good friend of mine introduced me to the "Used" section on Amazon, and I realized there is a whole new world of things to buy out there, for a much better price. Personally I purchased this boxed set for $40, "used" (though really it was still in the factory issued packaging), including shipping.


First of all, this is a beautiful boxed set. The CD's themselves are nicely designed, ornately even. The case itself is very sturdy, and again the design of the case is in keeping with I would call Elven styling. They look very professional, and though case and CD design aren't usually the reason we buy CDs (generally I think that'd be for the music), I found them to be of a higher quality than your average CD, or even your average box set.


The other major addition to this set is the very informative and extensive booklet. Lord of the Rings features a style of music called "leitmotifs." You've heard them before, even if you can't identify them, in works such as Peter and the Wolf, and the more easily recognizable Star Wars. The idea is that individual music lines serve as a sort of theme or anthem for specific ideas, characters, and locations. If you remember the Imperial March from Star Wars you've heard one of the more famous (in recent times) examples of this style. The booklet gives a summary of the process Howard Shore used to come up with the style of music for Fellowship, his inspirations, what instruments he chose to represent which characters and cultures and why. He also includes a section where he specifically points out the leitmotifs of characters and cultures, even gives a bar of music to tell you what it looks like, where on the tracks you can find the music, and explains why this music was chosen. It's fascinating to get into the head of the composer, and even more I love hearing why he chose the Maori choirs and literally football players to represent the guttural chants of the Dwarves in Moria, or why he chose the more ethereal eastern sounds for mournful Elvish music.

But on to the music itself. Disc one opens as the movie does, with what Shore calls "The History of the Ring" theme. The end of this track is a short but delightful snippet from Ian McKellen singing "The Road Goes Ever On," and like so many songs in the movies, it takes the words directly from the novel. The music rises and falls, like the beginning of the movies does, until you get to track 10, "The Passing of the Elves," the music from an extended scene in the movie that shows elves leaving Middle Earth and heading to the Grey Havens for Arda. Samwise and Frodo spot them, and Sam comments "I don't know why, but it makes me sad." Hearing their song, one could only feel that way. It's one of the most haunting and beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. The lyrics are Sindarin, one of Tolkien's languages created specifically for the novels, and are translated by David Salo from the actual poem written by Tolkien for the book. The track is amazing. One wonders when reading the book, "how would that really sound in real life?" Translated into Sindarin, you get a feel for Elven culture, for the sadness of their leaving but their yearning for home. I sit mesmerized listening to this track, and it's perhaps the most rewarding of the new music from the extended edition. This track is longer than the one even in that version. The final track on the CD, "The Nazgul" features Viggo Mortensen singing the "Lay of Luthien," whose words were written by Phillipa Boyens, but the tune was created and the song suggested by Viggo himself. It's a testament to his skill and dedication as an actor that he would get that much into character, and would care enough to even suggest such a thoughtful thing. It's short, but it's also some interesting insight into Aragorn's character, and the weight he carries on his shoulders. It's sung acapella, quietly, secretly, but with obvious emotion.

Disc two features much repetition of previous themes. Track 7, "The Council of Elrond" features a mixture of stirring, contrasting music that shows off the arguments taking place on scene. What's really interesting is to hear the different voices that portray The One Ring itself over the course of the film. It's voice changes for Aragorn, where is sounds sweet and inviting (and the same for Faramir in Two Towers). It sounds dark and brooding when it entices Boromir. But the sound is specific for each character who it tries to ensnare. One of the new tracks, from the extended scenes is track 9, "Gilraen's Memorial." This scene in the movie features Aragorn speaking with Elrond about Gilraen, Aragorn's mother. This is another haunting track, like many of the Elven tracks are in the first film. It's one to be sure to listen to. The last three tracks of the CD are the pounding sounds of taiko drums and Maori chanting. It's powerful and exciting music that on screen is the driving force of the scene.

Disc three finishes off the soundtrack. The second track, as in the original soundtrack, features Elizabeth Fraser singing the "Lament for Gandalf." Like all Elven styled music, it has an ethereal quality. The rest of the music reads much as the original soundtrack did, and it is all great music. The Uruk-Hai music especially I can't wait to hear on a high quality stereo, to get the full power out of the horns that Shore exhibits.

The fourth disc is a DVD that features all the music of the soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. I have yet to listen to this disc, as I don't have a stereo capable of playing it and doing it justice. But I imagine the pounding sounds of Moria, and the reverberations of Elven laments would sound amazing in such quality.

All in all this is an amazing set. I should add that I have one complaint about it though, and that is the color of the casing. Stylistically, I think it's meant to match what the cases look like for the LOTR Extended Editions, and it does. The problem is that the Fellowship of the Ring is green, and this is red. The Two Towers DVD case is red, and the soundtrack is blue, whereas the third movie is blue and the third soundtrack hasn't been released yet, but I bet a million dollars it is green. I'm just surprised that for all the work that went into these, they didn't bother to match that up. But I plan to purchase the soundtrack to Two Towers as soon as I am able, and look forward to hearing Eowyn singing her lament for Theodred. Return of the King's soundtrack is due to be released at the end of the summer.

Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (of Shaun of the Dead fame) is the story of London cop Nicholas Angel, who after performing his job better than anyone else on the force (400% better) is sent to the lovely village of Sandford.

Nicholas is annoyed, but despite his protestations he is sent anyway, and soon begins to lay down his very strict adherence to the law in the small community. Soon a rash of accidents crop up, and Nicholas begins to see a pattern emerge, but the rest of the town refuses to listen to the murder happy cop from London. He befriends Danny Buttterman, a stooge on the local police force who has seen a million melodramatic cop movies and wants desperately to live out one himself.

As the story unfolds, Sandford turns out to be everything other than what it seems, and Angel decides to take matters into his own hands.


I didn't quite know what to expect from this movie. The trailer seemed to suggest a bloodbath of hysterical proportions, and I certainly wasn't let down there. But it wasn't just silly farcical humor, it was rather clever at times. There are excellent cameos from Bill Nighy (most recently Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean) and Steve Coogan (most recently of Night at the Museum), and a wealth of other fantastic British actors, Jim Broadbent plays a dubious villain undone by the unlikliest of heroes.

It's by far the cleverest and most funny move I've seen yet this year, and I urge you all to check it out when it hits US shores on April 20th. You'll get comedy, mystery, and enough action to make Jerry Bruckheimer's hair stand on end.

Hiatus

I know I've been out of the review business lately, but I haven't seen all that many movies thus far this year to be honest. Recently I have seen Music and Lyrics, Bridge to Terabithia, Wild Hogs, and 300. All of them were good for different reasons, all of them, with the exception of Bridge to Terabithia, had their flaws.

Soon I plan on catching up on a lot of the movies I've missed, and that will set us up for the summer movie rush that is fast approaching.

See you all at the movies.

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth was the first movie I saw this year. It wasn’t what I expected really. Given the recent cavalcade of fairy tales and fantasies being turned into movies, I expected more of the same, and from the looks of the preview, I had the general feeling of a Narnia flick, rather than what I got. I should start off by saying that contrary to what you might think, this is NOT a children’s film. It was dark, violent, graphic, and characters cursed quite often. There was far less labyrinth and far more brutally repressive Spanish civil war than I was expecting, but it was still a fantastic film.

The film centers around a little girl, Ofelia, whose mother has married a Spanish Captain serving Generalissimo Franco’s military junta in the 1940’s. Ofelia doesn’t like her life there, but soon she starts getting visits from fairies, and finds her way into the labyrinth, to discover the woods around her, and indeed her own life, are not what they seemed. But the film doesn’t focus on her actions involving the labyrinth, in fact, they are more of a subplot until the very end. Much of the film involves her mother, who is having a troubled pregnancy, her interactions with her stepfather, the grumpy Captain, and another subplot between Mercedes, the fort’s cook, and some rebels they are fighting who live in the mountains. But these are important interactions, as they help to create a counterpoint, and a reason for the fantasy world Ofelia escapes to. Reality is a dark, scary, and wholly undesirable place to be for her, and the idea of being the princess of some far off underworld kingdom is enticing to say the least.

It’s a complex, emotional plot, and you aren’t really sure what is going on, even at the very end of the movie, but it’s hard not to be drawn in by the fantastic and frightening world that Ofelia discovers, and by the vicious brutality of her father. Between the stunning images, the excellent acting, and a soundtrack that couldn’t be described without using the words ‘mystical’ and ‘enchanting,’ this film is a must see for the serious moviegoer, or anyone who wants to see quality cinematic art. I’ll be rooting for this movie for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. The film is at its core a juxtaposition of fantasy and reality, and who wins in the end isn’t clear. Suffice to say who wins is whoever you want to win, as many of the truths in this film are in the eye of the beholder.