![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pandonkeyI saw two movies this weekend. Comments on Superbad aren't really spoilery (if there's such a thing as "spoilery" for a movie like that), but the comments on Stardust are, for both the movie and the book.
Superbad made me very happy. I'm a sucker for raunchy, fun, friendship-oriented movies. My god, though -- it really does bring back how awful high school was, even in the relatively few scenes set at the school. I continue to love Michael Cera, even though (or maybe because) he's playing what amounts to a just slightly more worldly version of George Michael.
Also? Seth Rogan is an adorable cop. And his partner reminded me a bit of Hot Fuzz's Sergeant Fisher.
I've seen some commentary about the gender issues in the movie, but I didn't feel it was as bad as some reactions would suggest. There was one gag I really didn't like, but otherwise, while it did obviously have its roots in the high-school-boy viewpoint that women are strange and unknowable creatures, the female characters were...normal. Flawed. Human. I didn't feel that they were belittled. There were few of them, and yeah, they were to varying extents treated as sexual objects, but again -- high-school-boy viewpoint. I have to admit I'd really, really love to see a movie like this about high school girls, though.
A story: A coworker, having seen the trailer a few months ago, told me that "the kid who calls himself McLovin" looked like he could be my little brother. This caused me some mild consternation, but for the record -- yeah, while he looks nothing like my actual sister, he kinda does look like he could be related to me. And I did come out of the movie liking the character, so... all's forgiven, coworker. But it might be worth looking into some "What Not to Say to Women" training.
...Some space before the Stardust comments...
...
...
...
...
...
There's some space between and beneath these, if you'd like to read one without seeing the other.
I'm very sorry to say that I was disappointed. I tried not to be, but between my love for the book -- it was my first and remains my favorite of Gaiman's -- and all the critics' comparisons to The Princess Bride, I think it may have been inevitable. I could understand many of the changes from the book; softening or outright dropping the darker elements of the book worked for the The Princess Bride, after all, and I can't fault it for that. But it felt like much of the magic had been drained out of the story. The magic of the market in the field beyond the Wall, the brief romance between Dunstan and Una, the unusual beauty of the glass flower, the general fairytale feel of the land beyond...it was all lost. (Speaking of the fairytale realm, was it meant to all be Stormhold in the book? It looked like it was in the movie. I don't remember ever having had that impression while reading, but I can't find my copy of the book to check.) I don't know -- all of this may be unfairness toward the movie for not being the book on screen, and I know that isn't possible. I just felt like many of the nuances that made the story work were lost. Just one example: where the hell did the unicorn come from in the movie? And where did he go? I asked my husband, who hasn't read the book, and he shrugged and said, "I guess it just showed up. And then died in the fire." The unicorn's killing by Lamia was one of the most striking moments in the book for me, marking it as genuinely grim, in the original tradition of fairytales. (I'd like to go off on a tangent about why are they always killing unicorns in books I love?, but I'll restrain myself.)
I found the effects bothersome, too. Some of them did work, but the glass flower looked like something you could buy at Michael's (and where was the delicate music?), and the star's glowing looked like a bad Photoshop filter. And (back to the unicorn again), I hate the cheap "horse with a horn stuck on" thing. They did that in Legend, in the '80s -- seems like it ought to be possible to do at least a little better now.
Now I'm feeling like one of those curmudgeonly "Movie bad! Book good!" types, but honestly, I tried. I really wanted to love it. I'd love to have another Princess Bride, but there's no comparison -- I can't think of a single quotable line from Stardust. Dammit.
...
...
...
...
...
I feel just a tiny bit awful for having loved the one I did and not loved the one I didn't.
Superbad made me very happy. I'm a sucker for raunchy, fun, friendship-oriented movies. My god, though -- it really does bring back how awful high school was, even in the relatively few scenes set at the school. I continue to love Michael Cera, even though (or maybe because) he's playing what amounts to a just slightly more worldly version of George Michael.
Also? Seth Rogan is an adorable cop. And his partner reminded me a bit of Hot Fuzz's Sergeant Fisher.
I've seen some commentary about the gender issues in the movie, but I didn't feel it was as bad as some reactions would suggest. There was one gag I really didn't like, but otherwise, while it did obviously have its roots in the high-school-boy viewpoint that women are strange and unknowable creatures, the female characters were...normal. Flawed. Human. I didn't feel that they were belittled. There were few of them, and yeah, they were to varying extents treated as sexual objects, but again -- high-school-boy viewpoint. I have to admit I'd really, really love to see a movie like this about high school girls, though.
A story: A coworker, having seen the trailer a few months ago, told me that "the kid who calls himself McLovin" looked like he could be my little brother. This caused me some mild consternation, but for the record -- yeah, while he looks nothing like my actual sister, he kinda does look like he could be related to me. And I did come out of the movie liking the character, so... all's forgiven, coworker. But it might be worth looking into some "What Not to Say to Women" training.
...Some space before the Stardust comments...
...
...
...
...
...
There's some space between and beneath these, if you'd like to read one without seeing the other.
I'm very sorry to say that I was disappointed. I tried not to be, but between my love for the book -- it was my first and remains my favorite of Gaiman's -- and all the critics' comparisons to The Princess Bride, I think it may have been inevitable. I could understand many of the changes from the book; softening or outright dropping the darker elements of the book worked for the The Princess Bride, after all, and I can't fault it for that. But it felt like much of the magic had been drained out of the story. The magic of the market in the field beyond the Wall, the brief romance between Dunstan and Una, the unusual beauty of the glass flower, the general fairytale feel of the land beyond...it was all lost. (Speaking of the fairytale realm, was it meant to all be Stormhold in the book? It looked like it was in the movie. I don't remember ever having had that impression while reading, but I can't find my copy of the book to check.) I don't know -- all of this may be unfairness toward the movie for not being the book on screen, and I know that isn't possible. I just felt like many of the nuances that made the story work were lost. Just one example: where the hell did the unicorn come from in the movie? And where did he go? I asked my husband, who hasn't read the book, and he shrugged and said, "I guess it just showed up. And then died in the fire." The unicorn's killing by Lamia was one of the most striking moments in the book for me, marking it as genuinely grim, in the original tradition of fairytales. (I'd like to go off on a tangent about why are they always killing unicorns in books I love?, but I'll restrain myself.)
I found the effects bothersome, too. Some of them did work, but the glass flower looked like something you could buy at Michael's (and where was the delicate music?), and the star's glowing looked like a bad Photoshop filter. And (back to the unicorn again), I hate the cheap "horse with a horn stuck on" thing. They did that in Legend, in the '80s -- seems like it ought to be possible to do at least a little better now.
Now I'm feeling like one of those curmudgeonly "Movie bad! Book good!" types, but honestly, I tried. I really wanted to love it. I'd love to have another Princess Bride, but there's no comparison -- I can't think of a single quotable line from Stardust. Dammit.
...
...
...
...
...
I feel just a tiny bit awful for having loved the one I did and not loved the one I didn't.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-23 03:54 pm (UTC)