8.12.2007
Review: Stardust and Rome
My schedule allowed me to see the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" during its opening weekend (a rare occurrence in my household), and since I plugged the movie on my blog earlier this week I thought I would provide a review. But let me preface by quoting a small bit from Roger Ebert's review that mirrored many of my own feelings concerning "Stardust".
"There are lots of other good things in the movie, but they play more like vaudeville acts than part of a coherent plot. It's a film you enjoy in pieces, but the jigsaw never gets solved. I liked it, but "The Princess Bride" it's not."
There are many good small things in the film. Michelle Pfeiffer is charming as the witch Lamia, and the Greek chorus of dead brothers are entertaining throughout, but the film itself is something of a mess and the romance lays the syrup on so thick diabetics should be warned. Though it has been some time since I read Gaiman's original work, I don't believe it was so openly mushy and sentimental. That more than anything else separates this film from the modern classic of swashbuckling fantasies "The Princess Bride" (which it has been compared to several times), a film that wasn't afraid to add a generous dose of cynicism, sarcasm, and doubt (not to mention a script as tight as a steel drum).
Perhaps the greatest sin of "Stardust" is that it doesn't trust the audience to make connections for themselves, everything is explained and narrated to a point where the characters don't have a chance to expand and breathe. We all know that fairy tales involving dashing heroes will (generally) end up with a happy ending, but most of us don't watch for the pay-off happy ending, we watch to see how well the storyteller convinces us that it might NOT work. In "Princess Bride" we are shown an array of characters with their own fully-formed motivations helping, hindering, or confusing the main quest for true love, in "Stardust" every plot point seems like just another tick on a check-list to "happily ever after". "Stardust" isn't a bad film per-say, like I said before there some bright moments that can charm you, but I was hoping for a classic and ended up with a trifle.
On a completely different note, I started watching the second (and last) season of the HBO television drama "Rome", which recently came out on DVD. I don't have cable, so it has been quite awhile since I visited these characters, and I must say that I had forgotten how fresh "Rome" is in its ambition and scope. The aftermath of Ceasar's death (which happened at the end of the first season) is handled very well (though history is always fudged a bit in this show), and as always religion is everywhere in the series.
"If the past is a foreign country, then ancient religion may be its most exotic locale. The HBO series "Rome," which returns for its second season on Sunday, is hardly "Fodor's Guide to Paganism," but by venturing off some well-worn cinematic paths, the show has given the worship of the gods a generous treatment in a genre dominated by stories of gladiators and the advent of Christ. The creators of the serial drama, which focuses on the power struggles during the last days of the Roman Republic in the first century B.C.E., wanted to portray Roman religion not as a doomed prologue to Christianity but as a vibrant and meaningful part of everyday life."
Religion is taken so seriously that when a character commits a major act of blasphemy in the second episode, you feel truly shocked by the action. It is a shame that "Rome" will not see a third season (due to the staggeringly large budget), but we can at least enjoy the two soap-operatic seasons of the Roman Empire's rise.
Labels: film, HBO, Neil Gaiman, Paganism, review, Rome, Stardust
8.06.2007
Pagan-Friendly Films
Time for a quick look at upcoming films that may appeal to a Pagan/occult audience.
Those of us who are fans of "The Wicker Man" (the original of course, not that abomination starring Nicolas Cage) should be pleased to learn that Robin Hardy (who directed the original film) is planning to start filming "Cowboys For Christ" (a sort-of sequel/re-imagining of "The Wicker Man") in September.
"That long-awaited "Wicker Man" re-imagining - same story, different backdrop - is finally (this thing has been a long time coming) about to get underway. "Cowboys for Christ", from writer/director Robin Hardy (the chap that brought us the original "Wicker Man" - not the mind numbing remake), has set itself a September 10 start date. Its booked locales in Scotland and Texas to shoot. Starring Christopher Lee and Faye Dunaway, the film tells of a Christian singing star and her chaste fiance, a Texas cowboy, who travel to Scotland for a music festival that is merely the curtain-raiser for a horrific pagan ritual of sacrifice and murder, and it's uncertain if the power of the Americans' Christian faith will be strong enough to survive the assault of the pagans."
They are still looking to cast the leads (the Christian couple), so if you can sing very well, know how to ride a horse, and can convincingly fake a Texas accent, why not audition?
The film "Stardust" (adapted from a novel by Neil Gaiman) is opening in theatres on August 10th. Considering a good part of the story is set in the lands of Faerie, and with Michelle Pfeiffer playing the evil witch Lamia this is sure to be a treat! Plus the trailer looks quite fun.
No word yet if Tori Amos will be the voice of a red-leafed talking tree that Gaiman based on the singer-songwriters.
In October you have the film adaptation of the beloved (and pagan-friendly) young-adults novel "The Dark Is Rising", but as mentioned previously on this blog, there are some serious fears that the movie has been "sanitized" of all the great pagan content. Some fans of the books are not happy at all with the announced changes.
"I am spitting chips and blood. I am crackling with furious static. Any minute now, small pieces of paper, coins and pens are going to drag themselves across the tabletop, bent and pulled towards me by the immense, bending-the-laws-of-physics fury I'm experiencing right now."
I guess we can only wait to see how much damage has been done to this classic.
Also of interest is the November release of "Beowulf". With a screenplay partially written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Robert Zemeckis, this film adaptation of the ancient English epic mixes live action with heavy computer animation to give it a unique look/feel. You can watch a teaser trailer for the film, here. I have no idea how "pagan" this adaptation will be (unlike the recent "Beowulf and Grendel" which was chock-full of pre-Christian elements), but the cast is certainly an interesting mix.
Finally, in December we will see the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel "The Golden Compass", part of his highly acclaimed "His Dark Materials" trilogy.
Due to the Gnostic themes within the novels, some have labeled it the "anti-Narnia". But fans have been worrying for some time now over the removal of religious themes to be replaced with a anti-fascist/control storyline. But the trailer itself looks exciting, plus, witches!
That is all I have for now, see you at the movies!
Labels: Beowulf, Cowboys For Christ, gnosticism, His Dark Materials, movies, Paganism, Stardust, The Dark is Rising, The Golden Compass
3.27.2007
Stardust Trailer
The trailer for the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel "Stardust" has been released, and can now be found on YouTube.
With the magical themes and adventures within the land of Faerie, not to mention Gaiman's already enormous popularity among modern Pagans, I'm sure many of my readers will be looking forward to this one. No doubt you'll hear more about the film on this blog as news and interviews start to surface.
Labels: Faerie, Fantasy, Neil Gaiman, Stardust
