My top three movies are Princess Bride, Sneakers, and Much Ado About Nothing. That's in no particular order, and there hasn't been a movie in many years that has come close to taking a spot. The closest one that I can think of is Mystery Men, which I enjoyed immensely and still watch occasionally, but which didn't quite deserve a place.
Today I saw Stardust. My top four movies are Princess Bride, Sneakers, Much Ado About Nothing, and Stardust. There were so many excellent moments in the movie that I would have trouble commemorating them all here. The characters were excellent and really felt right to me: lately in movies where there's been a young man in the leading role, that character inevitably annoys me and doesn't feel quite right. In Stardust however, young Tristan, while doing a few stupid things, really felt like a person I could relate to in how he acted. Rather than being annoyed by the main character, I felt like I could identify with him. I could go on about the others: Robert De Niro, Claire Daines, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Strong and Mark Williams all deserve a comment about their particular roles. I will mention the narration: it was excellent. Having a familiar voice there to open the story is a wonderful thing, and for me it evoked memories of a story being told to a young boy, much like the way Princess Bride made that overt.
Possible spoiler warning: you may not wish to read the next paragraph if you haven't seen the movie. It doesn't spoil a huge plot point, but it is a special moment if you recognize it for yourself.
There was one moment that deserves special mention, as it really made the connection to Princess Bride for me, and while it may not have meant to, it was worded so closely that it didn't feel like a mistake at all: When captured, Yvaine lists her options as "Murdered by pirates", having her heart cut out by a witch, and being taken to see Victoria. A similar list of dreadful fates is given by the Narrator in Princess Bride as the story starts, and the boy listening to the story comments, "Murdered by pirates is good!". That was exactly my reaction to hearing it in Stardust, and was a special moment for me.
8 comments:
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I knew you really liked the film, but I hadn't realized you had added it to your pantheon.
As a connection (this time, a very specific one) has come up to Princess Bride again and I didn't make that connection, it now seems quite definitive that I need to watch Princess Bride again. (I've only watched it once, and that was my senior year in college --- and it produced one of my "best" Housequotes ever...)
Besides you and Gazebo, I believe that it was an LA Weekly reviewer who brought up a connection to Princess Bride (in that person's case, with the same broad brush strokes as Gazebo).
I hope to write my review of the movie tonight.
My brother also made the comparison to Princess Bride, fwiw.
You made me wonder what my favorite movies are. A bunch of movies made me think, "gee, is this one of them? I certainly love it lots&lots...", but only two movies made me think, "yes, this is definitely one of my favorites."
The Iron Giant and Eternal Sunshine.
"Okay."
Dammit, now I really want to see Eternal Sunshine again. Any takers?
I'd be up for seeing Eternal Sunshine again in the near future. Just let me know when you're seeing it.
(I also remember the context in which I saw it. It was at the 2004 APS March Meeting, and Jing and I walked a couple of miles along St. Catherine's street to get to the movie theatre. Meanwhile, we discovered that St. Catherine's street is so happening that it has tons and tons of good stuff throughout the entire stretch --- and it didn't show any signs of ending, as the shops and restaurants stretch far beyond what we actually explored.)
Now this thread is making me think of my top-tier movies. Like Lemming, I can think of a lot of borderline cases, but for me the only shoo-in I can think of is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Mason: That was Montreal? Must have been the night I was at the Clarke group dinner. I did manage to see Eternal Sunshine while it was in theaters, though. Great film, probably my favorite by Kaufman (with Adaptation being the primary competition).
Travis -- I was debating whether to include GBU, but then I realized that, since I was debating it, I should knock it down a peg. I think it was fairly arbitrary, though, and I can at least say it's one of my favorites "within reasonable observational error."
Travis: I believe that night was the Friday night on the last day of the conference. You also might have been gone by that night. We were going to be joined by Robert Chen (another Scurve from 98), but we couldn't track him down. I do remember definitively that you were known to be unavailable that night, but (as I mentioned) I think it's because you left that day (or, more precisely, left at some point before that evening).
Meredith and I were watching Stardust in the movie theatre yesterday, and as soon as that line was spoken, something went off instinctively in me and I actually leaned over to Meredith and whispered "murdered by pirates is good!"
Yeah, that reference was definitely there for me :-)
Looking forward to seeing you and L (and whoever else is around next weekish when you get back from your trip!)
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