The Consumer’s Corner

Have you been longing for a good sci-fi/fantasy movie? Does your heart leap at the words Harry Potter? Then Stardust on DVD may be just what you’ve been looking for. It tells the story of witches, pirates, princes, ghosts, fallen stars and most importantly true love. What more can you ask of a movie?

Our narrator (Sir Ian McKellen) starts the movie with an intriguing question: “A philosopher once asked, ‘Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?’ Pointless, really…’Do the stars gaze back?’ Now *that’s* a question.” If that doesn’t grab you by the brain then don’t worry you still may enjoy this film, I just thought it was a cool thought.

The story picks up with our protagonist Tristan (Charlie Cox) who lives in a small English town that borders a forbidden magical land (Stormhold) that harbors beauty, mystery and danger. As a star named Yvaine (Claire Danes) falls to earth in Stormhold Tristan tries to impress his love by telling her he’ll get the star for her if she’ll marry him. What Tristan doesn’t know is a star hasn’t fallen in over four hundred years and whoever holds the heart of a star has the gift of immortality. A race begins to find Yvaine between Tristan and those just looking for glory and ever lasting life. Will our hero get to her first? Will his love be tested?

Many sci-fi/fantasy films rely on special effects, monsters and makeup to carry its plot, but Stardust is a story based film. It leans on its strong screenplay (Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman) and its amazing cast. A cast that includes Michelle Pfieffer as Lamia a powerful and evil witch, Robert De Niro as pirate lord Captain Shakespeare in a role you have to see if you’re a fan of the infamous bad boy of Hollywood and Claire Danes as the beautiful fallen star, Yvaine. They all do a phenomenal job in their well written roles.

Special features on the DVD are pretty standard. You have the usual deleted scenes, bloopers, and trailers. But what I did find interesting was Good Omens: The Making of Stardust. Features like these are always interesting because you get to find out what the director (Matthew Vaughn) was thinking when he decided what shots and/or camera angles to use for different scenes. And you learn more about film making in general. It’s not as easy as you might think.

This is a fun fantasy film that will leave you with a smile. It is PG-13 so it may not be suitable for the whole family. There are many death scenes, scary images of witches and homosexual undertones. If you’re comfortable with your kids watching the Harry Potter films, I don’t think you will have a problem with Stardust. So pop up some corn, grab a comfortable seat and enjoy the escape from reality.

Official Site

–Andy Gates

stardust, fantasy, sci-fi, movies, dvd

(This article was written by a new contributer to ‘The Consumer’s Corner,’ my friend Andy Gates.)

Finally some originality coming out of Hollywood! It’s been a few years since we’ve had a good ol’ monster movie to enjoy and thanks to J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost) that longing has been filled and then some.

Cloverfield isn’t the same monster movie you’ve seen a dozen times, actually it’s far from it. The film is shot entirely on a hand held camera and is shown as a home movie. And because of this genius idea, we see all the emotions that go through the characters as they witness a true disaster.

Cloverfield starts out as a going away party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David) as his best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) films the good times for Rob so he’ll remember his friends while he’s in Japan. But good times quickly become life threatening when a mysterious monster attacks their home, New York City. Hud never puts the camera down because “People are gonna wanna know, you know, how it all went down.”

Almost the entire movie is shot from Hud’s point of view which does something very unique, it puts the audience inside the movie. Whatever the characters see, you will see and be enthralled. This also allows the viewer to feel what our heroes feel which is true terror. You will be side by side with Rob, Hud and their friends as they go through the Big Apple trying to avoid mayhem, injury and death.

Many critics have compared Cloverfield to the 1999 surprise hit The Blair Witch Project because of the cinematography styles. While the style is similar, that is the only thing these two films share. The main complaint of The Blair Witch Project was while the characters obviously saw some horrific sights, the audience didn’t see anything. That is not the case in Cloverfield. The viewer sees everything the characters see and that includes the gruesome monster. Unlike Blair Witch, Cloverfield is mentally and visually stunning.

Many monster movies have resorted to show a tender side of their “monster” such as King Kong and Godzilla. You won’t see any such humanity in the real monster of Cloverfield. This creature is truly horrifying and is here to destroy and kill. The only humanism we see is in the very well defined characters. Cloverfield is the first true “monster movie” since Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic Alien.

This movie puts you right in the threshold of danger and refuses to relent. It will have your nerves on end and your mind begging for more. This is what cinema was created for, originality, aestheticism, thrills and of the course the audience.

(WARNING: Because of the way Cloverfield is filmed it may cause motion sickness. Theatres have compared it to riding a rollercoaster so it may not be for everybody. I did get a slight headache during the experience, but it was well worth it.)

Official Site

–Andy Gates

cloverfield, movies, horror, thriller

(Thank you to ‘Good News Film Reviews‘ for linking to this article.)

I’m writing this article not so much as a review, but much more as a dire warning. That is why it will be a bit brief on the brief. ‘Planet Terror’ could possibly be the absolute worst movie I have ever sat through. Top 5, easy. Certainly the worst I’ve ever reviewed, and I’ve reviewed a few on other blogs.

A ninety minute plus gore-fest. That’s really all you get on the disc. Very (very!) graphic gore as well, and combined with the nudity and language, this ‘film’ shouldn’t be viewed if there is even a child in your neighborhood, let alone in the room that it is playing.

If you simply must see it, you should definitely give it a rent first. If you rent it and happen to actually enjoy it, you are a sick person and I do not want you coming back to this blog anymore.

Incredibly needless to say, but I DO NOT recommend this.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

planet terror, grindhouse, dvd, movies, horror, scifi

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov 5) will mark the official DVD release of one of Disney Pixar’s most recent box office offering, ‘Ratatouille.’ Pixar has an astonishing record of making wonderful children’s movies, basically pioneering the art digitally animated cartoon films. They may not have been the first to do it, but if you look at all of their previous attempts and judge them on the whole, I think you’ll agree wit me that they do it the best.

‘Ratatouille’ didn’t seem to get as much hype as it’s predecessors while it was in the theaters, but I find that a bit unfair. The animation was very solid, real top quality stuff. ‘Remy,’ the common rat turned chef was especially well created. Even little things the use of body language on him was wonderfully done; some of the best work I’ve seen in awhile. Some of the water effects, at the beginning of the film, simply looked real. The properties of water are so hard to recreate, and Pixar pulled it off perfectly. Scenes of Paris looked simply magical.

Voice acting was good, but you should not expect to hear too many familiar voices; in fact I didn’t recognize any at all. Not that it was in any way an issue; the people they did have working were very capable, and the animators did a great job of matching the voices to the characters. The only downside I can see to using the (otherwise great) no-names is  that maybe an A-lister or two would’ve brought more attention to the flick. Oh well.

The plot of ‘Ratatouille’ is about a rat that can cook incredibly well. And the son of a famous French chef that can’t boil water. It’s ar fetched, I know, but it’s a animated kid flick; what do you expect? As an adult, suspend I request you suspend your disbelief and enjoy an otherwise cute and amusing film. There’s more than enough to keep you interested, at least to the point of not cringing whenever you see your kid slip it in the DVD player.

I give ‘Ratatouille’ a ‘fatal’ thumbs up (you’ll get the pun after watching). Solid top to bottom, and it’s especially pretty to look at. Don’t bother renting, I say pre-order! Rated G, and also available on Blu-Ray.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

ratatouille, dvd, pixar, disney, animation, movies