We’ve watched a few more movies recently. Here’s a quick rundown.
THE GREAT DEBATERS
It’s not a sports movie, but it is inspirational and based on a true story. Denzel Washington is a professor and coach of the debate team at tiny, all-black Wiley College in 1935. Since Wiley is located in East Texas, the movie is as much about racism as it is about debating. Although Washington is the star (and the director), the film really belongs to another Denzel, Denzel Whittaker (the real-life son of co-star Forest Whittaker), who plays a 14-year-old who’s already in college and turns in a fine performance. Well-made, worth watching, and only a little heavy-handed at times.
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2
We watched the first one, so you know it was inevitable we’d watch the sequel as well. All the characters return for a story that finds them out of school for the summer an
d working at an exclusive country club. As you’d expect, friction develops between the rich kids and the kids who are part of the staff. Everybody sings and dances a lot. I thought the original HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL had a certain breezy charm to it, this one less so. It reminded me a little of the old Beach Party movies, only without the humor. Still, there are a lot of bright colors and enthusiasm, and the movie’s not aimed at crusty old geezers like me anyway. (And I suspect that thirty years from now, when today’s kids are watching whatever’s popular then with their kids, they’ll grumble, “Yeah, but it’s not as good as the old High School Musical movies.”)
STARDUST
Saving the best for last, this fantasy set partially in 1840s England and mostly in the magical realm of Stormhold is a wonderful movie. The plot is really too complex to describe, but you’ve got evil witches (one of them played by Michelle Pfeiffer), evil princes feuding over who’s going to succeed th
eir father as King of Stormhold, people being turned into animals (and vice versa), a stalwart young hero, a fallen star that assumes human form (Claire Danes), pirates who sail the skies in a ship attached to a giant balloon (the captain played by Robert De Niro), and sword fights. Lots and lots of sword fights. I absolutely loved it and thought it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve never read any of the novels by Neil Gaiman, but this adaptation of one of them is enough to convince me that I ought to.
THE GREAT DEBATERS
It’s not a sports movie, but it is inspirational and based on a true story. Denzel Washington is a professor and coach of the debate team at tiny, all-black Wiley College in 1935. Since Wiley is located in East Texas, the movie is as much about racism as it is about debating. Although Washington is the star (and the director), the film really belongs to another Denzel, Denzel Whittaker (the real-life son of co-star Forest Whittaker), who plays a 14-year-old who’s already in college and turns in a fine performance. Well-made, worth watching, and only a little heavy-handed at times.
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2
We watched the first one, so you know it was inevitable we’d watch the sequel as well. All the characters return for a story that finds them out of school for the summer an
d working at an exclusive country club. As you’d expect, friction develops between the rich kids and the kids who are part of the staff. Everybody sings and dances a lot. I thought the original HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL had a certain breezy charm to it, this one less so. It reminded me a little of the old Beach Party movies, only without the humor. Still, there are a lot of bright colors and enthusiasm, and the movie’s not aimed at crusty old geezers like me anyway. (And I suspect that thirty years from now, when today’s kids are watching whatever’s popular then with their kids, they’ll grumble, “Yeah, but it’s not as good as the old High School Musical movies.”)STARDUST
Saving the best for last, this fantasy set partially in 1840s England and mostly in the magical realm of Stormhold is a wonderful movie. The plot is really too complex to describe, but you’ve got evil witches (one of them played by Michelle Pfeiffer), evil princes feuding over who’s going to succeed th
eir father as King of Stormhold, people being turned into animals (and vice versa), a stalwart young hero, a fallen star that assumes human form (Claire Danes), pirates who sail the skies in a ship attached to a giant balloon (the captain played by Robert De Niro), and sword fights. Lots and lots of sword fights. I absolutely loved it and thought it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve never read any of the novels by Neil Gaiman, but this adaptation of one of them is enough to convince me that I ought to.
6 comments:
I suggest you start by reading STARDUST. The novel's got a lot more to it than the movie.
Although I enjoyed the movie, I didn't think it was nearly as good as you did. I did enjoy the sword fights. I thought the part with Robert De Niro as the gay captain was a bit overdone. But over all it was pretty decent, and I've been a fan of Michelle Pfeiffer's for a long time.
After Stardust, I'd recommend American Gods. Then there's Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, and any of The Sandman collections would probably be right up your alley.
Try to find the original form of the novel, as heavily illustrated. All the post-film versions of the novel have had, at best, film stills.
Somehow this got right by me. Stardust that is.
It was okay, but the novel is so delightful that I had hoped for better. Just a word of warning, Captain "Shakespeare" is an important but bit character in the book that for some odd reason (I think simply so they could cast DeNiro and use that for box office draw) they named this character and fleshed out the part...in a way that really is antithetical to anything the book is about in my opinion.
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