Reviews

If you enjoyed Princess Bride or Neverending Story, I can almost guarantee you'll love Stardust. Loosely based on a hit book by Neil Gaiman, this movie will have your full attention from the prologue until the last words. Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Wall is a small town in England, named after, well, a wall that runs just by it. Tristan (Charlie Cox), a lovable yet clumsy good-for-nothing shop boy, makes a bet with Victoria, a girl far out of his league - if he can find a shooting star they saw fall and bring it back, he will have her hand in marriage. He only has a week for that. Time is, however, the smallest of his problems, because he's not the only one who's after the star - so is Lamia, an evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Septimus, a prince of Stormhold, to both of whom getting the star before Tristan means unimaginable power.

So begins an adventure in spirit of classic fantasy movies. You see, while on the one side of a wall is England we know, the other side hides Stormhold - a magical kingdom of witches, fairies, unicorns, and, well, magic. What starts as a simple errand almost instantly turns into a grand adventure when Tristan learns that the star is not simply a fallen rock - it's a beautiful girl, Ivaine (Claire Danes). Now Tristan has a week to get back to the wall and marry Victoria - by the end, will he even want to? On the way, Tristan and Ivaine will meet a lovable cast of characters - most notably the sky pirate captain Shakespeare (Robert de Niro delivers a winning performance) who tries hard to maintain his reputation as a fearsome buccaneer in front of his crew, despite his sensitive (and stereotypically homosexual) persona.

Stardust is a magical movie in spirit of classic fantasy films that, chances are, you watched as a kid. It's not a masterpiece but, as far as teen-aimed pictures go, this is one of the best ones yet.

Don't get me wrong, True Grit is a good movie. In a time when most films seen in cinemas are made for teenagers, it can appeal to anybody regardless of age. The gunfights (not much) and talking (a lot) give it a nice pace that keeps you on the edge of your seat while not being chaotic enough to confuse your father.

Mattie Ross is a 14-year old girl who gets a US Marshal Rouben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to help her track down and bring to justice her fathers killer (Brolin). Tom Chaney is also pursued by a Texas Ranger by the name of LaBeouf (Matt Damon), who wants to punish him for the crimes committed by him back in Texas.

***Spoilers start here, i guess.*** While the movie starts at slow and a little bit annoying pace, it soon picks up after our unlikely team leaves town. The director was obviously well aware of the saying that chasing a hare isn't about catching it but about the chase itself. True Grit makes you want to catch Tom Chaney along with it's heroes, but when they do actually get him, it does not give you the expected satisfaction. That is weird, because the character was obviously supposed to be given a personality. When he talks to Mattie you might even reconsider thinking about him as the bad guy - The bandits have emotions and Tom gets desperate after his team leaves him. But then, he quickly reverts to his "I'm this pictures' villain!" pose, tries to kill the girl and gets shot. Boom, that's it. Not even any last words that would make him more human and less two-dimensional. Nope. He gets shot point blank with a rifle. That's it. The force of the bullet causes him to fall off a cliff (Not very naturally, too) and that is the last time you see him. Did he have a personality? Or was he just trying to get Mattie to lower her guard? We'll never know.

Then, suddenly, a plot hole appears! It seems Mattie and Rooster have to leave LaBeouf, because he DOESN'T HAVE A HORSE! Yup, that's right. It doesn't matter much that he just shot a bandit off a mount 400 yards away, and that the horse is still standing there, saddled and ready. No. Instead, Rooster and Mattie (now bitten by a handy plot device, rattlesnake!) ride her horse to death and end up in a middle of a field. Cogburn, a weak old man then proceeds to carry the girl in a scene that was surely envisioned as touching, but still makes you wonder about why exactly didn't they take the horse with them (or LaBeouf, for that matter).

If you can ignore some plot points that don't feel right and the general lack of soundtrack in most scenes, you will find yourself captivated by the plot of True Grit, a motion picture that is by no means mediocre. Great acting skills of not only the main characters but supporting cast (such small roles as Dakin Matthews who argues with Mattie about a price of a horse) make it a memorable experience that I will be happy to watch again some time. You will enjoy it as long, as your expectations aren't too high.