Cor, That Were Lovely

Go see Stardust right now, please!

It's a fairy tale. It's The Princess Bride for a new generation while being absolutely nothing like the Princess Bride. Now, I say fairy tale and I do mean it, there are pretty dresses and swashbuckling fights and characters coming of age and it has plenty of magic but it's better than that. I can't explain, really, I don't want to give anything away but...but...in this modern fairy tale, among other things, moms don't die or leave forever or get zapped by a passing crone, moms kick ass!

It's one of those movies that spans generations to at least some extent. So, if you have kids who are old and focused enough to sit still for 130 minutes pack everyone in the car and hit the multiplex, if not get a babysitter and put your butt in a crazy movie airplane seat and watch this movie. I say this mostly because I think you will love it and I think you will learn something and I think you will have fun. However, I also say it because this is one of those no man's land movies. It's put out by a studio and it has stars but it's not exactly blockbustery. It won't make it's name at Sundance or in art houses and it also won't get the immediate merchandising push of a studio-bolstering franchise flick. As such it needs butts in seats and it needs them now. Best case scenario you go right now, like don't-even-finish-reading-this now, next best is that you go this weekend (mmm, air conditioning, yeah) and good-but-you-know-not-your-best-work is if you go this coming week. If you, me and everyone we know don't get the word out and go see this now (now, NOW!) it won't last on the big screen. It'll stand up to the test of the small screen, sure, you'll love it then but you'll also be kicking yourself that you didn't see it in the theatre so just don't let that happen, Mkay? Call me, I'll totally go again and I just got home from my first viewing a couple of minutes ago.

Now, all that being said, in the interest of fair and balanced reporting I will tell you about an encounter I had at the theatre. The room was fairly small, there were about 25 of us in there, maybe 4 kids total and maybe about half the group over 50. (Go me, I'm right in the middle again!) As the credits were rolling a perfect example of the genuine classic Brooklyn senior citizenry limped deliberately down the aisle. She stopped at my seat and asked, "Did you like it?" Being utterly enchanted and not paying one bit of attention to the signals I answered honestly, "I loved it." To which she replied, "Oh, I thought it was stupid."

Yeah, well, she still sat through the whole thing. Don't listen to her, go get some Sno-Caps and take a little journey to another world.