Speaking up for Fun

We're now heading towards the end of October, its getting darker and colder and as we head towards Halloween, the cinema screens fill up with dreadful horror movies (Saw IV anybody?), so let us be thankful that the October holidays also give us some films which are just plain fun.

First up:

Stardust - 4/5

Very much a tongue-in-cheek fairy-tale which draws the inevitable comparisons with The Princess Bride and thats a hard act to live up to and if it doesn't quite manage it (there are no lines here that will still be being quoted in 20 years time and it probably won't go onto to achieve the same cult status) then there's no disgrace there. If not quite a classic, it remains a hugely enjoyable film that compares quite favourably to other imaginative adventures (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen for example).

The story, adapted from a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, follows Tristan (newcomer Charlie Cox) who, in order to prove his love for village sweetheart Victoria (Sienna Miller) crosses over the wall into a magical kingdom in order to retrieve a falling star. When he gets there he discovers that the star has turned into a beautiful young woman (Claire Danes) who is also being pursued by evil witches and princes fighting over the throne of their recently departed father (Peter O'Toole).

This might not seem the most obvious of follow ups for Matthew Vaughn (director of Brit gangster flick Layer Cake), but he handles it very well - creating a stunning and fantastic look to the whole whilst keeping the action rolling along at an entertaining pace. Despite a running time of over two hours, there are very few moments when things start to flag.

He's also managed to attract a star-studded cast - Michelle Pfeiffer vamps it up to great effect as one of the witches, Danes brings the right mix of innocence and knowledge as the star, whilst Robert De Niro, alternately hamming and camping it up, manages to give his most lively, entertaining and quite possibly his best performance of the decade so far (but then again, he has slept walk through most of his other recent roles). There are also cameos from the like of Rupert Everett and the afroementioned O'Toole. Even Ricky Gervais manages to be not to irritating and quite amusing in his least disastrous big screen outing to date. That said, Cox provides a likeable foil to the stars as the naive lead.

The script, whilst never reaching the heights of the likes of The Princess Bride, is witty and lively and there are clever touches throughout. The ever-increasing number of ghosts of the dead princes provide a nice, but somewhat underused, faux Greek chorus providing comment on the proceedings. If the action tends slightly towards the predictable, especially towards the end, then you can forgive it due to the entertaining manner in which it is delivered.

I might be being slightly generous here, but I found the film thoroughly entertaining fun and heartily recommend it.

Also worth checking out for fun:

Razzle Dazzle - 3.5/5

The second Australian mockumentary of the month is a far more caustic affair than Kenny, and actually has more laugh out moments. Following children's dance troupes through different rounds of competition, it focusses on the rivalry between Mr Jonathon, who puts together routines built around issues of social concern, like the Kyoto Protocol Shuffle, and the far more traditional Miss Elizabeth.

Most of the humour is directed at the very pushy adults (some of whom are real monsters), whilst the children, on the whole just get on with dancing. Sometimes it skates quite close to the mark, but delivered with such deadpan by the cast, is none the less very amusing. Brit Ben Miller (as Mr Jonathon) is on great form - watch out for his speech on the fine line between over-zealous fostering and reluctant kidnapping.

There's maybe not enough of the actual routines to keep Strictly Come Dancing fans happy, but the tone and the humour will appeal to those who like the last section of Little Miss Sunshine.