Stardust (2007)

(SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER?)

[Busting justice can sometimes seem tough, especially when the innocent line up alongside the guilty.]

Stardust (2007) is a British-American romantic fantasy film directed by Matthew Vaughn, starring Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, and Robert De Niro.

In the end, unwitting heir to a magical kingdom, Charlie Cox, lives happily ever after, shining brightly for eternity, next to fallen star, Claire Danes, returned to her home in the night sky, after a long and happy reign together, once she saved both herself and him from dreaded witch, Michelle Pfeiffer, who, along with her two scheming sisters, intended to consume the star's heart for the immortality and supernatural power it would confer on them.

Menial shop boy, Cox, learns how to be a hero from a reputedly blood-thirsty closet cross-dressing captain of a flying lightening trawler, Robert De Niro, and in the process, falls in love with a star knocked from the heavens, Danes, his recovery of which, from within an enchanted realm, contested over by seven princely sibling, he hoped would prove his devotion to a girl he mistakenly thought he loved, eventually discovering he is the only son of the rival princes' long-lost sister and, therefore, rightful heir to the throne.


This perfectly demonstrates the short-comings of busting a movie that represents more than the sum of its parts, as much of the pleasure of the dense and entertaining plot-line is lost, because it involves characters who only affect the eventual outcome indirectly. So the contribution of the excellent ensemble players hardly gets a mention, compared with that of the principals, two of whose casting represented such a colossal miscalculation as to have almost sunk the whole endeavour.

Though convincing as a naive, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed pretty boy, Cox's transformation into a hero and resulting romance with Danes, that lie at the heart of the story, could not have been less convincing.

Even so, his short-comings in that role pale into insignificance, when compared to the un-believability of De Niro as a mincing aesthete.

Rightly renowned for his portrayals of psychopaths, and for the comedy roles in which he sends up such portrayals, he completely fails to sell the role of reluctant pirate, in which he just embarrasses himself and all those around him, required to pretend he is doing a good job.

Fortunately, Pfeiffer, Danes and everyone else do such good work covering for these two, that the result is well worth the price of admission, especially to anyone who enjoys revisionist fairy-tales.

Perhaps George Lucas might be persuaded to work some of his digital-replacement magic on a print?

Fingers crossed ;)

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_(2007_film)

The King of Comedy (1983)

(SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO DISCOVERS WHAT?)

[Now for a bust that resulted from trying to explain one of the many cultural references that the animated show Family Guy made in the episode Barely Legal.]

The King of Comedy (1983) is an American black comedy directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott and Sandra Bernhard.

In the end Robert De Niro discovers that the only way to break into television is from behind the barrel of a gun.

Middle-aged living-at-home-with-his-mother stage-door autograph hound, De Niro, plays an aspiring stand-up comic with obsessive ambition that far exceeds his actual talent.

A chance meeting with famous comedian and talk show host, Jerry Lewis, leads De Niro to believe that there is a place on Lewis's show for him if he really wants it.

However, De Niro's attempts to collect on Lewis's apparent offer are continually rebuffed by the show's production staff.

Along the way, the wanna-be star indulges in ever more elaborate and obsessive fantasies where he and Lewis are colleagues and friends, until finally, Lewis is forced to shatter De Niro's dreams, after De Niro invites himself and his would-be girlfriend, Diahnne Abbott, to stay at Lewis's weekend retreat.

Nevertheless, convinced that he is destined for greatness, one way or another, the humiliated and frustrated De Niro hatches a kidnap plot, with the help of obsessive Lewis-stalker, Sandra Bernhard.

The ransom is for De Niro to be given the opening spot on that evening's show (guest hosted by Tony Randall), and that, before Lewis is released, the show must be aired nationally, as usual, so that Abbott can see that De Diro wasn't just some crazy fantasist.

To the surprise of the show's producers and the police, De Niro's exaggerated autobiographical stand-up routine goes down well with the audience. Even his confession that he is only there because he has kidnapped Lewis gets a laugh.

In the meantime, between the show's recording and broadcast, left alone with her idol duct-taped to a chair in her parents' Manhattan townhouse, Bernhard attempts to seduce Lewis.

But the seduction only allows Lewis to escape, just in time to catch the end of De Niro's routine in which he explains that "Tomorrow you'll know I wasn't kidding and you'll all think I'm crazy. But I figure it this way: better to be king for a night, than schmuck for a lifetime."

And perhaps he had a point, because a news report covering his eventual release from prison, featuring shots of storefronts piled high with his "long awaited" autobiography, King For A Night, reveals that De Niro now has an agent with whom he is considering several "attractive offers" one of which turns out to be an apparent live TV special in which an excited announcer introduces him to an equally enthusiastic audience.


Scorsese has made a career out of depicting madness in it various forms. De Niro's celebrity obsessed fantasist is perhaps the least dangerous of his many creations. And the movie is a wonderful exploration of the dangers of the modern cult of celebrity, and a welcome break from the usual corruption and brutal violence that perfuse so much of his output.

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Comedy_(1983_film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy

http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Barely_Legal