Trailer Tuesday: Stardust

-
Last weekend a 'fake' in-progress trailer for Stardust appeared online. This week, finally, the first official trailer is up.



There's been quite a bit of commentary on this trailer. Nat from The Film Experience weighs in his thoughts here. The Ain't It Cool News forums are buzzing with some interesting discussion. Even author Neil Gaiman, on whose work Stardust is based, has commented on his blog.

You see the big issue is how audiences will respond to the film. Stardust is not conventional, serious fantasy. Besides its all-star cast, it has a quirky, whimsical sense of humour, which is apparent in the first half of the trailer. But it also has plenty of action, and some very dark streaks as well, which are very clear in the last minute of the trailer (naturally, I responded more to this content).

Will audiences be able to handle such a mix? Have the film makers achieved a satisfying balance between all the elements? This isn't Harry Potter, with a built in audience, after all. Apparently it's something that has really been bothering Paramount, the studio distributing the film. They've been very tentative in terms of their marketing approach.


It is a worry, but right now I'm just excited at the prospect of seeing Michelle Pfeiffer in all her witchy, evil glory (and aging make-up). I really hope they haven't chopped her character's one-on-one combat with a unicorn, which was a fantastic, visceral scene in the book.

Anyway, the official Stardust site has also been updated with plenty of awesome new content.

Stardust is released in North America on 10 August, with its debut pretty much everywhere else in September and October.

Comments

Gareth said…
Hmmm, you know, that actually looks pretty damn cool. Flying ships, magic, sword fighting, shweet! And Michelles witch actually looks quite cool. More importantly, she uses her magic a lot. Not like Gandalf :/. Gandalf was such a pussy. Yakked a lot then fall off a bridge.

Said it before, I'll say it again. Mages for the win ;)
3:50 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov
Read more

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Queer Icon (Part 4)

-
Image
Part 4: The mystery of Lara Croft’s sexuality “Now what’s a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?” – Larson Conway (Tomb Raider, 1996) Despite being an icon for many queer pop culture consumers, Lara Croft’s own sexual orientation remains ambiguous. Outside of the Top Cow comics and live-action films – where Lara is blatantly heterosexual, with a fondness for slightly scruffy bad boys (who keep betraying and hurting her) – the character comes across as primarily asexual. Kurtis Trent is the only male figure who even comes close to being a love interest in the game series. Lara's apparent sexual disinterest is despite the adventurer appearing very sexually attractive herself; a figure of desire with bee-stung lips, voluptuous breasts, toned stomach and impossibly long, athlete’s legs. Yet Lara is never dominated by sexual yearnings or romantic affections. She is very much in control of herself at all times. It’s worth noting, however, that over time th
Read more

Ladies I Love: Part 2 - Rhona Mitra

-
Image
Following on from the first post in this series , you may realise that I have a very definite type. Anyway, today we profile model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra . This 36 year old Briton is of English, Irish and Indian descent. You'll have seen her pop up on the big and small screen multiple over the past decade and a half, although Mitra's claim to fame is that she was the second ever model (some say first if you rule out "unofficial"  Nathalie Cook ) to play iconic video game character Lara Croft . From 1997-1998, Mitra could be found in PR material, as well as at trade shows, events and conventions as a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Tomb Raider 's kick-ass archeologist lead. There have been many official Lara Croft models over the years , but as far as I'm concerned Mitra remains the best. In my mind, of all of them, she most closely resembles the video game character in terms of facial features. Plus she comes from money and had a rebellious boarding
Read more