Recent movie wrap-up:
Bedknobs & Broomsticks is a rather silly, mostly live-action Disney movie from 1971, starring Angela Lansbury as an apprentice witch trying to learn magic to help fight the Germans during WWII. I remember seeing this as a kid, altho my memories of the movie itself were pretty vague. A lot of fairly forgettable songs and too many plucky Cockney kids. The high point of the animated section is a hilarious soccer match (which might have been my first exposure to futbol). One thing of interest I noticed this time is a small role for legendary British music hall singer Tessie O'Shea.
I don't know how I managed to miss Stardust when it was in theaters last summer, but I'm glad I caught up with it. I'm pretty much expecting to love any movie with air pirates and Stardust did not disappoint. Sweet and beautiful and full of ripping yarns. Based on the Neil Gaiman book (but you knew that). I particularly loved the Greek chorus of failed aspirants to the throne of Stormhold. If you're watching the DVD be sure to check out the deleted scenes which include nice bits for the brothers which didn't make it into the final version of the movie. Overall, I'd say the movie rates up there with the Princess Bride as one of the great swashbuckling romances.
Versus = best movie evah! Okay, I exaggerate. Slightly. But it's got yakuza. It's got zombies. It's got yakuza zombies. (note to self: if involved in gang war, DO NOT hire yakuza zombies who are slow and can't shoot for shit). Plus some sort of demon zombie vampire martial arts dudes. Crazy cops. Bigass guns. Arterial spray. Swordplay. Ninja assassins. Inexpicable plotlines. My only quibbles: the big bad monologues all the time. At one point, Our Antihero™ even tells him to STFU (hey, no one cares about the damn plot. Just go cut some more heads off); the incredibly stupid epilogue -- makes no sense and, if you stop to think about it (which I don't recommend), it makes the whole movie make no sense. My advice is to just stop the DVD after he gets on the motorcycle and rides off.