Hatchet (2007)

Stay out of the swamp.
Adam Green's Hatchet is a return to the good ol' days of horror, when scares weren't computer-generated, when gallons of fake blood were splashed on trees, when men were men (until things got scary, at which point they squealed like little girls), women were scantily clad, and boys were deformed psychopaths with a taste for unique weaponry.

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and Ben (Joel David Moore) has reached booze and boobs overload. Recently dumped and pining after his girlfriend, he enlists his pal Marcus (Deon Richmond) to accompany him on a swamp tour in a boat that travels the spooky murk surrounding the city. Marcus is less than enthused until the crew of the low, low, low (low) budget movie "Bayou Beavers" signs on, including amateur cameraman Shapiro (Joel Murray), pneumatic Misty (Mercedes McNab) and ditzy Jenna (Joleigh Fioreavanti). Joining them on the rickety cruiser are the painfully wholesome couple Mr. and Mrs. Permatteo (Richard Riehle and Patrika Darbo) and the beautiful-but-sullen Marybeth (Tamara Feldman).

Led by the P.T. Barnum of the swamp tour industry, fast-talking but slow-thinking showboater Shawn (Parry Shen) the tourists are decidedly underwhelmed by the fog, low-hanging branches and aggressively quiet sounds that Shawn tries to pass off as frightening. He launches into the story of Victor Crowley - yup, a legend in these parts - who is known to haunt the swamp. The boaters wave off the story as part of Shawn's continuing nonsense - except for Marybeth, who is notably discomforted.



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UnderDog 2007

Disney and Spyglass Entertainment have recreated Underdog, the classic cartoon series from Saturday mornings about a loveable mutt, and expanded a vague, but interesting concept into a full-length feature. Talking dogs included.

An unnamed beagle (voiced by Jason Lee) is captured and locked away in the fortified laboratory used by Simon Barsinister (played by Peter Dinklage (1)) and his thesaurus-reliant henchman Cad (Patrick Warburton). The animal escapes near-tampering of his doggy DNA and begins running around the lab room at top speeds, ears a flapping. The chase comes to a halt when the beagle crashes into a shelf of glass beakers and unidentifiable liquids, spilling a monster Molotov cocktail over our friend’s fur, imbuing him with an encyclopedia of superpowers. This biochemical shower provides the dog with animal abilities that far surpass his own, flight, strength, speed, etc.

The film’s first of many subtexts is clearly a cinematic preamble to the Underdog story that I watched as an eight-year-old (2). As a young tyke, I never cared how Underdog became empowered. All I knew was the hero downed an energy pill and suddenly gained enough power to be a one-dog wrecking crew. But this back story is clearly an attempt to drag the old-school cartoon narrative into the realms of contemporary context and to distill the continuity down to plotline A follows plotline B (plus it all subtexts included it probably adds another forty minutes to what would be the equivalent length of a day-time soap opera.

James Unger (played by James Belushi), a one-time cop who quit the force and become the new nightwatchman at Barsinister’s lab (3), finds the beagle in the streets (and by finding him I mean running him over with a car, but luckily the dog’s uninjured) and brings the wayward quadruped home, hoping to offer the beagle up as a gift to his teenage son. At home we see the true struggle of a single parent on a low- to mid-level income strive for the affection of an only child. Unger is a defunct cop-turned-security guard, who quit his cop gig to spend time with his son, a teen truant who wants little to do with his middle-aged old man. The dog, nicknamed Shoeshine for his propensity to lick Unger’s shoes, quickly garners the affection of James’ son, Jack, (Alex Neuberger) a loner kid with few friends save one peer, Molly (Taylor Momsen), the journalista-next-door with Bambi eyes and a slight come-hither attitude that sucks Jack right in. She’s a good kid, and an aspiring reporter, always looking for the next story. Jack’s on the constant search for notoriety, a little fame, some attention, and he soon figures man’s best friend might be that meal ticket even if he has to live vicariously through the dog’s exploits. It’s evident that Jack has a thing for Molly. And Shoeshine falls for Molly’s dog, Polly Purebred, animal of same name as Underdog’s love interest in the cartoon series.

Jack quickly learns that he’s not alone when he discovers Shoeshine’s ability to talk, among other talents such as wrecking his dad’s house and leaving giant messes lying around (4). The pair develop Shoeshine’s hero identity after the beagle foils a jewel robbery orchestrated by Barsinister to help pay for his experiments. Realizing that Shoeshine is their dog, the two formulate a calculated plan (which indirectly works out) to capture the canine crusader again to extract his DNA and create more doses of what turned Shoeshine into a superhero.

While watching Underdog, we’re constantly reminded of the “great power, great responsibility” mantra (5). As Shoeshine’s the reluctant hero just coming to grips with being an intelligent and articulate dog with some extra get-up-and-go. Eventually, the beagle’s talked into undergoing the costumed identity and Underdog is born.

Of course Jack and his juiced companion continue on with their exploits, but most of the movie follows the simple plotline of the cartoon. The film introduces all the main characters of the animated series –- Underdog/Shoeshine, Polly, Barsinister and his henchman Cad, and even Riff Raff, the canine gangster — while including the new characters of James and Jack Unger, and Molly, placing them in danger on separate occasions, only so Underdog can make the ultimate sacrifice to free his new-found friends (6).

It’s easy to hate a film for what it’s doing: poaching a childhood favorite. How many Rocky and Bullwinkle or Garfield movies does it take before Hollywood finally says enough? However, Underdog gets from beginning to end with a seamless thread, while unraveling subplot after subplot, enough to keep a young child occupied for just under an hour and a half. Sure, the adults in the theater who grew up on Underdog will find some fault with the movie, but children should love Underdog. He’s a hero, he’s a regular dog, and he makes tough decisions for the right reasons.


Full Movie Link:

Part1
Part2

Lucky You 2007

A professional poker player whose astounding luck at the table fails to translate into his lonesome love life attempts to win the World Series of Poker while simultaneously earning the affections of a beautiful Las Vegas singer in a high-stakes emotional drama from L.A. Confidential director Curtis Hanson and Munich screenwriter Eric Roth. When his personal problems threaten to distract him from what could be his biggest win ever, seasoned poker pro Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) finds comfort in the company of singer Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore). Upon preparing for the biggest card game in the country, however, Huck soon realizes that his problems have only just begun when he finds that his opponent at the table will be none other than his estranged father, L.C. (Robert Duvall), a poker legend whose mythical reputation makes him a more than worthy opponent for his troubled son. ~ Jason Buchanan,


Full Movie Link:

part1 http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1120506KcYZW52W
part2 http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1120508NSad2maM
part3 http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1120512TMjgZcRe
part4 http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1120515BfhzHXRy

Hostel 2 (2007)

Cast

* Lauren German as Beth Salinger
* Roger Bart as Stuart
* Bijou Phillips as Whitney Keye
* Heather Matarazzo as Lorna Weisenfreund
* Richard Burgi as Todd
* Vera Jordanova as Axelle
* Stanislav Ianevski as Miroslav
* Jay Hernandez as Paxton
* Jordan Ladd as Stephanie
* Edwige Fenech as The Italian Professor
* Patrik Zigo as Bubble Gum Gang Leader
* Milan Knazko as Sasha Rassimov
* Milda Jedi Havlas as Desk Clerk Jedi
* Roman Janecka as Roman
* Eli Roth as Head on stick/Lawn Worker
* Ruggero Deodato as Italian Cannibal (director of Cannibal Holocaust)
* Monika Malacova as Mrs. Bathory
* Quentin Tarantino as Head on Stick

Beginning where Hostel ended, Paxton (Jay Hernandez) is roused on a train in Slovakia and taken to a hospital and questioned by a member of Elite Hunting posing as a detective. Paxton is eviscerated before waking up from his nightmare. Paranoid about the Elite Hunting personnel he argues with his girlfriend Stephanie (Jordan Ladd) and leaves. The next morning she finds his decapitated body sitting at the kitchen table while his head is delivered to Sacha, a top operative of Elite Hunting (Milan Knazko).

Beth (Lauren German), Whitney (Bijou Phillips) and Lorna (Heather Matarazzo), the American protagonists who are studying abroad in Italy, meet Axelle (Vera Jordanova) who offers to take them out for drinks. They accept. Later, on a train, a man (Axelle's accomplice) "robs" Lorna, after which Axelle visits the girls' train car and persuades the girls to join her on a spa vacation in Slovakia.

The party arrive in Slovakia, checks into the same hostel from the first movie, and retires to their rooms. The clerk uploads their photos to a website and an auction begins. An American named Todd (Richard Burgi) wins Whitney and his best friend Stuart (Roger Bart) wins Beth.

Later, at the "Harvest Festival", it is revealed that Beth has inherited a significant amount of money from her mother. An excited Lorna explains to Beth that a man named Roman has invited her on a boat ride. Beth tries unsuccessfully to persuade her not to go. Roman and Lorna disembark on a secluded part of the shore, where Lorna is assaulted and knocked unconscious by two of Roman's accomplices. Meanwhile Stuart and Beth meet and share an awkward moment together over a drink.

Later that night, Beth becomes worried when Lorna doesn't return. Axelle agrees to stay at the festival and wait for Lorna while Beth returns to the hostel with Whitney. The next morning, Beth, Whitney, her friend Miroslav (Stanislav Ianevski) and Axelle are enjoying the hot springs, assuming Lorna is still with Roman.

Lorna is revealed to be naked, gagged and hanging by her ankles in the middle of a large room. A woman credited as Mrs. Bathory (Monika Malacova) enters and disrobes before getting into a candlelit tub directly below Lorna. She then slashes repeatedly at Lorna's back with a scythe which showers her with Lorna's blood, then slits her throat with a sickle and bathes in her blood.

At the hostel, two men try to corner Beth in the hot springs but she runs into the woods, only to be attacked by the kids' "bubblegum gang". Sacha arrives and shoots one of the children while Beth is taken to his house, where Axelle is finally revealed as an accomplice of Elite Hunting. Beth tries to hide but she is subdued after stumbling into a room with severed heads, including Paxton's, on display.

Meanwhile Whitney is tied to a chair, while a woman applies make-up to her. She bites the tip of her nose off and escapes, only to be retrieved by two men armed with a pack of vicious guard dogs. Todd approaches a bound Whitney with a circular saw and teases her with it, but accidentally scalps her and refuses to finish her off out of guilt. The Elite Hunting security kill him using a pack of dogs for violation of his contract. Stuart, who was in the torture room with Beth, finally decapitates Whitney.

Beth pleads with Stuart for help, and manages to trick him and trap him in the chair. When he refuses to give her the code to unlock the door, she sticks a needle in his ear, before threatening to castrate him. Elite Hunting officials, including Sacha, come into the room and Beth bargains with Sacha to buy her freedom, seeing as she has inherited a lot of money (a first in the Hostel series). As the "contract" requires killing someone in order to leave, she castrates Stuart, tosses his genitalia to the dogs to eat and orders him to be left to bleed to death.

In the closing sequence, Axelle is lured into the woods by the Bubblegum Gang, where she trips over and is decapitated by Beth, who now appears to be a member of the Elite Hunting Society. The film ends with the gang playing soccer with Axelle's head.


Full Movie Links:
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Part 3: http://static.youku.com/v1.0.0097/qp...81e9b&showAd=0
Part 4: http://static.youku.com/v1.0.0097/qp...a3bdd&showAd=0

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GrindHouse

Grindhouse is a 2007 anthology film co-written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The film is a double feature consisting of two feature-length segments bookended by fictional trailers for upcoming attractions, advertisements, and in-theater announcements. The film's title derives from the U.S. film industry term "grindhouse," which refers to a movie theater specializing in B movies, often exploitation films, shown in a multiple-feature format. The film's cast includes Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Naveen Andrews, Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Jordan Ladd, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, stuntwoman Zoë Bell, and Vanessa Ferlito.

Rodriguez's segment, Planet Terror, revolves around an outfit of rebels attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, while Tarantino's segment, Death Proof, focuses on a misogynistic, psychopathic stunt man who targets young women, murdering them with his "death proof" stunt cars. Each feature is preceded by faux trailers of exploitation films in other genres that were developed by other directors.

After the film was released on April 6, 2007, ticket sales performed significantly below box office analysts' expectations despite mostly positive critic reviews. In much of the rest of the world, each feature was released separately, with Death Proof screened in an extended version.[4][5] Two soundtracks were also released for the features and include music and audio snippets from the film. In several interviews, the directors have expressed their interest in a possible sequel to the film.

The idea for Grindhouse came to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino when Tarantino set up screenings of double features in his house, complete with trailers before and in between the films. During one screening in 2003, Rodriguez noticed that he owned the same double feature movie poster as Tarantino for the 1957 films Dragstrip Girl and Rock All Night.[6] Rodriguez asked Tarantino, "I always wanted to do a double feature. Hey, why don't you direct one and I'll do the other?" Tarantino quickly replied, "And we've got to call it Grindhouse!"[3]

The film's name originates from the American term for theaters that played "all the exploitation genres: kung fu, horror, Giallo, sexploitation, the "good old boy" redneck car-chase movies, blaxploitation, spaghetti Westerns—all those risible genres that were released in the 70s."[7] According to Rodriguez, "The posters were much better than the movies, but we're actually making something that lives up to the posters."[8]

Rodriguez first came up with the idea for Planet Terror during the production of The Faculty. "I remember telling Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett, all these young actors, that zombie movies were dead and hadn't been around in a while, but that I thought they were going to come back in a big way because they’d been gone for so long," recalled Rodriguez, "I said, 'We've got to be there first.' I had [a script] I’d started writing. It was about 30 pages, and I said to them, 'There are characters for all of you to play.' We got all excited about it, and then I didn't know where to go with it. The introduction was about as far as I'd gotten, and then I got onto other movies. Sure enough, the zombie [movie] invasion happened and they all came back again, and I was like, 'Ah, I knew that I should've made my zombie film.'" The story was reapproached when Tarantino and Rodriguez developed the idea for Grindhouse.[8]

As Planet Terror took shape, Tarantino developed the story for Death Proof, based on his fascination for the way stuntmen would "death-proof" their cars. As long as they were driving, stuntmen could slam their cars headfirst into a brick wall at 60 miles per hour and survive. This inspired Tarantino to create a slasher film featuring a deranged stuntman who stalks and murders sexy young women with his "death-proof" car.[8] Tarantino remembers, "I realized I couldn't do a straight slasher film, because with the exception of women-in-prison films, there is no other genre quite as rigid. And if you break that up, you aren't really doing it anymore. It's inorganic, so I realized—let me take the structure of a slasher film and just do what I do. My version is going to be fucked up and disjointed, but it seemingly uses the structure of a slasher film, hopefully against you."[7]

According to Rodriguez, "[Tarantino] had an idea and a complete vision for it right away when he first talked about it. He started to tell me the story and said, 'It's got this death-proof car in it.' I said, 'You have to call it Death Proof.' I helped title the movie, but that's it."[8] Of the car chases, Tarantino stated, "CGI for car stunts doesn't make any sense to me—how is that supposed to be impressive? [...] I don't think there have been any good car chases since I started making films in '92—to me, the last terrific car chase was in Terminator 2. And Final Destination 2 had a magnificent car action piece. In between that, not a lot. Every time a stunt happens, there's twelve cameras and they use every angle for Avid editing, but I don't feel it in my stomach. It's just action."[7]

Scene Previews:





















Full Movie Link:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=6VOBJ42D ----> Part 1
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=1DYGGQ3B -----> Part 2

Rush Hour 3 (2007)

Cast of characters:

* Chief Inspector Lee: Jackie Chan
* Detective James Carter: Chris Tucker
* Ambassador Han: Tzi Ma
* Genevieve: Noémie Lenoir
* Kenji: Hiroyuki Sanada
* Detective Revi: Roman Polanski
* Reynard: Max Von Sydow
* Jasmine: Youki Kudoh
* Soo Yung: Zhang Jingchu
* George: Yvan Attal

Three years after the end of Rush Hour 2, Carter is no longer a detective, but a traffic cop on the streets of Los Angeles. Lee is now the bodyguard for his friend Ambassador Han, the former Consul from the first film. However, there is a rift between them as Lee is still upset at Carter about an incident in New York City where Carter shot (not fatally) Lee's then-girlfriend, Secret Service agent Isabella Molina (portrayed by Roselyn Sanchez in the second film), an event which led to their breakup.

During the World Criminal Court discussions, as the Ambassador addresses the importance to fight the Triad, he announces that he knows the identity of the Triad leadership known as the Shai Shen. Unfortunately, an assassination attempt on Han's life takes place and he gets shot, disrupting the conference. Lee traces and pursues the assassin and eventually corners him, discovering that the assassin is his godbrother, Kenji. When Lee hesitates to shoot Kenji, Carter shows up driving towards the two but Kenji manages to escape.

In the hospital, Lee learns that the bullet had missed Han's heart and that he will make a full recovery. Han's daughter, Soo Yung (Zhang Jingchu), now grown up, arrives and makes Lee and Carter promise to capture the one behind the assassination in order to ensure her father's safety. She then informs Lee and Carter that her father gave her an envelope which contains important information regarding the Triad, and that the envelope is in her locker at the martial arts studio where she works. Lee and Carter make their way to the martial arts studio where they battle a giant, (Sun Ming Ming), but find out that a gang of armed men had already arrived and taken the contents from the locker. Lee and Carter realize that Soo Yung and Han are in danger and rush back to the hospital.

Once they reach the hospital, Lee and Carter notice that the security and staff have all disappeared. Yung explains that they had all been called away. At that moment, a gang of assassins arrive to kill Yung and Han. Lee and Carter manage to defeat them, with the help of Soo Yung, and interrogate one of the assassins. Much to Lee and Carter's surprise, the Asian assassin is speaking French. With the help of a resident nun to translate, find out that they are marked for death by the Triad along with Soo Yung and Han. For her protection, they take her to the French Embassy and leave her under the care of Reynard, the French ambassador. When a car bomb detonates, nearly killing Reynard and Soo Yung, Lee and Carter decide to go to Paris to investigate.

In Paris, (after getting a painful cavity search from a Parisian commissioner, played by Polanski) Lee and Carter meet up with George, a taxi driver. George refuses to drive Carter, saying that Americans make him sick. However, George must get away in a high-speed chase to get away from the Triads, and Carter gives him inspiration by telling him to believe he is a superspy, to which George responds well to and performs driving maneuvers which get the chasers off their tail. Then the two attempt to investigate a Triad hideout disguised as a club. As Lee fights off a Triad assassin, Carter meets a beautiful woman named Genevieve and is immediately smitten. However, Lee and Carter are both forced out of the club and after a harrowing car chase, are captured by the Triads. They manage to escape the Triads by leaping into the city sewers. Lee and Carter then have a falling out concerning Lee's relationship with Kenji and Carter storms out, intending to meet Genevieve again. Later Reynard approaches Lee and tells him that Han received his information from an informant, who knows where the list detailing the Triad leadership is. The informant turns out to be Genevieve and both Lee and Carter end up looking for her.

After the two have encountered Genevieve they save her from an assassination attempt by the Triads and flee to their hotel room. However, they are attacked again and decide to hide out with George, who now believes he is a real spy and now has a great appreciation for the United States. They then learn that Genevieve doesn't just know where the list is, she is the list. The names of the thirteen Triad leaders are tattooed on the back of her head and that she will be decapitated and buried if the Triads get her.When Lee and Carter bring Genevieve to Reynard, he reveals that he has been working with the Triads all along. Kenji calls and informs Lee that he has captured Soo Yung and that he would like to exchange Soo Yung for Genevieve.

Lee arrives at the exchange point, the Eiffel Tower, with Carter, disguised as Genevieve. Kenji then challenges Lee to a sword duel and as the two are fighting, Carter breaks his cover and joins in on the fight. During the fight, Lee and Kenji fall off the tower and get caught in a safety net. Unfortunately, Kenji's sword cuts the safety net open and it collapses, leaving both men hanging on for dear life. Lee then grabs Kenji's arm, intending to save his life. Kenji tells Lee that if he holds on, both of them will die, but Lee is confident that he can still save him. Kenji then willingly lets go of Lee and falls to his death, saving Lee's life. Meanwhile, Carter single handedly defeats the rest of the Triad henchmen and saves Soo Yung. At the last minute, the triad assassin tries to kill him, but she gets knocked halfway into a moving gear and dies. As they send Soo Yung down the elevator, more Triads arrive. In order to escape, Lee and Carter use a French flag as a makeshift parachute and float to safety. Unfortunately, they are confronted by Reynard, who is holding Genevieve hostage. Fortunately, George arrives and shoots Reynard before he can harm anybody else. George then thanks Lee and Carter for teaching him how to be American. The police then arrive, with the commissioner from earlier claiming to be have been helping (in reality trying to get undeserved credit). After giving the commissioner a team punch to the face, and with the case closed, Lee and Carter leave the scene dancing to War like they did in the first film.

Scene Preview:




















Full Movie Links:

Part 1: http://tv-links.co.uk/video/4/6521/11719/71330/99511
Part 2: http://tv-links.co.uk/video/4/6521/11719/71330/99513
Part 3: http://tv-links.co.uk/video/4/6521/11719/71330/99514
Part 4: http://tv-links.co.uk/video/4/6521/11719/71330/99516

StarDust (2007)

FANTASY
United Kingdom/United States, 2007
U.S. Release Date: 8/10/07 (wide)
Running Length: 2:02
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, sexual situations)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Cast: Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sienna Miller, Peter O'Toole, Mark Strong, Jason Flemyng, Rupert Evertt
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Screenplay: Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
Cinematography: Ben Davis
Music: Ilan Eshkeri
U.S. Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Stardust, based on the acclaimed illustrated novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess, takes viewers to the mystical land of Stormhold, where stars walk, ships fly, and magic is real. A fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, Stardust leavens its mature fairy tale with elements of romance, horror, and comedy. There's less whimsy to be found here than in The Princess Bride, but the film is likely to appeal to the same group of older children and adults that appreciated Rob Reiner's classic. Stardust adopts its basic storyline from Gaiman and Vess' beautifully rendered 1997 novel. Much has been changed and condensed but the essentials remain the same. Tristan (Charlie Cox) is a young Englishman who longs to win the hand of Victoria (Sienna Miller). She makes a bargain with him: If he will bring her a shooting star fallen to Earth, she will reject her other suitor in his favor. Tristan agrees and begins a journey across a mysterious wall and into the realm of Stormhold, where magic holds sway. The fallen star, Yvaine (Claire Danes), walks and talks and isn't happy about having been knocked out of the firmament. Tristan promises to find her a way home if she will accompany him to Victoria. But others are after Yvaine as well. The witch Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) wants to cut out her heart in order to gain eternal life and youth. And Septimus (Mark Strong), the heir to Stormhold's throne, needs a necklace Yvaine wears to finalize his coronation. Friends are few and far between, but a reliable one is found in the person of the cross-dressing Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro), who commands a lightning-collecting airship. (The segment on his ship seems more like Time Bandits than The Princess Bride.) Although the film may appear, at first glance, to be a family film, it contains enough content to make it a dubious choice for young children. There are sequences of mild horror, in which characters die, sometimes gruesomely. Some of the humor is also designed with an older audience in mind, such as the cross-dressing and attitude of gay Captain Shakespeare. In the end, this is very much a fairy tale in the truest sense of the term, with plenty of the darkness left in that is often expunged from such stories. As a fantasy romance, Stardust contains all the requisite elements: true love, mystical creatures, magic-wielding harridans, shape changing animals, and a quest. The comedy is uneven. Some of it, such as the bickering between the spectral brothers of Septimus or the antics of a billygoat-turned-human, is worthy of a laugh or two. Other elements, such as Captain Shakespeare's over-the-top frolicking and dancing in women's clothing, seems like it belongs in another movie (and, in fact, was not part of the book). The darker elements are nicely modulated. They're not graphic but they convey the point. The set design successfully replicates the look and feel of the book. Combined with Ian McKellan's smooth narration, Stardust transports viewers to another world. The special effects aren't on the level of The Lord of the Rings, but their application is sufficient to tell the story. Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) put a lot of effort into making Stormhold into a traditional fantasy setting. (This, incidentally, is the movie that Vaughn elected to do instead of the third X-Men tale.) The cast is impressive, and includes many luminaries from both sides of the Atlantic. The leads are played by a wonderful Claire Danes (using an effective British accent), who shines as a star, and an understated and relatively unknown Charlie Cox. High-profile Americans include Robert De Niro, who seems to be enjoying himself immensely, and Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays against character as an out-and-out villain. The U.K. contributes Rupert Everett, Sienna Miller, and Ricky Gervais in supporting roles. Then there's Peter O'Toole, whose entire part consists of lying in bed dying. Those who have seen Venus will get the joke, although I wonder whether Vaughn was in on it. The success of the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies have elevated fantasy from a niche film genre into the mainstream, but Stardust is a little of a throwback to how fantasy movies used to be before the emergence of the multi-part epic serials. It's a lighter, simpler sort of tale. Despite just cracking the two-hour barrier, the film is paced and edited in such a way that the story always seems to be moving forward and there is no sense of drag or a letdown. Stardust isn't as visionary an accomplishment as this year's bloody fantasy 300, but it nevertheless honors the illustrations that inspired its appearance. It's a kinder and gentler achievement but, in the midst of overbudgeted, over-hyped sequels, it's a fresh and welcome entertainment.

Scene Previews:

Full Movie Links:
Part 1: http://www.slyfoxtv.com/StarDPart1.html
Part 2: http://www.slyfoxtv.com/StarDPart2.html