Stardust; or, why I'll never be truly happy

I saw Stardust last night and was quite pleased with it. Now, I'm a total sucker for all things swords and sorcery. And, I'm an even bigger sucker for all things Claire Danes. So, one could argue that I am a little biased toward liking this movie. And certainly that is a fair argument. But, I can't stand Michelle Pfieffer (unless, of course, its Batman Returns). And Robert DeNiro is pretty much hit-or-miss for me. And, I was pretty skeptical of the movie, 'cause, quite frankly, it looked like it was going to suck. But instead, I really liked it. But, at the same time, it made me melancholy, as I so often am.

The story was pretty simple story-book fare. Guy from the real world ventures out beyond the wall of his town "Wall" to find a magical world. While there, he impregnates someone who claims to be a trapped princess. 9 months or so later, a baby shows up at his doorstep. Say hello to our hero, Tristan. Tristan starts the movie totally infatuated with this total bitch named Victoria who ignores, uses, and generally messes with him.

One night while Tristan was trying to mac Victoria (aparently trying to get her drunk enough to get with him), they see a star fall. Hero-boy promisses that he will retrieve the star for his bitch-fantasy if she will marry him.

Meanwhile, there is this nasty king (played by Peter O'Toole) off in Magicland (or whatever it was called) who had set his sons on a quest to become the next king: the son who gets this magic jewel thing is the winner. Also, the sons like to kill each other to better their chances of being king. Fun stuff. Anyway, That jewel knocks the star out of the sky that Tristan and bitch see fall.

Meanwhile, a trio of witches see the star fall as well. Michelle Pfeiffer (head witch) sets out to find the star too because it will restore her beauty and youth...

So Tristan goes to get the star and finds Claire Danes. Of course, she is the fallen star. It takes him a bit to catch on, but he does and they set out to go back to Bitch. They have mad-cap adventures, fall for each other, Tristan pulls his head out of his ass and decides he like Claire Danes, and, after some fighting and magic and stuff, they live happily ever after.

Charlie Cox, who plays Tristan, doesnt really ease into his role until about 1/2 thru... but when he does, he's pretty good. Catwoman was annoying, as usual, but bareable. DeNiro was good enough... amusing even. Rickie Gervais has a little part. But, of course, it was Claire Danes that I loved. I can't help it.... there is something about the way she can look and smile that just melts me. She even put on a fishy brittish accent that wasn't too bad... normally brittish accents by american actors are real bad. But her's was good enough. And she had some well-written snarkey dialogue. But it was just her that I loved. Just Claire Danes being Claire Danes.

But this was the problem with the movie for me. I realized how much I loved the fantasy. And how much I dreamed of meeting some gorgeous Star Claire Danes and and falling in love and defeating evil and living happily ever after. I don't really care about the king stuff.... But that'd be nice too. Oh, I forgot to mention, the ending is a bit....spaceballs-ish. Anyway.... I realized that I'm a dreamer. I an a voyeur. That's why I love movies: so I can escape my boring ass real life for 2 hours. So I can pretend to be the 'normal' boy who unlocks his inner-self and finds his belle and all that jazz. But its just not real... its not true... its not me. My life is angst and worry and boredom. Not magic and mystery.

I also realize that as much as I love Claire Danes and would give up my life for her (my mental image of her, that is), I feel slightly betrayed. My love stems directly from My So-Called Life. That show was Muy Excellente and Angela Chase was my girl--she was how I felt in girl form. Awkward. Confused. Lonely yet not alone. All that good stuff. But Claire Danes now is none of that. She is accomplished, beautiful, loved... all the stuff I can't really identify with. And yes, I realize that I am making judgements based on false perceptions stemming from fictional characters.... but these are observations on my mental process. Now, the Claire Danes/Angela Chase that I loved is no longer the girl who was perfect for Stephen. Now, she is fantasy. And I watch voyeuristicallly. I watch and dream... but I am too much of a pessimist/realist to get too carried away. I know its not realy. I know its not my life.... and so I get sad because I will never be truely happy. I'm a dreamer. I like to dream. I like it. But its hard at times....

Well.... this is the first post in a while, and I think its a good one.... I hope someone reads it. but it doesnt really matter.