122 - The Princess Bride - 3 stars
William Goldman created one of the best loved fairy tales of the Eighties by using the classic structure and giving it a post modern twist in the telling of it (a grandad, played by Peter 'Columbo' Falk reads it to his grandson) and the dialogue that has some serious snap, crackle and pop. Also some of it seems rather adult for what is essentially a kids film, e.g. "there is a shortage of perfect breasts in this world, it would be a shame to ruin yours".
Perhaps it is because I never saw this as a kid (what? I can hear you all crying out in disgust. I must have been too busy watching Star Wars for the 1000th time), but I wasn't as blown away as I thought I was going to be.
Although there it is still an enjoyable film that gave pop culture lines like "Inconceivable" and "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" and my favourite scene in the film, the battle of wits which has a fantastic punchline.
It also breezes along at a nice 90 minutes with tight pacing except when it is being interrupted by Fred Savage complaining to Columbo about the kissing or the fate of certain characters.
This makes light of one of my pet peeves for you know what really grinds my gears? Besides people who don't watch subtitled films? People who ask questions during a movie?
Is there anything more annoying than having a film interrupted by "who is that guy?" or "why are they doing that?", when you know that if they just sit back and enjoy the film the question will be answered in time.
I'm happy to answer questions after it's finished if there is confusion or just a good discussion to be had but leave it till the end credits!
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