Matthew Vaughn
230 connections found
View:
Connections, in both directions
It can be unfavorably compared with Rob Reiner's far more joyous and playful "The Princess Bride."
Stardust has been compared to Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride (1987)—even the studio shills pretending to be “just folks” posting barely literate “reviews” on the Internet Movie Database are pushing this idea—but I can scarcely think of a less apt comparison.
Like its nearest predecessor The Princess Bride, it borrows liberally from centuries of tall tales, tumbling out like a bedtime story made up on the spot by a grandfather � or, in this case, by Neil Gaiman, the hipster dream-weaver who crossed over from comic books to bestseller lists.
Films like Excalibur, The Dark Crystal, The Princess Bride and especially Labyrinth rank as four of my all-time favorites, and any fantasy spectacular echoing them even slightly automatically raises my eyebrows to their maximum breaking point.
This folly was apparently made in homage to The Princess Bride, making it a peculiar pastiche of a pastiche.
Stardust is the most gleefully silly fantasy tale in years; a whimsical experience in the vein of The Princess Bride.
My Fair Lady (1964)
Directed by George Cukor
influenced Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Characters Plot
Director Matthew Vaughn mixes a wallop of James Bond with a bit of Austin Powers, stirs in a little “Hunger Games,” adds a flavor of “My Fair Lady,” and finishes it off with a dash of “28 Days Later.”
Cross-genre pollination has brought us My Fair Lady meets James Bond, Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer.
With nods to John Steed (the umbrella) and Harry Palmer (the glasses), this finds Taron Egerton’s “Eggsy” recruited by an elite super-spy unit of gentlemanly spooks who attempt to transform him from effing estate kid to Old Etonian killer in My Fair Lady fashion.
Adapted by Vaughn and Jane Goldman from the Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons comic as a kind of self-aware riff on Pygmalion or, really, My Fair Lady, the writers keep things moving.
It's the story of a streetwise London youth named Eggsy (Taron Egerton) who is rescued from his life of petty crime and run-ins with the law by a posh secret agent named Harry Hart (Colin Firth) and trained to be a new generation of spy (as the film cheekily points out, it's basically "Pretty Woman" or "My Fair Lady," but with way more guns), working for a top secret, privatized spying operation.
Thus here is a bigger and sillier movie, albeit one not nearly as clean and well-structured as 2015’s My Fair Lady by way of axe-wielding superspies.
The Naked Gun (2025)
Directed by Akiva Schaffer
influenced by Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Plot
…a janky, ill-thought-out plan for world domination derived from watching Matthew Vaughan’s Kingsman: The Secret Service on repeat for a month straight…
Having argued that it is closer to a genre parody it'd be remiss to ignore how closely parts of its structure are to Kingsman: The Secret Service which was itself a genre-aware film with parodic elements.
Anyone who’s seen Kingsman: The Secret Service will recognise elements of the villain’s nefarious plan right away – the parallels are numerous to the point of concern.
…hasn’t Samuel L. Jackson already tried this in ‘Kingsman’?
You might have already recognized the villain’s plot from Kingsman: The Secret Service.
…instead spoofing contemporary action tropes and films like Kingsman and Mission: Impossible with clever, unexpected twists…
The film I was most reminded of, I think, was Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits , all starts and stops without any particular elegance.
But then again, Gilliam's "Time Bandits," which Stardust pays homage to, was also exhaustingly imaginative.
Think of "The Princess Bride" on an even bigger scale or "Shrek" in live action or Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits" or "The Brothers Grimm" with similar laughs.
Ambitious and entertaining, this twisted fairy tale is like The Princess Bride meets Time Bandits with its quirky humour and unashamedly romantic plot.
"Have you seen Trading Places, Nikita, Pretty Woman?" Colin Firth's Harry Hart (code name: Galahad) asks our hero Eggsy (Taron Egerton), a council estate kid with a chip on his shoulder.
Comparisons to Liza Doolittle and “Trading Places” are referenced early enough in the movie to let us know that Vaughn isn’t afraid of exposing how self-aware the movie will be.
Just as Galahad knocks out the teeth of his enemies, the script makes on-the-nose reference to James Bond and, of all things, 1980s Eddie Murphy comedy "Trading Places."
In one of the film’s scattered semi-funny riffs, Harry asks Eggsy whether he knows Trading Places , La Femme Nikita , or Pretty Woman.
In a particularly amusing scene, Harry tries to prepare Eggsy for the transformation he’s about to embark on, citing more modern rags-to-riches grooming films like Trading Places and La Femme Nikita, none of which the young man has seen.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
influenced Kick-Ass (2010), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Visuals Characters Themes Music
If this is the case, then director/co-writer Matthew Vaughn is REALLY flattering Quentin Tarantino and his gore-fest called “Kill Bill.” “Kick-Ass” is not for the fainthearted with its copious violent fights, graphic mayhem and lots of blood.
On pense à cette scène de fusillade délirante tournée à la première personne, aux lignes de dialogues sorties tout droit de Scarface, à cet adieu calqué sur la finale de Return of the Jedi et, bien évidemment, à cet hommage on ne peut plus senti à Kill Bill lors d’une finale époustouflante au cours de laquelle le réalisateur se sera même permis d’imiter Tarantino en allant piger dans le registre du compositeur Ennio Morricone.
Hit Girl is like a third-grade version of Uma Thurman's limb-chopping "Kill Bill" protagonist, with slightly harsher language.
They were and I get that and if you question your willingness to suspend disbelief not unlike the way you did at the violence in “Kill Bill” or “Battle Royale,” then this movie is for and it delivers for that demographic on every single level.
The best that the film's fêted violence sequences can achieve is to rip-off the work of Quentin Tarantino (Vaughn goes so far as to use an Ennio Morricone cue from For a Few Dollars More ), though with neither the cartoon elegance of Kill Bill nor the apocalyptic energy of Inglourious Basterds .
On the other hand, he’s probably flattered – the double-blade wielding Hit Girl, in her purple Clara Bow wig and pleated skirt, is like a “Mini-Me” version of Uma Thurman in “ Kill Bill .”
From Russia with Love (1963)
Directed by Terence Young
influenced Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
There are the Bond homages, of course (not least being a dagger-adorned shoe not unlike the one sported by Lotte Lenya in From Russia with Love), but other espionage sagas also factor into play, from a throwaway gag line invoking TV's Get Smart to the casting of Caine — Cold War spy Harry Palmer in three 1960s thrillers — in a key role.
It is never clear what he’s up to or why—something about destroying the world with signet rings that deliver 10,000 volts of electricity, mobile phone cards that drive adversaries into violent rages, and shoes with knives in the toes like Lotte Lenya in From Russia With Love.
And so they go and get Valentine, with old-Bond gadgetry, like Rosa Klebb’s poisoned toe-tip blade in “From Russia with Love,” as well as a variation on the “Men in Black” amnesia “flashy thing.”
Hes cribbing from William Goldman (The Princess Bride) and some lesser sword and sorcery efforts (Stardust frequently feels like Krull combined with the worst elements of George Lucas labored Willow) to brace his otherwise stiff English lip.
In a way it’s a throwback to what fantasy movies were before Peter Jackson, reminiscent of now rather dated work like Willow, Legend, or The Dark Crystal.
Although witches and unicorns living in a magical realm may conjure up images of Willow or Labyrinth, Stardust actually owes an equal debt to The Princess Bride.
Batman (1989)
Directed by Tim Burton
influenced Kick-Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011)
Dialogue Characters
In that pursuit, it's astonishingly satisfying that Vaughn namedrops every single reference, with a Hellboy poster decorating our heroes' favourite hangout, a proper paid to Tim Burton's Batman, and Tangerine Dream's haunted score from Risky Business used during an outré sex scene--a bravura show of knowing precisely what jerks the prurience in the pleasure principle for people hitting the sweet spot of thirtysomething.
In "Kick-Ass," an action-comedy about real-world superheroes with no powers, but plenty of attitude, Nicolas Cage uses the same halting, pompous intonations Adam West did to intimidate bad guys in the 1960s " Batman " TV show.
This time out, the actor has swiped Adam West’s diction from the old “Batman’’ TV series as Big Daddy grudgingly accepts Kick-Ass into his and Hit-Girl’s gruesome revenge plot.
Cage can be the kiss of death to many a movie, but here, he's a blast to watch on screen especially in his Big Daddy guise where his idea of an intimidating superhero voice is channeling Adam West's "Batman" from the lighthearted, but goofy 1966 TV series.
Later, she describes a Batman -style signal that the mayor flashes in the sky to summon superheroic aid: "It's in the shape of a giant cock."
Apart from its gasp-inducing hilarity, it marks a welcome return to form for Nicolas Cage, who portrays the hulking vigilante Big Daddy in the halting, campy cadences of Adam West in the old "Batman" TV series.
No one except Quentin Tarantino, the director Vaughn most obviously apes, is better at matching action-film set piece to music, even if Rossini’s “The Thieving Magpie” still works better in Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” (1971).
Il s’agit également d’un domaine où Kick-Ass prouve une fois de plus toute sa perspicacité, utilisant toujours ses citations avec une intention bien définie, tel ce recours à une pièce de Rossini utilisée jadis par un certain Kubrick dans A Clockwork Orange qui viendra appuyer ici un tout autre contexte d’ultra-violence.
Strip it of its rude behavior and more graphic violence and it's basically just a lower-budgeted retelling of " Spider-Man ."
He's basically Peter Parker with a hard-on, an impression that's reinforced by the way Vaughn is practically doing a pastiche of Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" during the first act of "Kick-Ass", from the voice-over narration to the colorful cinematography and, for better or worse, the rather slow pacing and the abundant amounts of exposition.
Gleefully dissecting the hero worship that turns men in tights into cultural icons in the first place while also becoming a great action movie in its own right, “Kick-Ass” starts as an awkward teen comedy not unlike “Superbad” meets “Spider-Man” but becomes an action-adventure classic that simply demolishes so many of the recent Marvel Universe movies that dare call themselves heroic.
The movie, about a dorky teen (Aaron Johnson) who suits up in a costume and calls himself Kick-Ass, has its origins in where else? a comic book, written by Mark Millar and drawn by John Romita Jr. (whose father drew Spider-Man back in the 60s).
Now entering its second decade after four movies and three directors, the X-Men series gets a much-needed jolt of energy and vitality from the fifth entry, X-Men: First Class, which, as the title suggests, is a prequel/series reboot in the vein of J.J. Abram’s Star Trek (2009).
With “X-Men: First Class” we get something more akin to J.J. Abrams’s 2009 reinvention of the decades-running “Star Trek” franchise.
Previous comic reboots have benefited from exceptional performances by supporting cast members — Jack Nicholson in 1989's Batman, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Zachary Quinto in Star Trek.
This isn't a serious franchise reboot on the level of J.J. Abrams' " Star Trek " - it's more of a playful tweaking.
Just as J.J. Abrams succeeded in resuscitating the moribund Star Trek franchise with his 2009 reboot, the new X-Men adventure looks highly likely to give the mutant superheroes a whole new lease of life.
The Wolverine (2013)
Directed by James Mangold
influenced by X-Men: First Class (2011)
Themes Characters
And while it’s a vast improvement on that creative misfire, there’s nothing in “The Wolverine” that matches the spark of Jackman’s three-word, profanity-laced cameo in 2011’s “X-Men: First Class.”
However, extended romantic interludes with clan princess Tao Okamoto and the need to include standard blockbuster action scenes hinder Mangold's valiant attempt to deliver a film to match the game-changing quality of X-Men: First Class and Avengers Assemble.
The last two films featuring Marvel Comics' mutant heroes, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "X-Men: First Class," were both set in the past, pushing the chronology of all the X-films close to "Planet of the Apes"-level convolution.
Hugh Jackman's sixth outing as Marvel's clawed antihero is a fair improvement on its direct predecessor X-Men Origins: Wolverine , but don't take that as any kind of emphatic endorsement of James Mangold's movie - this doesn't get anywhere near the series highs of Bryan Singer's X2 or Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class (in which Jackman brought down the house with his single-scene cameo).
Those movies, and to some extent 2011’s reboot X-Men: First Class, grew outward from the question of what it means to be different, or, more to the point, a mutant.
[The outlier is 2011’s X-Men: First Class in which the early lives of Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) are explored.]
Get Smart (2008)
Directed by Peter Segal
influenced Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Plot Themes
Hidden behind a suit-shop storefront on Savile Row, Kingsman HQ are accessed through a series of “Get Smart”-style secret doors and tunnels, while the group itself is presided over by an old blue blood played by Michael Caine.
Yet if we were to say what “Kingsman” most resembles, it would be the old TV show “Get Smart,” which was conceived as a Bond satire in the mid-1960s.
There are the Bond homages, of course (not least being a dagger-adorned shoe not unlike the one sported by Lotte Lenya in From Russia with Love), but other espionage sagas also factor into play, from a throwaway gag line invoking TV's Get Smart to the casting of Caine — Cold War spy Harry Palmer in three 1960s thrillers — in a key role.
A subpar spoof on '60s spy films clothed in dazzling, if not migraine-inducing, visuals, Kingsman is a cross between a James Bond film and a Marvel superhero comic, with a nod to Dr. No, Our Man Flint, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Get Smart.
There are also unsubtle references to The Avengers (the '60s TV series not the Marvel movie) and even (would you believe?) Get Smart.
From the start, the franchise was a funny send-up of new and old, proper and not: Savile Row propiety cut with street-bred wit and gratuitous parkour, 007 suavity buttressed by affectionate self-ridicule à la Get Smart.
Ichi the Killer (2001)
Directed by Takashi Miike
influenced Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Visuals
The opening sequence (which actually quotes a Miike film, "Ichi, the Killer") is a doozy.
Sofia Boutella walks on weaponized prosthetics capable of slicing a man in twain, à la Ichi the Killer.
That slaying comes courtesy of billionaire business mogul Valentine (played by Samuel L Jackson) and his henchwoman, Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), who does things with her bionic legs that wouldn’t look out of place in Ichi the Killer .
GoodFellas (1990)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
influenced Layer Cake (2004), Kick-Ass (2010)
Visuals Plot Themes Dialogue
The film's admiration doesn't just extend to comics, as Vaughn pays homage to Martin Scorsese (the mobsters are Goodfellas refugees and Dave's heated mirror chats with himself are like Travis Bickle's).
Like the Guy Ritchie films, and a number of other Brit gangster pictures of recent vintage, "Layer Cake" owes an obvious debt to Martin Scorsese's 1990 "Goodfellas."
Like Scorsese's " Casino " and " GoodFellas ," the British crime movie "Layer Cake" opens with a narration describing a criminal world made in heaven.
The result is one of the freshest takes on the crime world since Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas.
As he talks to us in voice-over, confiding the tricks of the trade (and his secret plan to leave it all behind) with a seductive aplomb that recalls Ray Liotta's at the kickoff of GoodFellas, we think: This guy knows it all ? the odds and the angles.
Moments like these are exactly what fans of these films come to see, as it reminds of the all-time greatest cinema sword fights, namely in The Mark of Zorro between Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone, where the way the camera moves is perfectly asymmetrical to the zig zagging movement of the actors doing battle.
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
influenced The King's Man (2021)
Characters
Ifans’ performance, which channels that of Tom Baker from 1971’s Nicholas and Alexandra (with a little swordplay stirred into the mix), brings a manic energy to the first third of The King’s Man.
When Lerner and Loewe wrote and composed the song "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" for the 1958 musical "Gigi," it's a safe bet they weren't referring to someone like the pint-sized, foul-mouthed, guns-blazing 11-year-old Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) in "Kick-Ass."
Hanna (2011)
Directed by Joe Wright
influenced by Kick-Ass (2010), Layer Cake (2004)
Characters Themes Plot
Unlike Hit Girl, the underage heroine of the egregious " Kick-Ass " with whom Hanna will inevitably be compared, Ronan's 16-year-old is no foul-mouthed brat.
Superfically, and "superficially" is a really great adverb to keep in your pocket when you're talking about Hanna, the film looks like it could be the latest in the disquieting subgenre of teen girls killing people in sometimes very brutal ways, typified by the indifferently nihilistic Kick-Ass .
Of course the movie reÂminded me of " Kick-Ass " (2010), the action fantasy about a deadly young girl.
As with the recent "Kick-Ass," the kick we're supposed to be getting in "Hanna" comes from an innocent but deadly under-ager opening up can after can of whup-ass.
Indeed, the script’s militant daddy-daughter relationship is sure to generate comparisons to the similar dynamic in last year’s “Kick-Ass,” and online chatter has already hailed Hanna as a slightly older incarnation of Hit-Girl.
Her Hanna isn’t quite as entertaining as “Kick-Ass” dynamo, Hit-Girl, but Ronan makes the underlying emotions far more real and impactful.