Fantasy Movies

[Raven]

Due to a horrid pestilence that has plagued me of late (some kind of respiratory infection), I've been watching a lot of movies and sleeping. I'll keep posting them here.

So, there's an actor named Adam Johnson who has made/acted in a lot of B fantasy movies -- and done a good job. He was in Dragonfyre which I have mentioned previously. He is the actor from Mythica who also played in Dudes and Dragons.
I watched another one featuring him tonight, called Orcs! (2017). In a way, this is similar to Dragonfyre (orcs get into our world). In this case, it's much more of a comedy, where the orcs get accidentally released into a national park by a mining operation and are battled off by a small cast of characters led by Adam Johnson who plays a park ranger. It's a fun movie, with nods to LotR and such. It's definitely a good sick day watch.

I also watched the Knights of Badassdom (2013).
Now with names like Peter Dinklage, Summar Glau, and Steve Zahn, one could expect a really good movie here. The premise -- LARPers accidentally summon a succubus and have to vanquish it during a weekend LARP retreat.  In truth, it does not rise above the B film fantasy flic genre. In fact, the acting of such a great cast is wasted here. This definitely doesn't pass the Bechdel test and Summer Glau's character is surprisingly shallow, her presence obviously just a visual lure for fan boys (and filmed that way). I would have welcomed more from Peter Dinklage, but it is hard to imagine what in a relatively shallow film such as this. Now, this is a comedy and not intended to be deep, fair enough.  But even given that, it wasn't really that funny, not that much of an adventure, the ending wasn't that satisfying. It seems like a waste of a really good cast. Maybe I'm being too hard on the film because it has such great actors, but in general I didn't like it too much.

[Raven]

I know this isn't exactly a movie, but it may as well be. I just finished the great three part series The Color of Magic (2009) which is based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld. I haven't read the books (I might pick them up, now, after having watched this and enjoyed it) but this mini-series with acting by Tim Curry, Sean Astin, and Sir David Jason is highly recommended by myself.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Det sjunde inseglet [The Seventh Seal] (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

The film that made Ingmar Bergman an international name in film, this classic of world cinema, set in medieval, plague-ravaged Sweden, follows a weary knight and his bleak squire as they encounter a host of characters while pondering the silence of God; meanwhile, the knight challenges Death himself to a game of chess in order to stave off the inevitable until he performs one meaningful deed. A staple of arthouse and film classes, it may be rather cerebral for the casual viewer at first glance, but it's still tremendously enjoyable as well as thought-provoking, and you should see it at least once in your life.