Fantasy Flix

Thursday, September 29, 2011

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007)

A man named Farmer sets out to rescue his kidnapped wife and avenge the death of his son -- two acts committed by the Krugs, a race of animal-warriors who are controlled by the evil Gallian.

Director: Uwe Boll

Writers: Doug Taylor (screenplay), Jason Rappaport (story)

After doing BloodRayne, I decided to bestow upon you another great Uwe Boll film. Seriously though, this film is not that bad. I actually own this film on Blu-ray, and have no way of screenshotting blu-rays, so I decided to pilfer some screenshots from various sources. If you are one I pilfered from and would like a credit here, please let me know and I'll give you one. Though I can't really imagine why someone would care.

So anyway, In the Name of the King is not a bad movie. Not in the definition I use on this blog. I quite enjoyed it (though it doesn't take much as most of you know). Jason Statham is one of my favorite actors working today. No this is not even close to one of his best films, but he kept me quite entertained. Boll is not a great directer by any stretch, but he usually keeps me entertained as well. Some of you may think that makes me a moron, but if you've read my other reviews, you know I'm just here to be entertained blah blah blah, I'm not going through that again.

Once again, there are loads of "faces" in here, good actors you will all recognize working for a paycheck. The acting is not bad. Alot of them phoned it in, but what do you expect. Just relax and enjoy. Laugh a little, make fun, whatever you want.

This film follows a typical fantasy setting through a typical fantasy story. I'm not going to take the time to go through it with you, I'm sure you can figure out what happens just by reading the synopsis and looking at the pictures. The story is not the point here, just enjoy a typical fantasy D&D type story.

The action is pretty good and ejoyable, there's some nice eye candy here, though no skin that I could tell. There isn't much in the way of blood or gore, and I'd say this is pretty family friendly. If you enjoy the cast, enjoy this sort of film, then I'd say watch it.

Verdict: Recommended for fun.

The Cast

Jason Statham ... Farmer

Ron Perlman ... Norick

Leelee Sobieski ... Muriella

Matthew Lillard ... Duke Fallow

Kristanna Loken ... Elora

Brian White ... Commander Tarish

Ray Liotta ... Gallian

John Rhys-Davies ... Merick

Mike Dopud ... General Backler

Aaron Pearl ... General Aziel

Will Sanderson ... Bastian

Burt Reynolds ... King Konreid

Colin Ford ... Zeph

Claire Forlani ... Solana

Eva Padberg ... Handmaiden

Darren Shahlavi ... Gatekeeper

Michael Eklund ... Scout

Terence Kelly ... Trumaine

Carrie Fleming ... Crying Woman

Friday, September 23, 2011

BloodRayne (2005)

Director: Uwe Boll

Writer:

Guinevere Turner

In the Eighteenth Century, Rayne is the half-human half-vampire Dhampir and the lead attraction in a carnival's freak-show in Romania. When she escapes, she meets a fortuneteller that tells that her mother was raped by the king of the vampires Kagan and she decides to destroy her father. In her journey for revenge, she meets Vladimir and Sebastian, the leaders of the fortress of vampire hunters Brimstone, and she joins their society. She seeks for powerful talismans to defeat Kagan, while the skilled warriors Vladimir and Sebastian train her to face the forces of Kagan and her human side falls in love with Sebastian. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I had a small hesitation about adding this film to my list. I just wasn't sure if it fit my categories of films I would cover. It may be a little late in time period setting for this blog, but considering the film has no guns and seems pretty medeival in nature I decided to include it.

This film gets alot of bad reviews. I have to wonder if the bad reviews come simply from the fact that it's directed by the infamous Uwe Boll. I have to admit that old Uwe has made some pretty shitty movies in his career, but to be honest I enjoy most of them for what they are. This probably says alot about the movies I like. I watch movies to be entertained, and to be entertained only. I'm not looking for some art masterpiece. These films usually bore the hell out of me.

Now As usual, I'm not going to tell you that this movie is good; because, frankly, it's not. However, I will tell you that I quite enjoy this movie for what it is. These statements seem to be a recuring theme in my short little reviews, but they are quite honest. Alot of these movies fall into this category. There is nothing wrong with the entertainment value of this film.

BloodRayne has alot of the things I enjoy in movies. Lots of action, violence, gore, blood and nudity. The story is simple but fine, and the movie does not lag and bore me to death at any time. Watch this movie for what it is and we'll leave the boring Oscar winning movies to those who enjoy those.

The acting here is good in my opinion filled with some decent and entertaining actors. I won't go through them here (you can see the cast list below), but there alot of faces here you will recognize.

Verdict: Recommended for entertainment, make some popcorn and watch it with your friends.

Cast

Kristanna Loken ... Rayne

Michael Madsen ... Vladimir

Matthew Davis ... Sebastian

Michelle Rodriguez ... Katarin

Ben Kingsley ... Kagan

Billy Zane ... Elrich

Meat Loaf ... Leonid

Will Sanderson ... Domastir

Udo Kier ... Regal Monk

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Prince Valiant (1997)

Director: Anthony Hickox

Writers:

Hal Foster (comic strip), Michael Frost Beckner

In a time now lost in the mists of memory, the great King Arthur rules in the legendary citadel that is Camelot. His Knights of the Round Table commit acts of derring-do and spend their spare time jousting, much to the delight of the local citizens and especially to Princess Ilene, a guest at Camelot. Watching her from afar is a young, inexperienced squire called Valiant, and when the young Welsh princess is sent home to marry Prince Arn, Valiant contrives to accompany her masquerading as Sir Gawain. Meanwhile, the evil sorceress Morgan le Fey, sister to King Arthur, has convinced the tyrannical Sligon, ruler of the Viking kingdom of Thule, that he should steal Arthur's sword, the powerful and magical Excalibur, knowing that its loss could bring about Arthur's downfall. So into the fray comes Sligon's unstable and psychotic brother Thagnar, who manages to steal the sword. Pandemonium reigns. But Valiant is having problems of his own - kidnappers attempt to steal away the Princess, and after various skirmishes, including one with a mysterious character who lives in a cave and purloins treasure, women and other things of value, Valiant manages to return the Princess to her homeland - although he also manages to have a duel with the Princess' jealous fiancé, Prince Arn. All things converge as Valiant is finally informed of his heritage by the stranger from the cave... Boltar of Thule. He informs the lad that he is Prince Valiant, rightful heir to the kingdom of Thule, and with his help, Valiant returns to the land of his birth to rightfully claim what is his. Written by Helen Chavez

Here we have another family-friendly fantasy movie that you can show to your kids. This is generally not my cup of tea, but I quite enjoyed it. Prince Valiant is better than most of the things you'll see on the Syfy channel anyway. Just don't expect to see any blood or skin in this fantasy film.

I'm not very familiar with the original comic strip of Prince Valiant, but from what I do know this seems pretty faithful. Those these days it'd be difficult to find someone who is. If you are, let me know how faithful this is if you've seen it. Here we have a bit of King Arthur with no Merlin except this dead guy here. This seems to take place after the usual Arthur story. We do get a bit of Excalibur as this story generally revolves around the sword.

The acting here is, of course, top notch from this fantastic cast. Unfortunately, they couldn't turn this into an actual good movie. But, It's fun and enjoyable and perfectly acceptable for the kids. I just have a hard time seeing Stephen Moyer and not hearing him say "Sookie". His voice just doesn't seem to match him here.

I've never been a Katherine Heigl fan, but she's absolutely adorable here. As far as the cast is concerned, I would have preferred there be a bit more Ron Perlman and Warwick Davis.

There are some definitely silly moments that will make you groan out load, like the scene here of Valiant walking underwater. The effects are typical for 1997 and not bad at all. The action is good, people die, just no blood.