Fantasy Flix: September 2011

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.