Fantasy Flix

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Barbarian Queen (1985)

Director: Héctor Olivera
Writer: Howard R. Cohen (screenplay)

Set during the days of the Roman Empire. A simple village is raided by Roman troops, and most of the people are whisked off to be slaves or killed. Three women survive and set off to liberate their people. When they arrive at the Roman city, they team up with the local underground to seek vengeance and liberation of the slaves. Written by Ed Sutton

Let's be honest. This movie is about two things, tits. Therefore, knock this one up as one of my favorites as a kid. Barbarian Queen came out along with other favorites like Deathstalker, Warrior Queen, The Warrior and the Sorceress, and The Sword and the Sorcerer, all staples of my youth. What more could a 13 year old D&D nerd ask for?

Let's see what we have here. Sword battles? Check. Blood? Check. Nudity? Check. Hot nude babes fighting with swords and spraying blood around? Check check check. Ok, I'm game.

All kidding aside, of course this is not a good movie in the normal definition. The sword fights are silly. The blood looks completely fake. The story is simple. The acting is pretty terrible, the costumes aren't even very good.

But, I still enjoy these movies to death. It's more than just the hot 80's babes and the nudity. I'm sure it's a nostalgic factor too. I rewatched this and enjoyed it as much as I did in the past.

Close your mind and enjoy this for what it is. A sexy, cheesy, silly little romp. Now, I'll inundate you with all the goodness this flick has to offer.

Verdict: Recommended for you and your little friend.

The Cast

Lana Clarkson ... Amethea

Katt Shea ... Estrild

Susana Traverso ... Tiniara

Armando Capo ... Arrakur

Andrea Scriven ... Dariac

Dawn Dunlap ... Taramis

Frank Zagarino ... Argan

Marcos Woinsky ... Strymon

Roberto Catarineu ... Shibdiz

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (TV Series 1995–1999)

Creator: Christian Williams

Hercules, aided by his best friend Iolaus, goes on many adventures helping people and slaying mythical monsters using his half-god strength.

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was a sindicated TV series of the 90's that spawned a multitude of fantasy related series. None of which (save Xena) enjoyed the success of it's father. Among these series was it's spinoff Xena: Warrior Princess, Beastmaster, Conan, Sinbad, and many others. While I enjoyed those series for what they were, nothing can compare to the original. I even prefer Hercules over Xena in many regards, though I believe I am a minority.

The series was very well done (for the 90's), decent special effects for the day, great action, and fun pacing. Rewatching the series, I kept waiting for it to "catch it's legs". The original movies, and the first season or two was not what I remembered. But, once regulars like Ares and Aphrodite started to appear, I started to enjoy the series like I did in the day.

I decided not to take a number of screenshots as I'm sure most of you know the series and what it looks like. The sets are nicely done and the women get more and more scantily clad as the series progresses.

I'f you've never seen Hercules, check it out as I consider it a "modern" classic. (can 20ish years ago be modern? God I feel old.)

Verdict: Recommended

The Cast

Kevin Sorbo ... Hercules

Michael Hurst ... Iolaus

Robert Trebor ... Salmoneus

Kevin Smith ... Ares

Jeffrey Thomas ... Jason

Paul Norell ... Falafel

Bruce Campbell ... Autolycus

Alexandra Tydings ... Aphrodite

Tamara Gorski ... Morrigan

Gina Torres ... Nebula

Joel Tobeck ... Strife

Lucy Lawless ... Xena

Meighan Desmond ... Discord

Lisa Chappell ... Dirce

Sam Jenkins ... Serena

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Arn: The Knight Templar (2007)

Director: Peter Flinth
Writers: Jan Guillou (novels), Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay)

Arn, the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land as a knight templar to do penance for a forbidden love.

I've had this movie for quite a while and hadn't watched it. Arn is a swedish movie, and I'm a lazy movie watcher. I generally don't like to read my movies. I know, I know shame on me. So, I packed this one away for future viewing when I felt up to it. Boy, do I wish I hadn't done that. The majority of this movie is in english. Some is in swedish, some in arabic, but mostly in english so there wasn't that much reading to do. The different languages adds to the realism of the film and this movie is so fucking good you don't even notice them because you're so into the film. So there you have it. I fucking loved this movie and wish I had watched it earlier.

Arn is a very Braveheart like film. While not historically accurate, it gives the Braveheart vibe. The film is very well made and very well acted. Arn looks great, flows good and the action pieces are very well done.

The acting is top notch. Joakim Nätterqvist has great presence and does a wonderful job as the main hero. I have no complaints of any of the actors in this film.

The action scenes are wonderfully done and spaced well through the film. There are a few slow parts, but are instrumental to the story overall. There is a good amount of bloody action here. There is one really dark peek of a nipple, but thats it. I wouldn't call this film family friendly because of the amount of violence in it, but it's not bad. I wouldn't have a problem showing this to my 13 year old son.

It seems odd that I always have more to say about a movie that is bad than I do with an excellent movie like this, but there isn't much to say. This is an excellent film and highly recommended.