|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For anyone who has not yet viewed this cinematic gem --run, don't walk, to your local video store and rent it tonight! The mythology in this tale -- lovers who are forever together, yet eternally apart -- is breathtaking in its emotional resonance and pathos. Matthew Broderick gives a performance that is both comic and evocative, and Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer are luminous as the ill-fated lovers. Broderick plays a young thief who comes to the aid of tragic lovers Isabeau (Pfeiffer), who is cursed to become a hawk every day at sunrise and Navarre (Hauer) who turns into a wolf at sunset. The curse was cast by an evil sorcerer-bishop (John Wood), and as Broderick eludes the bishop's henchmen, Navarre struggles to conquer the villain, lift the curse, and be reunited with his love in human form. If you've ever dreamed of a love that could survive all odds, or just yearned for a timeless story of romance, then THIS is the movie for you!
|
|
|
|
THE LAST STARFIGHTER – 1984
|
|
|
|
This sci-fi excursion offered some of the first examples of purely computer-generated animation as a special-effects solution for a movie with a plot line rooted in computer games. The film begins with young Alex Rogan's (Lance Guest) realization that living in a rural trailer park is stifling and wants to go to college in the city. Unfortunately, his girlfriend Annie (Catherine Mary Stewart) finds the prospect of leaving her grandmother behind a difficult one. Alex's only real excitement is playing a video game called Last Starfighter. Both the computer-generated visuals and the arcade game now look quaint, but this good-hearted adventure holds up nicely, thanks to a clever premise--the title game is actually a test for prospective starship pilots, planted by embattled aliens under siege from an evil invader. When this restless teenager racks up the game breaking score, an alien named Centauri shows up(Robert Preston). Alex is told that the Starfighter game is a training simulator and that the story is real. He finds himself spirited away to the besieged planet and thrust into the midst of an intergalactic war. Apart from Castle's skill at contrasting his extraterrestrial settings with the mundane details of his hero's earthbound life, the movie gets lift-off from two thorough pros, Robert Preston as Centauri and Dan O'Herlihy as the alien copilot of the Last Starfighter. Older fans will snicker, but kids and young teens will find this rite of passage absorbing because it contains all the classic mythological archtypes.
|
|
|
|
|
CLASH OF THE TITANS – 1981
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You have a classic tale full of drama, passion, and adventure. A tale of universal archetypes that speak to everyone. A tale that has remained unfailingly popular for thousands of years. Why not spice it up with a wacky mechanical owl? Such was the thinking behind Clash of the Titans. Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier, and Harry Hamlin (one of these things is not like the others...) star in a toga-ripper about a valiant hero, capricious immortals, and lots and lots of giant stop-action monsters. Perseus (Hamlin) is the favored son of the god Zeus (Olivier), but he has unwittingly ticked off the sea goddess Thetis (Smith). Just to make things worse, Perseus falls in love with the lovely Princess Andromeda, who used to be engaged to Thetis's son. Soon Perseus is off on one quest after another, with Zeus helping, Thetis hindering, and lots of innocent bystanders getting stabbed, drowned, and squished.
|
|
|
|
Of course, the whole thing is just an excuse to show as much of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation as possible, and good thing too. It's an old technique, but it still looks pretty darn cool, and it means the cast can just relax and do a bunch of reaction shots. Don't use this one to study for that big classical mythology exam, but if you just turn your brain off and enjoy the Kraken, it's pretty good fun.
|
|
|
|
CONAN THE BARBARIAN – 1982
|
|
|
|
Conan the Barbarian, the movie that turned Arnold Schwarzenegger into a global superstar, is a prime example of a match made in heaven. It's the movie that macho maverick writer-director John Milius was born to make, and Arnold was genetically engineered for his role as the muscle-bound, angst-ridden hero created in Robert E. Howard's pulp novels. Oliver Stone contributed to Milius's screenplay, and the production design by comic artist Ron Cobb represents a perfect cinematic realization of Howard's fantasy world. To avenge the murder of his parents, Conan tracks down the evil Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) with the help of Queen Valeria (played by buff B-movie vixen Sandahl Bergman) and Subotai the Mongol (Gerry Lopez). Aptly described by critic Roger Ebert as "the perfect fantasy for the alienated pre-adolescent," this blockbuster is just as enjoyable for adults who haven't lost their youthful imagination
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Despite its box-office failure in 1981, Dragonslayer was gradually recognized as one of the finest fantasies to emerge from the post-Star Wars boom in special effects. It's still one of the best adventures of its kind, featuring one of the most fearsome fire-breathing serpents in movie history. Ominously named Vermithrax Pejorative, this ill-tempered monster terrorizes the peasantry of sixth-century England, feeding on maidens sacrificed by a duplicitous king until a sorcerer's apprentice named Galen (Peter MacNicol, long before Ally McBeal) is recruited as a reluctant hero. Aided by a tenacious beauty (Caitlin Clarke) and his resurrected mentor (Ralph Richardson), Galen confronts the soaring beast in a breathtaking climax. Employing a then-innovative technique called Go-Motion to animate the dragon, the special effects are still dazzling, and stunning locations in Scotland and Wales allow director Matthew Robbins (cowriter of Steven Spielberg's feature debut, The Sugarland Express) to maintain a vivid atmosphere for the wealth of movie magic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Even more than most of David Lynch's deliberately bizarre and idiosyncratic movies, Dune is a "love-it-or-hate-it" affair. An ambitious, epic, utterly mind-boggling--and, let's admit it, all-out weird--adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel, Dune remains one of the most controversial films in the director's exceedingly provocative career. The story (if Dune can be said to have just one story) is complex and convoluted in the epic tradition; it has something to do with political intrigue and a planet that is home to a precious spice and gigantic sand worms. Think Shakespeare's Henry IV with a dash of Tremors, and set in another galaxy. But despite plenty of strangely whispered voice-overs that explain the characters' thoughts (and endlessly detailed exposition), storytelling is not really among the film's strong points. There are, however, a lot of memorably fantastic/grotesque images, an extraordinary cast, and a soundtrack featuring Toto. I told you it was weird. Among the stars are Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Dean Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Sting, Kenneth McMillan, Patrick Stewart, Sean Young, and Linda Hunt
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This lush retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is a dark and engrossing tale. Director John Boorman (Deliverance) masterfully handles the tale of the mythical sword Excalibur, and its passing from the wizard Merlin to the future king of England. Arthur pulls the famed sword from a stone and is destined to be crowned king. As the king embarks on a passionate love affair with Guenevere, an illegitimate son, and Merlin's designs on power, threaten Arthur's reign. The film is visually stunning and unflinching in its scenes of combat and black magic. Featuring an impressive supporting cast, including early work from the likes of Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne, Excalibur is an adaptation of the legend both faithful and bold.
|
|
|
THE SWORD OF THE VALIANT - 1984
The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
|
|
|
|
|
Gawain was a squire in King Arthur's court when the Green Knight (Sean Connery) bursts in and offers to play a game with any knight who might be brave enough to accept his wager. When the Green Knight put the kings honor on the line, no knight stands to defend their king except for the valiant squire Gawain. The king must knight the squire on the spot and Gawain plays the game, but learns that it's all a trick, and he has lost. The Green Knight decides to show mercy, letting Gawain grow a year older before having to face the consequences of losing the wager. The cost he will have to bear is Gawains own head. For the next year Gawain journeys across the land, learning about life, saving damsels, and finally solving the Green Knight's riddle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass
|
|
This animated film has a story line that truly deserves the A-list treatment. The Last Unicorn is memorable for its attempts to stay faithful to its origins, the Peter Beagle novel of the same name. The animation is vintage Rankin/Bass, and that's too bad; but there's an undeniable strength in this tale and telling. A Unicorn (Monoceros)--she (Mia Farrow)--believes herself the last--searches for any others of her kind, while avoiding the malevolent Red Bull (Taurus), the agent believed to have destroyed the rest of the herd. Along the way, she is mistaken, ignored, attacked, and obsessed about, finally finding help from a magician named Schmendrick (Alan Arkin) and a knight (Orion) named Prince Lir (Jeff Bridges). A haunting film that pays homage to celestial mythology and the people who love it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This strange, 1985 experiment by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator) starred the up-and-coming Tom Cruise in a fairy-tale world of dwarfs, unicorns and demons. After the horn of a unicorn (monoceros)is severed and stolen by underworld minions, darkness and winter descends upon the world. Cruise's character (orion), helped along by a magic sprite (canis major) played by David Bennent (The Tin Drum), descends into the underworld (below the horizon) to save paradise. This movie is almost a classic case of art direction gone amok. The somewhat amorphous Cruise doesn't lend much dramatic focus or artistic definition, but the drama between Tim Curry's satanic majesty (taurus) and Mia Sara's character (dove), who becomes a sort of princess of the netherworld, is pretty captivating. A mixed experience all around that makes one wish it had been more successful in the box office.
|
|
|
|
STARWARS V: The Empire Strikes Back- 1980
|
|
|
Irvin Kershner/George Lucas
|
|
The second film in George Lucas's enormously popular and original Star Wars science fiction trilogy is a darker, more somber entry, considered by many fans as the best in the series. Gone is the jaunty swashbuckling of the first film; the rebellion led by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) suffers before the superior forces of the Empire, young hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) faces his first defeats as he attempts to harness the Force under the tutelage of Jedi master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz), and cocky Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is betrayed by former ally Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). In the tradition of the great serials, this film is left with a hefty cliffhanger. The leap in special effects technology in the three years since Star Wars results in an amazing array of effects, including a breathtaking chase through an asteroid field and a dazzling, utopian Cloud City, where Luke faces the black-clad villain Darth Vader (David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones) in a futuristic sword fight and learns the secret of his Jedi father. Veteran director Irvin Kershner (The Eyes of Laura Mars, Never Say Never Again) took the directorial reins from creator and producer Lucas and invested the light-speed adventure with deeper characters and a more emphatic sense of danger. The special edition expands Luke's encounter with the Abominable Snowman-esque wampa and establishes the creature as a tangibly more terrifying beast, in addition to refining many of the existing effects. The trilogy is concluded in Return of the Jedi.
|
|
|
|
|
STARWARS VI: Return of the Jedi - 1983
|
|
|
Richard Marquand/George Lucas
|
|
|
|
|
The high-energy, special-effects-laden conclusion to George Lucas's ambitious Star Wars trilogy delivers the final confrontation between Luke Skywalker (a more confident and mature Mark Hamill) and his nemesis-father, Darth Vader (David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones), as the rebel alliance makes its last stand against the evil Empire. The film opens with an impressive set piece in the stronghold of the monstrous Jabba the Hut, who holds both Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) for his decadent pleasure until Skywalker comes to the rescue. The final battle pits an enormous armada of rebel ships against the rebuilt Death Star, the planet-killing weapon of the first film, while guerrilla forces battle Empire soldiers on the planet below with the help of a cuddly army of pint-sized, teddy-bear-like creatures known as Ewoks (Lucas's one concession to merchandising) and Skywalker confronts Vader and the emperor on the Deathstar. Director Richard Marquand invests the tale with plenty of humor and a vigorous sense of adventure without losing the seriousness of Skywalker's mission. The special edition adds, among other effects, more creatures and a bouncy song-and-dance number to the Jabba the Hut scenes, and an extended celebration that literally encompasses the galaxy at the film's jubilant conclusion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This epic Lucasfilm fantasy serves up enough magical adventure to satisfy fans of the genre, though it treads familiar territory. With abundant parallels to Star Wars, the story (by George Lucas) follows the exploits of the little farmer Willow (Warwick Davis), an aspiring sorcerer appointed to deliver an infant princess from the evil queen (Jean Marsh) to whom the child is a crucial threat. Val Kilmer plays the warrior who joins Willow's campaign with the evil queen's daughter (Joanne Whalley, who later married Kilmer). Impressive production values, stunning locations (in England, Wales, and New Zealand) and dazzling special effects energize the routine fantasy plot, which alternates between rousing action and cute sentiment while failing to engage the viewer's emotions. A parental warning is appropriate: director Ron Howard has a light touch aimed at younger viewers, but doesn't shy away from grisly swordplay and at least one monster (a wicked two-headed dragon) that could induce nightmares.
|
|
|
|
|
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA – 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Big Trouble in Little China is one full-tilt comic book adventure on film. Kurt Russell plays a would-be John Wayne truck driver hero having dinner with friends in Chinatown. The reluctant champion ends up right in the middle of a supernatural war with kung fu warriors and otherworldly spirits who battle over the fate of two green eyed women (Kim Cattrall and Suzee Pai). Russell's swaggering bumbling character manages to battle the evil Lo Pan and his minions while knocking himself out or underestimating the forces he's dealing with. But everything happens for a reason and the path our hero takes is no exception as he sves the day and claims his prize…love.
|
|
|
   
|
   
|
Home
| Site Map
© Copyright 2007 HUNTER IN THE SKY. All Rights Reserved.
|
