sword and sorcery movies

All posts tagged sword and sorcery movies

Conan the Barbarian - (1982 movie)

2017-10-09
, , , , , , , , , , ,
Conan the Barbarian - (1982 movie) poster

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082198/
http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/conan-the-barbarian/

With the power of Nietzsche, a barbarian-turned-warrior seeks revenge on those who killed his people.

I love it, but I'm biased because of this movie's significant influence on my early self.

Being "from back in the day", this movie is unashamedly-specific about its audience.

More recent sword-and-sorcery movies are watered-down to broaden their audience. Think The Lord of the Rings, which is a phenomenal movie in its own right, but its stark contrast has pushed movies like this one into a "classic" sub-genre. To fans of the recent movies, this one will seem crude.

For fans of the classic style, I'm confident in strongly recommending this. I think it stands out as good, and won't need to be considered "good, but only because of its historical significance".

  1. Conan the Barbarian - (1982 movie)
  2. Conan the Destroyer - (1984 movie)



Continue Reading

Comment

Willow - (1988 movie)

2017-09-18
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Willow - (1988 movie) poster

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096446/
http://lucasfilm.com/willow

An evil sorcerer queen hunts a baby who's prophesied to kill her, but the baby is being spirited away by a pair of unlikely heroes: A scoundrel and a gnome.

Fun as hell. Mandatory viewing.

TODO - To watch with commentary and all the bonus material.



Continue Reading

Comment

The Sword and the Sorcerer - (1982 movie)

2017-08-06
, , , , , , , , ,
Charging a greenhouse.
Charging a greenhouse.

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084749/

It should be summarized as: A noble kingdom is taken by force, forcing a prince to flee and live a life that turns to adventure, to later return to contest for the throne.

However. However it's all over the place. It doesn't properly delve into any aspect, and doesn't properly string things together. It has all the elements of a good, or at least fair, movie, but it wasn't written well.



Continue Reading

Comment

Immortals - (2011 movie)

2017-02-06
, , , , , , , , ,
Immortals - (2011 movie) poster

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1253864/
http://www.immortalsmovie.com/

A warlord seeks to unleash the enemies of the gods to kill them.

While watchable, I would only recommend it to fans of the sword and sandal genre who can also stand the "quality" that Hollywood offers.



Continue Reading

Comment

The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - (2008 movie)

2016-03-19
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) poster

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0859163/
http://www.themummy.com/

Seeking ancient Egyptian treasure Chinese artifacts, archaeologists unleash a curse that threatens the world. Only this time it's about an ancient warlord's cursed terracotta army.

Decently follows in the footsteps of the previous two movies, though replacing Rachel Weisz with Maria Bello is a terrible distraction. Anyone who likes the other two movies ought to like this one reasonably well. I think this is worth watching once or twice, but certainly hasn't enough soul for collection like the first movie.



Continue Reading

Comment

The Scorpion King 4 - Quest for Power - (2015 movie)

2016-03-15
, , , , , , , , , , ,
The Scorpion King 4 - Quest for Power (2015) image

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3086386/
http://www.the-scorpion-king.com/

A man.. uh.. something about some mercenary missions and people dying and a magic thing and such.

I only saw this out of reverence to The Scorpion King - (2002 movie). Oh gods, the badness-potential of this genre is astonishing. Ignore this, and go watch Hercules - The Legendary Journeys - (1995-1999 show) instead. It is the gold standard of badness.

I think what really offends me about The Scorpion King (2,3,4) is that they cost money to watch, where a TV show would have been (more or less) free.


Comment

The Scorpion King 3 - Battle for Redemption - (2012 movie)

2016-03-15
, , , , , , , , , , ,
The Scorpion King 3 - Battle for Redemption (2012) image

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781896/

A bounty hunter hunts a bounty but there's a princess therefore save the princess instead.

Oh god, this is like an episode of Hercules - The Legendary Journeys - (1995-1999 show). Old school TV-quality, reasonably fun for low expectations.

This is riding on the coat tails of the earlier actual-movie, desperately hoping that fans will consider all of this a "series". Sigh, it is not.



Continue Reading

Comment

The Scorpion King 2 - Rise of a Warrior - (2008 movie)

2016-03-14
, , , , , , , , , ,
The Scorpion King 2 - Rise of a Warrior (2008) dvd cover

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104123/
http://www.the-scorpion-king.com/

A kid swears revenge for his father's unjust death, and has adventures and stuff along the way.

Fairly good for a TV-movie of this genre. I didn't happen to particularly enjoy it myself, but it'll appeal to people who can handle both this quality and genre together.



Continue Reading

Comment

The Scorpion King - (2002 movie)

2016-03-14
, , , , , , , , , , , ,
The Scorpion King (2002) poster

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277296/
http://www.the-scorpion-king.com/

A bounty hunter from an extinct tribe is hired to undermine the power of an evil king, but the woman he is meant to kill is hot, and complicates things.

As long as it is taken for what it is, it will be entertaining. It is an action movie through and through, and must not be taken as having much of a link to a historical past. It's not serious, and not meant to be. It's packed with action, has a reasonable story and its lead character is spectacular.

A lot of people would take this as a direct prequel or spiritual prequel to The Mummy Returns - (2001 movie), but that perspective must not be kept in mind!

Spoiler

At its face, this movie does not have anything similar except for a prequel "birth of a supervillain". Therein is the problem.

The Mummy Returns has a dislikeable (and uncannily-rendered) villain, while The Scorpion King has a likeable lead character.

To link the two movies would require a likeable character, whose victory takes an entire movie to come to fruition, to become evil for a terrible character in a terrible movie.

It takes a twisted mind to take a nice character from a later and good movie to somehow tie it to a bad character from an earlier and terrible movie. Don't have this perspective in mind. Don't try. Sever all ties between these two movies, and enjoy this movie as a separate universe.



Continue Reading

Comment

The Mummy Returns - (2001 movie)

2016-03-14
, , , , , , , , , , ,
The Mummy Returns (2001) poster

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209163/
http://www.themummy.com/

Visions of a past life lead a woman to an ancient treasure, but it is also sought by others to both raise the dead and an army.

While it would be unfair to say this movie stinks, it's not great. The computer graphics used in it are uncanny and intrusive. It has action for action's sake, and where a light bubblegum movie is what it is, this movie lays it on intentionally thick, making it aggravating. Fans of its predecessor, The Mummy - (1999 movie), will find the feelings instilled by it are not reproduced in this sequel. It is an obvious money-grab.


Comment