Truth and Beauty Bombs

I recently rewatched both Highlander and Conan the Barbarian, and I now find myself itching for new fantasy movies to watch. There are a lot out there to be intrigued by, but I'm unfortunately only one man and I cannot watch them all?

So. Does anyone have an good recommendations? Particular favourites? Ones to avoid like the plague? Is the new Clash of the Titans any good? What about the new version of Conan? Will we ever actually get this damned Princess of Mars movie or what? Is that crazy version of The Tempest out yet and has anyone seen it?

I really like fantasy movies but I don't really feel like watching terrible ones at the moment.

I also think I may finally understand how Boorishly could consider Highlander the worst film he's ever seen, even though I still like it a lot. Every scene with the Kurgan in it is (to me, at least) solid gold.

I'd also be interested in ideas on what fantasy film to buy my brother for Christmas. He really likes the Elder Scrolls games and Warhammer and the like and I'm trying to think of what movie he would get the most out of. Willow? LadyHawke? Delta Knights? It's hard to decide.

I made him watch Conan with me and he seemed to enjoy it. Right now I'm thinking my best bet would be Solomon Kane.

Seems very likely now, since there are trailers. But they changed the title. First they changed it to "John Carter of Mars", because boys don't want to see a movie with the word princess in the title. Then they changed it to just "John Carter", because girls don't want to see a movie with word Mars in the tile. (Girls don't understand science). So they ended up with the dullest title possible. Well I guess if you actively tried, you could come up with a duller title. "Slowly filling out the tax return".

Anyway good fantasy movies: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Groundhog Day, Beetlejuice, The Princess Bride. Crossworlds had some good parts.

This is one of those things that has managed to pass me by purely by dint of my having grown tired of waiting for it to happen (also because I live under a rock). I knew they'd cast it, but that was about it.

Anyway it looks really freaking cool. If nothing else this is going to be one of the prettiest movies in years. And snow apes! Banths! Whatever that little dog-frog thing was that Dejah Thoris was always carting around. Dejah Thoris is really damned hot! I'd always imagine John Carter having an amusing Reconstruction-era moustache but that's neither here nor there. And Michael Chabon helped write it? What? Samantha Morton is in it! I hope she's not a Thark.

Interesting that they appear to have incorporated the plot of Gods of Mars. Or at least, there is crap in there I don't remember from the book.

Oh boy this thread was worth making just for this. I haven't been so excited since they remade King Kong.

I'm going to have to see if I still have all my old Barsoom paperbacks so I can re-read them. I have a feeling I may have given them away during a moment of weakness.

man you know re: books I almost never get a chance to recommend this guy re: how difficult it is to get his fantasy books outside of Australia
so
taking this opportunity to say you should read
Ian Irvine's View From the Mirror quartet imo
not a suggestion specific to you just
it's the only non-science fiction fantasy I've enjoyed

The new Tarsem Singh film Immortals was enjoyable.

Zardoz is worth a watch; Sean Connery and real campy, B-fantasy from the '70s. Obviously there are those puppet movies like Willow, The Dark Crystal, and The Labyrinth to consider watching, as well. Stardust was a fun movie, as well, and worth a watch.

As dumb as it sounds, the main reason I never read any Ian Irvine is that I found the covers off-putting. I don't know if I'd bother now, since I don't really have the patience for fat fantasy these days. But maybe. What is it you like about the books?

I actually hae Zardoz on DVD but for some reason I only ever put it on at two in the morning and then I wind-up going to bed after five minutes.

Willow is not a puppet movie. Warwick Davis and Joanne Whalley are not puppets. I suppose the Dragon and maybe some of the rats are puppets. And the initial stages of the pig-men. And maybe that table or whatever that comes to life and attacks Warwick Davis (who is still not a puppet, mind). It's also possible they built a possum puppet and also perhaps some little fairy puppets for when he goes to.. what's her name? The glowing chick. But that's about it.

Well I suppose Joanne Whalley's character is a puppet, at least metaphorically.

Looking at the Willow IMDB page, I'd forgotten how great all the names in Willow are.

IIRC Boorishly was talking about the sequel, Highlander 2: The Quickening, which abruptly alters alot of the first films canon to something more ludicrous, like all the immortals are actually aliens or whatever. It also has cheaper effects. Or how it largely takes place in a cyberpunk city where the bad guy is the owner of a corporation who controls a giant laser shield that always blocks the sun.


Anyway I would definitely recommend the Sinbad movies.

Spirited Away is good.

Cast a Deadly Spell is great. It's a film noir comedy about a detective named H. P. Lovecraft. It's set in Chicago in the an alternate 1940ths where almost everybody uses magic.

It avoids most of the fantasy tropes that put me off fantasy. I really like the characters. The romance made me feel all giddy inside. There aren't any characters that are evil. It takes a slight evolutionist bent in explaining things but unfortunately nowhere near Thorsby levels. But mostly just like it re: characters.

Reading about them again (I now remember you recommending this a while ago) the Ian Irvine books sound pretty interesting. I've started reading Ash by Mary Gentle (it is really fucking good) and I'm hoping it inspires me to tackle some more big, fat modern fantasies. See what happens.

The whole "Void" aspect seems pretty fascinating, based on the short explanation on Wikipedia.

as far as fat fantasy goes The Wheel of Time is v. dank

Not that everybody hasn't already seen it but I'd say that Big Trouble in Little China is the finest fantasy movie ever made.

My favourite thing about Big Trouble in Little China is probably Chinatown itself. The world in that movie is exactly the sort of place I'd like to go adventuring in.