Daily Archives: November 9, 2019

Nov 9 2019

Franchise Weekend – Mythica: A Quest for Heroes (2014)

Director: Anne K Black

Writer: Anne K Black, Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin (Screenplay)

Starring: Melanie Stone, Adam Johnson, Jake Stormoen, Nicola Posener, Christopher Robin Miller, Natalie Devine Riskas

 

Plot: The young magician Marek dreams of exciting adventures. When she meets the help-seeking priestess Teela she offers her assistance and provides a motley troupe. Together they go in search of Teela’s sister, who was kidnapped by a wild ogre.


Tagline – Heroes will rise. Legends will come to life.

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Fun Made for TV Adventure

 

Story: Mythica: A Quest for Heroes when Teela (Posener) is set away with a hidden item from a wild ogre, meanwhile in a small village, disabled young woman Marek (Stone) has been learning about spells and is forced into using one after her owner gets abusive, forcing her on the run.

With Teela desperately in need to people to help fight back to save her sister, the only person that offers to help is Marek, seeing it as a chance to go on her first quest, Teela uses her own ability to see just how much potential Marek has, accepting her help, building her own team including Thane (Johnson) and Dagen (Stormoen), all to save Teela’s sister.

 

Thoughts on Mythica: A Quest for Heroes

 

Characters – Marek is a young slave woman, left to struggle through life because of her limp too. She dreams of going on her own adventures, which has seen her learning about magic, only a beginner, she has learnt about spells, she jumps at a chance every other bounty hunter refuses, which sees her build her own team, which will give her a chance to go on her first adventure. Thane is a warrior that isn’t afraid to get involved in a big fight against the odds, Dagen is a thief that gets forced into helping on the quest, his skills will be used to sneak with him being an archer when forced into combat. Teela is the sister of a priestess, she is sent for help to rescue her sister, which sees her using her powers to help her team.

Performances – Melanie Stone is the leading lady that shows us how much she wants to go on the adventures, she doesn’t do anything wrong and makes us care about her characters adventures. Adam Johnson brings the brute performance needed, while Jake Stormeon shows us a cocky figure. Nicola Posener does well in her role too.

Story – The story here follows a new group of fantasy based characters, a witch, brute, thief and a healer that go on a rescue mission to try and save a priestess from an evil ogre. This story does feel like one of the opening levels of an RPG video game, we get to meet the different characters, all drawn together for different motivations that will work together to save the day. It is strange because if this was a cinema movie, you would feel disappointed with the story, but for television, this is everything you need to introduce our characters and show what they are capable off, with a villain that can be defeated easily in a world which will offer bigger threats.

Action/Fantasy – The action in this film is basic television style fight sequences, they are easy to watch, but you always know the heroes will win them. The fantasy world we get to enter shows us just how many different people with different skills are in this world.

Settings – The settings fill us with small farming villages, mixed with woodland walking which shows us that we are meant to be in an ancient times.

Special Effects – The effects are not the greatest, but they do work for the film, they bring us a disturbing looking creature as well as the use of magic in its own unique way.


Scene of the Movie – The creature in the woods.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The clearing monster, it is the weakest of the CGI moments.

Final Thoughts – This is an entertain opening to a franchise, we get to meet the characters, learn their abilities and see them face their first enemy.

 

Overall: Simple and effective.

Rating

 

 

Nov 9 2019

James Bond Month – The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Director: Guy Hamilton

Writer: Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz (Screenplay)

Starring: Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams, Herve Villechaize, Clifton James

 

Plot: James Bond is led to believe that he is targeted by the world’s most expensive assassin while he attempts to recover sensitive solar cell technology that is being sold to the highest bidder.


Tagline – He never misses his target, and now his target is 007.

Runtime: 2 Hours 5 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Mostly Forgettable

 

Story: The Man with the Golden Gun starts when James Bond (Moore) is assigned to locate known assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Lee) who has personally set James a bullet with his name on. His investigation takes him to a bullet making who makes the golden bullets he is known for using.

James works with Mary Goodnight (Ekland) for the connection which takes him to his hideout on a mysterious island with Andrea Anders (Adams) leading him to the answers and a showdown with the deadly assassin.

 

Thoughts on The Man with the Golden Gun

 

Characters – James Bond is the secret service agent we know from the previous film, he continues to be the womaniser and prefers to work solo as he is trying to locate an assassin that has been paid to kill him, away from this we don’t learn much more about James. Francisco Scaramanga is the assassin that is assigned to kill Bond, he will only normally kill the people he has been hired to kill playing along with the honour of the kills, he is a man of myth who sees Bond as a great challenge. Mary Goodnight is the Bond girl that has been working on assignment in Thailand, she becomes the connection that helps with the case. Andrea Anders is the mistress that gets caught up in the middle of the twos battle.

Performances – Roger Moore leads what is a very average set of performances who don’t get enough to do to make them standout, Moore tries to play this more serious and it doesn’t work. Christopher Lee is the highlight of the performances that makes us want to see more of his stories.

Story – The story brings Bond on his latest mission where he must investigate an assassin that has been assigned to kill him. Now this does make the story feel more forgettable because it is just a villain who is searching for a challenge, rather than any criminal mastermind that wants to change the world. there is a weak subplot which focuses on the use of renewable energy which could have been a lot more important. Even though Scaramanga is an interesting villain the story just lacks pace to make us truly believe the world is in danger which is what we have gotten the chance to see in the previous film.

Action/Adventure – The action in the film does have a couple of good chase sequences which include car and boat ones, only the fights fall slightly flat. The adventure side of things does take Bond to a new country though it never feels like any of the previous life and death moments he has faced.

Settings – The settings for the film bought to light one of the most beautiful location in the world, a prefect location for a hideout at the time.


Scene of the Movie – Nik Nack’s bloody lust.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The American tourist that is racist towards the Thai will on holiday. Or that sound effect for the bridge jump.

Final Thoughts – While not bad or good, this is by far the first forgettable Bond movie to date.

 

Overall: Drags along too slowly.

Rating