Daily Archives: November 25, 2019

Nov 25 2019

Franchise Weekend – Mythica: The Godslayer (2016)

Director: John Lyde

Writer: Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin (Screenplay)

Starring: Melanie Stone, Adam Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Jake Stormoen, Nicola Posener, Christopher Robin Miller

 

Plot: As the Lich King’s zombie legions ravage the world, Marek, a cursed young sorceress, embarks on a quest to obtain a weapon from the gods, with her friend Dagen, a self-serving half-elf rogue. But when she joins her sworn enemy in a desperate attempt to save the world, she must recover the good in herself before her friends are all dead, and defeat the Lich King before the gods are destroyed and the world forever enslaved.


Tagline – When there’s nothing left, there’s nothing to lose.

Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Fitting Conclusion

 

Story: Mythica: The Godslayer starts with Szorlok (Mercer) reign of terror sweeping through the land, bringing the dead back to life with his undead army, Teela (Posener) and Thane (Johnson) are trying to halt the bloodshed which is becoming too much of a challenge in time. Marek (Stone) is searching for a weapon of the gods with Dagen (Stormoen) where we get to see how she is questioning her decision to give Szorlok the last Darkspore, as they now face the undead army too.

Marek must learn about her past if she is going to defeat Szorlok once and for all, this will take her down a road of uncertainty about who is rather than her powers, with only Dagen to guide her, while Szorlok is trying to turn her to the dark side.

 

Thoughts on Mythica: The Godslayer

 

Characters – Marek after making the decision to give Szorlok the last Darkspore is left questioning whether it was the right thing, being drawn to the dark side and power he possesses, Marek will put together her own plan to fight the gods who want to stop the death coming to the world, she wants to do this alone. Dagen is with Marek fighting of the hordes of the undead, he helps fill in the blanks from his past, which paints him in a very different light, he keeps Marek’s motives going straight to the best of his ability. Thane is working with Teela to help fight off the undead, showing his pure strength and commitment to the cause. Szorlok has the power now, he has been bringing the dead back to life now causing terror over the world, he wants Marek to join him to gain complete control being able to defeat gods in this world.

Performances – Melanie Stone continues to balance the emotional levels of her character in the film, she shows the uncertainty that could be her downfall or her strength. Jake Stormoen has constantly improved through the film series, with this being his best performance so far. Matthew Mercer continues to be powerful in his villainous role, while Adam Johnson gets to give his best performance to date here.

Story – The story here brings the epic saga of Marek and her friends to a conclusion as they look to stop Szorlok from taking control of the world, learning their own destiny along the way. This is the type of story that has earnt this kind of ending, we have seen a lot of the work from the previous stories, which has shown the characters grow along the way, change and become better warriors. We need to have seen the previous films to understand what has been happening though, which can be an easy weakness of this film, but it is unlikely you will be watching this one without seeing the previous one. when it comes to finishing a franchise, this does draw back the comedy that made the last one fun, but it does become the serious levels required with the new peril involved in the film.

Action/Fantasy – The action is bigger, more impressive and in new locations. The fantasy side of the film once again builds on the world we are in and just like we are used to seeing, we find ourselves in a new set of locations that fantasy can offer us.

Settings – The film uses the new settings to help us see the world potential when it comes to people who are willing to risk their lives to save the world.

Special Effects – The effects do continue to be the weakest part, but by now we are used to this style which hasn’t gotten better or worse through the series.


Scene of the Movie – The hammer fight.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough undead fighting.

Final Thoughts – This is a fitting conclusion to the franchise, it has the highest stakes and shows what everything has meant in the previous films.

 

Overall: Franchise finishing in style.

Rating

 

 

Nov 25 2019

The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan (2019) Movie Review

Director: Burt Grinstead, Paul Odgren, Anna Stromberg

Writer: Anna Stromberg (Screenplay) Anna Stromberg, Rob Runyeon (Story)

Starring: Anna Stromberg, Burt Grinstead, Maureen Keiller, David Nash, Jimmy Driscoll, Denise Walker, Matthew Pilieci

Plot: An unedited memory card from a camera shows Leah Sullivan’s school project about a cold case murder that doesn’t seem to be so cold after all.

Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Terrifying Conclusion

Story: The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan starts with the message, this is a found memory card with unedited footage of Leah Sullivan, believing she is dead, we dive into the footage where Leah (Stromberg) who goes out to try and solve an unsolved murder of the Mulcahy family in a town where she grew up for her school project.

Leah is joined with local officer Patrick Rooke (Grinstead) who is helping her learn the truth about the murders in the past, which includes going into the house where they took place, but deep down, she must learn not to dive into the past.

Thoughts on The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan

Characters – Leah Sullivan is the college student working on the project about an unsolved murder in her family’s home town, she meets everybody who claims to have any information on the murders, she conducts the interviews, while filming herself investigating the truth, this movie is set on the recording she made, before disappearing. Patrick Rooke is the police officer that is helping fill in the official story behind the murders, what he learns brings new light to the murders in the area. We do meet a couple of other people who get interviewed along the way, each with a different story.

Performances – The performances are hard to say anything bad about because the actors do truly make us feel like we are watching a documentary being shot, with the nervous stutters along the way, with Anna Stromberg making us believe she is a student making the film.

Story – The story here follows a college student that has decided to investigate a cold case in her old town, it is meant to be a small project, but she still starts to learn about a bigger mystery around the house. The easiest way to talk about this story would be to compare it to the ‘Blair Witch Project’ we see the investigation being slow, before an incredibly tense final twenty odd minutes. Advertising the story as found memory card footage, does add the mystery to the found footage side of the story, but in this day and age, playing this card doesn’t have the same impact it once did. The one downside to this story comes from just how interested Leah becomes to solve it, this is just meant to be a school project documentary about the murders, she would have gotten a good grade if she hadn’t solved the murder. The slow pace is saved by the conclusion which becomes must watch for the found footage fan.

Horror/Mystery – The horror side of the film comes on strong in the final act which is complete intense and terrifying, but before that, not much is happening on the horror front, it is more about the mystery about what is happening in the town.

Settings – The film is set in the small town which shows that history can often get pushed under the rug, with this town having a house that had a mystery murder.

Special Effects – The effects are used very well, not often, but saved for the final act of the film which only adds to the horror.


Scene of the Movie – The second house investigation.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The interviews are slowed down with the unedited style.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror film that does come off slow to start with but does finish very strong grabbing your attention from the moment they return to the house.

Overall: Scary Finish.