Tag: Fantasy

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Movie Review

Blithe Spirit (2020) Movie Review

Blithe Spirit is a fun fantasy romantic comedy.

Blithe Spirit Poster

Director: Edward Hall

Writer: Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard, Piers Ashworth (Screenplay)

Starring: Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Michele Dotrice, Dave Johns, Emilia Fox, Judi Dench, Leslie Mann

Plot: A spiritualist medium holds a seance for a writer suffering from writer’s block. Accidentally summons the spirit of his deceased first wife. Which leads to an increasingly complex love triangle with his current wife of five years.

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Blithe Spirit starts when a struggling writer Charles Condomine (Stevens) looks to get inspiration for his next story. His wife Ruth (Fisher) trying her best to support him.

When Charles sees Madame Cecily Arcati’s (Dench) performance. He wants to learn about the spiritual summoning, inviting her to his home for a reading. Leading to Charles deceased wife Elvira (Mann) returning as a ghost to haunt him, leading to a strange love triangle.

Thoughts on Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit is a fantasy comedy that will see a struggling writer get caught in between two loves. His current wife and his dead wife who has returned to haunt him. Looking to kill off current wife to win his back. This comedy will play into the upper-class along with showing the struggles of a writer.

The performances will get the laughs along the way. The world created will put us into the world of the era to leave us in the right environment for the film. There will be a look at how losing a wife will always keep a place in someone’s heart, with that love potentially causing problems in a new marriage, along with showing how people will try anything for one last visit from their loved ones from beyond the grave.

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Movie Review

The Craft (1996) Movie Review

Director: Andrew Fleming

Writer: Peter Filardi, Andrew Fleming (Screenplay)

Starring: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Skeey Ulrich, Christine Taylor, Breckin Meyer

Plot: A newcomer to a Catholic prep high school falls in with a trio of outcast teenage girls who practice witchcraft, and they all soon conjure up various spells and curses against those who anger them.


Tagline – Welcome to the Witching Hour

Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Halloween Treat

Story: The Craft starts when Sarah (Tunney) moves to a new school, she must go through the usual troubles a new student goes through, getting the attention of the high school jock Chris (Ulrich) as well as the three outsiders Nancy (Balk), Bonnie (Campbell) and Rochelle (True) who the school believe are witches.

Sarah does become friends with the group, with them using their witchcraft to cure the problems they are facing in life, be it guys, bullies or personal injuries, turning their lives around.

Thoughts on The Craft

Characters – Sarah is the new girl in the school, she tries her best to fit in, which sees her getting caught in the middle of people trying to impress her, with the high school jock wanting to make her his latest victim, while the three outsiders want to welcome her into the group, she does have a power which the others want, which helps her fit in with the other three. Nancy is the true outside, the rebel of the group, she does look like the typical goth you would expect to be involved in witchcraft. Bonnie does have her own problem with her life, an accident which left her burned, she is closed off to the world, until the spell lets her become free. Rochelle is a diver that suffers her own bullying, because of her look, there is racial motivation behind her bullying and just like the rest, they get to learn more about her life, once things change.

Performances – Robin Tunney is great to see in the new girl in class, she shows how difficult it will be to fit in, while Fairuza Balk shows us just how on edge her outsider character is. Neve Campbell is great in the hiding from the world role, showing how people hiding have secrets people don’t ask about, with Rachel True completely the group with ease, to show the four have chemistry that adds to the friends.

Story – The story here follows four high school students that start to dive into witchcraft with consequences that they enjoy to start with, but soon things become more deadly then they expect, tearing them apart until the power in them has gone. This is a story that does throw us into the ideas of needing to fit into school to start with, how the outsiders will have their own interests, where they shouldn’t be judged to start with, only it does show how outsiders will go to extreme lengths to try and make themselves feel better about their lives.

Fantasy/Horror – The fantasy in this film focuses on the reality of witchcraft, showing how the powers can get out of control, with horrific consequences between the four friends.

Settings – The film shows us the high school settings, which shows people trying to get their own identity, with the homes proving to have different secrets about their lives.

Special Effects – The film does use the effects when it comes to seeing how the spells are cast, we have plenty of floating and smoke machines to show this happening through the film.


Scene of the Movie – Things just went up a level after the beach night.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The bullying is what we have seen before and doesn’t seem to happen anymore.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun witch filled movie, it could well be the very best witch movie of the 90’s, as a genre that needed something fresh bought to it.

Overall: Best Witch Movie

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Movie Review

Kicking Blood (2021) Movie Review ‘Thoughtful Vampire Flick’

Kicking Blood – Thoughtful Vampire Flick

 

Director: Blaine Thurier

Writer: Blaine Thurier, Leonard Farlinger (Screenplay)

Starring: Alanna Bale, Luke Bilyk, Benjamin Sutherland, Ella Jonas Farlinger, Rosemary Dunsmore, Vinessa Antoine

Plot: When Anna, a centuries old vampire, watches Robbie, a charming but reckless young man, recover from his alcoholism, she decides to quit blood and restore her humanity.

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Kicking Blood starts as we meet quiet librarian Anna (Bale) who is harbouring a dark secret, she is a vampire, who carefully selects her victims from society, people that have wronged people or the ones she sees as wasting their lives.

After selecting her next victim Robbie (Bilyk) a reckless alcoholic who wants to die, she starts to see a new vision for what she wants in life, even if that means turning her back on her fellow vampires Nina (Farlinger) and Boris (Sutherland).

Thoughts on Kicking Blood

Characters & Performances – Anna is a quiet vampire living in society as a librarian where she can fade into the background, as she looks to select her next victims in life, the worst members of society, she does have connections to more aggressive vampires that don’t care who they take. She decides to help an addict, which will see her look to make the ultimate decision to give up blood once and for all, in hopes of gaining her humanity again. Robbie is the addict who has been seeing him life fade away, willing to let Anna take away his suffering in life, until he is given a second chance to try and clean himself up and start again, something nobody else has given him before. Boris and Nina are fellow vampires who enjoy the hunt, they don’t seem to mind who they take as victims, keeping Anna around as part of their group of hunters, they see humans as nothing more than cattle. Alanna Bale does a fantastic job given us the withdrawn figure with any vicious side to the vampire in her, Luke Bilyk does great in the supporting role showing us a man trying to fix things, as well as accepting he has made mistakes. The supporting cast as strong too, with the performances giving us an interesting set of characters for Anna to interactive through the film.

Story – The story here follows a quiet vampire that goes about her business with little damage that decides she wants to give up blood, after meeting a human that wants to give up his life, showing how the two meeting will give both, a reason to live. When it comes to vampire related stories, we often get the violent bloodbaths, but when we get into a story that will see the pain of immortality, like ‘Let the Right One In’ we get to see a much more interesting side to a figure in horror that is often considered pure evil. Kicking Blood will give us this more complex and intriguing side to a vampire story, showing that this heartless monsters to some, will have hearts and want to love like the human they once were.

Themes – Kicking Blood is a fantasy horror that will focus more the concept that vampires can live normal lives around humans, with their own conflicts about surviving and facing immortality, than any of the horror side around being a vampire. This will use a big city for the location, showing how vampires could hide in society along side humans instead of hidden from them.

Final Thoughts – Kicking Blood is an interesting, well-paced look at the complex nature of a modern vampire.

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Movie Review

The Second Age of Aquarius (2022) Movie Review

Director: Staci Layne Wilson

Writer: Darren Smith, Staci Layne Wilson (Screenplay)

Starring: Christina Jacquelyn Calph, Michael Ursu, Brooke Lewis Bellas, Keeshan Giles, Marin Olson, Nancy Long, Jeffrey Henderson

Plot: Ever wonder what it would be like to bring your favorite dead rock star back to life? Alberta certainly has. Since she was a kid, she’s dreamed of a world where ultimate 60s rock icon Russell Aquarius was still alive and writing songs just for her. Now a successful computer programmer, she takes her fandom and wishful thinking a step further and makes a Russell Aquarius avatar. Her loneliness and a freak power outage give her more than she bargains for when sparks fly not just in her computer, but also in reality when Russell’s avatar comes to life.


Tagline – Mod Science!

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Second Age of Aquarius starts when computer programmer Alberta Stevens (Calph) is struggling with the loss of her grandmother, decides to put together a code to bring back her favourite musician Russell Aquarius (Ursu) in virtual reality.

When Alberta wakes up to find a living breathing version of Russell in her apartment, she is left surprised with the new man in her life, only to figure out how he is there, but getting to address the problem she has created.

Thoughts on The Second Age of Aquarius

Thoughts – The Second Age of Aquarius is a fantasy comedy that romance following a woman that manages to create a real life aviator of her favourite rock star who died years ago, which will see her getting a chance to spend time with him, living up to the dreams she once had, while filling a void in her life. This is a story that will offer up a big question about what we would do if we could spend a day with an idol, what would you do and how would you react to everything happening. The weaker side of the story is that we are dealt the idea of a bigger problem Alberta has, but it never feels like the interaction helps her get through this problem, which feels like it could be seen as a bigger picture idea. The performances are strong in the film with the two leads Christina Jacquelyn Calph and Michael Ursu holding their own through the film.

Final Thoughts – The Second Age of Aquarius is a fun romantic fantasy giving you a vision of spending time with an idol.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch Up 2021 – V – The Green Knight (2021) Movie Review ‘Mostly Disappointing’

The Green Knight – Mostly Disappointing

This is under V because of Alicia Vikander 

Director: David Lowery

Writer: David Lowery (Screenplay)

Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Kate Dickie, Ralph Ineson, Barry Keoghan, Sean Harris

Plot: A fantasy re-telling of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.


Tagline – When honor was everything. When courage made kings

Runtime: 2 Hours 10 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Green Knight starts on Christmas Day when the Green Knight (Ineson) challenges the King (Harris) to a game, let one of his knights lay a blow upon him, he will reclaim that right one-year later, with nobody stepping up, it is Gawain (Patel) that accepts the challenge.

With one-year apart to pass, Gawain must make the journey to the Green Chaplin to meet his fate with the Green Knight, a journey that will be filled with peril along the way.

Thoughts on The Green Knight

Characters & Performances – Gawain is one of the nephews of the knights of the round table, wanting to become a knight himself, only to spend most of his days drinking. He steps up to a challenge from the Green Knight to strike him. One-year later he must have the trike returned, meaning he must travel to the Green Knights kingdom, where he will need to overcome a string of obstacles and challenges that will lead to an encounter with the knight. Dev Patel does a great job in the leading role being the one that is on the adventure. When it comes to the supporting cast, we get to meet the different figures involved with the round table and the people Gawain meets on his journey. We have an all-star supporting cast including Alicia Vikander, Sean Harris, Joel Edgerton and Ralph Ineson who all do a great job with the scenes they are in.

Story – The story here follows a young aspiring knight looking to become part of the roundtable that gets offered a chance to prove himself against the Green Knight for a Christmas game, he will need to travel to meet the man if he is to prove himself, we get to follow his journey. This is a story that will get the journey into the unknown underway, it will have moments that are unexplainable, with the ideas of where the journey is going, having a potential deadly fate. It will do one of the cinema sins with how certain parts of the story are told, which ends up feeling disappointing and does end up being too long of a film. If you don’t know anything about the character, you might also find certain parts of the story confusing, which in all fairness, is the biggest weakness involved in the film.

Themes – The Green Knight is a fantasy thriller with a journey that will take our character across many different lands in search for answers, leading us to different mystery for him to encounter, we do have some strong special effects, even if the film does end up going in a strange direction.

Final Thoughts – The Green Knight is a film with plenty of talk about it that ends up falling flat with a meaningful story.

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Bae Wolf (2022) Movie Review ‘Fun Spin on a Fantasy Legend’

Bae Wolf – Fun Spin on a Fantasy Legend

 

Director: David Axe

Writer: David Axe (Screenplay) Darien Cavanaugh (Story)

Starring: Morgan Shaley Renew, Jennifer Hill, Aaron Blomberg, Josh Kern, Katie Langdale, Rachel Petsiavas

Plot: In the year 500 A.D., a jealous, decapitating monster terrorizes the drunken revelers of Heorot. A fearless princess goes in search of a hero who can save her people. But that hero guards a secret more dangerous than any monster.


Tagline – It takes a monster to fight a monster.

Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Bae Wolf starts when a fearless princess Freawaru (Renew) goes in search for help for her town’s monster problem, a Grendel (Kern), who has been killing the residents before walking away like nothing has happened.

As Freawaru searches for help, she meets Beowulf (Hill) and her men that have been fighting monsters roaming the land, using the stories behind them, as a way to get into village, not being prepared for what Grendel is to the village.

Thoughts on Bae Wolf

Thoughts – Bae Wolf is a fantasy movie that will look to bring a different spin on the Beowulf legend, one that we have seen put to the bring screen a couple of times already in recent years, this time bringing a more grounded reality to everything going on within the world. Bae Wolf will bring us new visions of the character involved in the Grendel story, needing to find a way to win the battle, while not being afraid story and turn the legend into a mix of human involvement behind the legends. Bae Wolf is a film that is happy to embrace the B-Movie levels of the film, not taking too much serious, which might well hold things back, but then it also adds in an extra lighter side to everything we see.

Final Thoughts – Bae Wolf is a fun low budget fantasy, accepting the stories in a new light.

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Once Upon a Lifetime (2021) Movie Review ‘Magical Tale’

Once Upon a Lifetime – Magical Tale

 

Director: David Skato

Writer: David Skato (Screenplay)

Starring: Jensen Atwood, Melvin Ward, Melanie Thompson, Arie Thompson, Phoenix Nicholson, Krystian Alexander Lyttle

Plot: As a boy copes with his difficult home life and his parents’ failing marriage, a mysterious girl suddenly appears. Faith, family and a special kind of magic come together as his new friend teaches them all about love, forgiveness and healing.

Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Once Upon a Lifetime starts when bullied school boy Thomas (Nicholson) meets a stranger of his own age Joy, she becomes attached to him, following him, being welcomed into his house by his mother Tatyana (Thompson).

Overnight Joy suddenly ages to teenager age, where the family can’t explain what happened, as each day goes past, Joy continues to age dramatically, while giving advice to the family, more than anyone her original age should know.

Thoughts on Once Upon a Lifetime

Characters & Performances – Thomas is the young boy that is getting bullied at school, while living in a not so comfortable home, where his parents fight. He meets and befriends a young Joy as he starts to learn from her over the next couple of days, despite the changes she goes through. Tatyana and Joseph are the parents that have been going through a bad time because of Joseph’s behaviour, Joy will help Tatyana see what would be best for her future, guiding her out of the trapped marriage she finds herself in. Joy starts as a young girl the same age as Thomas, as each day passes by, she starts to age, becoming a guardian like angel over the family, teaching them and showing them what they need most in life. The performances in this film are wonderful, bringing together the real moments each character is going through.

Story – The story here follows a family that get an unlikely visitor in a 9-year-old girl who unexplainably ages suddenly overnight, where the time the family spend with the now woman, will lead to advice to help them through the rest of their lives. This is a magical story that will leave you with mixed feelings of delight and sadness, with how Joy touches the lives of the family. It will highlight how small changes in life can make everything better, but you will need to make the change to escape the problems. This is easily one film that will leave an impact on you once you have finished.

Themes – Once Upon a Lifetime is a fantasy drama that will see how a woman will spend a lifetime with a family over only a short period of time, while aging quicker than anyone else. This fantasy elements will show how someone touching the life will keep the guidance simple in life.

Final Thoughts – Once Upon a Lifetime is a truly magical tale.

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The Secret Garden (2020) Movie Review

Director: Marc Munden

Writer: Jack Thorne, Frances Hodgson Burnett (Screenplay)

Starring: Dixie Egerickx, Richard Hansell, David Verrey, Tommy Gene Surridge, Julie Walters, Maeve Dermody, Colin Firth, Isis Davis, Edan Hayhurst

Plot: An orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle’s estate.


Tagline – Unlock Your Imagination

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Secret Garden starts as a young orphan girl Mary (Egerickx) finds a new home from her Indian residents back in England with her Uncle Archibald Craven (Firth) a man that is strict with how his home is run, keeping his son Colin (Hayhurst) away from everyone else.

Mary does struggle to adapt to this new way of life, until she finds herself a place on the land, a secret garden, which will continue to give her hope of a better life, away from the pain of losing a loved one.

Thoughts on The Secret Garden

Characters & Performances – Mary has come from the life of luxury in India, where she would have had people wait on her hand and foot, only she finds herself alone in this world with nobody else, given to her estranged Uncle to raise her, she needs to learn to adapt to this world if she is going to make it, with her sense of adventure helping her cope with the loss she has experienced. Mary does come off as very self-centred and selfish, leading her to need to learn to be more accepting of people around her. Dickon is a young man that works the grounds, he befriends Mary as they look to learn more about the secret garden, seemingly close to nature. Colin the son of the uncle that is kept away from everyone else in the house, believing he is ill, Mary is looking to help him break out of this mindset. Archibald Craven takes Mary in, but he is broken after the death of his wife, which leaves him not anting to care about everything else in her life. The performances through this film are solid enough, without being as strong as they should be.

Story – The story here follows a young girl who becomes orphaned and taken in by her estranged Uncle that has closed himself off from the world, the young girl gets curious discovering a beautiful garden that brings her the first bit of light in her life for a long time, a place she wants to use to help cure the whole family. This is a story that is focused on showing how people will be dealing with loss in a different way and will need help to get over the biggest changes in their life. The magical side of the story doesn’t seem to hit hard enough and the characters do feel overly stuck up for us to get behind though.

Themes – The Secret Garden does use the colour pallet to show the different location, with the beauty of the location of happiness, while the darker colours inside the estate, showing it is a place left in darkness, that needs light bought back into after the tragedy around it.

The Secret Garden is a solid story but it does seem to lack the magical that would make it standout even more.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Favourites – V – Van Helsing (2004) Movie Review

Director: Stephen Sommers

Writer: Stephen Sommers (Screenplay)

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Shuler Hensley, Elena Anaya, Will Kemp, Kevin J O’Connor

Plot: The notorious monster hunter is sent to Transylvania to stop Count Dracula who is using Dr. Frankenstein’s research and a werewolf for some sinister purpose.

Runtime: 2 Hours 11 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Highly Entertaining

Story: Van Helsing starts as Dr Frankenstein completes his monster (Hensley) for Count Dracula (Roxburgh), only to lose the monster in the villager attack, move to Paris, legendary monster hunter Van Helsing (Jackman) is hunting down Mr Hyde for the order.

The latest mission for Van Helsing is to head to Transylvania to help Anna Valerious (Beckinsale) in the fight against Count Dracula and a new werewolf threat, getting welcomed like every town, Van Helsing will learn about his own past when he comes into battle against Dracula.

Thoughts on Van Helsing

Characters – Van Helsing is the legendary monster hunter, capturing or destroying them all over the world for the order back in Rome, his reputation strikes fear in some monsters, while others are hunting him. He doesn’t remember his past, he doesn’t always work well with others, but now he must and now he is going to face his toughest test now. Anna Valerious is the last member of her family, one that has defended a town for centuries, hunting down Dracula without any success, expert with a weapon, she is willing to risk it all to save the world and her family. Count Dracula is all controlling, like most version of him, the normal vampire killings don’t work on him, this Dracula has a greater plan, to fill the world with his children and is searching for a solution to give them life. Carl is the assistant set with Van Helsing for this fight, he is basically a rip off of Q in the Bond franchise.

Performances – Hugh Jackman does work very well in the leading role, he has the natural charisma to become the hero with a dark past. Kate Beckinsale as the leading lady will always look, with Underworld under her belt, we know she is an actress that is good for the fighting side of films too. Richard Roxburgh does everything he can with the Dracula character, one that has started to get overused by now. David Wenham gets most of the laughs in the film, which is needed to help everything flow smoother.

Story – The story here follows Van Helsing as he travels to Transylvania to fight Count Dracula along with a host of other monsters from the universal monster collection. When it comes to the battles between Van Helsing and Count Dracula, we have seen it happen for decades now, we do find ourselves going through the normal ideas, but we have an idea that Dracula is planning something bigger, which is the fresh side of the story, we have a couple of unique ideas for Dracula here too, with the ice tomb he sleeps in, being the true stand out. The mix of using werewolves and Frankenstein’s monster add plenty to the film too. This is big and wildly over the top for story, but it is a lot of fun.

Action/Fantasy/Horror – The action is massive scale fights, swinging, shooting, different weapons, it all helps add to the fantasy world we are entering for the Universal Monsters, while the horror is weaker than we would like to see from such iconic characters, it does keep everything as a more fantasy accessible level.

Settings – The film takes place mostly in Transylvania with the cast of Dracula being massive, hidden from the world to add extra mystery to the story, everything in the film looks beautiful on the settings side of things.

Special Effects – The special effects are the biggest mixed bag, following on from what we saw in The Mummy, we get certain moments, including Frankenstein’s monster look truly brilliant, while certain transformations look CGI heavy.


Scene of the Movie – Van Helsing’s first day in the village.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The transformations are the weakest part of the film.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun fantasy action film that brings to life some of the more popular Universal Monsters in a fresh tale that brings them together like never before.

Overall: Enjoyable Action Fantasy.