Deathstalker, Starring Daniel Bernhardt

Casual viewers might think of fantasy heroes as virtuous Tolkienesque dragonslayers, but for real fans, the irresponsible antiheroes are even more important. Conan was that kind of freebooter and so was Red Sonja (in the books and comics). The title character of Roger Corman’s 1983 rip-off has always been a cult-favorite, because he was so grungy and roguish. The reboot might not share much with the original, but at least the wandering swordsman still refuses to reform himself in Steven Kostanski’s Deathstalker, executive produced by Guns ‘n Roses’ Slash, which opens this Friday in theaters.

As the film opens, the universally despised Deathstalker makes his coin scavenging from dead bodies fallen in battle. That is pretty scummy behavior, but nobody challenges him, because he is too lethal. However, this time around, he “liberated” an amulet from a “mostly dead” knight that apparently carries a curse.

From now on, no matter what he does with it, it always turns up back in his pocket. Making everything worse, a demonic army led by his old nemesis, Jotak, seems hellbent on recovering the amulet, even if it does him serious harm in the process. To lift the curse, he must find Doodad, a little person wizard. However, Deathstalker must first save the sorcerer from his own magical entrapment. Heck, at this rate, Deathstalker is practically becoming heroic.

The ruckus but comfortable combination of bloody carnage and outrageous over-the-top humor will compute for fans of Kostanski’s previous films, such as PG: Psycho Goreman. Deathstalker also reflects the former makeup artist’s passion for practical effects. It doesn’t exactly transport the audience to an immersive fantasy world, but it certainly dives right in, embracing the hacking and slashing, as well as the creature-creation.

Red Sonja: Rebooting the Hyborian Age

Casting 6’ 1” Brigitte Nielsen as the “She-Devil” made a lot of sense, but the notorious 1985 fantasy bomb committed many grievous cinematic sins. Without question, the worst was the absence of her iconic chainmail bikini. To its credit, this film does not make that error. The wardrobe is legit, but there is also a little bit of the warrior spirit in M.J. Bassett’s Red Sonja, which releases this Friday on VOD.

Essentially, Roy Thomas “created” Red Sonja to be Conan the Barbarian’s female colleague in hacking and slashing. Technically, he took the name from another Robert E. Howard story, but that Red Sonja was a non-Hyborian warrior, of Ukrainian descent, seeking vengeance against the Ottoman Empire. (Obviously, Putin never read “The Shadow of the Vulture,” either.)

Like Thomas’s Sonja, Bassett’s Sonja became a wanderer after her family was brutally murdered, but she is more of nature-loving seeker, on a quest to reunite with last remaining Hyrkanian people, instead of the cynical hedonistic anti-heroine fans know and love.

Thanks to her upbringing, this Sonja immediately defends the forest creatures from Emperor Draygan’s pillagers, which gets her condemned to the arena as a gladiator. So far, very Conan-esque, right? Wisely, the arena armorer only gives her wooden swords and for protection, only supplies the intentionally impractical chainmail. Of course, Sonja refuses to play ball. Instead of earning her freedom by slaying her fellow Damnati, she foments revolution against the empire instead.

There is a lot of conspicuous CGI in this Red Sonja, but that is part of its eccentric charm. Frankly, it is forgivable, because it helps depict the kind of grandly over-the-top fantasy world that fans appreciate. It also distinguishes Bassett’s film from the maligned 1985 movie. There is no shortage of slicing and dicing, as fans would hope. Plus, there is some impressive animal handling, like that of Sonja’s loyal mount, who is pretty smart for a horse.

Bassett previously helmed the better-than-you-might-expect Howard-adaptation Solomon Kane, so he clearly shows an affinity for the pulp writer. The action and fantastical elements work quite well. However, Tasha Huo’s screenplay lacks the sexy attitude that made Red Sonja a geek-favorite in the first place. While Gail Simone’s recent comics and novel embrace Sonja as a Hyborian Age feminist, her recently asserted bisexuality further enhances the franchise’s sexual overtones, but that is all entirely absent from the film.

Still, they have the chainmail bikini (whereas the cover of Simone’s recent novel inexplicably depicts a piece of snake jewelry). Matilda Lutz’s portrayal of Sonja would ordinarily be more than sufficiently compelling for a popcorn fantasy, but she lacks the fierceness fans would expect from the She-Devil. Oddly, she is too vulnerable and too human.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror, from GKIDS

This portal fantasy world keeps bankers’ hours: nine to five, Japanese time. To get there, seven troubled middle-schoolers literally travel through the looking glass. What they find is more like a clubhouse than Narnia, but its rules still need to be respected in Keiichi Hara’s Lonely Castle in the Mirror, from GKIDS, which screens today and tomorrow nationwide.

Kokoro has almost entirely stopped attending school, after the bullying she faced drastically intensified, but she is too ashamed to explain it to her parents. Just when she really sinks into depression, “Ms. Wolf” pulls Kokoro through her mirror to a remote, fantastical castle, entirely surrounded by water, where six other confused middle schoolers are waiting.

They will have the run of the place until one of them finds a magic wish-granting key. Once they wish for their heart’s desire, all seven will lose their memories of the strange castle and of each other. Until then, they can spend as much time there as they like, as long as they leave by five. If they are caught after hours, they will be eaten by “the Wolf.”

Slowly, the seven become friends and discover the secrets they have in common. There always seem to be exceptions to their conclusions, but there are always good reasons for them. It is not entirely unfair to think of Lonely Castle as a Breakfast Club portal fantasy, but there is more to it than that. For one thing, it riffs on Little Red Riding Hood (Ms. Wolf sometimes even refers to the seven misfits as her “Riding Hoods”), much in the same way Belle riffed on Beauty & the Beast.

The Secret Kingdom, with Pangolins

If ever there was an animal in need of a hero, it would be the pangolin. Thanks to the black market in Mainland China (where their meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are a staple of “Chinese medicine”), the scaly mammal remains one of the world’s most endangered animals. These pangolins residing in a subterranean Fraggle Rock-like fantasy world face an even graver peril. However, young Peter Drawmer just might be the hero their prophecies foretold in screenwriter-director Matt Drummond’s The Secret Kingdom, which opens tomorrow in New York.

According to the prologue fairy tale, the two worlds were once connected, but when the young, brilliant king died, they were split apart. Drawmer always lived in our world above, but when his family moved to his father’s drafty old ancestral home in the countryside, the fantasy world below starts calling him. Then, that night, a hole opens in his room, swallowing his bratty little sister Verity, so he reluctantly dives in after her.

Down below, the Pangolin oracle immediately hails Drawmer as the foretold king, but the Pangolin general is skeptical. Regardless, if Drawmer is their savior, he hasn’t come a minute too soon. The Pangolin soon find themselves under attack from the forces of darkness. Peter and Verity get cut off from the rest of the Pangolins, but they still have Pling, who is well-versed in the prophesies, as well as epic songs that serve as the pangolins’ maps for navigating their fantasy world.

The pangolins and many of the other fantastical creatures are surprisingly well-crafted. Secret Kingdom might be ripping off the Henson workshop’s greatest hits, but it does so surprisingly well. The fantasy quest, involving pieces of a puzzle Drawmer must assemble to restore the fantasy world’s internal clock, is serviceable enough. The problem is both Drawmer siblings are way too young (and way too passive) for a fantasy so transparently inspired by The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. They just aren’t right for the film.

Fantasia ’22: Princesse Dragon

For fantasy fans, princesses and dragons always go well together, as Anne McCaffrey proved in dozens of books. Frogs are also pretty archetypal, but in this case, the ribbiting comes from a sorceress. Humans, animals, and dragons mix uneasily in Jean-Jacques Denis & Anthony Roux’s animated fantasy Princesse Dragon, which screened at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival.

This fantasy world is definitely inspired by Medieval Europe, but the constant threats of war and pestilence have been sanitized. As a dragon, “Dragon” (yes, that’s also his name) sits atop a mountain of treasure, but he yearns for offspring, so he makes a Faustian bargain with Frogceress. She sort of facilitates three magical test-tube eggs for him, but one of them turns out to be a human girl. Dragon does not like mortal men, but “Bristle” has the heart and fire-breath of a dragon, so he eventually accepts her.

One day, while running wild through the forest, Bristle meets the mortal Princess. Despite their differences in socialization, they become fast friends. The Dragon girl even saves the Princess twice, first from a giant bear and then from her father. Unfortunately, Dragon’s warning that humans will inevitably come looking for them will soon be born out by the rapacious king.

This film is right about one thing. No matter how much gold the state has, whether it be personified by a king or the dictatorship of the proletariat, it is never enough. Frankly, Roux’s screenplay gets a little lecturey arguing for royal benevolence, but the animation is lovely. It is also refreshing to see absolute classic fantasy tropes rendered without irony or apology.

The Spine of Night, Animated Fantasy for Adults

The fantasy genre is about as archetypal as fiction gets. Take for instance the “sacred bloom,” a flower that imparts terrible, dreadful knowledge. Does that bring anything to mind? Regardless, mankind cannot handle it, but an evil, power-mad sorcerer is determined to acquire it in Philip Gelatt & Morgan Galen King’s animated The Spine of Night, which opens this Friday in New York.

Initially, Ghal-Sur was a mortal scholar, who was probably only extraordinary for his arrogance. As a result, he is quite put off by his assignment to record the history of Lord Pyrantin, a budding tyrant, who naturally expects the scholar to cater to his vanity. However, Ghal-Sur must protest when he witnesses Pyrantin’s crimes against the nearby swamp people, who had a compact with his scholars’ guild. Of course, that lands him in the dungeon with the shaman, Tzod, who is the only survivor of her people. When he sees her employ the healing power of the bloom, it literally creates a monster.

Over the course of centuries, Tzod will fight to prevent Ghal-Sur (who has become an inhuman conqueror in the tradition of the “God Emperor” of Dune) from centralizing all of the supernaturally potent bloom under his own control. In doing so, she will embark on an epic journey to the final surviving bloom, safeguarded by “The Guardian,” who is not unlike the Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. However, Tzod is not the only one who has had enough of Ghal-Sur’s’ oppression. A band of winged assassins, reminiscent of Prince Vultan’s Hawkmen in Flash Gordon, have decided they might as well try to take him out, or die trying.

Obviously, there are tons of precedents for almost everything in Spine, but honestly that is true of just about every epic fantasy. Frankly, fantasy fans want to see all those classic elements. The point is to find distinctive ways to repackage them, which Gelatt & King do by incorporating a hand-rotoscoped style of animation that evokes the vibe of Ralph Bakshi’s vintage Tolkien films and the original Heavy Metal. Like the latter, there is indeed a great deal of unenticing nudity in Spine. It is also violent, but always in service of the narrative. The Heavy Metal comparison is especially apt, because the animation is not super-complex, but it is cool looking.

Fantaspoa ’19: The Last Warrior

We do not really think of Disney in the context of Tolkienesque fantasy, but the Mouse House produced The Sword in the Stone, The Black Cauldron, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence in Fantasia. This film does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath, but it is still a fantasy and it is sort of Disney—the Russian arm of the company. Enchantments are made to be broken in Dmitriy Dyachenko’s The Last Warrior (a.k.a. The Last Knight), which screens during this year’s Fantaspoa in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Ivan Naydenov thinks he is an orphan, but he is actually the son of Ilya Muromets, the legendary knight, or rather Bogatyr, who was hidden away in our dimension to protect him from the evil forces that assumed power in the fantasy realm of Belogorye. It turns out the Sorceress Varvara and her lover, Prince Dobrynya Nikitich hunted down and turned to stone all the other bogatyrs, much like Dark Vader and Emperor Palpatine’s massacre of the Jedi Knights. This is all quite a lot for Naydenov to take in when he is suddenly whisked away from our world to Belogorye.

Obviously, Varvara and Nikitich want him dead too, but he manages to escape with the help of the immortal Koschei, Vasilisa the Wise (a.k.a. the Frog Princess), and Baba Yaga. To fight the evil duo, Naydenov will have to find the enchanted sword Kladenets, the Slavic Excalibur, but he really just wants to go home. They will get seriously sidetracked fooling around with Vodyanoy the merman (who sort of looks like the cow that wants to be eaten in the BBC version of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), before Varvana and Nikitich restart the plot be recapturing everybody.

Naydenov is a thoroughly annoying character (when we first meet him, he is working as a cheap con artist and fake magician (under the title, “The White Mage”), whom Viktor Khorinyak portrays completely without charm or charisma. His chemistry with Mila Sivatskaya’s Vasilisa is completely non-existent, even though she is nearly as boring. By far, the most interesting character is Konstantin Lavronenko as the Richard O’Brien-looking Koschei. Ekaterina Vilkova (who some might have seen in Hipsters and PyraMMMid) also has some villainous presence and flair as Varvara. However, far too many characters a shticky stick figures.

This is one of two recent Russian films known internationally as “The Last Warrior.” The other, which screened at Fantasia as The Scythian is considerably grittier and better. There is just too much mugging and slapstick humor from Khorinyak/Naydenov. Still, Dyachenko crafts some spectacular fantasy imagery, especially during the third act. It is sort of interesting to see Russian myth and folklore mashed up into a greatest hits narrative package, but it is hardly essential. Lifechanger, Seder-Masochism, and Violence Voyager are all better films screening soon at Fantaspoa. Just sort of “eh,” The Last Warrior screens tomorrow (5/30), during Fantaspoa 2019 in Porto Alegre.

Kids Euro ’18: The Shamer’s Daughter

Before Game of Thrones, snobby critics used to just lump fantasy in with kids’ books and movies, like it was all cut from the same Lloyd Alexander cloth. That changed when “Grim Dark” became the hottest thing going. As the GRRM clones proliferate, it is rather refreshing to see a fantasy film that does not have any scenes in brothels. There are some “intense action scenes,” as the disclaimers say, but families should mostly feel comfortable in Kenneth Kainz's Danish fantasy feature, The Shamer’s Daughter (trailer here), which screens for free during the Kids Euro Festival in Metro DC.

Dina is the “lucky” sister. She is a shamer, just like her mother, Melussina. That means they have the power to look into men’s eyes and force them to confront their deepest, most shameful secrets. They also seem to have limited powers of suggestion, sort of like Jedi. As a young shamer, Dina does not have full control of her powers yet, which has led to fear and resentment among her peers.

When Nicodemus Ravens, the heir to the principality, stands accused of killing his father his half-brother Drakans summons Melussina to divine the truth. When she does not produce the answer he is looking for, he calls in Dina as a second opinion. She also finds the somewhat neurotic prince not guilty, so Drakans opts to kill them both. Somehow, Nicodemus manages to escape with Dina, but Drakans is hot on their heels. He will be a formidable foe, thanks to the dragon blood he ingests. It gives him accelerated healing powers and renders him nearly invulnerable to the shaming process. Plus, he has the additional advantage of being a sociopath who does not feel shame.

The Macguffin of weaponized guilt that originated in Lene Kaaberbøl’s novels is rather clever. Screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen maintains a consistent system of magic, but the sequel-setting conclusion almost laughable snatched a to-be-continue ending out of the jaws of closure.

Regardless, it is jolly fun to soak up all the surviving medieval European locations. Plus, there are rather realistic dragons. The effects exceed expectations and the production values are definitely on the high side.

Rebecca Emilie Sattrup is an appealingly scrappy as Dina, holding up quite resiliently throughout the course of the film. Jakob Oftebro certainly looks the part of the heroic prince, but as a character, Ravens is annoyingly petulant and pliable. Yet, he is also bizarrely hard to kill, escaping absolutely, metaphysically certain death several times over through dubious contrivances (none of which is Oftebro’s fault). However, Søren Malling will be the one who wins over genre fans with his hardnosed portrayal of the castle’s weaponsmaster, the film’s Gurney Halleck figure. Seriously, if there is anyone who looks like he was born to a steely fantasy warrior, it would be Malling.

It is encouraging to see sword & sorcery fantasy rendered with first-rate production values, while maintaining a family-friendly vibe. There is plenty of intrigue and rummaging through guilty subconscious minds, but it is still pretty safe for all-ages viewing. Granted, the bad guys knock around the kids a little, but they can take it and hardly feel a thing at that age. Recommended for older kids and fans of old school fantasy movies, like The NeverEnding Story and The Dragonslayer, The Shamer’s Daughter screens this Saturday (10/27), at the AFI Silver Theatre, as part of the Kids Euro Festival.

Kew Gardens ’18: Nymphadelle

In this Medieval hodge-podge, names from antiquity are freely recycled with little regard for their origins. Our hero’s father Theron is a wise lord of great integrity, who is betrayed by the evil Maeldan. However, Theron of Acragas is now remembered only as the “Tyrant of Sicily” for his harsh rule in the 480s BC. Theron’s vengeance-seeking son Aegeas is not exactly Aegeas, the King of Athens and father of Theseus, at least not yet. Asteria the forest foundling is hardly a Titaness, but she will act as a protector of Aegeas. However, Aegeas will save her life first in Quentin de Jubecourt’s Nymphadelle (trailer here), which screens during the 2018 Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema.

For one thousand years, the good but childless king ruled over peaceful Undine. With his death, he bequeathed his throne to noble Theron, which was just fine with everyone except Maeldan. Naturally, the usurper must also completely massacre all of Theron’s line, but his loyal son and reluctant heir manages to slip away. After saving Asteria from Maeldan’s cutthroats, the two form a fast alliance. Yet, Asteria forcefully and repeatedly counsels Aegeas against wrath and the fruitless pursuit of revenge. She might have a point in terms of personal development, but Aegeas really isn’t in the mood to hear it.

Nymphadelle’s production values are astonishingly high for either an extended short film or a rather abbreviated fifty-five-minute feature. It has the look and texture of the European Dark Ages. You can just feel that Medieval Warming Period. However, the narrative is over-burdened with flashbacks and eventually it just dissipates into woo-woo New Age mushiness. There is no doubt about it, this film needs more grit and grime.

The cast is rather inconsistent, awkwardly starting with the less than imposing Lucas Bernardi as Aegeas. By far, the most valuable player is Audrey Marain, who displays impressive action chops and a gauzy fantasy heroine presence vaguely reminiscent of Michelle Pfeiffer in Ladyhawke. Olivier le Dauphin sneers with authority as Maeldan, while Patrick Guidetti is so noble as Theron, it practically hurts to look at him.

Nymphadelle represents some terrific work by production designer Isabelle Inglebert and her team, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. Yet, the title is arguably quite fitting, referring to an Atlantis-like lost city, in a metaphor that is never fully developed. At least there is some decent hack-and-slash action. In fact, there is maybe just enough justify sitting through it, as part of a double-bill with the rollickingly entertaining The Doctor’s Case. Not really recommended it its own right, Nymphadelle screens this afternoon (8/11) with the highly recommended Stephen King-Sherlock Holmes film, during the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema.

HSFF ’16: Legend of Dark Rider

In a fantasy world roughly based on Medieval Europe, the monarch and his men-at-arms expect to hold a monopoly on murder. Therefore, when a mythic savage continues to kill with impunity, it is rather bad for business. A detachment of the king’s guard has been dispatched to hunt down the half beast-half outlaw, but winter is coming and its coming for them in Titus Paar’s massively Grimdark Legend of Dark Rider (trailer here), which screens during 2016 HollyShorts Film Festival.

The Captain of the Guard clearly resents his posting to the snowy provinces to track what he assumes is a Medieval analog equivalent of an urban legend, so he intends to take out his frustration on the locals, starting with an unfortunate barmaid. However, the mysterious and hirsute (even by the local Nordic standards) Vlademir has a story that will stop the abusive soldier dead in his tracks.

It turns out Vlademir might be the person to survive an encounter with the Dark Rider. Admittedly, it was more of a distant gander, but that is more than anyone else can say, especially the captain. After all, his boorish behavior and disrespectful talk about the Rider is bound to generate some massively bad karma.

Legend is obviously a proof of concept short, but it is an insidiously effective one. Paar sets the hook quickly, while pulling off some remarkably fast and economical world building. Granted, we are probably expected to use Game of Thrones as an unofficial foundation, but most viewers will be immediately intrigued by the Rider legend and quickly primed to root for a revolution against the oppressive social order, even before the revelatory ending.

By now, there is a huge potential audience out there for a property like Dark Rider. Paar keeps it tight and tense, while the rugged cast look and sound perfect growling and fighting together, especially the exceptionally grizzled Ralf Beck as Vlademir. He can certainly tell a tale. If Paar, can maintain the tone and energy, the world of Dark Rider could be the first original fantasy franchise to rival those based on best-selling novels. Recommended for fans of GRRM, Joe Abercrombie, and Steven Erikson, Legend of Dark Rider screens this Monday (8/15) as part of the “Sci-Fi/Fantasy” block at this year’s HollyShorts.

FLY ’16: Heroes of the Realm (short)

Remember when video games cost a quarter and required players to stand on their own two feet? Evidently, there is at least one coin-operated video arcade still chugging along in Oklahoma City. Of course, as the genre film tradition demands, it is not just an arcade. It is also a portal to a fantasy dimension that a pizza deliverywoman will unwittingly open with her high score. Yes, everything is old school about Kyle Roberts’ short film Heroes of the Realm (trailer here), a recent selection of this year’s Comic Con International Independent Film Festival, which screens during the upcoming 2016 FLY Film Festival.

Anya Vickors has just been dumped via text (that’s very 2010’s), so she blows off steam 1980s style after making her regular pizza delivery to the neighborhood video arcade. When she sets the high score, the machine opens up, offering her a glowing golden bracelet. That’s all very nice, until Thorak, the big warrior lug, comes looking for her and the bracelet to help him stop an invasion of evil from his plane of existence.

Realm was shot as part of a 48-Hours Film Project, so the special effects are bound to be quick and dirty. However, there is something nostalgically appealing about it, bringing to mind the short-lived, hazily-remembered eighties fantasy spoof Wizards and Warriors. To her credit, Kate Le makes a terrific action lead as Vickors. The entire game cast handles the lunacy quite well, particularly Alissa Ford, who gets the best lines as Vickors’ roommate Gina. Stephen Goodman also looks the part and is quite the good sport as Thorak. Granted, the film’s humor could definitely be described as broad, but that makes it much harder to land.

If you remember pizza and video games as being a nice treat back in the Reagan years, Realm will be massively nostalgic. You could say it is like the fantasy version of The Last Starfighter, which is obviously cool (and the one-sheet art is awesome). The film just gives off good vibes. Highly recommended for those who will get its retro appeal, Heroes of the Realm screens twice this Saturday (8/6) as part of the FLY Film Festival in Enid, Oklahoma.

Monster Hunt: China’s Top Grossing Film of All-Time

As the age of legends comes to a close, veterans of the Monster Hunt Bureau are facing some pretty severe structural unemployment. They have just been too good at their job, but when a civil war in the monster realms spills over into the human world, their skills will be needed again. However, choosing sides will be trickier than they imagine in Raman Hui’s CGI-live action Chinese blockbuster, Monster Hunt (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York with both subtitled and dubbed screenings.

Song Tianyin is not much, but his absentee palace swordsman father still set him up as the mayor of their provincial village. He is about to be swept up into the monster’s civil strife when junior monster hunter Huo Xiaolan tracks two monsters in disguise to Song’s inn. Zhugao and Fat Ying are desperately protecting the pregnant queen, whose unborn baby is some sort of prophesized Jedi-Matrix Chosen One. The evil monster rebels have followed her into the human lands to end their royal line—and they are really big.

Although Huo initially captures Zhugao and Fat Ying, they manage to wriggle away, but she knows they will not get far. Since the Monster Queen was able to transfer her unborn baby to Song, Huo knows they will always be close by. Huo convinces Song to carry the baby, despite his understandable gender-role confusion, so they can sell him to a dealer. Evidently, monster babies are quite a delicacy. Yet, when the little “radish” springs into the world, they inevitably cannot stop themselves from getting emotionally attached.

So why can’t humans and monsters live together Alan Yuen asks us with his heavy-handed script. Maybe because those big marauding beasts really seem pretty darned dangerous. Nevertheless, the little radish is rather cute. Hui, who co-directed Shrek the Third, gives the monsters a good deal of personality, specifically tailoring them for the Chinese-centric market. It is easy to see why little boys would flock to Monster Hunt, even though it is somewhat more bittersweet than most mainstream American animated films. Of course, some of that is necessitated by the set-up for the sequel already in production.

Bai Baihe’s freshly minted superstar status is largely due to her breakout work in Hunt. She is indeed slyly engaging as Huo, especially in her scenes with older rival Luo Gang, nicely played Jiang Wu, who manages to maintain his hardboiled gravitas amid all the chaos and cuteness. On the other hand, Jing Boran is an awkward combination of klutzy shtick and faceless blandness, but to be fair, he probably did not expect to be stepping into Song’s shoes. Well after production began, he replaced Kai Ko, when the Tiny Times actor was swept up in the Jaycee Chan business.

Monster Hunt also features Tang Wei and Yao Chen in goofy, slightly macabre Tim Burton-esque cameos that bizarrely play down their glamour. Sandra Ng and Eric Tsang add further star power, fitting comfortably into the roles of bickering monsters Zhugao and Fat Ying, when they are wearing their human skins.

The monsters are quite impressive, which would be the most important part of a film called Monster Hunt. Nevertheless, the narrative is disappointingly familiar and much of the broad humor will fall flat with American audiences. Still, the film is a genuine phenomenon (controversies of box-office inflation notwithstanding). Hui does what he does best quite well, but he should apply more of his Hollywood experience during the script-development period. Interesting but not essential for animation fans, Monster Hunt opens in both formats this Friday (1/22) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

Comic Con ’15: The Sun Devil and the Princess (short)

Welcome to a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away. However, instead of the Force, the warriors of Karazawa follow the Bushido way. Rather than medieval Europe, this fantasy world takes inspiration from feudal Japan. However, the southwestern sounding horned creature is the reluctant hero of Steven Ayromlooi’s short film, The Sun Devil and the Princess (trailer here), which screens as part of the 2015 Comic Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego.

For a short film, SD&P presents an unusually richly realized fantasy realm (one that arguably borders on science fiction, but the props consist of swords and daggers, not laser blasters). The floating fortress of the evil Moon Queen is especially impressive. Our title characters have left there in a hurry. To repay a debt of honor, Hirohawa, one of the last surviving Sun Devils of the Ashikage clan has rescued Princess Kyoko, the inspirational symbol of the resistance. Of course, the Moon Queen’s forces are in hot pursuit, resulting in some impressive swordplay and martial arts on Hirohawa’s part.

In some ways, SD&P really does share superficial parallels with what was known as Star Wars in 1977. There is indeed a “new hope” stemming from a daring mission that happened immediately before the film started. There is also a royal to save and a rebellion to inspire. Yet, the trappings are distinctively its own and the fight choreography is terrific. In fact, Hirohawa has one killer move that you have probably never seen before.

SD&P certainly looks like a proof of concept for a proposed feature film, but Ayromlooi packs it with enough action to give genre fans a warm, happy glow. His cast is also polished and professional. While the Sun Devil makeup could perhaps use further refinement, Evan Parke’s Hirohawa has big-screen presence and big-time action chops. For the film’s spiritual side, Mandy Amano portrays Princess Kyoko, the Sun Goddess worshipper, with impressive sincerity and conviction. Plus, cult movie aficionados will get a further kick out of hearing Tony Todd as the voice of the malevolent Baron.

In just half an hour, Ayromlooi establishes a great deal of Karazawa mythology and hooks the audience on his main characters. It is an intriguing world, with first rate fight scenes, which should be more than enough to get fans psyched for a return trip. Highly recommended for sword & sorcery and martial arts fans, The Sun Devil and the Princess screens this Friday (7/10) as part of CCI-IFF ’15 at San Diego Comic Con.

The Hobbit: Peter Jackson Cranks Up the Frame Rate

Does this sound familiar?  A little dude with big feet saves the world.  A magic ring is involved.  Welcome back to Middle Earth.  After the complete triumph of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a big screen treatment for The Hobbit was almost inevitable.  Fortunately, after a complicated development process, Peter Jackson retook the reins of what is now a prequel trilogy.  As most anyone remotely connected to the media culture knows, Jackson’s The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey (trailer here) opens today, just about everywhere.

Blink and you might miss him, but Frodo appears in passing early on.  Of course, The Hobbit is Bilbo Baggins story, which he is writing out for Frodo’s edification.  In his younger years, Baggins was recruited by Gandalf the Grey to aid a company of dwarves reclaim their ancestral home from an ancient dragon.  A bookish homebody, Baggins cannot fathom what he would bring to the expedition, but Gandalf just seems to think it will be helpful to have a hobbit along.  Thorin Oakenshield, the fiery heir to the Dwarvish throne, is openly contemptuous of Baggins, but several of his compatriots eventually warm to their halfing compatriot.

Thorin also makes no secret of his resentment for the Elvish kingdom, whom he blames for turning their backs on the Dwarves in their hour of need.  However, Gandalf insists they will need their assistance deciphering a certain magical map.  They could also use a hand with the Orc hordes pursuing them through the mountains.  Frankly, there should not be so many trolls and goblins roaming about the foothills.  There seems to be an evil agency at work, with most signs pointing to the former Dwarvish homeland.

Considering The Hobbit is just one average sized book and The Lord of the Rings is a fat trilogy, one would expect a lot of filler in Unexpected Journey.  Yet, since about seventy-five percent of the film consists of the orcs chasing or battling the dwarves, it’s nearly three hours do not seem so excessively padded (as long as you enjoy fantastical action).

All that melee looks great in 3D.  No lame 2D fix-up (like Clash of the Titans), Journey was clearly conceived for the format.  However, the High Frame Rate (HFR) gimmick is another story.  Frankly, the super sharp clarity of image often makes the effects look more fake rather than the opposite.  Conversely, the early scenes in Bag End lack the warm cozy vibe one would expect.

Even if HFR is more of a distraction than an attraction, Jackson gets the bigger Tolkien picture.  He understands and always remains true to the series’ themes of sacrifice, faith, courage, and humility.  Fans trust him adapting this world, with good reason, so if the HFR experiment is the price to pay for Jackson’s return to Middle Earth, it is probably worth it.

Journey might not be as epic as its LOTR predecessors, but it does not disappoint.  Martin Freeman (Sherlock’s Dr. Watson) has the right everyhobbit presence and looks quite credible as Sir Ian Holm’s younger analog.  Most importantly, Sir Ian McKellen is back as Gandalf, a role he was probably born to play.  Hammer fans will also be pleased to see Sir Christopher Lee return as Saruman the White.  It is sort of more of the same, but Jackson makes it feel right even when it looks a little weird.  Recommended for fantasy fans, The Hobbit is now playing on over 4,000 screens nationwide, including the AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York.

Anime Gets Medieval: Berserk the Golden Age Arc I—The Egg of the King

They were not called dark ages for nothing.  Battlefield carnage and an inflexible class system are the realities of the day.  Yet, the charismatic leader of a band of mercenaries has unthinkably lofty aspirations in Toshiyuki Kubooka’s Berserk the Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the King (trailer here), the feature anime adaptation of Kentara Miura’s popular manga series, recently released on DVD and Blu-ray by Viz Media.

The relatively young looking Guts is a ferocious sword-for-hire if paid well enough, but he is not a joiner.  Nonetheless, the mysterious Griffith is determined to recruit him for his “Band of the Hawk” mercenary troupe.  While Guts easily overpowers Griffith’s best warriors, including the fiercely loyal Casca, he is no match for their angelically effeminate leader.  Bested in a fair fight, Guts swears fealty to Griffith, quickly becoming his favorite.

Thanks to Guts’ reckless courage, the Band of the Hawk earns the gratitude of the Midland Kingdom.  Much to the shock and disdain of the nobility, Griffith is rewarded with a title.  However, he has even further ambitions, including catchy the eye of the Princess.  It will probably end badly if you believe the prophecy of Nosferatu Zodd, but you can’t always accept the word of giant demonic mercenaries.

While the Berserk series was produced in Japan (with the original Japanese soundtrack available as a DVD option for purists), it was clearly shaped by the Medieval Europe that served as the foundation of Tolkien’s Middle Earth and most subsequent epic fantasy series.  Yet, the anti-heroism of Egg is rather distinctive.  Indeed, the opening battle sequences are unusually stylishly by anime standards, yet surprisingly brutal.

Intended for mature audiences, Egg should be considered anime for Game of Thrones fans.  Blood will definitely run.  There is even some brief fan service provided by Casca.  While most of the target audience is probably already familiar with the franchise characters, new arrivals pretty much have to roll with the punches.  We can glean there were some difficult childhoods in the past, forging everyone into lethal warriors.  Of course, how much characterization do you need in the middle of a full scale siege?

As dark and moody as Egg gets, it never lets the angst interfere with the action.  As a result, the awkwardly titled Berserk the Golden Age Arc I: the Egg of the King delivers all kinds of hack-and-slash, making it a fitting stocking stuffer for a reasonably “grown-up” fantasy fanatic awaiting the new season of Thrones and the final Wheel of Time novel.  Recommended pretty enthusiastically for genre and anime fans that prefer blood and guts over magical devices, Berserk … King is now available for home viewing from Viz.

Magic to Win: It’s Elemental

If you’re going to borrow from Harry Potter, you might as well do it with pretty girls. This seems to be the logic behind Ip Man helmer Wilson Yip’s foray into campus magic. Frankly, it is a hard strategy to argue with, providing at least a baseline of entertainment throughout the unapologetically perky Magic to Win (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Macy and her cute teammates on Pegasus University’s women’s volleyball team routinely get schooled by their hot mean opponents. However, when a freak accident transfers the magic of the eccentric Professor Hong to her, their losing days are over. The entrepreneurial ladies quickly open up a lucrative sideline, charging to magically goose underdog athletes to victory. Things get a bit out of Macy’s league though when an invisible magician comes asking for her help.

Ling Fung is an earth magician physically dematerialized and robbed of his powers by a renegade fire magician. Despite suffering from amnesia, he has intuitively arrived at the university to seek Hong’s help. He finds Macy instead, which would be a considerable step up if she knew what she was doing. Presumably the fire magician is on his way too, because if he can collect all the forms of elemental magic, something crummy will happen.

After making an international reputation with the Ip Man franchise, Win seems like a radical departure for Yip. It is also appears to push the limits of homage in its more than obvious nods to Star Wars and the 1978 Superman movie. Still, he certainly keeps the proceedings breezy and energetic.

Though a newcomer, Karena Ng is undeniably charming as Macy. Martial arts star Wu Jing (a.k.a. Jacky Wu, so awesome in City Under Siege) has a steely presence well suited to big-screen villainy, but frankly, it would be far more satisfying to watch him kicking butt old school-style than hurling around a bunch of fireballs. Amongst several big name supporting players, Louis Koo is also notably amusing as the wine-soaked wood magician, Gu Xinyue.

Though it often descends into slapstick humor (it gets a little ugly when Ling Fung starts interfering with the fat kid paying to win the decathlon), the visual effects are pretty presentable. In fact, there is a particularly inventive battle between the earth and fire magicians, in which they animate objects from the pages of books (including light-sabers, so take note all young Jedi).

Win is what it is: innocent, goofy, cheesy, harmless, and sometimes endearing. Parents should be forewarned, there is a bit of subtitled cursing, but nothing in anyway explicit. For those looking for a Chinese film fix or a bit of fluffy escapism (but not for Yip’s Ip fans), Win opens this Friday (12/9) in New York at the AMC Empire and in San Francisco at the AMC Cupertino, from China Lion Entertainment. As part of a special promotion, patrons who like their Facebook page or visit their website can get a coupon for two-for-one admissions this holiday season.

Moby-Dick as Quest Fantasy: The Age of the Dragons

In her novel Ahab’s Wife, Sena Jeter Naslund tells the story of the sailor’s wife only briefly mentioned in Melville’s Moby-Dick. An intrepid band of filmmakers did her one better, introducing viewers to Rachel, Ahab’s adopted daughter-crew member, whom Melville must have surely implied, but just never got around to writing about in his great American novel. They added dragons too. Yes, Moby-Dick is reset in an epic fantasy universe. A real curiosity piece, Ryan Little’s The Age of the Dragons (trailer here) is now available from Go Digital Media Group on platforms like itunes and pay-per-view youtube.

In this world, dragons are hunted for their vitriol, a highly combustible and expensive form of fuel. Of course, Ahab is not in it for the money. He wants revenge from a great white dragon—just like the book, except not really. Ishmael, should you chose to call him that, is a dragon harpooner looking too sign onto the crew of the feared dragon hunter. He and his moody sidekick Queequeg are hired by Ahab’s adopted daughter, Rachel (presumably a nod to one of the other ships mentioned in the Melville novel). Of course, she is attractive, generating all kinds of helpful sexual tension within the crew. This most definitely includes Ishmael, but she does not seem to mind his attentions as much.

Age would probably have worked better if they had been hunting sea-dragons, because that would have given them an excuse to serve aboard a ship. Instead, the Pequod is an anachronistic armored wagon that could have been a castoff from the Jawas. Shockingly though, the dragon effects are not all that bad, but brother, Danny Glover sure is. Perhaps Ahab’s make-up is partly to blame, making Glover look as if he were simply drizzled with candle wax. However, he is so overwrought and pointlessly venomous, he single-handedly reduces the film to low camp.

As the romantic leads (in Moby-Dick?) Corey Sevier and Sofia Pernas are a bit stiff perhaps, but not to a debilitating extent. Frankly, ex-footballer turned genre movie heavy Vinnie Jones steals the show as second mate Stubb, exhibiting charisma and energy well beyond viewer expectations. Unfortunately, the film inexplicably kills off their trump card before it even reaches the third act. Still, David Morgan also adds some nice supporting seasoning as the morally ambiguous first mate Starbuck.

Age actually had a theatrical release in the UK (where it was critically pummeled), but here in America it suffered the indignity of airing as a Syfy original movie. Granted, Melville given the fantasy once-over is definitely gimmicky filmmaking in the Corman tradition, but some credible work went into it. To their credit, Little’s effects team did not skimp on the dragons. There are scads of them and they look decent by outside-of-Hollywood standards, particularly when seen flying in the distance. However, the screenplay’s contrivances make it devilishly difficult to buy into the lunacy. Still, it is hard to resist checking out such a wacky high concept. So now you know this exists. It can be found on itunes.

Transitions: Lost Town of Switez

So deeply ingrained are the images of a devastated Poland during WWII and the Soviet era, many Americans forget the millennia old country was one of the great European powers during the Middle Ages. Poland’s Casimir III was the first crown head of Europe to grant legal protection to Jewish subjects. It was also one of the few European countries untouched by the Black Death, perhaps the result of good national karma. The glory of Medieval Poland is evoked in Kamil Polak’s visually arresting animated short The Lost Town of Świteź (distributed internationally by New Europe Film Sales, trailer here), which screens this Saturday as part of the shorts program during the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Transitions retrospective of recent Polish cinema.

Based on Adam Mickiewicz’s epic poem, one of many celebrating Poland’s folklore, Town begins on the proverbial dark and stormy night. A nineteenth century nobleman’s carriage is waylaid by the inclement weather. Far from a sanctuary, this forest appears to be enchanted. Seeking refuge from spectral horse-soldiers, the man finds himself transported to the mythic city of Świteź, where he witnesses its destruction at the hands of the hordes pursuing him. As the city faithful send up orisons to heaven, a choir of angels comes down to bear witness to man’s carnage (and perhaps the salvation of the next life).

Combining specially commissioned oil paintings, rendered in a style suggestive of great Polish artists like Józef Chełmoński and Aleksander Gierymski, with state of the art computer animation, Town has a rich, ethereal look unlike any recent animation. Some enterprising film festival ought to program it with Lech Majewski’s The Mill and the Cross, which in many ways is the nearest comparable film.

Perhaps though, what is most striking about Town is the unapologetically powerful Christian imagery. Completely without irony, Polak’s film conveys an apocalyptic Christian vision with far greater overwhelming immediacy than anything attempted in recent Evangelical cinema. Yet, it can also be enjoyed simply as a Slavonic variant on the Atlantis archetype, perfectly scored by Irina Bogdanovich, whose compositions unambiguously suggest the Middle Ages, but with a hint of romanticism.

Town truly proves animation can be both a form of entertainment as well as high art. Best appreciated on the big screen, Polak will present his painterly canvas in-person when Town screens this Saturday (9/10) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of Transition’s shorts block. It will also screen again in New York later in the month (9/23) at the 2011 NYC Short Film Festival as part of program A.

Miyazaki’s Tales from Earthsea

Forget the Syfy (Sci-Fi) Channel’s Earthsea miniseries. Ursula K. Le Guin, the author of the Earthsea novels and stories, would certainly prefer you did. Her reaction to Gorō Miyazaki’s anime adaptation of her fantasy world has also been decidedly mixed, but not necessarily as vehement. In fact, Miyazaki’s film is not without merit, especially for those not intimately grounded in the Earthsea mythology. Three years after its Japanese premiere, Miyazaki’s Tales from Earthsea (trailer here), finally has its American theatrical release, courtesy of Walt Disney, opening today in New York.

While the legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki long sought to adapt Le Guin’s Earthsea stories, it was his son Gorō, a relative new comer to animated filmmaking, who was assigned the project by Studio Ghibli, the anime house co-founded by Miyazaki the elder. The result is a visually striking, if thematically familiar, fantasy.

Like the epics of Tolkien and Robert Jordan, Tales follows a young protagonist of destiny, Arren, a confused prince who has apparently just murdered his father, the king. Fleeing in shame, he encounters the wizard Sparrowhawk on the road. Like his late father, Sparrowhawk is concerned about the chaos sweeping over Earthsea. The weather is unseasonable, crops are failing, livestock are dying, and two dragons were recently spotted off the coast fighting to the death, an unprecedented event in the Earthsea fantasy world.

Naturally, there is a Sauron-like evil overlord to contend with. In this case, it is the androgynous sorcerer Cob, whose slave-trading minions appear to be out to get Arren. Indeed, Tales follows the standard epic fantasy template, but does so reasonably well.

Miyazaki the younger is most successful creating an epic look in the film, employing watercolor backgrounds and hand-drawn animation. Indeed, his fantasy landscapes and cityscapes have an exotic beauty that elevates Tales well above standard issue anime.

Redubbed for an American audience (not an uncommon practice with anime distribution), the English language cast mostly ranges from adequate to fairly good. Timothy Dalton (the under-appreciated James Bond) is the class of the field, leading his commanding voice to Sparrowhawk. In contrast, Willem Dafoe’s work as Cob often sounds campy, in the wrong way.

The first Disney animated release to carry a PG-13 rating, Tales is similar in intensity (and subject matter) to Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated Lord of the Rings. Richly crafted but predictable (as is the case with most contemporary epic fantasy fiction), Tales is better than genre diehards might have heard at their conventions. It opens today (8/13) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.

The New Titans (in 3D)

Maybe it is not quite as daunting to remake as Star Wars, but if you identify with the generation formerly known as “X,” you would probably approach Desmond Davis’s 1981 blockbuster Clash of the Titans with some trepidation, regarding it as one of the truly iconic film of your formative years. Of course, the special effects seem quaint by today’s standards, but it has a sense of wonder that still holds up. While that enchantment might be difficult to recapture, Louis Leterrier’s Clash remake (trailer here) at least has the benefit of Hollywood’s current silver bullet, 3D special effects, assuring it plenty of bespectacled customers when it opens in theaters everywhere today.

Perseus is still a demigod, the son of Zeus and a rather surprised mortal woman. A foundling raised by a poor but loving fisherman and his wife, Perseus has never held a sword in his life. However, when his family is unintentionally wiped out in an Olympian temper tantrum, the Greek hero finds himself sucked into a war between men and gods.

As was the case in the original film, the city of Argos will be destroyed by the Kraken, unless Princess Andromeda sacrifices herself. To save the princess and her city, Perseus journeys to the underworld in order to sever Medusa’s head, the only WMD that can kill the dreaded sea monster. Although Andromeda was nice enough to offer him a drink at a royal revelry (before Hades showed up, cutting the party short), there are no sparks flying between them this time around.

Not simply a departure from the original story, such absence of romantic motivation is a real problem for the new Clash. Instead of racing to save a beautiful woman, Perseus only embarks on his quest to avenge his parents. As a result, there is not a compelling sense that time is of the essence. His character also seems rather cold (and more than a bit dull).

As the lead “actor” in Avatar and now Clash, Sam Worthington is Hollywood’s reigning Mr. 3D. However, his wooden screen presence makes Jason Statham look expressive. At least Ralph Fiennes gets the film enough to ham it up shamelessly as Hades. While Liam Neeson is a serviceable stand-in for Sir Laurence Olivier as Zeus, his reteaming with Fiennes has the unintended consequence of reminding the audience of their immeasurably superior work in Schindler’s List. Though there are a number of interesting actors sprinkled throughout the supporting cast, (most notably including Danish Mads Mikkelsen, the former Bond villain who plays against type as Perseus’s comrade Draco) nobody really has much character development to work with.

There are plenty of special effects though, many of which are reasonably impressive. The flying Pegasuses are nicely rendered and the crashing of a colossal statue of Zeus into the ocean has the appeal of old school Cecil B. DeMille spectacles. Yet, despite Leterrier’s sweeping mountain vistas and seascapes, Clash never appreciably ups the ante in the 3D stakes. Really, a bit more investment in character and story would have paid higher dividends.

For those who are wondering, Bubo the mechanical owl only appears briefly in a clever cameo. However, as the movie chugs along, his gimmicky presence is actually missed. While there are many cool effects and a few campy laughs, the new Clash just is not worth the premium 3D ticket price. Revisiting the original Clash is definitely recommended though (it even streams on Netflix). Mildly distracting popcorn fare, Leterrier’s Clash opens nationwide today (4/2).