Sorry, I was going post yesterday, but ran out of time.

We might watch One Night With The King again this week with my Mom, that all depends on a few variables... but if we do, I will probably be able to form a better opinion of ONWTK.

weren't the costume's drop-dead gorgeous?

I loved Esther's costumes, especially the bright pink one. The white one reminds me of Eowyn's white dress.

I, too, found

I did likeI do understand what both of you are saying, and I still like it overall. Though I must say, it isn't going on my Amazon shopping list anytime soon. I think having read about the inaccuracies before viewing the film lowered our expectations, so my sisters and I were able to enjoy the good parts.

SnowAngel

Very briefly, I saw One Night with the King quite awhile ago and remember coming away not impressed with anything but the sets and costumes. I would not go out of my way to see it again.

I will say that what I didn't like about it was it's view on authority and the 'if you have good intentions it's okay to rebel' POV.

Agreed, Fencer! That is probably my biggest beef against both the HP films and books, along with Harry's tremendous propensity for lying (even more pronounced in the books). And to make matters worse, he often got let off the hook for his disobedience: not always, but often.

I just keep thinking of all the thousands of children in the world reading these books and wonder what they're learning about honesty, truthfulness, and respect for authority from this. (I'm a parent, okay? ) I, as an adult, can look at the lying and say "that's wrong", whereas as a child might think "HP can do it; why can't I try and get away with it too?"

Having said that, I do see a lot of positives (loyalty, friendship, bravery, sacrifice), which I find makes these negatives all the more frustrating. What was Rowling thinking basically teaching her young readers it's okay to lie and flaunt authority and rules. /rant

(Edited)

By the way, if we get into a large discussion of the above, it would be best to take it to the Harry Potter thread. In fact, I may just head over there and link to this post.

Well, thanks to youtube, we just finished watching 1983's Krull. I must say, it surpassed my expectations. I was expecting something along the lines of Dragonslayer or Legend, looks great but plays flat and is weird behind belief. Krull does not have anywhere near the production design of Legend, but what it does have is a fun story (granted, it is a typical "rescue the princess from evil guy/monster-thing" plot) and characters that you actually care about.
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Plot: Evil aliens (aren't they always evil?) arrive on the planet Krull and capture the princess Lyssa on her wedding day. The prince, Colwyn, must now travel to the Dark Fortress to rescue his love and defeat the Beast. Along the way, the prince gathers a rag-tag group to help him.

The story combines Sci-Fi and fantasy in an interesting way. The thing about it is it actually works! It is a bit jarring at first to see guards at the castle wearing space armor or to see the Slayers using blaster rifle stick-things, but you get used to it quickly.

Acting: The acting is definitely not Academy Award worthy, but for film of this nature is rather good. Most of the acting is either overly emotional or underplayed. Mostly the latter. Still, you actually get to care about the characters throughout the film so when some of them die, it's actually sad.

Surprisingly and yet not so surprising, princess Lyssa is the most underdeveloped character in the film.

Special Effects: Surprisingly very good for a B-movie fantasy film of the early 80's. Most of the effects come off well, except for the fire horses and some of the matte shots. Make-up effects are also really impressive, especially the Beast and the Slayers.

One gripe about the Slayers: The costumes were too stiff!!! They cool and impressive, but could hardly do anything! Gaaahhh!!

Production Design (Aka sets): Most of the sets look good, if a little too much like sets at times. The only two sets that came off as fake were the white castle at the beginning and the a small lake that our hero stops at about 20 minutes in.

One nice thing about this film is that they actually filmed several outdoor scenes on location!!! This helps to make the film seem more real and thus makes it a better than the films that film "outside" scenes on a sound stage.

Music: Krull features a score by James Horner who was fresh off of the success of Star Trek II. The score fits the film perfectly and would also be a good standalone listen. Horner wisely decided to give the score a 1930's or 40's swashbuckler sound akin to The Adventures of Robin Hood and the like. Of course, Horner reuses some of his previous themes and motifs in the score most obvious being Star Trek II and Wolfen*.

* Interesting note: Wolfen actually introduced several motifs that would later be central to Star Trek II and III as well as Aliens.

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So, as you can probably gather I liked the film a good bit. Definitely something I wouldn't mind getting on DVD the next time I have soem extra cash. I would recommend this film to those that don't mind watching slightly cheesy films and can just watch a movie for the fun of it.

Recommended for ages 11 and up.

Rated PG: Fantasy action/violence, mild language and some frightening images.

Score: 3 out of 5

Ah, Krull! I love these older Sci-Fi/Fantasy flicks, and this one meshes the two genres together quite well, as you rightly pointed out. I haven't seen this one in a few years but I recall my favorite part was the scene with the Fire Stallions. Clydesdales are massive animals but they're really spectacular when there are flames shooting out of their hooves.

Bear in mind that films made back then had to work with very limited special effects technology...nowadays everyone just CGI's everything to death. Krull definitely has charm about it though.

Shadowlander, I watched Predator today. I thought it was good fun. Loved the gratuitous gun-play and explosions. The acting was okay (Arnie was not good here) but the story was good and the action, terrific.

I recall my favorite part was the scene with the Fire Stallions. Clydesdales are massive animals but they're really spectacular when there are flames shooting out of their hooves.

Unsurprisingly, that was one of my favourite parts as well. I also remember liking --though that's not quite the right word for it-- the Widow of the Web. That is still one of the scariest/saddest sequences I have ever seen in a movie, and I think I'd like to keep it that way. And for the record, yes, that spider was scarier than Shelob.

Shadowlander, I watched Predator today. I thought it was good fun. Loved the gratuitous gun-play and explosions. The acting was okay (Arnie was not good here) but the story was good and the action, terrific.

I'm glad you liked it! And I'm sure GB would offer his congratulations too, if he ever returned from whatever limbo he's dissappeared into for the past month.

Arnie will never win any acting awards...you watch him because he can deliver hilarious one-liners with a straight face and because he can grip an M-16 (with a grenade launcher attached, no less) in one hand like a pistol. Did you find yourself saying, "Ruuun! Goooo! Get to da' choppah!" after the film?

Unsurprisingly, that was one of my favourite parts as well. I also remember liking --though that's not quite the right word for it-- the Widow of the Web. That is still one of the scariest/saddest sequences I have ever seen in a movie, and I think I'd like to keep it that way. And for the record, yes, that spider was scarier than Shelob.

I think the Widow was Francesca Annis (who for years I suspected was Rachel Ward's doppelganger). If memory serves me correctly you can also see a young Liam Neeson as one of the roguish heroes of the story.

Ha, ha. No, not particularly. But I wanted to use a Gatling gun in the jungle!
Yes, I miss Gandalf's Beard too.

Has anyone seen Tron? I just saw the trailer for the sequel that's coming out a week after Dawn Treader. The first one came out I think it was in the 80's? Anyways if you saw it, what did you think of it? Thanks!

If memory serves me correctly you can also see a young Liam Neeson as one of the roguish heroes of the story.

Yep. (But I only figured out which one he was afterwards, and only because Sir_Aslanite had a Neeson avatar in which Neeson had a similar haircut. )

I've seen Tron. I liked it. I even have a list somewhere of lines I thought were clever. But I'm afraid that I can't give you a very good review of what was good and what was bad, and if the special effects were really as good as they were supposed to be.

Has anyone seen Tron? I just saw the trailer for the sequel that's coming out a week after Dawn Treader. The first one came out I think it was in the 80's? Anyways if you saw it, what did you think of it?

I absolutely love Tron...one of my favorite movies of all time. The film is one of the very first (if not the first) to use CGI graphics, although they're rather primitive by today's standards. Contrary to popular belief much of the film was done by traditional animation techniques with a lot less of it being CGI, and the process by which they did the film was so much work and so time consuming that they've never made another film like it and probably never will. As it stands, visually, I think Tron holds up spectacularly well even several decades after it came out. The highlight of the film to me is the fantastic Light Cycle race, although the Solar Sailer sequences are also eye opening stuff. At its heart Tron tells a story of Libertarianism (Tron, Flynn, etc.) versus Fascism (the MCP, Sark, etc.). The acting can get a bit wooden at times and Flynn carries much of the film, but I have to admit to becoming a Bruce Boxleitner fan after this film. Great flick...waaaay ahead of its time that still looks great and tells a great story today.

Thanks Shadowlander! I'm definitely going to watch it!

My third favorite movie (after PC and LWW) is... The Princess Bride! I really love the whole story! (Which is "inconceivable" for me!) Oops, that might be a spoiler... but not a big one! Since I really have no clue where the spoiler button is, and because I don't want to spoil the movie for others, I'll just leave it at that.

I must be on a Fantasy film roll at the moment.... Anyway, I just finished watching Ridley Scott's 1985 film Legend (thanks to youtube again). I must say, it was pretty much what I was expecting.

Great visuals and make-up effects, decent to pathetic acting and extremely predictable plot. It also didn't help much that the only version on youtube is the heavily "modified" American cut of the film with a ghastly synth score by Tangerine Dream.

The best actor in my opinion was Mia Sara as Princess Lilly. It also didn't hurt that she was really cute.... And Tom Cruise still can't act!!!

Rob Bottin did some amazing work in this film, namely the very disturbing make-up and prosthetic job on Darkness (played by a barely recognizable Tim Curry). I had to scroll to the bottom of the page for several of the scenes with Darkness. That thing is FREAKY!!!

Music wise..... well, it's a synth score. What more needs to be said? There were only two distinct themes that I could make out: One for Darkness and his minions and a love theme for Lilly and Jack (that's Tom Cruise). The music worked, it just wasn't very memorable and definitely would not be an easy listen outside of the film. Speaking of this, I need to track down the album of Jerry Goldsmith's far superior score.....

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In closing I greatly preferred Krull. Despite the fact that Krull does not have the production values of Legend, it does have something that the later film is sorely lacking: charm.... and a good score.

So, I'm glad I finally saw it, but I won't be returning to the land of Legend anytime soon.

Score: 2 and 1/2 out of 5. (mostly for production design.... and Mia Sara)

1985, Directed by Ridley Scott.

NOTE: If you are easily scared by movie creatures or creepy looking things, DO NOT watch Legend. Darkness is the stuff of nightmares.... *shudders*

Legend was a decent film, but you are sooooo right. It's got a lot of disturbing imagery in it and for that reason it's not one I typically recommend to someone looking for a fantasy movie to easily slip into. You mentioned Dragonslayer in an earlier review...what did you think of it?