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It may have been a fever dream, but could it be that Netflix announced a Robin Hood? With a Robin Hood who looks like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat?

I remember the previews. There was awful, slow-motion jumping and shooting a wobbly bow that was half drawn. It looked chuffing awful.

It is chuffing awful. I like the main cast members, but they’re wasted on this film.

Kongzilla - The New Empire

Man I love this film series. They’re cheesy, they’re a bit silly, but they’re well made.

And, for a franchise in the modern day? Refreshingly not Rushed Out. Enjoyable enough singularly, each does add to the overworld mythos and lore in a considered way,

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The classic 80’s fantasy.

Baron Munchausen is a stylish fantasy epic with action and laughs spread throughout. Are the fabulous stories of Baron Munchausen real? Can he really lift the Ottoman siege with only the help of his scrappy band of friends? Can whimsy triumph over the rational world? Turns out, yes.

The cast has a lot of old favorites, such as Robin Williams, Eric Idle, Uma Thurman, Richard Pryce in the role that typecast him ever after as the villain, and even a brief cameo by Sting. The special effects are what you expect from an 80’s fantasy, and yet my son was still wowed by them, especially the visual design of the moon scenes.

If you love fantasy, Watch It.

You can’t whack a bit of Terry Gilliam

I think my favourite scene is the one with Alexei Sayle and the human scream organ.

He says he wants to see Time Bandits or Brazil next, so that’s good. Looking for other weird fantasy movies without too much dark material, has anyone got any recommendations? Are movies like In the Company of Wolves or City of Lost Children good?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The classic 80’s fantasy.

This is one of those films that I'm amazed how quiet people are about it and yet its a freaking awesome bit of work!


Time Bandits is also really awesome and a surprisingly dark tone for the ending, but it really fits and works well




For other classics don't forget things like Labyrinth and Dark Crystal or you could always try something riskier like Watership Down

Labyrinth and Dark Crystal immediately jump to mind.

And y’know? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brazil. Or if I did, it’s so long ago I’ve forgotten it entirely.

Time Bandits sounds like it will be our next, then.

We’ve already seen Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal, along with Krull, Willow, Conan, and The Never-Ending Story.

You've got Conan the Destroyer to fit in there some time too!

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
He says he wants to see Time Bandits or Brazil next, so that’s good. Looking for other weird fantasy movies without too much dark material, has anyone got any recommendations? Are movies like In the Company of Wolves or City of Lost Children good?

Hawk the Slayer might fit the bill if you haven't seen it in a while or at all. I know for years it was more or less a running joke in my circle about how bad it is but it's far better than that. Not sure if this is on Youtube or not but I know the sound track is.

A touch darker would be Sword and the Sorcerer, which is a favorite of my. A little campy and a little nudity here and there but you might enjoy it. A few really neat ideas in there as well. I think you can find it on youtube for prescreening if needed.

For a little more of a Sci-fi I'd recommend Space Hunter.

 Overread wrote:
You've got Conan the Destroyer to fit in there some time too!

Good point. And maybe Beastmaster.

I’ve heard Waxwork 2 is a good fantasy film, too, similar to House 2: The Second Story, so we might check it out on Tubi.


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 warhead01 wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
He says he wants to see Time Bandits or Brazil next, so that’s good. Looking for other weird fantasy movies without too much dark material, has anyone got any recommendations? Are movies like In the Company of Wolves or City of Lost Children good?

Hawk the Slayer might fit the bill if you haven't seen it in a while or at all. I know for years it was more or less a running joke in my circle about how bad it is but it's far better than that. Not sure if this is on Youtube or not but I know the sound track is.

A touch darker would be Sword and the Sorcerer, which is a favorite of my. A little campy and a little nudity here and there but you might enjoy it. A few really neat ideas in there as well. I think you can find it on youtube for prescreening if needed.

For a little more of a Sci-fi I'd recommend Space Hunter.

I forgot about Hawk the Slayer. It used to be available on YouTube, along with Yor: Hunter of the Future. I’m not familiar with the Sword and the Sorcerer—for some reason my mind expects it to have the twins from Barbarians?

Space Hunter is going on the list alongside Star Crash and Message from Space. Is Laserblast a good watch?

You could also start leaning into the Ray Harryhausen movies... the various Sinbads, and Clash of the Titans. Jason and the Argonauts, whilst the pinnacle, is a bit long. Valley of Gwangi is probably best avoided.

I think we’ve seen all the Sinbads and Clash. I think we saw Jason when he was much younger, so we should revisit it. I don’t think we’ve seen 20,000,000 Miles to Earth yet. Nor the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.


Nor Gorgo for that matter, not that I have plans to see Gorgo again.

Land that Time forgot and there's a bunch of other early dinosaurs on hidden island/cavemen stories.

Don’t forget Doug McClure movies. I encountered those as schedule fillers when I was a kid, and they’re still among my favourites.

 Overread wrote:
Land that Time forgot and there's a bunch of other early dinosaurs on hidden island/cavemen stories.

You mean The Land That Tine Forgot starring Doug McClure?

I remember Doug McClure from such films as Humanoids from the Deep and Warlords of Atlantis.



*These are two separate movies. I mean, “Humanoids from the Deep and the Warlords of Atlantis”…Can you even imagine?

Prince Valiant maybe? I don't recall it being very good.... but that doesn't seem to be the point!

I am a big fan of the Ator series and Hercules (old,Italian films of course!) of films too, but..... yeah.

 Easy E wrote:
Prince Valiant maybe? I don't recall it being very good.... but that doesn't seem to be the point!

 Easy E wrote:
I don't recall it being very good.... but that doesn't seem to be the point!

 Easy E wrote:
but that doesn't seem to be the point!

Wait but all the films we've been talking about are blockbuster awesome films! I think you're confused!





Also on the serious front if you want Valiant get the cartoon The Legend of Prince Valiant instead. It was on Amazon Prime for a time but doesn't seem to be right now

Abigail

Not the first to report on this of course.

Just underway, and it’s the scene where we get to know our villains. Man, I cannot understand why criminals would recruit a cretin like Dean.

He talks like a moron. He dresses like a moron. And unless it’s deliberate misdirection, I fully expect him to prove to be a total liability.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The classic 80’s fantasy.

Baron Munchausen is a stylish fantasy epic with action and laughs spread throughout. Are the fabulous stories of Baron Munchausen real? Can he really lift the Ottoman siege with only the help of his scrappy band of friends? Can whimsy triumph over the rational world? Turns out, yes.

The cast has a lot of old favorites, such as Robin Williams, Eric Idle, Uma Thurman, Richard Pryce in the role that typecast him ever after as the villain, and even a brief cameo by Sting. The special effects are what you expect from an 80’s fantasy, and yet my son was still wowed by them, especially the visual design of the moon scenes.

If you love fantasy, Watch It.

Oh yes, that is a snazzy film.

I watched a remarkable film today. It's called Going Overboard (1989), and it's Adam Sandler's first film. It's one of those films you'd never ever watch unless you (like me) appreciate Plex TV. Basically my guest and I were sitting, waiting for guest#3 to arrive, and we started browsing Plex stuff, and we got intrigued by this 1989 Adam Sandler film. It very much is a no-budget comedy film of its time and based on the Adam Sandler schtick, which wouldn't change much for the decades to come.

Adam Sandler plays a waiter (who dreams of a career in stand-up comedy) on a cruise ship full of contestants for a beauty contest, Miss Australia insults General Noriega in a tv interview, he sends terrorists to kill Miss Australia. This basically is a somewhat anarchic (but mostly boring) sketch comedy thing without much sketch comedy. Clearly the highlight is Billy Zane's performance. There also are some silly things you just laugh at.

Basically, this film is for any serious historian of Sandler's work. People I advise to Don't Watch.



Then we watched the first episode of Mutant X, famous for starring Lex Luthor (the only proper one) as ....well, Professor X. It's hilarious. Seriously. There is so much year 2000 style over so little substance. The people look pretty. They dress prettily. There is a weird charisma about the bad guy's main henchman. And a lot of smugness, especially about the male lead (the one who shoots lightning from his hands). This is remarkably silly. Very interestingly, in the end it was very clearly pointed out that this thing was made by Marvel Studios. From back when people had shame and superhero stuff was kept under wraps and hidden via genetic experiment stuff by some company.

The original journey to the centre of the earth with James Mason was enjoyable when I was about that age.

Flight of the Navigator? The Cat from outer Space?

An Adam Sandler film that’s not funny?

Whatever next? Me being given a birthday present of a shirt with my Nephloof’s happy smiley idiot face on it?

Oh.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
An Adam Sandler film that’s not funny?

He's had a few films that weren't meant to be funny such as Punch Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, and Uncut Gems. I would only recommend the first and the last.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Is Laserblast a good watch?

I want to say it's not. I only saw it once and it's been a few years, but I think I found it lame at the time. Low budget, slow, not much in the way of writing, and neither charming acting nor special effects to gloss over the deficiencies.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
He says he wants to see Time Bandits or Brazil next, so that’s good. Looking for other weird fantasy movies without too much dark material, has anyone got any recommendations? Are movies like In the Company of Wolves or City of Lost Children good?

I love them, but both Brazil and The City Of Lost Children can get pretty dark, particularly Brazil, it's basically Terry Gillam's take on 1984.

 Geifer wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Is Laserblast a good watch?

I want to say it's not. I only saw it once and it's been a few years, but I think I found it lame at the time. Low budget, slow, not much in the way of writing, and neither charming acting nor special effects to gloss over the deficiencies.

I watched it several times, but only the MST3k version. Yeah, it's a slow film without all that much of a story to it. The most remarkable thing probably are the aliens (which I'm fairly certain they're from another film) and they already show in the beginning.


As for weird fantasy films - maybe the Deathstalker films? The Sword and the Sorcerer?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:


I forgot about Hawk the Slayer. It used to be available on YouTube, along with Yor: Hunter of the Future. I’m not familiar with the Sword and the Sorcerer—for some reason my mind expects it to have the twins from Barbarians?

Space Hunter is going on the list alongside Star Crash and Message from Space. Is Laserblast a good watch?

Trailer for Sword and the Sorcerer. It's a fun little movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DREG0dOW8jw

Hawk the Slayer is rubbish 🤣🤣🤣


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oooh! Oooh! Maybe “The Last Starfighter”?

That’s always been a favourite of mine.

Oh yes that film is a must in any classics list of films!