my favorite is Excalibur starring Sam Neil as Merlin.
(from what I have seen of the Sam Neil one ) I prefer Nicol Williamson as Merlin in John Boorman's
Excalibur - a great part for him. Williamson underplayed it brilliantly as a wise old fool - always loved the part when he's trying to catch the fish, it slips out his hands and he looses his balance in the water - "remember! There's always something cleverer than yourself! " Much more multi faceted and well played than anyone I've seen since. I like he way he speaks his lines - original. Many other fine Actors in that film, mostly before they became famous - The great Helen Mirren, ever so respected Patrick Stewart, also Gariel Byrne, Liam Neeson in that too among others.
I wasn't interested in watching the Sam Neil one. I can't say which is better because I haven't seen that one. I wasn't too keen on Sam Neil, didnt think the part suited his acting. He's great in something like Jurassic Park, but Merlin?? I did see some clips but the script sounded bad and I didnt like the costume design either. Looked like production value of everything was a bit on the cheap side - I guess I prefered the John Borman's merlin, the costume design was probably a bit cheap for him too, but it didn't look like it was trying to be anything more than earthy and simple, back to mother nature and the loss of the gods "the old ways" and the beginning of Christianity added more to the feel which felt more authenic to me - that but that just my opinion
- I thought his metal skull-cap was great.
I liked 13th Warrior - but felt like it was lacking in something...though King Arthur was a big disapointment. Even Ray Winstone's superior presence couldn't help that out. Love the subject matter, the angle of a more roman influence background to the story that Excalibur didn't have, the visuals, shame about most of the acting and script. Clive Owen as Arthur? Sack the casting. He's great in Sin City & Closer, I just didnt think he could deliver as Arthur -probably because I was so impressed with Nigel Terry's performance in Excalibur.
300 & Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Braveheart ( actually are those 'historical fiction' ?) anyway I'm sneaking them in cos they are great!
Can Highlander (only the orignal movie all the rest were bad follow ups) be credited as fantasy? Another classic, despite some oddities of various accents contradicting stated nationalites but hey!- its fantasy!
LOTR of course. I know - another one saying it, but I couldn't help myself
. I particualry like that it brought the fantasy genre to a wider audience, away from any clichéd preconceptions of mainstream audiences like Conan or Legend , Neverending Story and Labyrinth which are all entertaining and good in their own ways (room for everyone!) . I suspect LOTR (and the rest) has Gladiator to thank for paving the way, both brilliant films...so glad theres not a sequel to Gladiator - yeah I know he's dead, but hollywood has a habbit of screwing up a good story in the pursuit of milking the audience for more money - Highlander 2 & 3 are exhibits A & B
King Kong (Peter Jackson) & Pirates of the Caribbean lot ok for this thread? I'm not a big follower of Harry Potter, but you can't deny they're great entertaining films too.
Time Bandits was great - so many good scenes, - Micheal Palin " - the personal problem... it's coming back!" and John Cleese as Robin Hood " So you're robbers are you? Jolly good. Jolly good indeed! " with the nice touch of the Mona Lisa in their swag bag - the line that always sticks in my head for some reason is: "Mum! Dad! Don't touch it - it's eeevviilll!!"
Sinbad films, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titians - yeah! anything connecting Ray H H is good like that. Dark Crystal is one of my favs too - I hear 'they' are making a sequel.
Ying xiong aka
"Hero" is fantastic. Recently voted as one of the "50 films to see before you die" on a TV show here in the UK.
Still need to see Pan's Labyrinth, hear its great.
I guess I had anything with sword in it classed as fantasy! Some probably not
really fantasy in the way of LOTR - anyway good thread.
Jez