I had a hard time recently, both at home and in the workplace, but now things have been straightening out a bit and I have some free time these days. So I feel in the mood to watch some fantasy or science fiction movies. What do you guys advise?
Just to give you an idea, I have previously watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Princess Bride, Ladyhawke and Willow, as well as the Star Wars trilogy (prequels? they don’t exist), all the Star Trek series and Serenity (which I didn’t like). I feel like watching some epic adventure, with swords and sorcery and bad guys going Muahahaha! while stroking their goatee, and starships whooshing in the void, lasers going Phzoom! Phzoom!, and happy endings. Happy endings are important.
I don’t care if the actors are not top celebrities, or if the effects are a bit cheesy, as long as the movies are fun and enjoyable to watch.
Stardust is Princess Bride-ish. Krull is cheesy nonsense that I loved when I was 13. Labyrinth is one of my favourite movies of all time. As is other Jim Henson fantasy movie The Dark Crystal. The Neverending Story still thrills. The first one, from 1984, does at least. The Scorpion King is mindless and almost tolerable. Dragonheart isn’t too awful, if you can get past the distraction of Sean Connery’s distinctive voice coming from a dragon. Legend is… a bit weird, but is by Ridley Scott, has Tom Cruise in it, and a compelling performance by Tim Curry.
The Beastmaster (1982) - sword-and-sorcery adventure starring Marc Singer about a guy who can supernaturally see through the eyes of his animal friends. Cheesy, but pretty dark and violent. Plus Tanya Roberts naked!
No whooshing starships, and no moustache-curling bad guy… Nor does HAL goes Muahaha, that’s important.
Um, more of a horror one, this.
Lack of whooshing starships, or overacting bad guys, or happy endings.
I do appreciate the suggestion, and I’m going to watch these again some time in the future, but for the moment I’d feel better with some feel-good stuff. Seriously, I’ve passed through a bad patch, and now I feel the need for some lighter entertainment. But thanks for the input, teela!
Ladyhawke. It has Rutger Hauer on a big black horse, a dastardly curse, and Mathew Broderick looking about 12 years old as a scrappy thief/comic foil. Its a bit dark and broody but it does have a happy ending. A real Saturday afternoon fantasy flick.
Serenity. Best sci-fi movie I’ve ever seen. Be prepared to pay attention, because unlike most movies, the characters are smart, so anything that comes as a surprise to them will surprise you, too.
After you see it, you will want to somehow obtain the DVDs of Firefly, the TV series it was based on. Sometimes they’re on sale pretty cheap on Amazon.
It’s a miniseries, actually, but fairy-tale and fantasy goofiness abounds in The 10th Kingdom. Dastardly villains, resourceful hero(ine)s, pop culture references, all that. IMDB.