Category Archives: Fantasy

by - 4 Comments

Hercules (2014)

Review Hercules

How do legends form? How is it possible that some stories are forgotten within a few months, but others are still read centuries later and are still being told? Could it be because a specific story holds a lesson, like the well-known fairytales do? Or is it because the story is so unbelievable that it is exactly that which inspires its listener/reader? The admiration only increasing the more beautiful the story is, even if it might not be grounded in reality. It is something the best movies do. This one looks at the legend of Hercules. The son of the god Zeus who managed to defeat an unbeatable lion or who cut off the heads of the Hydra. Continue reading →

by - 14 Comments

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Time to return to Middle Earth one final time to conclude the story of The Hobbit. Although I wasn’t a fan of the first movie in the trilogy (it was way too slow with not much happening) I thought the second movie delivered what I was expecting, exciting sequences, introduction and development of characters and a finale which had me wanting more. Having not read the book and seeing where the second movie ended, with Smaug on his way to Lake Town, I couldn’t wait to get back into it. Having now seen it i’m not that excited anymore. Continue reading →

by - 10 Comments

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Review How to train your dragon 2

The first How To Train Your Dragon was, for many unexpectedly, a very well made movie which also got a lot of praise for its use of 3D. Some people even visited the cinema several times because they knew they would not be able to experience it the same way they do in this. I only watched the first movie once but also really enjoyed it. Except knowing that in the original a small town learned to live with dragons I forgot almost everything else about it before watching this one. I did wonder how Dreamworks would be able to go further with the story. Continue reading →

by - 14 Comments

The Time Machine (1960)

Review The Time Machine

The Time Machine by Jules Verne might be one of the best known time travel stories there is. It has been turned into a movie several times as well. I remember seeing the 2002 version, which didn’t impress me and was wondering if this older version might be a bit better. Just like the subject of its story, the movie itself is a journey back in time. A time in which movies were made in a very different way compared to how its done today. Continue reading →

by - 6 Comments

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Review Kiki's Delivery Service

Throughout history the term witch has always had a negative image. Wizards were usually good in fairytales, TV shows and movies, but witches were mostly evil. If the society of witches needed an advertisement to change that image then this movie would be perfect for them. The broomstick and black cat are present, but every other thing you might associate with witches will not appear here. As this is a Studio Ghibli film it does posess the animation magic you’d expect from them. Continue reading →

by - 16 Comments

Frozen (2013)

Review Frozen

I used to love watching animated movies. If there was a new one I just had to check it out as soon as possible. But something has changed and I’m not sure what it is. Even though every year has some great animated movies, there are a ton of horrible ones. I guess I have seen too many bad ones to be excited about what is being released. Last year I could not be bothered to check out movies like Planes or Turbo because the concept behind them just felt like marketing and nothing more. Movies just to sell toys. Still I did watch some animated movies. One of them was Epic and that film disappointed me and probably also made me a bit more cautious. Still I was quite intrigued by the teaser trailer for Frozen and since this is a Disney movie it could be good. Tangled was a lot of fun, so chances were this one would be enjoyable too. My trip to the cinema confirmed my hopes. Continue reading →

by - 21 Comments

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Review The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy told an epic story, filled with adventure and when The Hobbit trilogy was announced people were expecting the same. Last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey did not manage to match those expectations. Although I did enjoy it, the movie felt too long, with not much happening. As someone who has not read the books a lot felt like filler. It is not a movie I am tempted to revisit. Now having seen the second movie I would almost be inclined to say that most of the first movie could have been scrapped with only some small portions added to this one. If you have not seen the first one you could easily see this second film and not miss out on much. The hobbit and the dwarf continue their journey to reclaim the city of the dwarves. Continue reading →

by - 11 Comments

Obstruction 4: Mr. Nobody (2009)

Review of Mr. Nobody

For my entry for Obstruction 4 in the 5 Obstructions blogathon I decided to rewatch and review (and analyze) a movie which is in my all time favorite top 3 (the other two are Pulp Fiction and Black Swan). There are many reasons I love this movie, but I’ll get to that later. The obstruction itself I though was quite challenging and it did make me look at the movie in more detail, something which I did not mind at all.

Mr. Nobody was the feature length movie Belgian director Jaco van Dormael made since 1996. According to Wikipedia he had been trying to film the movie since 2001. When he finally managed to get financing it turned out that he would be making the most expensive Belgian movie ever made with an estimated budget of €33 million (US$47 million).

When writing the film van Dormael was influenced by movies like Run Lola Run and Sliding Doors. He wanted it to be more complicated than those movies and look at life as a whole and in his words “the abyss of infinite possiblities” that offers and that is exactly was he has managed to do with this movie. It is a movie which unfortunately is not widely known and one I always recommend to people first when they ask me about a movie they should check out. Continue reading →

by - 12 Comments

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Review of the movie Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

The last couple of years I’ve read a lot of complaints about there not being enough originality in Hollywood and that too much sequels and prequels are being made. Personally I never had an issue with them, at least not if the quality of them are good (which I admit isn’t always the case). Oz the Great and Powerful is a prequel to the classic The Wizard of Oz and tells the story of how that wizard ended up in Oz and how he turned into the wizard. Continue reading →

by - 34 Comments

Upside Down (2012)

Kirsten Dunst in the sci fi movie Upside Down review

Movies offer a way to make dreams reality. Strange worlds which are thought up can become reality on the big screen. Christopher Nolan did it literally with Inception, showing trains travelling on roads and streets curling up. Upside Down kind of takes that last concept and creates a visually stunning world, or rather worlds as it shows twin planets, very close together.

This means that instead of the sky you will see another world (if you live at the northern part of the bottom planet). Such a concept needs its own rules of course and during the intro it is explained that each planet has its own gravity and that if an object is taking to the other world, the gravity of the originating planet will still effect it. So an object can fall up unless it is balanced out with something from the other world to weigh it down. The last rule is that objects from each world can’t touch each other too long or they will start burn up. It’s in this world the story of Adam and Eden takes place, which probably won’t surprise, is one of forbidden love. Continue reading →