Quintessential Fantasy Films of the 80's

nSo here we are on the last day of my 80’s blog-a-thon (younguys been diggin’ it?) and I couldn’t leave without doing something on FantasynFilms of the 80’s. Why you ask? Well, because they are a pretty special bunchnof films that’s why. Interesting thing about these fantasy films of the 80’s isnthat a lot of them where box office failures but have endured even to our daynbecause people discover them after the fact and fall in love with them, andncontinue to watch them. But why if these films where good, did they fail at thenbox office? Well, certain elements factor into the failure equation, for examplenWillow was bashed by critics for being too similar to Star Wars, Adventures ofnBaron Munchausen suffered because of a shift in management at Columbia, Returnnto Oz was considered too dark for an Oz movie and audiences rejected it. Legendnwas a huge fiasco; a whole stage was burned down because of a gas line that wentnout of control. To make matters worse, Ridley Scott got cold feet and re-editednthe whole film so it could be more “hip”, apparently he was afraid of rejectionnfrom the MTV generation. The film flopped anyways. Masters of the Universe (andnSuperman IV combined) literally shut down Cannon Films! Labyrinth had David Bowiesncrotch in 3-D and so on…but for whatever the reason, studios kept making theirnfantasy films! Thank the movie gods for that!

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nBut not all of them were failures of course. For every five fantasynfailures, one of these films would be a huge success. Good examples of this arenConan The Barbarian which was huge at the box office; so was Terry Gilliam’s TimenBandits. But whatever, success or not at the box office, what matters to us isnif the movie is good or not, if they make some sort of lasting impression. Ifnthey stay with us, and well, if these movies made it onto my list ofnQuintessential 80’s Fantasy Films, well, they must have something special aboutnthem. What I like about a lot of these 80’s films is that a lot of them wherenactually original fantasy films and weren’t based on any books or previousnfilms, a lot of them weren’t remakes or anything. A lot of them had originalnelements to them and that’s something you don’t see a lot of these days. Mostnof them weren’t 90% computer generated, nope, these babies were hand craftednwith tender loving care. So sit back, relax, and check this list out, there’snbound to be one or two on here that you’ll want to either experience for thenfirst time, or revisit for good old times sake. Enjoy! 

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nTitle: Krull (1983)

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nComments: Krull tells the tale of Prince Colwyn, a young mannwhose wedding to Princess Lyssa is interrupted by an alien invasion! You see,nthere’s this villain called ‘Beast’ who travels around the galaxy on a flyingnmountain/castle thing, which never stays in the same place, the mountain castlenis always traveling around making all the more difficult to catch the guy. ButnThe Beast suddenly has eyes for Lyssa and has his soldiers kidnap her, so hencan marry her. Colwyn must search for his love and rescue her from the clutchesnof The Beast, but first he must find the magical Glave, will he find it? Thisnone, like many fantasy films from this era is all about the main villainnfalling in love with goodness. If you remember correctly, the same thingnhappens in Labyrinth and Legend, the purely evil villain is attracted by the innocencenand purity of good. 

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nQuote: “A girl of ancient name shall become queen and shenshall choose a king, together they will rule the world and their son will rulenthe galaxy”

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nTitle: Legend (1985)

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nComments: This one has always been one of my favoritenfantasy films from the 80’s, but also, one of my favorite fantasy films,nperiod. The world of Legend is so rich, so complex, so visually stunning, that Incan’t help but revisit it over and over again. The reason for this filmsnrichness is the director behind it, Ridley Scott who is the kind of directornwho’ll make the unbelievable, believable. At the basis of this story is anbattle between the forces of good and innocence embodied by the characters ofnJack and Lilly and the darkest form of evil, a villain by the name ofn‘Darkness’. What holds the tale together is the purest form of love that Jacknand Lilly have for each other. Darkness represents the animal side of humannnature, the dark side, the primal side; in one moment of the film Darknessntells Lilly “we are all animals my dear” referring to this. I love that battlenbetween light and dark, one in need of the other, “for what is light, withoutndark?” As you can see, the script for this film is great and gets quite poeticnat times. Darkness is one of the most amazing make up effects creations alongnwith the rest of the creatures that inhabit this film. Rob Bottin wasnresponsible for the creature effects on this show, this film is a greatnshowcase of his work. Darkness is a striking image, as well as the swamp witchnknown as ‘Meg Mucklebones’, it’s a true delight watching these creatures comento life. Tim Curry out does himself in the role of Darkness, though he isnunrecognizable under tons of makeup. Mia Sarah and Tom Cruise do a fantasticnjob of looking young and innocent and deeply in love. David Bennent alsondelivers an outstanding performance as ‘Gump’. This is a special kind ofnfantasy film, if you haven’t experienced it yet, it’s about time you did!

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nQuote: “The dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity”

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nTitle: Willow (1988)

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nComments: Willow got a lot of heat when it was firstnreleased back in ’88 because critics thought it was too similar to GeorgenLuca’s Star Wars films and since it was Lucas producing Willow, well, theynthought he was just rehashing old ideas. I have to say that yeah, it’s true,nfor every character in Willow you can find its counterpart in Star Wars, butnstill, who the hell cares, Willow has enough original elements to set it apartnfrom the Star Wars universe. First up, this is a fantasy film, and with thatncomes magic, witches, sorcerers and dragons! This film was made during a timenwhen genre films were making that jump from using stop motion effects to fullnCGI creations, so on Willow we get a mix of both. We have one scene in whichnFin Raziel, a witch, transforms from one animal to the next until she finallynreaches her true human form, all through the use of morphing techniques, whichnwere in diapers back in those days but at the same time we also get stop motionncreatures like the two headed ‘Eborsisk Dragon’ which still looks pretty damnncool in my book, a highlight of the film no doubt. Then we have the great castnrounding things out, Val Kilmer plays ‘Madmartigan’, the Han Solo type andnWarwick Davis plays Willow Ufgood, the Luke Skywalker type; together they mustnstop Queen Bavmorda, the Emperor Palpatine of this movie. Okay, so what if it isnlike Star Wars, Willo is still an extremely enjoyable fantasy film that wallowsndeep in its fantasy roots, something that sets it apart from anything seen onnStar Wars. If you ask me, what Willow was truly influenced by was J.R.R.nTolkiens Lord of the Rings novels.

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nQuote: “Magic is the bloodstream of the universe. Forget allnyou know or think you know. All that you require is your intuition”

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nTitle: Excalibur (1981)

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nComments: Excalibur is director John Boorman’s take on thenstory of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It’s a film thatndepicts a time when “the old ways” (meaning magic)   and the “new ways” (meaning Christianity)nwhere clashing with one another and Christianity was beginning to win thenbattle. Magic was seen as something that was fading away, something pagan andnevil; now Jesus was everyone’s savior. This is a story in which human passionnmakes people do some really stupid things, totally blinded by lust and desire.nIt happens to the best of us what can I say? nThe films strongest aspect are its visuals, which director John Boormannexecuted with old school filmmaking techniques. Highly recommend it, as in mynopinion it is one of the best retellings of the story.  

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nQuote: “You are not listening. Well, your heart is not. Lovenis deaf as well as blind.”

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nTitle: Clash of the Titans (1981)

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nComments: Clash of the Titans was such a spectacle when itnwas first released, back then, stop motion animation was as far as specialneffects technology had gotten and this was the pinnacle of that form of visualneffects. It had gained huge momentum with films like The Seventh Voyage ofnSinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) The Valley of Gwangi (1969) andnThe Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) amongst many others. All of these films hadnone thing in common, stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen was thenman responsible for the stop motion animation of all these wonderful creaturesnthat appear on all of these films, but Clash of the Titans was the pinnacle ofnhis carreer, it was the last film that Harryhausen ever animated, so it was hisnlast hurrah, his cinematic swan song and what a song it was! I remember beingnamazed by this film in theaters, my dad took me to see it and it was a specialnevent for me. This film had a very true sense of adventure, romance andnheroism. It tells the tale of Perseus and his adventures in trying to kill ThenKraken, a giant beast from the sea to whom the love of his life, Andromeda, willnbe sacrificed to. Most of the stop motion animation is awesome, some isn’t. Fornexample, the animation on Pegasus, the flying horse, wasn’t the best. This was probablynbecause it was very difficult to animate all the feathers on Pegasus. Butncreatures like The Kraken and Medusa? True showstoppers! That scene with thengood guys entering Medusa’s temple is so effective it almost feels like anhorror film. Highly recommend checking this one out, in my opinion it isnsuperior to the remake in many ways.  

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nQuote: “For the insult you have done to me, and the cruelninjury inflicted upon my son, I demand the life of Andromeda, in 30 days.”

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nTitle: Dragonslayer (1981)

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nComments: Peter MacNicol plays Galen, a sorcerer’snapprentice who needs to find a way to kill ‘Vermithrax Pejorative’, the firenbreathing dragon with whom the king of the realm has made a pact. The pactnconsists in the dragon getting a virgin sacrificed to her every year, in turn;nthe dragon leaves the realm alone. If the dragon doesn’t get its yearly virgin,nthen the realm gets burned to smithereens. But killing an old dragon of thisnmagnitude is no easy task, and so Galen employs the help of his mentor, Ulrichnthe Sorcerer. Still, to this day, there is no better Dragon movie thannDragonslayer. Some have come close to being as good, but they never reach thenlevel of awesomeness that this film reaches. For example, Peter Jackson’s Lordnof the Rings films has awesome looking dragons, but the film isn’t aboutndragons, it only features them in certain scenes. Dragonslayer is a filmncentered entirely on the mythical creatures, and it’s the best film on thensubject, bar none. The special effects work is astounding, even to this daynthanks in no small part to the wondrous stop motion work of Phil Tippett. Thentone of the film isn’t goofy or silly like some dragon movies I could mention,nDungeons and Dragons I’m looking at you kid! Nope, this movies tone is seriousnand realistic, which makes it more believable. The films tagline always madenperfect sense for me:  “When dragons werenreal”. 

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nQuote: “I am Galen Brandwarden, inheritor of Ulrich’s craftnand knowledge. I am the sorcerer you seek!”

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nTitle: Time Bandits (1981)

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nComments: Terry Gilliam lives and breathes fantasy andnescapism perhaps more than any other director in film history. Sure there are ancouple of heavy contenders out there (Guillermo del Toro being one of them) butnno director has done fantasy as consistently and with such dedication and appreciationnfor fantasy as Terry Gilliam has. Right from the very beginning of his careernwith films like Jabberwocky (1977), it’s always been fantasy that has taken thenlead in his work. In Time Bandits Gilliam tells the tale of Kevin a young kidnwho is one day visited by a group of midget/angels who have stolen a map to allnthe wormholes in the universe from The Supreme Being. That’s right, they stolena map from God! Funny how God has appeared in a lot of these Monty Python/TerrynGilliam films! So anyhow, while running away from The Supreme Being, Kevin andnhis midget friends embark on a time traveling adventure that takes them to meetneveryone from Robin Hood to Napoleon! Kind of like a Bill and Ted’s ExcellentnAdventure type of film, but with no telephone booth. Like many of Gilliam’snfilms, this one features excellent miniature work and imaginative specialneffects. David Warner plays ‘Evil’, basically, he is Satan himself. He wantsnthe map of the universe so he can conquer it. Best part about the film is thatnbecause Gilliam comes from Monty Python, the dialog and situations are infusednwith some truly funny comedy. But deep down inside, this film is verynphilosophical, it explores the ideas of God and the Devil, good vs. evil, and asksnsuch philosophical questions as “Why does there have to be evil?“

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nQuote: “I think it has something to do with free will”

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nTitle: The Dark Crystal (1982)

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nComments: This is another of Jim Hensons films, he was anbusy guy during the 80’s. He made all those Muppet movies, produced the MuppetnShow and directed both Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, but this last one hencollaborated with Frank Oz in directing. This one is a bit different thannLabyrinth because there is not a human in sight, everything on the screen isnpuppets or people handling puppets, but not a single human is seen on screen.nThe Dark Crystal is a pure fantasy film, not unlike Tolkien’s Lord of thenRings. The film tells the story of Jen and Kira, two Gelflins on the quest forna magical crystal shard that will bring unity and peace to their world. Willnthey ever find it? 

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nQuote: “What was sundered and undone shall be whole, the twonmade one”

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nTitle: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

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nComments:  During then80’s and after the success of films like Time Bandit’s, The Meaning of Life andngetting critical acclaim for Brazil, Gilliam went on to direct what would benhis biggest film ever, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. What’s interestingnabout this film is that it was Gilliam’s last ultra big budget film, after floppingnin theaters, he was never entrusted the mega kajillions again. From here on innhe would continue making films, but with fewer millions at his disposal. Sadnpart is that it was not his fault, this movie was victim of corporate changesnat Columbia Pictures. Head Honchos change, and the films that previous studionheads were backing, suddenly get the shaft from the new management, Baron Munchausennwas one of the ones that got the shaft during one of those turn arounds atnColumbia. Sadly this movie did not deserve to be a flop, it’s such a highnquality production, such a beautiful film to look at, so lavish, so epic, thatnit’s a true tragedy that because of poor marketing techniques, the film went bynunseen and undiscovered by audiences. The film is about Baron Munchausen andnhis attempts to twart an invasion by “The Turks”, he tries to distract thenpopulace by telling them tales of his fantastic battles against the Turks. Arenthese stories real or are they tall tales? The films highlight is seeing thenBaron’s tales come to life on the screen, these tales involve meeting the ‘Kingnof the Moon’ (played by a hilarious Robin Williams) and falling in love withnVenus played by a very young and beautiful Uma Thurman. But the incredible castndoesn’t stop there, we also get Eric Idle, Oliver Reed and Sarah Polly as thenlittle girl urging the Baron to not give up his battle against life. Highlynrecommend this amazing fantasy film if you haven’t given it a go. It is a onenof a kind movie experience. 

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nQuote: “I have a galaxy to run, I don’t have time fornflatulence and orgasms!”

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nTitle: Conan The Barbarian (1982) and Conan The Destroyer (1984)

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nComments: Though both of these films are vastly different inntone and feel, both are about Robert E. Howard’s most famous creation: Conannthe Barbarian, a thief, an adventurer and in the end, also a King! Both ofnthese films are vastly superior then the god awful Marcus Nispel directed,nConan The Barbarian (2011). My advice is skip that horrid take on the characternand just watch the first two Conan films. Now the first one is a verynanti-religious film about Conan looking to avenge the death of his family andnhis people at the hands of a religious snake worshipping cult lead by a mannknown as Thulsa Doom. It’s a serious take on the character, which is somethingnI love about the movie. Its fantasy, but it’s told with a very realistic tone,nyou almost believe that this world exists. The second one is a different animalnall together because it’s more of a comic book movie; still a highly enjoyablenfilm in my book. Here’s where we see the difference that a director can give anproject! The first one was written by Oliver Stone and directed by JohnnMillius, two very serious filmmakers who most of the time write and directnfilms revolving around war. The second was directed by Richard Fleischer, thenguy behind Red Sonja (1985) and Amityville 3-D (1983). This is something I lovenabout changing creative teams on a franchise, the different elements they addnto each project makes each film unique. Both of these films helped catapultnSchwarzenegger to stardom, to this day it is still one of his most recognizedncharacters.     

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nQuote: “You killed my mother! You killed my father! Younkilled my people!”

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nTitle: The Never Ending nStory (1984)

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nComments: I can’t think of 80’s fantasy films withoutnthinking about The Never Ending Story. The book is amazing, if you’re lookingnto read an amazing fantasy novel, The Never Ending Story is an amazing book sonfull of ideas and creatures that when the time came to make the film, they onlynfilmed have of the story. In the book, Bastian visits Fantasia and becomesntheir leader and a despot! But the film only left the story half way there. Inthink it was a wise choice because the book tells an epic story! They decidednto tell the other half of the story in the horrible sequel, The Never EndingnStory II: The Next Chapter (1990) sadly, that sequel didn’t do the book anynjustice at all. And I don’t even count the third film The Never Ending StorynIII (1994) because that third entry is one of those films that’s so bad, you’llnfreaking blush when you see it. But back to the first film which is a solid,nwell produced and directed piece of fantasy cinema. On that one we meetnBastian, a young boy who tries to avoid reality by escaping into his fantasynnovels. That’s all fine and dandy, the problem is that one of the books he endsnup reading is ‘The Never Ending Story’ a magical book that makes its reader a part of thenstory. So soon, Bastian finds himself entwined in The NevernEnding Story, battling against the Gomork and the terrible Nothing which isneating up fantasia.

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nQuote: “The more wishes you make, the more magnificentnfantasia will become”

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nTitle: Highlander (1986)

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nComments: With these Highlander films, I’m of the opinionnthat they should have never done any sequels. And if they did plan on makingnsome sequels then dammit, at least make them good. But no, they went and overncomplicated things to the point of incomprehension with Highlander II: ThenQuickening (1991) which is to me tough to link to the original which was simplynput a very original fantasy film about Immortals who roam the earth. All theynwant to do is kill each other so they can obtain ‘the gift’. What is this giftnthat they so covet? Well, apparently, once you’ve killed all of the Immortalsnof the earth, and it’s just you, then you’lln know everything and become the mostngifted mind in the world, or something to that effect, it’s never clearlynexplained. My favorite parts of the original Highlander are those that takenplace in The Highlands of Scottland, where Connor McLeod, the titular highlanderncomes from. You see, this film serves as an origin story and so we get to seenhow McLeod first discovers that he is an immortal and he has Sean Connery tonshow him the ways of immortality! I love everything about this movie, rightndown to its rock and roll soundtrack by Queen. This franchise is begging for anreboot, a film that will take everything we’ve come to know aboutnHighlanders and re-package it all and finally make these films make some sense. Butnthis original one? A solid piece of fantasy! Highly recommend it!  

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nQuote: “From the dawn of time we came, moving silently downnthrough the centuries, living many secret lives…struggling to reach the time ofnthe gathering.”

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nTitle: Masters of the Universe (1987)

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nComments: Masters of the Universe is a love it or hate film,nI fall on the love it category. Some people feel they didn’t really get a He-Mannfilm. They wanted battle cat and they wanted Skeletor to have a yellow skull.nThey wanted Orko instead of ‘Gwuildor’ and so forth. But for me, even though I wasna big fan of the toys, which along with G.I. Joe’s made up a huge part of mynchildhood, I still liked the movie just the way it is. It’s kind of difficultnnot to like this one. It’s an excellent production with top notch visualneffects. The film was conceptualized by French artist Jean Giraud, a masterncomic book artist/fantasist who sadly passed away in 2012. Giraud’s involvementnis the reason why all the characters look so damn cool. Sure the film has ancouple of flaws here and there (where’s the people of earth at?) but overall,nit’s a good he-man film. You will see He-man wielding his sword of power andnscreaming “I have the power!” You will see Skeletor trying to destroy him; younwill see Castle Greyskull and someone actually becoming a Master of thenUniverse. It’s a big film with some cheesy dialog here and there, but overall,non the fun-o-meter, this one rates pretty high. Visually speaking, Lundgrennlooks like He-Man come to life, but it’s Frank Langella who steals the show asnSkeletor!  

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nQuote: “The Alpha and the Omega, death and rebirth, and asnyou die, so shall I be reborn!”

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nTitle: The Princess Bride (1987)

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nComments: The Princess Bride is a classic fairy tale fillednwith castles, witches, swordfights and princesses that need to be rescued from thenclutches of an evil prince. We also get a peasant boy who falls in love with a womannwho is completely out of his league. You see, The Princess Bride is all about anfarm boy named Westley who falls head over heels in love for Princess Buttercup.nTo avoid Buttercup’s marriage to Humperdink, Westley kidnaps Buttercup and takesnher with him to the forest; but will Buttercup still love Wesley even after he’s been gone for so many years? Can she deal with the fact that he is now a pirate? Thisnfilm unfolds like a fairy tale right from the get go; with a grandfathernreading a fairy tale to his grandson. “In my time, television was called books”nhe tells his grandson.  As thengrandfather reads the story to his grandson, we see it come to life. One of thenbest things about the film is that it is perfectly cast! Billy Crystal, CarynElwes, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Fred Savage, Peter Falk… a trulynexcellent cast that livens up the film, everyone seems to understand the tonguenin cheek tone of the film, nobody takes themselves too seriously. Well, allnexcept Indigo Montoya (played by Mandy Patinkin) who wants revenge for the deathnof his father, which reminds me: this is an extremely quotable film!  

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nQuote: “My name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father,nprepare to die!”

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nTitle: Return to Oz (1985)

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nComments: A great sequel to the classic film from the 30’s,nReturn to Oz is so criminally underrated it’s not even funny. Upon it’snrelease, it was a failure at the box office, but that was only due to the factnthat people couldn’t accept a darker version of the Oz universe. Return to Oznis a distinctively grimmer film when compared to the multicolored musicalnclassic. But that’s okay by me, I love dark and spooky and Return to Oz isnexactly that. On this one Dorothy is in a mental asylum about to receive electronshock therapy because she’s always talking about Oz. When she finally makes itnto Oz, she confronts Queen Mombi, a witch that switches heads all the time, anGnome King that is made of rock (and is allergic to chickens) and a talkingnchicken named Bellina and for that matter, a talking couch! There’s morenspooky/weird stuff, but I’ll let you discover the wonders of this film all bynyourself. This film is a rarity, a dark, “scary” film that comes from thenshinny happy people at Disney.  

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nQuote: “Where’s my Powder of Life!?”

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nTitle: Red Sonja (1985)

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nComments: True this movie is considered bad and I’m notngoing to lie, the dialog is simply atroicious, as if no time was truly given tonwhat these characters would say, somebody just wrote this thing and got a payncheck, but I do enjoy certain aspects of the film. Like for example itsnproduction values arent all that bad. Effects wise, we don’t really get muchnsave for a metal dragon that they encounter in a lake, which is a pretty coolnscene. The film ultimately ends up commenting on weapons of mass destruction,nand the power that their wielder holds on humanity. On this film, an evil QueennGedren want’s to posses this magical orb that can bring destruction upon hernenemies. The only problem is that the orb can’t really be controlled, and so itnisn’t long before Gedren has the orb bringing forth uncontrollable destructionnupon the land. It’s an allegory for nuclear weapons, we gotta remember, thisntheme was always reoccurring in films of the 80’s because of the fear ofnnuclear meltdown. On the day Red Sonja premiered Arnold’s wife Maria whisperednonto Arnold’s ear and said: “If this movie doesn’t destroy your career, nothingnwill” Obviously Arnold’s charisma took him way further and this movie didn’t make a dent, but still, the movie is an interesting curiosity. He looks like Conan in the film, but he isn’t playing Conan. Basically, De Laurentis told Arnold he was supposed to play a glorified cameo, truth is Arnold ended up playing a huge part in the film. 

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nQuote: “No man may have me unless he’s beaten me in a fair fight”

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nTitle:  ThenBeastmaster (1982)

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nComments: Basically, if you lived through the 80’s and hadncable, there was no way you were going to miss Beastmaster, it was on all thentime! It has to be one of the most replayed movies ever. The idea is a prettyninteresting one; through the use of black magic, Dar is a human born from a cownwho ends up with the ability to communicate with animals! Dar’s on a quest tonavenge the death of his family and his people, there’s a crazy religious cultnthat enjoys destroying little villages, and one of them was Dar’s. On hisnquest, Dar befriends some people and even some animals that end up helpingnthrough his adventure. This one is cheesy to the max and it might even feel anlittle like a Conan Rip Off, but it is still highly enjoyable. Marc Singernbrings The Beastmaster to life; a role he would revisit two more times in thensequels. Tanya Robert’s also stars on this film and on it she looks sexier than ever, exploiting her sexuality every step of the way. Speaking of which, if you can’t get enough of sexy Mrs. Robert’s, you should check her out in Sheena (1984), a film she made after Beastmaster which resembles Beastmaster in many ways, right down to her havingnabilities to communicate with animals! 

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nQuote: “The gods have put that mark upon you, and someday,nyou’ll find out why.”

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nTitle: Labyrinth (1986)

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nComments: Anyone who was a kid during the 80’s holds thisnone close to their heart, it’s a film that has many great things going for it, let’s see, it was produced by George Lucas, it was directed by Muppetncreator Jim Henson, written by Monty Python alumni Terry Jones and starsnJennifer Connelly and the one and only David Bowie who by the way wrote andnperformed most of the songs in the film, which are pretty memorable I mightnadd, this is one of my favorite soundtracks ever. With a cast and crew likenthat one, it’s no wonder this film is so special. Like many of Jim Henson’snfilms, this one is populated mostly by puppets, which is what makes it evennmore special. The beautiful Jennifer Connelly stars on this one as Sarah, thenyoung girl who takes everything for granted. Will she ever get her baby brothernback from the clutches of Jareth The Goblin King?

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nQuote: “You have no power over me”

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nTitle: Fire and Ice (1983)

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nComments: Ralph Bakshi’s animated films have a uniquenelement to them, most of the time they are very sketchy in nature, very oldnschool because the techniques they used were traditional animation techniques.nBut even for traditional animation, Bakshi’s films had a rawness to them that wasnvery tangible,a  style all his own. But to me, Fire and Ice is one of Bakshi’s mostnpolished films, this could have something to do with the fact that he wasnworking alongside master fantasist/painter Frank Frazetta. Frazetta was anlegend amongst fantasy artists, stories say that some of the painters thatncollaborated with him on Fire and Ice found the task so daunting that they actuallynfainted. Now that’s what I call being an intimidating person! But seriously,nFrazetta’s influence is felt on the film, one of the characters even looks likenone of his most famous paintings “The Death Dealer”. At the end of the day it’snus the audience who comes out winning because the result is an amalgamation ofntwo very creative individuals. Recommended for lovers of old school animation,nalso, anyone who is a fan of Masters of the Universe should love this movie asnwell, Fire and Ice has many similarities with the classic animated series.  It is not a perfect film, it is not without itsnflaws, but it’s certainly worth a watch, if only, for the amazing artistry thatnwent into making it.

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nQuote: “Nekkron, I extend my hand in friendship. I offernpeace between my people. Will you not take my hand? Will you not call menfriend?”

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