Fantasy movies/series?

The last couple of days I've really REALLY been in the mood for some good fantasy viewing from my couch, but I've been lost... I have no idea which series/movies are good...

Any of you know any? If so, could you please write the name of the movie/series, a very short review of the storyline and if it's good graphics wise? I'll love you for it haha... I'll look forward to some quick replies so i have a good cure for my coming hangovers (this post took me like 5 mins to write hahaha )
'preciate it guys, thanks in advance!!

Watch "Brotherhood of the Wolf" if you want inspiration for an Empire in Flames Mordheim campaign.

"In the Name of the King" was based on the Dungeon Siege computer game. You look at the list of famous actors in the cast and wonder why the film was never famous. Then you see who directed it: Uwe Boll... *sigh* Still, it was a kinda fun film anyway. Just don't take it seriously.

I second the Brotherhood of the Wolf...GREAT FLICK!
13th Warrior isn't great theater, but is a VERY GOOD fanatasy/action flick nonetheless. After another cup of coffe, I should be able to come up with somemore...probably.

If you want a Mordheim feeling, Flesh + Blood is pretty cool. Filthy mercenaries running through the streets and Rutger Hauer rocking the zweihander

Actually you could just watch the first 10 minutes on youtube and you'll have seen the cool bits:
(bashed brains & bare boobies alert, so NSFW etc)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQuqx1Wm9f0

Also relevant, in the theme of 'small band of mercenaries driven by greed', we have Aguirre, the Wrath of God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q3D0h4xCro

No fantastical elements in either of those. First thing I can think of for the criteria 'good fantasy':
Princess Mononoke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkWWWKKA8jY

Reign of Fire (movie).

An unlikely mix of post-apocalyptic and medieval fantasy genres, which - to my great surprise - works really well.

I went in with less than no expectations, and actually really enjoyed it. All I can say is don't trust the IMDB rating on this one and go in with a blank head and no expectations (other than wanting to see dragons and action).

The scorpion King (movie)

Again, although this movie has a very basic and predictable plot, average acting and only okay dialogues, I actually had a very good time watching this movie.

I recall the action to be very solid, the plot somehow catchy (although predictable, as I said)... and The Rock (the main actor) is just hilarious

As above: go in with no expectations, and just enjoy the 2 dimensional characters, the entertaining plot and the (sometimes even slapstick-y) action.

(oh and forget about it supposedly being a prequel to THE MUMMY. No one cares. I consider the Scorpion King to be a standalone action movie with no ties whatsoever to THE MUMMY. Take that you whining IMDB reviewers )

Thanks a million guys!
Just watched the Princess Mononoke, it's very japanese fantasy (ie spirits and demons instead of dragons) but it's an amazing movie! Thanks a lot for the link, brilliant!
Also, working on the Reign of Fire and Brotherhood of the Wolf, looking forward to em

But yeah, I'll throw my vote in for Princess Mononoke if anyone else needs a good movie!

My pleasure, mr orky pwny sir!
If you want more where that came from, check out some of the other stuff out of Studio Ghibli. My Neighbor Totoro is insanely cute and made of awesome.

Brotherhood of the Wolf is awesome. And I haven't seen Flesh + Blood for many years, thanks for the youtube link!

Reign of Fire... unfortunately I saw this one in the cinema... didn't like it. Scorpion King, however, was great. But I love The Rock.

expanding the 'fantasy' term even further..

City of Lost Children is an insanely beautiful fairytale in a dystopian and surreal city.

Talking fairytales made me remember - I never did see Big Fish.. I really should do something about that! I'm making the assumption everyone's seen the big Tim Burton titles already, so I won't go spamming you with links to Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare before Christmas or Corpse Bride.

One cool little flick that definitely feels at home in the fantasy genre you might have missed though, is Mirror Mask. Continuing on a Neil Gaiman thread, I enjoyed both Stardust and Coraline as well, even if they both took some dodgy shortcuts with the source material.

Let's round this out with some early 80's campiness!
The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.. admittedly feels pretty dated by now. Still, there's some awesome designwork in there!

Hellboy 2 I liked a lot - Celtic Elves based on the mythological Tuatha De Dannan from Ireland decide to summon up a steampunk robot army and obliterate mankind. :3

I second Princess Mononoke - I was actually going to replace all the spites with Kodama from that movie. Anything by Studio Ghibli is great... Howl's Moving Castle is fantastic wizard-inspiration. :3

Milliardo wrote:

Hellboy 2 I liked a lot - Celtic Elves based on the mythological Tuatha De Dannan from Ireland decide to summon up a steampunk robot army and obliterate mankind. :3

I second Princess Mononoke - I was actually going to replace all the spites with Kodama from that movie. Anything by Studio Ghibli is great... Howl's Moving Castle is fantastic wizard-inspiration. :3

I liked the first Hellboy... I need to see the second. It looks good. I liked Princess Mononoke too. Howl's Moving Castle though... nothing was happening for like the whole movie. I fell asleep. :-/

Yeah, Howls' Moving Castle was totally all ambiance... not much action, but the design and little bits and bobs made it for me... Howl's room, with all the crazy crap on the walls, was worth the entire movie for me. :3

Oh, and I would suggest Pan's Labyrinth. Amazing movie! I'm not even sure how to describe it... so I'll just take from imdb.

"In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a
sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy
world."

you fell asleep during howls moving castle?! I loved that movie! (though I watch a lot of asian legend movies... which tend not to go anywhere really

if you are into such movies... House of flying daggers and Musa are definetaly great hours spent!

Hmmm...gonna have to go buy this " Flesh and Blood"....

My pics for movies are:

Fire and Ice - it's animated and based off of Frazetta's art work

Krull - cheesy 80's sci-fi fantasy...

Record Of Lodos War - The first series kicked ass...based off someones D'n'D campaign...

Excalibur - King Arthur and the Knights done right....no panzee ass actors or Kiera Knightly here...

The Last Valley- Mercenaries in Germany....oh man you HAVE to see it...reminds me of BTB all the way!

Conan the Barbarian- if you have never seen this you should be ashamed!


and yes...Dark Crysal, Labyrinth, Pans Labyrinth, 13th Warrior, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Scorpion King too...

Conan the Destroyer - Arnold in one of his most iconic roles

Red Sonja - Arnold in a clone of one of his most iconic roles

Narnia - The new ones have great special effects, the old ones captured the magic better

Lord of the Rings - do you really need a description?

7th Voyage of Sinbad, Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger - Ray Harryhousen movies, gotta love them stop motion skeletons!

Jason and the Argonauts - More Ray Harryhousen

The Name of the Rose - Medieval Murder with Monks! And Sean Connery!

Cadfael Mysteries - Medieval Murder with Monks! And Sir Derek Jacobi!

Conan the Barbarian, but not the destroyer. They took all the sex and blood out for destroyer and made it a DnD party style adventure.

Both Hellboys are great and so are the first two Blade movies, but not the third (David.S Goyer was never meant to direct).

Army of Darkness is always good for a laugh. It's Evil Dead prequals are also fantastic but less laughing.

I also really like the Mask and Mark of Zorro movies. Particularly the mark, Anthony Hopkins is an awesome mentor.

Series wise I enjoyed Legend of the seeker. But I haven't read any of the early books and it was filmed in New Zealand, so I got a lot of joy watching actors and places I knew on screen. Reminded me of Hercules and Xena only way less camp.

I also really like the series Primeval, thrid series had some good moments but wasn't nearly as good as the first two.

Hope that helps you out.

Matt

Captain Wolfgang wrote:

Army of Darkness is always good for a laugh.

Yeah AoD is a classic. A must see. It's part of geek culture.

Speaking of having a laugh (but it has nothing to do with fantasy!) i recently got round to watch "This is Spinal Tap".

I can't remember when a movie made me laugh out loud so unexpectedly If you know a little about the NWOBHM (new wave of british heavy metal) bands, the glam rock style, rock music in general and/or play the guitar, you will probably really enjoy this mockumentary.

Definitely one of the funniest movies I saw, but I also know that some people can absolutely not relate to it (e.g. my gf).

Captain Wolfgang wrote:

Both Hellboys are great and so are the first two Blade movies, but not the third (David.S Goyer was never meant to direct).

Oh god... the second Blade movie was TERRIBLE. I loved the first one, but the second made was just really bad. The whole fight scene in front of the giant lights was so bad I almost cried.

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Series wise I enjoyed Legend of the seeker. But I haven't read any of the early books and it was filmed in New Zealand, so I got a lot of joy watching actors and places I knew on screen. Reminded me of Hercules and Xena only way less camp.

My girlfriend is a huge fan of the books this series is based on (Sword of Truth) and is so angry at this series. It's bad enough that she wants to throw the remote at the TV every time she sees it. Apparently the series is just way off from the books in so many ways that it's not even the same story.

The Fall is really a great reality-blends-with-fantasy type of movie. The setting is early twentieth century California and the premise is that a film stuntman who is hospitalized due to an injury is telling a story to a young immigrant girl who is also hospitalized. The movie alternates between the hospital and the girl's imagined characters for the story being told. It's really good, the set and costume design for the young girl's images are very impressive, but the movie is kind of heavy and depressing for a while. It's definitely along the same lines as Pan's Labrynth.

Additionally, if you're into something a little wierder, El Topo is a CRAZY surreal western movie. Not really fantasy, but it's an interesting movie.

Haven't seen Ladyhawke mentioned yet. More Rutger Hauer, it's not great and the fact that it was made in the eighties definitely shows, but it's a fun lighthearted one.

Stardust is another that is good, the visuals and special effects are really why you'd want to see it though - acting and diologue are only OK.

Princess Bride, if you haven't seen it, is a definite must.

Willow is a great fantasy adventure with Val Kilmer and Warwick Davis, definitely more "classical fantasy" with swords and sorcery and all that, as opposed to some of the other stuff that I've mentioned.

Given that the Balewolf for Empire in Flames is pretty much ripped directly from "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and it's set in the French countryside, I think you'll definitely enjoy that one.

Also, really any of Miyazaki's stuff is good (if you liked Mononoke you'll probably also enjoy Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind), Spirited Away and Porco Russo are fun too.

If you like the "Empire on Flames look" you MUST watch Plunkett & MacLeane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPG4HLYrdS4

Stand and deliver!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkhx0eqK5w

I had never heard about "Plunkett & MacLeane". I like the look of the film.

Alright, so I have seen Plunkett & Macleane today. That was a damn nice film. I really enjoyed. And the images and everything are very inspiring - especially for my Gierburg project. Many thanks for the tip, Endakiel!

The only thing that really confused me was the music. At some moments I didn't quite fit I think. And WTF is that rap song during the crdits? LOL

Anyways, I really enjoyed it. One more proof of that I am not critics-compatible, considering its rotten tomatoes rating.

Ok, some more Fantasy movies/series for the list:

Series

Xena
Hercules
Robin Hood(All very corny but why not )

Dungeons and Dragons (animated, i mean Venger ftw!)
Conan the adventurer (animated)
Gargoyles (animated)

Movies:

Earthsea
The Golden Compass
Dragonlance (The animated movie)
Gangs of new york (gang fighting in 19th century NY)
Shadow of the Sword (Executioner vs Inquisition, dark and moody)
Beowulf (old and new)


Upcoming series: Song of Ice and Fire (George R R Martin)

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Beowulf (old and new)

Uhm...the animated and the Christopher Lambert/Rhona Mitra version? Or is there another?

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Upcoming series: Song of Ice and Fire (George R R Martin)

Song of Fire and Ice: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/ This one?

I would also recommend Flesh & Blood for that Warhammer dirt feeling.