I was given Michael Dibdin’s series of Aurelio Zen novels as a gift after I was blown away by the short BBC TV series Zenstarring Rufus Sewell, my current pick for an ideal future James Bond. Because of Sewell’s performance I compared his Zen to the original Zen in Dibdin’s first Zen novel Ratking, and found myself comparing James Bond to Aurelio Zen after recently reading Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale.
Certainly there are similarities between Zen and Bond, but for the most part these are very different novels and genres and absolutely different characters. From a basic level you can easily set up some analogies: Aurelio Zen is from Venice as Bond hails from England–the individuals are very much creations and defined by their origins. Where Bond leaves London to encounter adventure in cities throughout the world, Zen’s entire world is Italy. Where Bond has his mixed drinks, Zen has his coffee. But Bond is a superhero of sorts to his peers and his country, whereas Zen is, by the appearances of his countrymen, flawed, heavily so in fact. Yet its his flaws, pointed out by his superiors in the police department of Rome and townsfolk of the hill town of Perugia, that makes him endearing and accessible to readers. He is the put-upon common working cop like Lennie Brisco or Joe Friday, but he just happens to live in Italy.
And Italy is a huge part of the novel and presumably the entire series. Dibdin writes with such authority of Italy, including political leanings of various towns, factions, and agendas, histories of cities and real people and relationships with Italy and the rest of Europe, carryovers from World War II and Mussolini, etc., that you immediately take his word as your expert travel guide. Where the BBC series painted a beautiful picture of Italy, however, in RatkingDibdin shows us Perugia as the seediest of villages, and the citizenry, or at least the wealthy industrial family that is the focus of the story, outright repulsive. Think of the family in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Dibdin’s Milettis could be interchangeable–no better or worse, just equally creepy and vile. The ugliness permeates the novel almost to the point of making the reader want to skip ahead to the next novel in the series where Zen is back working in Rome–but only “almost.”
Zen himself, as Dibdin puts it, carries “one of those annoying little Mona Lisa smiles which makes everyone wonder why you’re so pleased with yourself”. Sewell nailed this piece of the original character set-up in the TV series, and it is something I expected was more brought by the actor than the story but was pleasantly surprised I was wrong. Dibdin holds enough back so you do not know what Zen is thinking–Zen is quirky in the most mild-mannered of ways. He has his own classiness like Bond, but in a boy scout sort of way.
I am familiar with Italy but only the history of Italy of ancient times and I found the people of Dibdin’s Italy as conniving and corrupt as Rome’s founders of several centuries past. No one can be trusted. Everyone is out for himself. It is this realization that Dibdin focuses in on through his story of the grotesque concept of the ratking. His characters, other than Zen, his mother, and a few friends, are an anti-travelogue for Italy. In several ways the story is a noir piece akin to John Huston’s noir film Chinatown. Like Jake Gittes, Aurelio Zen doesn’t have all the answers, and as much as he uses skill to unravel a kidnapping and murder case, he stumbles into and out of answers and danger like Gittes. In the end instinct and a clear internal code of conduct guides Zen and sets us up for future stories.
Zen is an outsider–a policeman from Venice working in Rome who is shunned by his fellow officers for some past role in working an earlier kidnapping case. Venetians are looked down upon in Dibdin’s Rome–and the reader gets sucked into stereotypes that at first seem foreign, yet they can easily be replicated in America–how people in one state look down upon another state or region, for example. The immersion is so deep the reader must stop now and then and ask “am I supposed to know Florencians are aristocratic?”
In Perugia a wealthy patrician calls for help to investigate the kidnapping of a famous friend, a powerful industrialist named Ruggiero Miletti, resulting in a humorous, lengthy passing off of the responsibility until it can land in only one place–our hero’s lap. The investigation of Miletti’s children becomes the playground for Zen’s sleuthing, despite pressures from every direction to fail at his task, from bosses, government agencies, the family, even the criminals themselves in a nicely strange twist. The best pacing and action is in the last third of the novel, where Dibdin’s cop is in full stride. The ending is crafted very well, and includes a jumping off point for future books.
Did Miletti’s own family kidnap him for a ransom to help the family’s failing businesses? Or did individual family members play some role in this dark web of lies? … the lavish son Daniele, the ethereal and seductive daughter Cinzia, the perverted son Silvio, the conniving son Pietro… Is Zen himself just part of the ratking or is that imagery itself flawed? As Zen forges ahead he learns that his own survival may depend on his ability to adapt and succeed at this single case. Dibdin’s introduction to Zen in Ratkingreveals a measured character in a very dark world, but a character you will want to see again very soon.
Another Sunday is here, and Easter at that. (Happy Easter!) When you think of laugh-out-loud Sunday funnies from years past you may think of The Far Side, Peanuts, or Calvin and Hobbes. If you were lucky enough you may have read Frank Cho’s original Liberty Meadows strips. If you weren’t so lucky, or if you just want to read them again (and you will), then we have good news: Brandy the animal psychiatrist, Frank the veterinarian, Brandy’s roommate Jen, Evil Brandy from a mirror universe, Frank’s own alias Monkey Boy the chimp, Ralph the ex-circus bear, Frank the ex-frat house mascot pig, Leslie the hypochondriac frog, Truman the bowtie-wearing duck, Oscar the dachshund… all are returning soon to a bookstore near you.
Frank Cho announced on his website that he is releasing a two-volume set of books beginning this summer through Image Comics, reprinting all five years of the original Liberty Meadows Sunday newspaper strips.
A preliminary cover draft by Frank Cho for the new Sunday strip collection.
First, in June, Liberty Meadows Sunday Collection Book 1 will collect year 1, 2 and 3 of the multi-award winning Liberty Meadows Sunday strips. Frank says that half of these Sunday comic strips will be new to most readers since they were never reprinted after their initial newspaper publication.
Then by year end he will release Liberty Meadows Sunday Collection Book 2, collecting year 4 and year 5 of the Liberty Meadows Sunday strips. Both volumes will include new material, too.
A variety of Frank Cho comic strips, including ones the syndicates censored, can be found at Frank's website, www.apesandbabes.com.
Not only is Frank Cho’s art from early in his career every bit as superb as his current work, his strips were as funny as any humor you’ve ever read. You will laugh out loud, and if you drink or eat while you read, just be careful, as his humor is abrupt, and comes out of nowhere, and things may involuntary shoot from your nose. Gross, I know, but I also know this from past experience. You’ve been warned. And you must share these strips with others or they may be annoyed, asking you “what are you laughing about?”
At Amazon.comLiberty Meadows Sunday Collection Book 1 appears that it will have a $24.99 release price available in a nice 160-page hardcover edition, however, pre-orders are available now at a significantly reduced price.
Expect some great art by Frank Cho in his new 2013 calendar, with pinups like this drawing the artist created last summer.
Along with several other projects expected this year, like the eagerly awaited Guns & Dinos first previewed here last year at Comic-Con, if you will be attending the San Jose Big Wow Comic Art Fest in May, Frank will be selling a limited supply of a new 2013 Liberty Meadows Pinup Calendar.
But while you are waiting for these new collections, Frank Cho’s original daily comic strips are available in previously released editions, each as hysterically funny as the other:
Speaking of yesterday’s discussion of Cybermen and The Borg, another well known borg sci-fi character was the subject of a New York Times article this week: RoboCop is being resurrected for the big screen this year, one of several remakes of 1980s properties, such as 21 Jump Street and Dirty Dancing, coming soon to a theater near you.
Unfortunately there is not much information yet released, especially no photos yet of the police uniform for the 2013 RoboCop production. Peter Weller, who we learned this year will be featured in the next Star Trek movie, originally dawned the steel armor of the downed cop who, like the Bionic Man, was rebuilt to fight the forces of evil in the U.S. The original costume is instantly recognizable, but early word from production is that we will see a very different police armor uniform for the new RoboCop.
Although it is not quite as cool as the original RoboCop, I am a fan of the Iowa State Patrol uniform worn by the officer hunting down a young James T. Kirk in the future Riverside, Iowa in Star Trek 2009:
I’m still not sure if that was a good protective outfit for a human cop, or whether that android face mask reflects an actual android, or this was meant to be a cyborg creation. Either way, it’s a pretty good outfit.
Years ago Academy Award winners Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock showed us the prim and proper cops of the future city of San Angeles, where we learned “In the future, all restaurants are Taco Bell.”
My fellow Trekkies will recognize those belts being re-used in the Mirror Universe of the Enterprise TV series by evil Captain Archer & Co. These guys looked believable. But no armor!
And this year’s coming remake of Total Recall features another slick looking future cop:
Note that the new Total Recall takes no obvious design queues from Paul Verhoeven’s original Total Recall. So it should be no surprise if the new RoboCop takes no design queues from Verhoeven’s RoboCop. Verhoeven’s RoboCop was inspired by the future cop from the comic book 2000 A.D., Judge Dredd, and Verhoeven’s RoboCop has been interpreted as a retelling of sorts of the original Judge Dredd story because of several common themes, and, of course, the mask. Although the Sylvester Stallone future cop in Judge Dredd didn’t adhere totally to the original story, he did have a mask, but his uniform was a bit strange:
Future cops are definitely “in” these days. Karl Urban (Bones in Star Trek 2009, Eomer in Lord of the Rings, Xena, Bourne Supremacy, Chronicles of Riddick) will be starring in a new version of Judge Dredd, that Urban says comes more from the course material, titled Dredd and expected to be released in September 2012.
Far less interesting are the precrime future cop uniforms from Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, based on Philip K. Dick’s short story of the same name:
For the new RoboCop, José Padilha is slated to direct a screenplay by Nick Schenk and Joshua Zetumer. Thirty-three year old actor Joel Kinnaman has been tapped for the lead role as Murphy/RoboCop. Of the creative trio, Schenk is the best known for his sceenplay for Clint Eastwood’s (awesome) film, Gran Torino. Kinnaman had a small role in last year’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and as Stephen Holder in the TV series, The Killing.
Here is the the marketing blurb for the new film: “In a crime-ridden city, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg with submerged memories haunting him.”
Unlike the new RoboCop, the original RoboCop rarely removed his helmet.
Padilha and Kinnaman have disclosed thus far that the new RoboCop will be a very different film than the original, with a costume where you can see the RoboCop’s eyes, and they’d said that the focus of the new story will be the period from Murphy getting shot to becoming RoboCop, as opposed to an action film where RoboCop serves as a futuristic officer. So this seems a bit like the path of Martin Caidin’s original Bionic Man story as told in his novel Cyborg.
Ronny Cox and the earlier, non-cyborg version, from the original film
My favorite scene, and the one I hope they do include in some way, is the scene where the non-cyborg RoboCop before Weller’s is revealed to be flawed and destroys one of the executives in the board room at the big reveal.
The current release date is scheduled for August 9, 2013.
One of the Midwest’s best pop culture and comic book conventions was this past weekend, Planet Comicon, which has been Kansas City’s largest fan convention for more than a dozen years. The show seemed to be bursting from its seams this year with thousands of guests, and appears to be outgrowing its venue at the Overland Park International Trade Center.
The film and TV headliners for this year’s show included Edward James Olmos, best known to sci-fi fans for his role in Blade Runner and as Adama in the Battlestar Galactica reboot series. He signed autographs and took photos with fans both days of the show. Here he is with Erin Gray, who appeared with other actors from the 1979-1981 TV series Buck Rogers and the 25th Century:
Gray also appeared on an episode of the Syfy Channel’s Hollywood Treasure last year.
The other featured major guest from film and TV was Billy Dee Williams, best known as Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but also as Harvey Dent alongside Michael Keaton in the 1989 Batman film. His current work includes a stint on USA’s White Collar.
Billy Dee also appeared at the show both days. (I offered a woman in line $5 to say “Billy Dee, Billy Dee, Billy Dee!” when she finally met him but didn’t take me up on it. And it’s OK if you don’t get that reference).
Early Saturday morning legendary comic book artist Michael Golden is getting fueled up before embarking on a sketch of Green Arrow:
Green Arrow by Michael Golden. How cool is that?
Michael is known for his work on such titles like Marvel Comics series The ‘Nam, GI Joe Yearbook, Star Wars, and Micronauts. He is also the co-creator of the X-Men character Rogue.
I’ve been a fan of the different styles Mike Norton uses in his art for quite a while. Here he is signing one of his comic pages for the Green Arrow/Black Canary series, where he did the pencil work and comic book legend Bill Sienkiewicz provided the ink work:
Mike is working on a creator-owned project currently and has previously worked on Runaways, Gravity, the Young Justice animated series comic book. He was actively sketching pages for fans at the show and produced probably a dozen at least over the weekend, including this great image for me:
Unfortunately Bernie Wrightson wasn’t sketching at this year’s convention, but he was signing plenty of shirts and books for his Frankenstein book. Wrightson’s horror artwork goes back several decades, with his first published comic work with House of Mystery in 1969. He co-created Swamp Thing in 1971. His work has appeared in Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, and Batman: The Cult. Here Wrightson is at a signing table with Freddie Williams II and his wife Kiki:
Freddie is well known for his work on his Robin series, and is currently one of the DC Comics top artists. We reviewed his and JT Krul’s Captain Atom series here at borg.com a few weeks ago. Freddie was busy creating sketches for fans and speaking on panels at the show.
Currently working on projects for Dynamite Comics, Bionic Manwriter Phil Hester and Lone Rangerwriter Ande Parks had pages of original artwork as well as copies of their books new and old that they were signing for fans, including a lot of low-priced original art from their run on the DC Comics Green Arrow series:
It’s great that these guys have tackled both the writing and illustration sides of comic book creation.
I got to catch up again with a couple well known Kansas City authors. Here, Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, two of the best known authors of Star Trek novels, talk with fans at the show.
The NBC TV series Heroes co-creator Tim Sale was signing books and art at his booth:
Sales’ past work includes art in Batman: Dark Victory, Batman: The Long Halloween, Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Grey, Spider-Man: Blue and Superman For All Seasons. (What’s with these color titles, anyway?). His unique stylized paintings on Heroes featured into the plot of the series.
I spent time chatting with Rob B. Davis, currently providing illustrations for a Sherlock Holmes series and past artist for Malibu’s Deep Space Nine comic book series, writer Jai Nitz, who was juggling signing copies of his Kato and Tron: Betrayal series while moderating different comic book panels at the show, borg.com writer Art Schmidt, local writer Justin Cline manning the front of the convention, and Todd Aaron Smith, who sketched this great Black Canary image for me:
Smith had provided storyboards for Family Guy and other animation art for shows like South Park and various DC Comics and Marvel Comics TV series. Current Marvel Comics lead writer Jason Aaron could be found with some good lines of fans waiting to get copies of his various Hulk, Wolverine and X-men series signed:
The facility was packed wall to wall with plenty of booths selling everything from graphic novels to collectible action figures, original comic book art, and comic book back issues. Here, Elite Comics comic book store owner William Binderup appears to be raking in some cash from sales of comics at his booth:
Show producer Chris Jackson seemed pleased with the success of this year’s convention.
And of course there were plenty of cosplayers. Here a few Batman characters huddled for a photo:
But I think the best was this “Hello Kitty meets Stormtrooper” mash-up:
No doubt it would have been a far different Star Wars had Luke showed up to rescue the princess with this outfit.
If there’s one thing these lists demonstrate, it’s that great fantasy stories are enduring. All four of us have named several films that reach deep into the literary and oral tradition of myths, legends, traditional bedtime stories, and classics of fantasy literature. It’s not surprising that what makes a great fantasy movie is the same stuff that makes a great story, period: amazing worlds, epic quests, doomed romance, and soaring imagination. More than half the movies on my list are direct retellings of well-known tales, and all of them are adapted in one way or another from earlier source material–be that a novel from the 1990s or a play by William Shakespeare, or anything in between.
It’s neither accidental nor surprising that my personal favorites list went this way, but there are plenty of contenders that just narrowly missed the cut and are worthy of mention, at least in passing. I’ve been thoroughly impressed by recent films Stardust (adapted from the Neil Gaiman novel) and Prince Caspian (from CS Lewis’s beloved Chronicles of Narnia), but I haven’t seen either film often enough to declare it a favorite… yet. Likewise, two classics from my childhood deserve a nod, and would have made the cut if this were a Favorite 15: the glorious Jim Henson/Brian Froud collaboration The Dark Crystal; and Willow, which is just as good as any other high fantasy film made in the last century. Lastly, because I feel someone should mention it, yet it somehow gets overlooked whenever we start talking about great fantasy films, is one of the few mermaid movies ever made (surprisingly enough), 1984′s fantastic classic Splash. It gets overshadowed by Hanks’s Big from a few years later, but it really is a wonderful movie that deserves to be better remembered for its contribution to the genre.
But. You’re looking for the ones that did make the cut, so here is my winnowed-down list of my ten alltime favorite fantasy films:
1. The Princess Bride
Art has suggested that we define great fantasy by the age at which we’re introduced to our favorites, and I tend to agree. This Rob Reiner masterpiece came out when I was thirteen, which is the ideal time to experience this wickedly smart, hilarious, and romantic fantasy romp. But viewers can enjoy it at any age! There are no roles in film history to rival Carey Elwes as Westley/The Dread Pirate Roberts or Mandy Patinkin’s iconic Inigo Montoya, but Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Peter Falk, and all the others turn in perfect performances, too. T he memorable scenes and imminently-quotable catchphrases ensure this film’s status as a fantasy legend.
2. Ever After
When you’re a fairy tale fan, the golden goose (so to speak) is, of course, Cinderella. No other tale so captures our love of the genre and our hope for true love to lift us from the drudgery of our daily lives. Everyone knows this story, and making it fresh and new and wonderful is hard! But Ever After was up to the challenge, and more. Set in the intensely naturalistic setting of early Renaissance France, this adaptation builds on the basic rags-to-riches framework to deliver a complex and deeply satisfying tale of smart lovers who complement one another, yet are set apart by a nearly unconquerable divide. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Dougray Scott makes for a Prince Charming any woman would swoon over.
3. A Knight’s Tale
Carrying on with the argument that retellings fit in the fantasy genre, magic or not, I’m sneaking one of my very favorite movies–period–onto this list. Turned off by the truly dreadful previews, I nearly missed this one–and I’m so glad I didn’t. From the ensemble cast (Heath Ledger! Rufus Sewell! Paul Bettany! That guy from Firefly!) to the wacky rock soundtrack, Chaucer has never been so much fun (and he was no wet blanket to begin with).
4. Mary Poppins
No film explores the power of childhood make-believe adventures better than this Disney classic. Who didn’t want their toys to put themselves away? Or spend an afternoon popping in and out of chalk drawings, riding magical carousel horses and winning the derby? Or laugh themselves into flight? A spoonful of sugar and the confident wink of a magical nanny makes it all possible.
5. Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade
Tales of King Arthur and the Holy Grail have been centerpieces of Western fantasy as long as we’ve been telling stories. The third, and arguably the best, installment of the Indiana Jones franchise brings that classic quest to the screen better than any film, ever. (I’m talking to YOU, da Vinci Code. You too, Excalibur. *shudders*) (The second-best film adaptation of the King Arthur legend is, of course, the 1960s classic Camelot with Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave.)
6. Portrait of Jennie
For pure romance and starcrossed lovers, you can’t ask for more than William Dieterle’s sweet Depression-era tale of a starving artist and the doomed model who shapes his career, and his life. It has all the makings of a gothic mystery–but the tender performances of Joseph Cotton and Jennifer Jones make this instead a sweeping story of the power of love to reach beyond time and death. Fans of Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve’s Somewhere in Time should look this one up. (And fans of Portrait of Jennie should look up the marvelous children’s novel Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillippa Pearce.)
7. Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
The best installment of one of the most beloved fantasy series of our age. Need I say more?
8. Beauty and the Beast
No one was surprised when this Disney adaptation of Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve’s classic French fairy tale became the first-ever animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (and thus changed the awards structure forever). The lavish production, with its marvelous soundtrack, brought this tale as old as time to life with all the wonder and beauty we expect in our fairy tale films.
9. Arabian Nights
I have expressed my love for these stories on borg.com before, and this made-for-TV miniseries starring Mili Avatal absolutely swept me away. The production is gorgeous and epic, with a bold and brilliant cast that includes fine performances by Jason Scott Lee, John Leguizamo, Rufus Sewell (!), and Andy Serkis. It offers up all our Arabian Nights favorites: Ali Baba, Aladdin, and, of course, Scheherazade and her deeply disturbed husband, played with heartbreaking madness by Dougray Scott (who, really, we could stand to see A LOT more of. Just sayin’.).
10. Much Ado About Nothing
This is last on my list not because it’s my least favorite of the ten; far from it–it’s actually my alltime favorite movie! But of the ten, it’s the one that feels the least like fantasy to me, although it has neither more nor less magic than The Princess Bride, Ever After, or A Knight’s Tale. Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh at the height of his early career, this utterly perfect adaptation of Shakespeare’s lusty romantic comedy is set against the breathtakingly beautiful Tuscan countryside and features fantastic performances by Emma Thompson, Brian Blessed, Kate Beckinsale, Robert Sean Leonard, Michael Keaton, and Denzel Washington. I want to step inside this movie and live there, every time I watch Much Ado–and if that’s not the very definition of fantasy, than I don’t know what is.
I have a few Honorable Mentions that I am going to list first, rather than sticking them at the end like after-thoughts. Since I didn’t include them in my actual Top Ten list, the least I can do is put them first so they aren’t entirely skipped over. These made my initial rough list but, for one reason or another, just didn’t make the final cut: Heavy Metal, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Dragonslayer, Shrek, Time Bandits & The Wizard of Oz. (Note: Starting at number one, since #10 is the ‘top’ of my list)
#1 – The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
A favorite of my youth, and one of the Ray Harryhausen classics. Dynamation doesn’t hold a candle to the powers of today’s CGI engines, but in its day it ruled the cineplex, at least as far as fantasy went. Sinbad’s voyage across the seas to find the Fountain of Destiny was fun and exhilarating and awesome in its day.
Of course, this is more a sentimental favorite than a real ‘All-time Top Ten’ winner, but it works for me. And of course, there was Caroline Munro…
#2 – Willow
“The power to control the world is in which finger?” the High Aldwin asks the young apprentice hopefuls, holding out his hand.
“I was going to say my own,” Willow later admits, after first choosing poorly.
“That is the correct answer!” Billy Barty’s High Aldwin exclaims. “You lack faith in yourself.”
Willow is one of those movies that just makes me smile. It’s funny and different and has quirky characters, but the fantasy element is strong and Val Kilmer (Top Gun, Heat, Wonderland), Warwick Davis (Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, the Harry Potter movies) and Joanne Whalley (Scandal, The Man Who Knew Too Little) are all great. Especially Kilmer. Davis’ Willow gives the movie its heart and soul; Kilmer’s Madmartigan gives it the proper excitement and humor.
What I like about Willow most is that it avoided all of the Conan rip-offs of the day. No muscle-bound hero, no comedic side-kicks, no supreme magical spell/artifact/being/weapon (unless you count Princess Elora herself). It was an honest tale in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien, about simple people trying to thwart evil.
#3 – The Frighteners
One of my favorite movies, The Frighteners is a little bit horror movie, little bit comedy, little bit fantasy, little bit love story, and a whole lot of cool rolled into one hundred-and-ten-minute roller coaster ride. Michael J. Fox (The Back to the Future movies, Family Ties, Spin City) is funny and believable as Frank Bannister, a self-proclaimed ‘psychic investigator’ who claims to be able to rid the living of the mischievous spirits of the dead, when in fact he’s a psychic con man who sends in the spirits to drum up business in the first place. Until he runs into the Grim Reaper, taking a deadly toll on the small coastal town Frank inhabits, at which point he begins to use his powers for good in an inhuman man-hunt.
Bannister’s ghost side-kicks are hilarious, the sight gags are funny, and the scary parts have the right amount of creep in them. The whole movie is fast-paced and fun, and while some bits of the storyline are fuzzy, it’s a blast right up until the end credits roll to the tune of ‘Don’t fear the reaper’.
#4 – Conan the Barbarian (1982)
This pick needs little explanation. I’m a life-long Conan fan; the Howard stories and novels, the Marvel comics, the movies, the ongoing novels by various authors, the Age of Conan MMO (though that was short-lived), and of course numerous toys and other stuff. And Conan the Barbarian is one of the pinnacles of barbarian culture there is. The original, that is, though the recent remake was a fairly decent movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hero, James Earl Jones’ villain, Mako’s gritty narration, and Sandahl Bergman’s fiery Valeria come together in what might have otherwise been a terrible movie. Many still think it is, but I beg to differ. Conan came forth in the era in-between Claymation and CGI, after Clash of the Titans but before Jurassic Park, but the effects were good enough.
#5 – Shrek 2
Disney was the king of all things animated for seventy years, and lately Pixar has ruled that roost. But Dreamworks Animation absolutely nailed the animated fantasy adventure with the Shrek series, and the best one by far is the second installment. This is one of the few sequels that surpassed the first. The clever twist on fairytale standards begun in Shrek goes crazy in the sequel, with Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother, the frog turned prince (and then king), and the fairytale land Far, Far Away all getting a well-deserved skewering as Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and the whole troop make a joyous wreck of everyone else’s plans and schemes.
The tongue-in-cheek references are just the icing on the cake; Shrek 2 is a movie I can watch again and again and never get tired of seeing Pinocchio getting jiggy wit’ it chanting “I’m a real boy! I’m a real boy! I’m a…” *poof* “Awwwww…”
Color me tickled pink.
#6 – The Princess Bride
What can be said about The Princess Bride that hasn’t already been said? Nothing, nothing at all. Why do people love this movie so much? You mean, you don’t? Inconceivable! Ok, lemme ‘splain. No, there is no time. Lemme sum up:
It’s not a kissing book, but there is some of that in there. And the hero is not left-handed, but he is the dread Pirate Roberts. Sort of. But give him a break, he’s been mostly dead all day. And the other hero’s name is Inigo Montoya; someone killed his father, and they better prepare to die. You still don’t know what the story is about? Inconceivable! It’s about true love, of course. And perfect breasts. And having fun storming the castle.
Wow. That makes me want to watch the movie again. What’s that? You still don’t know how that movie is on my Top Ten list?
Inconceivable!
I know, I keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
#7 – Monty Python and the Holy Grail
I won’t bombard you with movie quotes from this one, the most quotable of all movies ever made, whether by the Python troop or not. Holy Grail is, quite simply, the Holy Grail of all comedies.
What is your favorite movie? The Holy Grail! No, wait, The Lord of the… AHHHH!!!!!!!
#8 – Sleepy Hollow
Tim Burton is a great director (Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland (2009)), and his ongoing collaboration with Johnny Depp (Donnie Brasco, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) has given us some great fantasies over the years (did Edward Scissorhands really come out more than twenty years ago? Sheesh, I’m old…) To me, almost all of Burton’s work is great in its geeky, off-kilter, out-of-the-box way, but none shines like his take on Ichabod Crane. The plot elements from Washington Irving’s original story, the screenplay by Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker, the atmosphere Burton creates, the innocent beauty portrayed by Christina Ricci, and the superb fish-out-of-water academic played by Depp, is a perfect storm of fantasy creativity.
The Headless Horseman is especially well-conceived, with Ray Park (The Phantom Menace, X-Men) performing the combat acrobatics and Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter, The Dead Zone, True Romance) giving ‘the Hessian’ ghoulish life when his head is in place. The curse, the old tree, the vengeful witch, the sleepy town, the foggy woods, they all come together in the perfect blend of fantasy, horror and, thanks to Depp, humor amidst the gore.
#9 – Excalibur
John Boorman’s masterpiece tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is my kind of fantasy movie. It’s dark, gritty and foreboding. It pulls no punches and doesn’t candy-coat. Arthur is the boy hero but he’s also fatally flawed, Merlin is the all-knowing but equally-flawed magician, and of course the relationship between Guinevere and Lancelot is passionate, compelling and tragic. Combat is harsh and cruel and down-in-the-mud filthy, and not many of my friends came away from that movie wanting to swing a sword for a living. Boorman’s hallmark was always his ability to set a mood, dark and deep, that grabs ahold of you and doesn’t let go. And Excalibur is all of that, and Boorman’s finest work.
“Good and evil,” Merlin says wisely. “There never is one without the other.” Indeed.
#10 – Raiders of the Lost Ark
Whose blood doesn’t start pumping faster at the rousing opening notes of the theme to Indiana Jones? Ok, I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably thinking “Wait a minute! This isn’t a fantasy film, at least not in the truest sense of the word.” But hang on, it does contain magic. At the very least it contained religious paranormalism, which is pretty darned close even if you don’t think of it as real ‘magic.’ But let’s not get into a debate about that, shall we? Inevitably, no minds would get changed and it would only spoil the mood.
Raiders was and still is one of the greatest classic adventure movies of all time (fantasy adventure movies, that is!). And besides, I could not allow myself to have a Top Ten Fantasy list without a Spielberg movie on it.
#11 – The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Duh.
I assume that you wouldn’t be reading this article unless you were interested in fantasy movies yourself, so there should be no need to explain this at all. In fact, it almost goes without saying. As in I almost didn’t even list it, since almost any Fantasy Top Ten Movie list would in reality go up to an understood Eleven, and Eleven would be The Lord of the Rings.
But if you are aren’t a fantasy fan, reading this for some other reason (I have no idea what that might be), let me educate you as to why The Lord of the Rings is the most awesome fantasy ever. It’s the chicks. All those elven chicks running around in leather halter tops with bare midriffs, and the scenes where they make out with the heroes (that rules!). And all of the dragons, the ones rampaging across the skies and waylaying all those armies of trolls and skeletons, yeah, that’s what it was. And the big, strong hero guys in cool-looking armor on horseback with the huge magic swords cutting all of the bad guys’ heads off, those guys rule. Oh, and the awesome sorcerer combat scenes where the wizards are hurling fireballs and lightning bolts and vorpal bunny swarms at each other. These movies totally rock!
Of course, all those common tropes of hum-drum fantasy movies are not in LOTR, and that’s what makes it so awesome. Years ago, a friend of mine summed it up perfectly. “In most fantasy, the heroes are questing for all-powerful magic that’s central to their success and will make them famous. In The Lord of the Rings, the heroes are striving to destroy the great magic so they can return to their normal lives.” Fantastic.
Turn out the lights, this discussion is over.
(OK, not really, tomorrow… come back for ten more of our favorite fantasy movies).
“People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint – it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff.” Thus the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) explains temporal theory to a “clever and listening” Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan, Never Let Me Go, The Great Gatsby) in the best-ever episode of Doctor Who, “Blink” (2007).
It’s a tough call. ”Blink” came in the middle of a great season, sandwiched between the brilliant “The Family of Blood” and “Utopia,”–a period when Stephen Moffat and Russell T. Davies were clearly at the top of their form. But there’s something about “Blink” that lifts it out of the realm of episodes that are simply great, and makes it an enduring, must-watch classic, and earns borg.com’s nomination for Best Doctor Who. (To be fair, there was a dissenting vote. Jason McClain is partial to “The Girl in the Fireplace.” But we think he’s wrong and just needs to watch “Blink” again.)
First, there’s the time travel. Ok, sure–it’s Doctor Who. It’s all time travel. But this episode does more than drop our heroes into another time to explore–it’s a twisty, precisely calibrated interplay of past, present, and future, with the Doctor stuck on the sidelines and the fate of the universe in the hands of a not-so-ordinary Londoner. ”Blink” is masterfully orchestrated and perfectly paced from the first moment, a complex puzzle of self-fulfilling, paradoxical prophecies that never misses a step or leaves the viewer remotely confused (even when we don’t know what’s going on).
Second, the story–all scant 45 minutes of it–feels not only complete and satisfying, but epic. Villainy on a grand scale. A tantalizing mystery. Romances that span generations, though their starcrossed lovers only know one another for moments. Between “Sally Shipton” and “It’s the same rain,” we live the entire lifelong love-that-might-have-been between Det. Insp. Billy Shipton and Sally. We are treated to the sweet love story of Kathy Nightingale and her young man from Hull, which comes full circle when her grandson brings her letter and photos to Sally–before the story even begins. It’s all one beautiful complex loop of time, love, and missed and grabbed chances.
Third, Carey Mulligan. Usually, TV episodes missing all of their familiar characters don’t work, but “Blink” pulls it off. Not only do we not really miss the Doctor, I think we’d all take even more of Sally, Larry, Kate, and Billy–but Carey Mulligan is the key to everything. From the instant Sally hops the wrought iron fence at Wester Drumlins and strips off the peeling wallpaper, we’re rooting for her. Mulligan feels like an actor you know you’ve seen before, and her poise and talent pull the whole episode up to her level. It’s no surprise to see her cast now in impressive roles like The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan.
Fourth, the Weeping Angels. Best. Villains. Ever. “Whatever you do, don’t blink.” “Blink” turns an archetype of holiness into a gothic nightmare, and the sweet innocence of Sally and Larry only makes them all the more startling. They’re a fascinating alien species as only Doctor Who can conceive (“quantum-locked” creatures who cease to exist when looked at), but they’re also as scary as any classic horror movie monster. And yet, for all the terror they inspire, they still “kill you nicely,” as the Doctor says. (They’re not always so nice, however, as Doctor Number Eleven and Amy Pond later learn.)
Fifth, the dialogue. C’mon–”Blink” is full of great lines, from the now quotable “Timey-Wimey Stuff,” to my personal favorites, “It goes ding when there’s stuff” and “There’s a thing. Well, four things and a lizard.” We also love Larry’s surprised, “You live in Scooby Doo’s house,” when he finds Sally at Wester Drumlins, and the adorable carpark exchange between the flirtatious Billy and bashful Sally. Also, Sally’s parting admonition, “Don’t look at me, don’t look at me,” chillingly echoes the “Don’t blink” refrain of the episode.
If that’s not enough to plead our case, perhaps the best evidence in “Blink’s” favor is Point Number Six: the fact that “Blink” functions as a complete standalone episode–it’s Doctor Who, but it’s also very much its own entire story, both fascinating and approachable enough to entertain Whovians and non-fans alike.
Of all the genre types there is one that doesn’t quite fit into any other bucket of movies. These movies themselves are complex and rarely made, but when they are done right they tend to bridge popular audiences and critical acclaim. They are about people who also don’t quite fit. They are often referred to as “coming of age” movies, and with such a lame title it’s no wonder there is not a giant video header at the rental stores for “Coming of Age” movies.
Some of these are really just ”teen angst” movies. Some of the best of these for mid-teens, documenting the high school experience, are Clueless with Alicia Silverstone, 10 Things I Hate About You with Heath Ledger, The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles with Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald, Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden with James Dean, West Side Story,Tex with Matt Dillon, Crossroads and The Karate Kid, both starring Ralph Macchio, and even The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland, where Dorothy establishes a defining piece of the genre–dreaming of “getting out of Dodge” (OK, Wichita, so close enough).
A younger teen focus subset of these films, where kids are either turning into teens or otherwise encountering adult situations at a young age, include Bless the Beasts and Children, Lucas, Stand by Me, Angus, The Sandlot, A Christmas Story, Explorers, the Harry Potter films, Super 8, and a superb superhero genre crossover called Sky High, that is one of those movies that pulls itself apart from the typical kid-centric flick by brilliantly delving into kids’ relationships with each other.
One film proves we probably shouldn’t stop with three subsets of the coming of age film, and reflects the universal nature of life in change. A film that covers the same themes yet for the transition from college to the “rest of life” is Buck Henry and Michael Nichols’ The Graduate. The Graduate launched the careers of Dustin Hoffman (All the Presidents’ Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Midnight Cowboy, Rainman, Tootsie) and Katherine Ross (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Stepford Wives, Donnie Darko). The subject is simple, yet believable and accessible, stuck in a rut, not ready to move onward, a recent college graduate needs some impetus to get moving forward. In the 1960s of this movie, Hoffman and Ross’s characters step forward at the end, but you get the feeling the “coming of age” for them is still far outside their reach. Similar elements of angst, alienation, and change are reflected in films of the older set, like St. Elmo’s Fire, Do the RightThing, Lords of Dogtown,Wayne’s World,Shaun of the Dead, and even the 1976 movie Car Wash.
The subset of the genre targeted at older teens, those teens at the end of high school transitioning to “the rest of their lives” (or at least trying to) stand separately as their own class of film. The greatest of these reach cult status, and often include all-star casts before they were to become stars. Very likely it is these films that propelled the young actors into bigger roles as a next step in their careers because we, the audience, love these characters, and when we like characters we latch onto the actors that portrayed them. Sometimes these themes cross into other genres that take over the film, such as the sci-fi film The Last Starfighter–where a teen must decide not whether to stay in town and work or go to college, but be a starfighter and save the universe. Let’s look at a few of these classics that should be on your must-see list:
AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973). Even if George Lucas never came up with Star Wars he would have been remembered for creating this masterpiece of cinema. All the key criteria of the genre are covered here: (1) fascination with cars, including races and chases; (2) incredible music, both as soundtrack as well as being listened to by the characters throughout the film; (3) teen rebellion, like pulling the rear axle off a police car (!), drinking, smoking, etc.; (4) alienation–one or more nerds, here exemplified by Charles Martin Smith’s Terry, who does the impossible, getting not only a girl, but THE girl, here Debbie (played by Candy Clark), and contrasted with the “cool kids,” (5) fitting in and not fitting in; (6) angst–Richard Dreyfuss’s Curt is the archetype for angst-ridden teen, not knowing his own abilities, uncertain and nervous about the next step in life: college; (7) life choices: Go to college? Go to which college? Join the military? Work in the garage at home?, (8) teens dealing with sex, and (9) an all-star or before-they-were all-star cast, launching careers: Here that includes Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and Harrison Ford. Why do audiences of all ages relate to these themes? Is it because we all continue to go through choices, decisions, and angst every day moving forward?
GREASE (1978). The PG-13 rating really reflects components of all the films on this genre list: “sexual content including references, teen smoking and drinking, and language.” Showing that you can successfully deal with the transitional phases of life in musical version like West Side Story (who doesn’t like music at any level in these movies?) here the 1970s portrays the 1950s again (this time 1959) as did American Graffiti. Social strata, growing up rich or poor, from the south or west or north or east side–it all has meaning in the genre. Like Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story this is focused on high school teens–yet Sandy is thinking about college and Danny and Sandy each need to figure out who they want to be when school is out.
FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982). With American Graffiti documenting the American teen experience of the 1950s in the 1970s, Fast Times reflected the day. Who is more of a classic rebel than Sean Penn’s Jeff Spicoli? Full of both nerds and chock full of household name actors to-be, like Penn, Phoebe Cates, Eric Stoltz, Nicholas Cage, Forest Whitaker, Anthony Edwards, Judge Reinhold and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Fast Times included another piece of the genre, generational slang.
THE OUTSIDERS (1983). Probably the biggest film to launch careers of teen actors is The Outsiders. Francis Ford Coppola was harassed by a high school class to make this film and finally agreed to do it. Socs vs. Greasers. Literally kids from opposite sides of the tracks. Matt Dillon plays Dallas, the ultimate teen anti-hero. C. Thomas Howell and Ralph Macchio again, the poster actor of the genre, play the alienated unlikely rebels with heroes within screaming to get out. This one launched the careers of Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Diane Lane. For teens who think they are alone, that the crap piled on them only happens to them, like the other films on this list, The Outsiders illustrates that everyone is an outsider sometime.
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986). Although it is Matthew Broderick’s character Ferris Bueller’s sister Jeannie, played by Jennifer Grey, that really shows the teen experience in the high school of 1986, it is Bueller and his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), that are soon moving away to separate colleges. Bueller rebels differently than most characters in this genre, yet is he really any different from Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times or Curt in American Graffiti?
SAY ANYTHING (1989). You don’t have to have an ensemble cast to make your point and here a small cast illustrates dealing with adult issues early, struggling with who you want to be and what you want to do. If you don’t want to make something bought or sold, sell anything made or bought or buy anything made or sold, John Cusack’s Lloyd Dobler feels your pain. Cusack, Ione Skye and Lili Taylor form a great team to reflect angst and confusion. Dobler standing at the Gas and Sip with a bunch of “losers”–and Dobler leaving them behind, is what the genre is all about. And blaring your stereo from the street so the girl of your dreams hears you to apologize outside her window–again, music is key to a classic like this one and made that single image iconic.
DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993). Here the 1990s plays the 1970s, almost cementing the cyclical nature of these themes as a part of the genre. The highs and lows of partying, friendship, and rebellion. Every bit as much a classic film as American Graffiti, with authentic (not so cool) clothing and very cool cars, this movie probably doesn’t get the credit it deserves from a huge cast of good young actors. Like some of the other films above, this one was an early film for later big names, like Milla Jovovich, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, and Parker Posey.
ORANGE COUNTY (2002). Orange County is one of those films you can watch over and over, with Colin Hanks’s Shaun Brumder a wanna-be writer whose high school guidance counselor (Lily Tomlin) sends the wrong stats to his college of choice. His girlfriend wants him to stay home. His brother (played by Jack Black) chose to stay home and shows Shaun what he doesn’t want. A mentor emerges in the form of a professor played by Kevin Kline at just the right time. Like Ron Howard in American Graffiti, Shaun makes a different choice from his friends, a different path than he’d originally planned.
SUPERBAD (2007). Christopher Mintz-Plasse takes Charles Martin Smith’s alienated nerd full circle in Superbad as the self-named “McLovin.” Despite being the third wheel in the film, he manages to conquer all the roles of the myriad of characters throughout all the above films. Speeding along with Van Halen’s ”Panama” blaring as he buddies up with two local police officers, McLovin practically gets arrested trying to buy beer, and ends up setting fire to a police car in a near parody of the genre. And he gets the girl. Future Academy Award nominee Jonah Hill and pal Michael Cera show what good friends will and won’t do for each other as Hill’s character learns Cera’s character will be rooming with McLovin at college. Yet it all works out somehow, after the “quest for beer” and obligatory party, and Hill’s character giving his girlfriend an inadvertent black eye. Superbad proves the genre stays strong, and that the themes of life in transition remain universal and accessible to movie audiences.
As recently as August 2011, 40 years after a man hijacked a flight from Portland to Seattle, the legendary D.B. Cooper was the subject of a new lead in the FBI’s investigation of America’s only unsolved hijacking. An Oklahoma woman came forward suggesting that when she was eight years old her uncle revealed amassing the stolen fortune in the days after Cooper took $200,000 and a parachute and vanished over the Pacific Northwest on the November 24, 1971. In 1980 $6,000 of the bills washed ashore, found by a kid playing at a beach.
So did D.B. Cooper survive?
Writer/artist Brian Churilla suggests in his new mini-series from Oni Press that maybe there was something more sinister going on in the fall of 1971, and that D.B. Cooper was a trained assassin turned rogue agent of the CIA. Why the skyjacking? Cooper went on the run and the publicity was an effort to enlist the public to flush out and track down Cooper.
Far-fetched?
You bet! But that’s the stuff of good comic book action. In issue #1 of The Secret History of D.B. Cooper, Churilla goes off in even more bizarre directions, showing that Cooper also was a bit of a dream traveler like Dennis Quaid’s character in the 1984 cult sci-fi classic Dreamscape. And just like in Dreamscape, the government enlisted Cooper to murder targets in their sleep, stumbling through a frenzied dream world in the process.
Unlike Dreamscape, Churilla takes off in a surreal direction like something you might find in the pages of Animal Man, where reality is blurred with otherworldly elements, with Cooper using the resources of a one-armed teddy bear sidekick. Yes, that’s right, a one-eared teddy bear. With a sword even.
The above description might have the more mainstream audiences running for cover, but for those that like a good alternate history mixed with X-Files overtones, this series may be up your alley. A good introductory story, issue #1 suggests this independent publisher mini-series could get a foothold with readers of the big comic publishing houses. And it’s plain fun.
First, Animal Man is big right now, and the over the top, supernatural imagery of The Secret History should attract readers of that popular DC Comics series.
Second, Churilla picked a great hook using D.B. Cooper as his hero. In more than 40 years he is still thought of not like every other airplane hijacker of all time, but is constantly referred to as “an American folk hero,” achieving something of a mythic status like Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde. The FBI has investigated over 1,000 suspects over the years, documented several deathbed confessions, a movie, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper starring Treat Williams, and several non-fiction books. Yet, Cooper has hardly been used as the subject of a good, creative retelling.
Third, a buddy cop story where one buddy is a teddy bear. ‘Nuff said.
Fourth, like the popular NBC TV series Grimm, The Secret History takes place in the great Pacific Northwest, home of the X-Files and Twin Peaks, prime real estate for a creepy and cool supernatural detective story.
Finally, Churilla’s art and colors has a very Mike Mignola quality and the writing also reads like a Hellboy story from Mignola.
One alternate cover version is available, drawn by Batwoman writer/artist J.H. Williams III.
Actually you might just love this trailer for several reasons unless you are a loyal fan of the original 594 episodes of the Dark Shadows TV series from 1966-1971 starring Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins. This appears to have little of the vibe of that dark series, yet it takes place in 1972, after the series ended, with a “fish out of water” story.
If you secretly wish Raul Julia was still around for another Addams Family movie, this may be your next movie to see.
Here is the trailer for the new Johnny Depp/Tim Burton film, Dark Shadows:
Starring Johnny Depp, the best actor of his generation, and directed by Tim Burton, Dark Shadows appears to go all out on the camp-retro view of TV of the 1960s and 1970s, like Nicole Kidman’s Bewitched.
Dark Shadows opens in theaters May 11, yet there has been very little released about the film until now. It features an all-star cast, including Eva Green (Casino Royale, Golden Compass), Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns, Wolf), Helena Bonham Carter (Alice in Wonderland, Frankenstein, Harry Potter films), Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen), with Christopher Lee (Star Wars prequels, Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Alice Cooper.
at a significantly reduced price.
(reprints all the Liberty Meadows series covers)
