D&D Movie/TV New D&D Movie: July 23rd 2021

TrippyHippy · Dec 21, 2017

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is pretty much perfect for me, and collectively counting them as one massive epic, I'd actually list them in my personal top 10 movies of all time (every time I repeat watch, I'm always totally sucked back in).

Excalibur is more low key and adult orientated in an arthouse way, but I'd also rank it really highly. Ditto Jason and the Argonauts. Beowolf and 300 work effectively enough, the Warcraft movie wasn't as dumb as some people made it out to be, and the first Conan: The Barbarian movie can be fun.

The Princess Bride and Stardust are perfectly fine as family orientated fantasy comedies, (The Gamers: Darkness Rising is also very funny) and I'd probably find some space for wuxia movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Journey to the West too.

Now, I could list in The Hobbit movie series too, but this for me is an interesting case. It's actually a really good model for a potential D&D movie so long as you forget that its actually supposed to be based on the book. As a straight adaptation it's seriously flawed, and for me, doesn't work well as a set of prequels either really (it detracts from the qualities of LotR in my mind). I don't think it should have attempted to be a trilogy. Yet, in certain scenes its fully engaging and the world it creates on screen is rich, with some good character acting. It's this sort of thing I'd like to see in any D&D movie, without all the Bilbo baggage.

Also, with regards to the latest Star Wars movie, I don't think it's perfect by any measure, but the ways some fans have reacted to it, just because it's confounded their expectations, actually borders on being offensive to me.

If these guys were around when Empire Strikes Back originally came out, they'd be ranting about Yoda being a short green alien puppet who can't speak in grammatically correct English rather than being a great warrior ("wars do not make one great"), Luke being a petulant brat, Han being a fool to trust Lando, the weird love triangle of Hans/Leia/Luke, the drawn out cat and mouse nature of the plot, Hans getting frozen, the weak character development of Boba Fett, Luke getting his hand cut off and finding out that Darth Vader was his father......

This is the same basic reaction we are getting about The Last Jedi. Just because a movie's plot isn't what you expected doesn't make it a bad movie.

(Is all I have to say about that...)

alienux · Dec 21, 2017

Well, I can look forward to this with great excitement, and then if it falls flat, I can just fall back on the joy of where my Bitcoin will be at that time.

Mirtek · Dec 21, 2017

Emirikol_Prime said:
We don't even know of Joe is still attached to this anymore.

AFAIK he never was. There was the movie projekt and there was Joe who also had come up with a script on his own in paralell to that. But he was never part of the official project, it was basically a fanwork he did.

hutchback · Dec 21, 2017

Sadras said:
1-3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
4. Willow
5. Hallmark's Merlin (Part 1)
6. Hallmark's Merlin (Part 2)
7. Excalibur (1981)
8. Stardust
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
10.Dragonslayer (haven't personally seen this, but some of the reviews I have read speak well of it)

You know what, this isn't a bad list. Most of these are decent if not good.

I was going to argue against Pirates, but despite the lack of some obvious tropes (elves, dwarves, dragons, etc.) it really does have the story elements of a good fantasy adventure.

I haven't seen the two Merlin miniseries. I'll have to remedy that.

Personally I would count LOTR as one film, but wouldn't argue anyone else breaking them for a list like this.

Your list goes a ways back, which is legitimate, but makes me think how for most genres we could pull a list from the last 10 years.

I'm just struck on Hollywood's inability to capitalize on what LOTR accomplished. Someone mentioned how there were little to no good superhero films before 2000. That got me thinking how The Fellowship and Spider-Man were both released within a year of each other, achieved similar praise from viewers, and made similar money. Since then we've seen this steady stream of superhero films, many of which were good. Yet it's been a trickle of forgettable fantasy films in that same time.

IMO there are no shortcuts in telling a good fantasy tale. You must develop the characters, the world, AND the plot. I think Hollywood hates that. It doesn't fit their model and thus they struggle with it.

Thomas Bowman · Dec 21, 2017

TrippyHippy said:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is pretty much perfect for me, and collectively counting them as one massive epic, I'd actually list them in my personal top 10 movies of all time (every time I repeat watch, I'm always totally sucked back in).

Excalibur is more low key and adult orientated in an arthouse way, but I'd also rank it really highly. Ditto Jason and the Argonauts. Beowolf and 300 work effectively enough, the Warcraft movie wasn't as dumb as some people made it out to be, and the first Conan: The Barbarian movie can be fun.

The Princess Bride and Stardust are perfectly fine as family orientated fantasy comedies, (The Gamers: Darkness Rising is also very funny) and I'd probably find some space for wuxia movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Journey to the West too.

Now, I could list in The Hobbit movie series too, but this for me is an interesting case. It's actually a really good model for a potential D&D movie so long as you forget that its actually supposed to be based on the book. As a straight adaptation it's seriously flawed, and for me, doesn't work well as a set of prequels either really (it detracts from the qualities of LotR in my mind). I don't think it should have attempted to be a trilogy. Yet, in certain scenes its fully engaging and the world it creates on screen is rich, with some good character acting. It's this sort of thing I'd like to see in any D&D movie, without all the Bilbo baggage.

Also, with regards to the latest Star Wars movie, I don't think it's perfect by any measure, but the ways some fans have reacted to it, just because it's confounded their expectations, actually borders on being offensive to me.

If these guys were around when Empire Strikes Back originally came out, they'd be ranting about Yoda being a short green alien puppet who can't speak in grammatically correct English rather than being a great warrior ("wars do not make one great"), Luke being a petulant brat, Han being a fool to trust Lando, the weird love triangle of Hans/Leia/Luke, the drawn out cat and mouse nature of the plot, Hans getting frozen, the weak character development of Boba Fett, Luke getting his hand cut off and finding out that Darth Vader was his father......

This is the same basic reaction we are getting about The Last Jedi. Just because a movie's plot isn't what you expected doesn't make it a bad movie.

(Is all I have to say about that...)

Actually the Hobbit came out first as a book, it was an attempt by the author, JRR Tolkien to write a new "fairy tale". Originally it was meant as a stand alone book, after the success of that book, Tolkien decided to write Lord of the Rings, when he did so, he also rewrote portions of the Hobbit so that it would fit in with the Lord of the Rings. Originally the One Ring was simply a ring of invisibility and nothing more than that. It was a nifty thing for a Hobbit to possess.

http://www.tolkien.cro.net/tolkien/changes.html

gyor · Dec 21, 2017

People joke about Michael Bay directing, but Michael Bay movies make big money, having Micheal Bay direct is a licience to print money.

Ralif Redhammer · Dec 21, 2017

It hasn't been for lack of trying...Eragon, Spiderwick Chronicles, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and The Golden Compass (though arguably its failure was due to the external pressures) were all attempts at starting a franchise. Even the Chronicles of Narnia, which at the least got off the ground, floundered halfway through the series.

Then again, The Scorpion King series has how many entries in it now?

hutchback said:
I'm just struck on Hollywood's inability to capitalize on what LOTR accomplished. Someone mentioned how there were little to no good superhero films before 2000. That got me thinking how The Fellowship and Spider-Man were both released within a year of each other, achieved similar praise from viewers, and made similar money. Since then we've seen this steady stream of superhero films, many of which were good. Yet it's been a trickle of forgettable fantasy films in that same time.

IMO there are no shortcuts in telling a good fantasy tale. You must develop the characters, the world, AND the plot. I think Hollywood hates that. It doesn't fit their model and thus they struggle with it.

Thomas Bowman · Dec 21, 2017

Ralif Redhammer said:
It hasn't been for lack of trying...Eragon, Spiderwick Chronicles, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and The Golden Compass (though arguably its failure was due to the external pressures) were all attempts at starting a franchise. Even the Chronicles of Narnia, which at the least got off the ground, floundered halfway through the series.

Then again, The Scorpion King series has how many entries in it now?

Actually there is a new Chronicles of Narnia movie coming up, I believe its called The Silver Chair.

Ralif Redhammer · Dec 21, 2017

I keep forgetting that they're trying to continue it. I quite like the books (though I certainly agree with Neil Gaiman’s The Problem with Susan), and am hoping that this goes well. It’s been seven years since the last one, after all.

Thomas Bowman said:
Actually there is a new Chronicles of Narnia movie coming up, I believe its called The Silver Chair.

Oofta · Dec 21, 2017

Interesting tidbit: big budget movies seem to be getting worse over time.

Not that it has much relevance to a movie that won't be released for years, but the gist of the article is that big budget movies are pretty bad. And Michael Bay movies, even though they are awful, make a lot of money.

D&D Movie/TV New D&D Movie: July 23rd 2021

TrippyHippy

Hero

alienux

Explorer

Mirtek

Hero

hutchback

Explorer

Thomas Bowman

First Post

gyor

Legend

Ralif Redhammer

Legend

Thomas Bowman

First Post

Ralif Redhammer

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Oofta

Legend

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