Non-Tolkien Fantasy Films

trif wrote: Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain THIS was the film John Carpenter based Big Trouble in Little China on - A Chinese Ghost Story was made three years after Big Trouble. Sammo Hung! Yuen Biao! And special effects by ILM! There was a CGI'd up the wazoo remake but I understand it's inferior to the original.

I used to own a cheap bootleg copy of this one, but I only got to see it once before my apartment was burglarized. The only thing I remember liking about Zu was the way the spellcasters would shout out the name of the spells they were casting.

Shellhead wrote:

trif wrote: Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain THIS was the film John Carpenter based Big Trouble in Little China on - A Chinese Ghost Story was made three years after Big Trouble. Sammo Hung! Yuen Biao! And special effects by ILM! There was a CGI'd up the wazoo remake but I understand it's inferior to the original.

I used to own a cheap bootleg copy of this one, but I only got to see it once before my apartment was burglarized. The only thing I remember liking about Zu was the way the spellcasters would shout out the name of the spells they were casting.

I hope Zu was all they stole -- I want to meet those burglars.

They stole most of my cheap bootleg HK movies, along with most of my other movies, a box of comics, both phones and caller ID units (this was 15 years ago), my bookshelf stereo, my boombox, my CD collection, a few ringbinders from my CCG collection, a leather jacket, a bastard sword, and my checkbook.

Fortunately, my criminal ex-girlfriend was involved, so I was able to recover the phones, the caller ID units, about 1/3 of my CDs, most of the CCG ringbinders, and most of the comics. I showed up at her place to confront her, and instead her helpful landlord got me in to ID my stuff, though he wouldn't let me take anything with me. The cops raided the place the next day and got back some of my stuff, and then one of her friends fenced me back some other stuff. My renters insurance reimbursed me for everything.

Sticking strictly to sword and sorcery fantasy I give you:

Beastmaster - haven't seen this in years so it might no hold up but as a kid I recall being thrilled at the thought of animal companions and terrified of the horde and the vampire bat looking dissolvers.

Willow - good soundtrack, Mad Martigan, and Joanne Whaley. 'nuff said.

Egg Shen wrote:

JonJacob wrote: I loved Kung Fu Hustle and I think I loved Shaolin Soccer even more. Actually now that it's being mentioned I think I like Iron Monkey as much as any of them and certainly more than Crouching Tiger. It's a damned masterpiece.

Stephen Chow's latest film has finally made its way to North America.

www.amazon.com/Journey-West-Blu-ray-Zhan...eywords=stephen+chow

Might be worth checking out.

I found it disappointing. Great sequence at the beginning and some good stuff sprinkled throughout (there's a very funny gag with a blood pump that just won't stop) but Chow isn't in it and it's all prologue (I think it's meant to be the first of three films.) Chow fans (who only know him through Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer) should check it his earlier films - especially From Beijing with Love (his Bond parody) and Forbidden City Cop.

It seems like every fantasy-esque (and some scifi) movie except the LotR ones have been mentioned I'll turn this question around and see what's left. What are some Tolkien-esque movies that aren't animated or directed by Peter Jackson?

I'm assuming 'Tolkien-like' means standard fantasy races and creatures. Not much out of the ordinary of high fantasy.

Hawk the Slayer
Flight of Dragons
Legend
Last Unicorn
D&D Cartoon

Yeah fantasy as it's traditionally thought of. People wouldn't think of Iron Monkey as fantasy... but it totally is.

Anything based in Europe with Orcs, Dragons, Elves, Dwarves or anything similar is Tolkien like to me and many of the recommendations in this thread have certainly been Tolkien like. Some only faintly so but none the less. I'd even say Willow isn't that far from Tolkien, neither is Excalibur (since Tolkien used myths like that as inspiration for his books). Tolkien, to me anyway, is basically a collection of old English myths or fairy tales. We all know he worked as a translator originally and translated The Green Knight, Beowulf and others so it's pretty clear what his influence was. In a way he didn't even invent that version of fantasy so much as compile it.

If you read 'fantasy' from before Tolkien - like David Lindsay's excellent Voyage to Arcturus (1920) it's pretty clear that what we mean by 'fantasy' could have been something totally different than what we do mean and horror would probably be in that category, or a lot of horror anyway. Even reading old Conan you can tell that there was something weirder going on, something more primal and urgent. Tolkien is very high minded and literary by comparison and sometimes I think it hurts his writing. Like it's a little too clever for it's own good on occasion. Too much faux Shakespearean language.

As a result there are a ton of fantasy movies, books etc... that fall into the medievalist form, which is definitely a nod to Tolkien. You don't need swords, magic and monsters to be fantasy in my mind, there are other... more original ways to do it.

That's what I'm looking for and this thread is filled with almost everything now, but that's ok because I can just sort through it. Tolkien created a great world and his reach is phenomenal at this point.. I'm looking for more outsider stuff.

For me, Star Wars is fantasy based on this line of thought... fantasy in space.. but fantasy none the less. There is very little sci-fi in it, there is almost no speculation (a key to sci-fi for me, which at it's best is speculative fiction) and concepts like the force... pure fantasy.

I've been in a fantasy mood lately and was watching some Dungeons and Dragons last night and recalled another good animated story in the genre.

Fire and Ice - No, not Game of Thrones but more action oriented Frazetta inspired blood and guts. The voice cast it good and the climactic battle between good and evil is outstanding.

Upcoming series: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell based on the excellent novel by Susannah Clarke. 7 episodes starting in January, on Space in Canada and BBC America.