“Dracula Untold” is an american dark fantasy action movie. Luke Evans as the main actor, which is defintively always worth a watch.

Plot

The happenings in this movie take place in the 15th-century. Knowing war is coming, Vlad seeks help from a vampire. The vampire tells him there are consequences and offers him some of his blood, which will temporarily give Vlad the powers of a vampire. If he resists the intense urge to drink human blood for three days, he will turn back into a human.

Of course he fails to resist.

Reception

The movie has only an approval rating of 24% based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 4.46/10 on rottentomatoes. I, though, liked it a lot and actually have it on my rewatch-list.

I would rate it at 7.5/10 I guess, especially because (dark) fantasy action is one of my preffered movie genres.

#movie #fantasy #dark #action

Now, this is rather untypical for me. “Constantine” is a superhero horror film. I am NOT into horror movies AT ALL. Still, I watched Constantine.

Especially because it features Keanu Reeves as the main actor. A must-watch(-actor), in my opinion.

Plot

John Constantine, an occult detective, is called to exorcise a possessed girl. He exorcises demons back to Hell to earn favor with Heaven, which he seeks salvation from because of an suicide attempt in his youth.

He helps someone learn the truth about her sister's death while unraveling a much larger and darker plot.

That's about as much as I can give away without revealing as much as the wikipedia article on the movie does.

Reception

On rottentomatoes, the movie averages at 5.4/10. I would tend towards 7/10 though, even though I am not favourable of horror movies at all.

Still, the tension (and hey, Keanu Reeves!!!) was great and I liked the movie a lot, despite some rather gory scenes.

#movie #horror #fantasy #thriller

“Men in Black: International” is the fourth installment of the Men in Black film series, and the first one to not feature Will Smith as the main actor. And that shows.

Will Smith truly gave the Men in Black series its special spin. Men in Black: International does not live up to that (fairly high) standard. Still, it does not fail to entertain, in my opinion.

A word on “political correctness”

Yes, Men in Black: International features a female actor as the main character. I get the impression that more and more film makers aim for what is called “political correctness” by installing female actors in movies.

I do not think this is a bad idea.

But, why does this mean that movies and film series which strongly build on the “Macho/Bad-Boy” stereotype are now “reinvented” with a female main character? There was a debate about a female 007, there is certainly some online discussion about “Star Trek: Discovery” and now there is a female Men in Black main actor. In my opinion, that is a rather uninspired and dull move. Aiming for more female actors for the main character is a very creditable goal – but just re-doing movies and replacing a male main character with a female feels like a half-hearted attempt.

I, for one, would love to see more new female main character movies.

Plot

In the 90s, Molly witnesses her parents being neuralyzed by agents of MIB. She stays un-neuralyzed. From then on, she aims to become one of the MIB.

Besides from that, the plot does not differ greatly from the other MIB movies, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Critic

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 23% based on 318 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10.

(wikipedia)

Strangely, in contrast to the efforts of installing a female character as a strong woman, the movie has lost its coolness. This could have been the one key point where the movie could be able to continue the MIB franchise with a female main character! The previous MIB movies were always some sort of “bad-boy cool-gangster-themed” action movie with comedic elements. Men in Black International does not continue on that road, unfortunately.

Still, the movie is nice for an evening of Monsters and action, and I would agree on the 4.5/10 of rottentomatoes.

#movie #comedy #action #fantasy

Wrath of the Titans is a 2012 action fantasy film and a sequel to the 2010 film Clash of the Titans. The latter was rather nice, as far as I can remember. With Wrath of the Titans, I have to admit that the things in my mastodon timeline were more interesting than the movie, so I did not see all scenes.

Plot

Well, it is another one of these “greek/ancient gods fight to save the world”-movies. I really have to admit that I did not get the entire plot and had to read up on wikipedia.

To give you the one phrase from wikipedia that describes the plot best:

Zeus visits Perseus and asks for his help, saying that humans are not praying to the gods; as a result, [...] they can no longer [..] hold[ing] back the imprisoned Titan Kronos from freedom.

Critique

You may have already noticed that I wasn't paying too much attention to the movie. Yes, it was rather easy to get distracted! It is certainly not bad, given that quite a few good and known actors are starred, e.g. Sam Worthington (one of my favourite actors), Rosamund Pike, Ralph Fiennes and also Loam Neeson (and of course some more known ones).

Rotten Tomatoes [...] reports that 27% of 172 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.47/10.

(wikipedia)

And I must agree with that. The fight scenes are okayish, the acting is good but there were no emotions sparked with me. I would rate it with 4.5/10, confirming the rottentomatoes average.

#movie #action #fantasy

“Fate: The Winx Saga” is a teen drama series released on #Netflix which I would put into the “Fantasy” genre.

I was not yet able to see the second season, as it is not out on german Netflix just yet, I can only say something about the first one. I like it a lot, to be honest. It is sometimes a bit scary, dark and definitively has some tension to it! It does not fail to entertain, despite having only a 5.33/10 on rottentomatoes!

Plot

Because there's not much in the Wikipedia article on the plot, I quote it here for simplicity:

Bloom, a fairy with fire powers, enrolls at a magical boarding school in the Otherworld called Alfea College. There, she shares a suite with Stella (a light fairy), Aisha (a water fairy), Terra (an earth fairy), and Musa (a mind fairy). With the help of her four new friends, Bloom starts to learn more about her past. Meanwhile, ancient creatures called the Burned Ones return to the Otherworld and threaten everyone at Alfea.

Because it has some dark scenes, the show might be not appropriate for young children, although it is about fairies and from its description seems to be targeting children!

#fantasy #teen #series #drama #movie

The first movie I want to talk about is Riddick, actually it is three movies. The main actor is Vin Diesel, which is one of my favourite actors in the action genre. I didn't know that Diesel actually did a fantasy movie, because that's what “Riddick” is – an action+fantasy movie.

I wasn't aware of the Riddick movies until someone told me about them. And I fell in love within the first couple of minutes watching the first one (Pitch Black, 2000).

Diesel, most known for playing Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious plays Riddick, who is an infamous former mercenary and solider (“antihero”) who is held hostage on a space ship that crashes. Riddick escapes. You might think that the crew of the ship has a problem now, given that Riddick was held hostage and they might get killed by him. Though, Riddick is far from being their biggest problem on the planet they crashed on.

That's how the first movie, Pitch Black, is set up for. The later two movies, “The Chronicles of Riddick”, 2004, and “Riddick”, 2013, follow on that story line and Diesel continues to impress with that roleof Riddick.

The movies are rather dark (both in their theming and in their display of the environment), which is part of the Plot in all three movies. Riddick continues to be an emotionless berserker in all three movies and stays in the role, which I really like. Most multi-part movies tend to give the main character a bit more of emotion in the later parts, weaken the role of the heartless berserker. These movies do not.

I hope the fourth movie, which is not even announced yet, Diesel continues that exact role.

#vindiesel #riddick #movie #scifi #action #fantasy #dark