Downloads and Dragons: Look what they've done to Fantasy, ma
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- Hernalt
- Michael_Martinez
- Aelric
- Michael_Martinez
- Aelric
- Michael_Martinez
- BandwagonNewbie
- Mataxes
- Mataxes
- wolbo
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» Hernalt - .
Excellent article. I value the calm repose you have towards this issue of the inevitability of dragon movies in the very near future. There might be other persons like myself who sought and seek to rectify a dearth of suitable fantasy by writing our own, and there might be a heated fright that one's work will not make it to screen before other things get there. Your tone kind of helps to put the pacing in perspective. Jackson will raise the bar, and it's inevitable that some class-act dragon fantasy will come after it.There's also the fact that in the past 24 months, 4 space movies came out that had every possibility, every right, every decent incentive to be good, but two of which fell flat on their faces. How can such things happen, we ask? We try to launch shuttle after shuttle, braving new frontiers, but one morning in 1986 and we are all reminded of the mortality of grasping the heavens, celestial, ideologic or mythical.
So here's a toast to the highth, breadth and depth of future cinematic fantasy: May it aim high, strike deep, and set us silent in awe.
-- posted by Hernalt
» Michael_Martinez - This is a good movie!
People need to ignore all the naysayers and go see it for themselves. No movie will please everyone, but this movie was far better than many others I've sat through.-- posted by Michael_Martinez
» Michael_Martinez - Re: Hmmmmm
In response to message posted by Aelric:Sorry, Aelric, that bird won't fly. There's people what likes this movie and people what doesn't like it. But "Excalibur" still stinks. 
-- posted by Michael_Martinez
» Michael_Martinez - Re: Hmmmmm
In response to message posted by Aelric:Aelric, "Dungeons and Dragons" is a good movie. "Excalibur" is simply awful. It's just THAT simple.
-- posted by Michael_Martinez
» BandwagonNewbie - Other fantasy storylines
What other books from the fantasy genre would make for plausible movie adaptations?-- posted by BandwagonNewbie
» Mataxes - Re: Other fantasy storylines
In response to message posted by BandwagonNewbie:That's really a tough call. One of the biggest problems I see with many "Hollywood" fantasy movies (or, to be more honest, sword-and-sorcery movies) is that the people bankrolling the film have little imagination themselves, and often little respect for the imagination (or intelligence) of their audience.
I kind of shudder at the thought, but Terry Brooks's "Sword of Shannara" would be a good candidate. It's such a blatant (and somewhat hackneyed) Tolkien-pastiche that it would be a pretty easy sell to a studio exec.
Uhm... yeah. The big problem I see is that fantasy fiction, in general, is epic, multi-volume stuff. They could pull it off with LotR because Tolkien is a huge draw, voted most influential book of the 20th Century, etc etc. But for a less "mainstream" fantasy work... you're likely to end up with a poor shadow of what's in the pages.
I think my top choice would be something like... the original Dragonlance trilogy as a TV miniseries. Perhaps a live-action Discworld adaptation. I know there's talk of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere being made into a film.
Ultimately, I think that in order for fantasy cinema to succeed, it needs to be written for the screen, with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the medium. Looking solely to fantasy fiction as the source of inspiration is, I believe, somewhat short-sighted.
PS -- Seeing the old messages here, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoyed the D&D movie.
-- posted by Mataxes
» wolbo - Re: Other fantasy storylines
In response to message posted by BandwagonNewbie:What about "Legend", Book 1 of the Drenai Tales by David Gemmell.
Feels a lot like the US story of the "Alamo" which has already translated very well to the screen. A reluctant hero, mysterious warrior monks, rampaging savages and Druss the Axe - hero without peer who dies in one of the most climactic scenes any director could hope for.
-- posted by wolbo
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