A new trailer of the upcoming fantasy movie Conan the Barbarian has been released. It is the first real trailer with actual footage of the the movie. It looks quite impressive with a lot of action, which of course is to be expected of a Conan movie, but it remains to be seen if the story is any good.
Conan the Barbarian will be released to theatres on August 19, 2011. Jason Momoa, Khal Drogo in the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, will star as Conan.
See the trailer below!
Much has been said and written about the first Game of Thrones episode. Viewer numbers of the first episode were very good and most reviews have been quite positive. Some reviews however, were rather negative.
I have decided to wait with writing a review till after the second episode to be able to better form my opinion.
Having seen all the trailers and previews out there, most of the first episode was already known to me. I was somewhat surprised that the episode started beyond the wall but it did set a the stage for the episodes and seasons to come and created an exciting and tense start of the first season.
Positive elements
Game of Thrones clearly has it positive elements. First of all, it looks great: the settings created, the landscaped, the computer-generated elements, and the costumes all are visually stunning. You immediately see that there are no amateurs at play here.
Secondly, the acting is really good. Both the young (inexperienced) and the older actors put in an excellent performance which is especially important for such a character driven series.
Lastly, viewer numbers are good and HBO has ordered a second season. With enough viewers and the backing of the studio, Game of Thrones will have time to develop and find its place.
Less positive elements
A lot of time was spent on introducing all the characters and their personalities, which is understandable given the sheer amount of characters involved in the series. This was done well but I am still afraid that viewers unknown to the books will have had a hard time with the first episode. For me, having read all the Ice & Fire books so far, it resulted in a feeling of being a bit overwhelmed as well.
A second point, but this may be personal, is that the sex and nudity in especially the first episode were a bit over the top. I got the impression a lot of it was included in the episode just to make it more interesting instead of it being really needed for the story. On the other hand, George R.R. Martin never shied away from a bit of flesh in his novels.
Conclusion
I can be short in my conclusion: I liked the first two episode of Game of Thrones but they left me not completely satisfied. Somehow, the series has not yet been able to truly grip my full attention. I will continue to watch the series and I hope that it will become better by the episode, resulting in it being the best fantasy TV series ever.
The last point I want to make is with the story of A Song of Ice & Fire being so good and complex, the TV series may take its time to find the perfect combination of complexity and accessibility but it the end I am confident it will result in something great.
After months, even years of waiting, tonight at 9PM Game of Thrones will premiere at HBO!
Tomorrow, April 18 at 9PM, Game of Thrones will air in the UK on Sky Atlantic.
The series, based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire, has been hugely hyped over the last couple of month. Reviews of those fortunately enough to have already seen the first episodes are mostly very positive, with only a few critics still claiming that fantasy is for geeks and should not be taken seriously.
I expect millions to hold their breath tonight and anxiously await if Game of Thrones can become the first major and successful fantasy TV series.
Enjoy!
Prime Focus has released a press statement informing the world that it has come to an agreement with sir Terry Pratchet to make a television series based on the Night Watch of his popular Discworld series.
Personally, I love the Discworld novels and the Night Watch is my favorite group of characters so I really hope this cooperation will result in a great new fantasy TV series!
Press statement
Sir Terry Pratchett and Rod Brown, managing director of Prime Focus Productions, have announced an agreement for the unprecedented and exclusive worldwide television rights to create brand new storylines for the iconic characters of Pratchett’s phenomenally successful Discworld series.
Terry’s universal success has seen him create one of the leading fantasy fiction franchises of all time, with 70 million worldwide sales of his 38-book Discworld titles. This will rise to 39 following another book to be published in October 2011. While there have been three successful mini-series adaptations of his Discworld books made for television in the UK, this is the first time Pratchett has granted a production company the international rights to his characters and their world. The agreement will see Prime Focus Productions create a series of new stories exclusively for a television audience.
The main focus of the series will be the bustling, highly mercantile, largely untrustworthy and vibrant city of Ankh Morpork. It will follow the day-to-day activities of the men, women, trolls, dwarves, vampires and several other species who daily pound its ancient cobbles. This will of course also include Igor in the forensics department. Terry commonly refers to the City Watch police force series as “the jewels in his Discworld Crown.” These richly developed and highly compelling characters will feature in a ‘crime of the week’ episodic storyline. As each weekly adventure unfolds, viewers will be taken on a ride through Pratchett’s genius imagination, with the author overseeing the creation of the series. In this world, wild and exciting encounters with werewolves, dragons, dwarfs, trolls, golems and the classic heroes and villains are an everyday occurrence… many of whom even make outstanding crime fighters!
“I believe the globally successful Discworld franchise will readily translate to the small screen in the form of a high-end, mass appeal weekly drama series, giving the audience the anticipation and excitement of brand new Discworld stories every week through the medium of television, rather than books,” said Rod Brown, managing director of Prime Focus Productions. “It’s a huge responsibility to get this right for Terry, his legions of Discworld fans and the new followers that we’ll attract along the way. I believe they’ll be in for a treat with a high calibre writing team already attached, including Monty Python’s Terry Jones and Gavin Scott (Small Soldiers, The Borrowers). We’ve already spoken to a number of international broadcasters who’ve shown early interest and we hope to move forward very quickly to bring this exciting project to fruition.”
Sir Terry Pratchett said of the agreement: “I’m very excited and incredibly happy about this because Rod was co-head of the team that produced the very successful Sky One adaptations. My message of encouragement to him now is: don’t bugger it up!”
Source: Prime Focus Productions
The fantasy movie Labyrinth was released into movie theaters in 1986. Starring David Bowie, directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas, the movie had a lot going for it. In was not received very well at the time but over time the movie has reached quite a cult status.
Story
The young girl Sarah wishes a brother to a magic land and in order to return him to the real world she has to find her way through a great maze, the labyrinth, and retrieve him from the goblet king Jareth who is none less than David Bowie. Before she is able to do so, she has to so solve several riddles and puzzles.
Style, People Involved and Reception
Directed by puppet master Jim Henson, who also made The Dark Crystal, and in collaboration with George Lucas, Labyrinth is masterpiece with a story somewhat alike Alice in Wonderland. However, when it came out in 1986, the reception was not well at all and the movie made a loss.
The movie was seen as childish and not that original but the perception of the movie changed over time and Labyrinth is now considered to be a cult fantasy movie but it is definitely not a favorite of mine.
HBO continues the ongoing stream of news, images and video clips of the upcoming TV series Game of Thrones.
This time a series of video clips portraying the most important Houses of Westeros and several of the main characters have been released.
Game of Thrones is based on the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, written by George R.R. Martin.
The first official poster and trailer for the 2011 Conan the Barbarian remake have been released.
The trailer and especially the poster look promising but of course it very much remains to be seen if this remake can live up to the original Conan movie.
The part of Conan will be played by Jason Momoa, known for his roles in the television series Baywatch and Stargate: Atlantis. Also, Momoa will play Khal Drogo in the upcoming television series Game of Thrones. He can act and definitely has the body for Conan but he is new to the big screen making him sort of an additional question mark for the movie. Other important roles are for Ron Perlman and Rachel Nichols.
Conan the Barbarian will be released in theatres on August 19, 2011 (also in 3D).
Trailer
Yes, here is yet another Game of Thrones trailer. This time a new and improved theatrical version. For those who do not share my enthusiasm it may be a bit too much attention It now really has a finished look to it and personally I find it to be very, very good.
In addition, HBO has opened the website The Maester’s Path on which you have to complete five tasks/ challenges over the coming weeks to obtain the five links and complete your maester’s chain. Each obtained link also results in a unique reward.
Game of Thrones is based on the fantasy series A Song of Ice & Fire, written by author George R.R. Martin. The series will start on April 17, 2011.
HBO has released yet another trailer giving us a look behind the scenes of the upcoming series Game of Thrones. Only a couple more weeks till the first episode!
Game of Thrones is based on the fantasy series A Song of Ice & Fire, written by author George R.R. Martin. It is to be released on Apriil 17, 2011.
I have something to set straight. In earlier posts I have been (somewhat) negative about the Harry Potter. I have always acknowledged the popularity of the novels and the fact that they definitely are a landmark in the fantasy genre but at the same time, I have criticized the hype surrounding the movies as I do not believe them to be as good as everybody keeps on telling me.
However, of course there is also good to be found in the Harry Potter movies and I had been told that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is the best one so far. And after having seen this latest Potter movie, I must admit that I am still not a fan but I did enjoy the movie. Not much more than the previous movies in the series but then again, looking back they too were not that bad.
Story
The story centers around Harry, Hermione and Ron fleeing from Voldemort’s forces and searching for the Horcruxes. Destroying these Horcruxes appears to be the only way to stop Voldemort, who by now is in control of the Ministry of Magic and has starting rounding up everyone who may oppose him. The late Dumbledore has left each of them an item to help on this quest.
Despite the death of several of their friends and serious arguments between the three of them, Harry, Hermione and Ron manage to escape from Voldemort’s henchmen, retrieve the Sword of Gryffindor and destroy a Horcrux. However, Voldemort finds the Elder Wand, increasing his abilities even further, making the outlook for the last movie very bleak…
Lots of action, not too much depth
As mentioned above, the movie is definitely entertaining to watch. The storytelling is quite fast paced and there is lots of action. The setting is quite dark with several tense moments but not to the extent that it should be classified in any way as a scary movie: the focus is still on entertaining teenagers so they shouldn’t be scared away.
The whole love story between Hermione and Ron not working for me. This element, together with the uncomfortable moments Harry has with his two friends due to the fact that he is the third wheel, should provide some extra depth to the story but it seems too artificial to me.
Another downside is that it is the first of two connected movies. A large part of the movie feels like a prelude to the finale and there is also no real ending to this first part. This is not surprising as the story is based on one single novel but I feel they could have done a better job. On the other hand, it did the trick in one way: I really do want to know how the series ends and, as I haven’t read the last couple of Potter books, I will have to watch the last movie!
One more to go…
To conclude: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is all right to watch and even one of the best fantasy movies of 2010. You will have a hard time not sitting on the edge of your seat and you will most likely want to see part 2 to find out how the whole saga ends. The final movie in the series may well become one of the highlights of 2011.
Having said that, I am sorry to say that I still haven’t lost all of my misgivings about the series…
After a year that has not been too special on the fantasy front, I really don’t know where to start off discussing the short term future of fantasy; there are simply too many great new things happening in the fantasy genre during 2011!
Novels that will surely be amazing, endings of series that have taken decades to create and have held millions in their grip. Blockbuster movies and a television series that can only blow our minds.
Here are my personal hightlights: the best and most anticipated fantasy titles of the year to come!
Books and Series
The novel I am looking most forward to is The Crippled God by Steven Erikson. It is the last installment of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and should be several hundreds of pages filled with the resolution of all mysteries that Erikson has created during the series. Allthough, knowing Erikson a bit, much will probably remain unsolved.
Close second on my list, mostly because we will have to wait till the end of September before it will be released, is A Dance with Dragons, the fifth novel in George R.R. Martin‘s already legendary A Song of Ice & Fire series. Together with the first season of Game of Thrones (see below), this novel will put a huge spotlight on the fantasy genre.
Soon available (in March) is the latest book of Patrick Rothfuss called The Wise Man’s Fear. After the succes of The Name of the Wind, the anticipation for this new novel is very high.
Last book I want to mention is A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the last installment in The Wheel of Time series. I somewhat lost interest in the series over the years but for many fans this novel will be the most anticipated of the year and it is bound to be high in the New York Times bestsellers list for a long time. It is expected for November 2011.
Movies
Several interesting fantasy movies will be released in theatres in 2011 so there is a lot to look forward to but none of them are guaranteed to be very good. The most promising one is the last movie in the Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II, set to premiere in July. I am not that much of a fan of the Potter movies but the first Deathly Hallows movie was quite good so I am expecting a lot from part II.
The comedy fantasy movie Your Highness can go either way. Or it will be a hilarious ridicule of fantasy movies or it will be a annoying succession of desperately-trying-to-be-funny fantasy scenes. Your Highness will be in theatres on April 8.
Another movie I am not so sure about is Thor, with a story based on the Marvel comics. There is a good chance of this being a movie solely revolving around action scenes with the story having no depth and the characters being flat. Thor will premiere late April/ early May.
Last in this category of doubtfull movies is the remake of Conan the Barbarian. They will have to make an extremely good movie to come near the “level” of the original movie and to shake of the criticism and cynicism that fans will surely have. We will have to wait a while for Conan as it will not be in theatres until August.
One movie I am personally definitely not looking forward to is the first of the two Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn movies that will be released in November 2011.
Game of Thrones
I simply cannot say it enough: Game of Thrones is starting in 2011! On April 17, the first episode will air on HBO in the US and on Sky in the UK and like almost everybody with a heart for fantasy, I love Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire series and am highly anticipating this television series.
As mentioned before, 2010 was not the greatest of years for the fantasy genre but 2011 will surely make us forget all about it. In addition, we will have the anticipation of the movie The Hobbit that is scheduled for 2012…
