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Showing posts from October, 2012

The Flight of Dragons (1982 - 1986)

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imdb Link   Wiki Link   TvTropes Link This is an odd one. There are a lot of animated features from the 70s and 80s which are not aired in the UK often (or ever), apart from Watership Down every Christmas. This story mixes the novel, "The Dragon and the George", with Peter Dickinson's "The Flight of Dragons". The latter is actually a speculative natural history theory about how mythical dragons could have existed and how their flight and fiery breath could work. In the animation, Dickinson is the protagonist who occasionally makes references to his theories. AARGH! Goddamnit dragon! That being said, the 'science' used in the movie is suspect. There is a prominent science vs magic argument that the plot hinges on, and the arguments made on the side of logic are... ineffective to put it nicely. The loose premise of the film is the ending of the "Age of Magic" to be replaced with the "Age of Reason" (despite the human architect

Excalibur (1981)

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Wikipedia Link   imdb Link   TVTropes link image from mattfind.com I am a fan of the Arthurian legends and their adaptations to the large and small screen, be them in the style of a Bernard Cornwell-like post-Roman warlord Briton, or Anglo-French "Le Morte d'Arthur" fictional mix-up. This film falls firmly into the latter category, though condensing many characters and events from the epic to allow as much of the story to fit into the film as possible. I'm assuming most of you are familiar with the basics of the late medieval version of King Arthur and Guinevere's story, with Lancelot having a hard time keeping it in his pants, Merlin being a mysterious old man, and Mordred being the result of... well... you know what. As such, the plot of the film shouldn't come as a surprise. What the film lacks in (what would be superfluous and detrimental) modern day plot twists it makes up for in cinematography. You might note that many actions, costume designs, o