fantasy – Page 5 – PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – The Last Unicorn

The Last Unicorn (1982)
Written by Peter S. Beagle
Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass

I grew up with a very inconsistent standard of what I could and could not watch because of my parents’ reactionary right-wing Christian beliefs. He-Man? It was not allowed because he called on the power of Greyskull, not Jesus. Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia? Perfectly fine because it was some sort of metaphor for Jesus. The Last Unicorn was one of those movies that would air around Easter or Thanksgiving on television. I would catch promos for it but was never allowed to watch because it was “of the Devil.” By the time my youngest siblings reached high school age, my once religiously dogmatic parents had abandoned these strictures but still kept them in their pockets as a cudgel to judge other people. So, after all these decades, I finally got to see The Last Unicorn, and it was, um…okay.

Movie Review – The NeverEnding Story

The NeverEnding Story (1984)
Written by Wolfgang Petersen and Herman Weigel
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen

This movie is a formative piece of many of my peers’ childhoods. I think I saw it twice as a kid. I remembered parts of it vividly, but The NeverEnding Story was never a picture I sought out or felt a strong connection with. That is odd because I was also a child who spent much time alone and read many books. You would think much of the story would resonate, but it did not. I think revisiting the movie as an adult made me appreciate it more, though I could see the weak points more vividly now, too.

Movie Review – Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Written by John Milius and Oliver Stone
Directed by John Milius

In 1932, pulp writer Robert E. Howard began to pen the tales of Conan, a barbarian fighting in an ancient time of magic. He’d write 21 Conan stories before his tragic death by suicide at the age of 30. The trademark for the character passed through several hands over the following decades, leading to numerous reprints of the original stories and new authors adding to the mythos. Marvel Comics acquired the license in the 1970s, leading to Conan finding his widest audience yet. During much of this time, John Milius had been a fan of what he read. This would lead to a film adaptation that was undeniably made by people who loved the source material.

Movie Review – Dragonslayer

Dragonslayer (1981)
Written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins
Directed by Matthew Robbins

Genre films have always existed in cinema, but it wasn’t until the breakout surprise success of Star Wars that these spectacles gained increased budgets and audiences. Dragonslayer was the second collaboration between Disney & Paramount Pictures. Their first was the Robert Altman-directed Popeye, a film that did not end up how the companies had hoped but which has found a robust cult following in the decades that ensued. The special effects are handled by Industrial Light and Magic, which marks the first use of these special effects outside of a Lucasfilm production. Derek Vanlit, the cinematographer responsible for 1979’s Alien, is behind the camera here, adding rich texture to the screen. The result was a film that was a fun fairy tale/adventure but failed to find an audience, likely because it was up against Raiders of the Lost Ark that summer.

Movie Review – Sherlock Jr.

Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell
Directed by Buster Keaton

There are motion picture cameras. You can film yourself moving rather than just still photography. What do you do with this? That was the situation a handful of people found themselves in following the invention and popularization of movies. It might make sense at first to film people performing plays, operas, or similar things. But that’s a rather flat thing to do. The camera can move and control the audience’s perspective. How can you move that camera to make impossible things seem real? Joseph “Buster” Keaton was one of those people in the early days trying to figure out what this new medium could be capable of.