I don’t often do Thursday Thirteens, but I had so much fun doing yesterday’s post that I thought I would do one today. My Once Upon a Time related Thursday Thirteen is:
Thirteen of My Favorite Fantasy Films
In no particular order, they are:
I’ve said it all here, but in brief: Mirrormask is not only a visual feast, but it is a whimsical, entertaining story in the spirit of Labyrinth.
And speaking of, Labyrinth is arguably one of my favorite films of all time and is certainly the one I’ve seen the most times. I did not see it during its initial release, but I discovered it at a time in my life where the message of growing up and letting go of part of one’s childhood deeply affected me, so my affection for the film cannot be understated. The soundtrack for Labyrinth is one of the first CD’s I purchased back when compact discs were first becoming the rage.
This version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the film version of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s performance that I saw on Broadway years ago with Scott. It is a visually arresting interpretation utilizing lightbulbs and umbrellas in highly creative ways that just work so well. If you haven’t seen this version I recommend giving it a try.
And speaking of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Get Over It is one of those modern teen comedies that is a re-interpretation of said play. It is a movie that did not do well in theatres, which doesn’t surprise me, but it happens to be one of my favorite teen comedies of the last decade or more. It is a play-within-a-movie movie and if, like me, you were involved in drama in high school…or the drama that was high school, then I think you’ll look at it as fondly as I do.
The Dark Crystal is an amazing achievement. That Jim Henson could tell a compelling and rich tale without the presence of any human actors is incredible.
A Knight’s Tale is simply fun. From start to finish it is a rocking, entertaining interpretation of the jousting time period. What is not initially apparent from viewing it is how much research the film maker’s did into the actual time period. The extras on the DVD are great. This is one we watch over and over and enjoy it every time. This is the first film I remember seeing Paul Bettany in and the humor he brought to his role made me a fan for life.
What? Babe? My response: Have you seen these? Both films are heartwarming and downright hilarious. I like them both equally, but I decided to list the sequel, Babe: Pig in the City because the sets of the city were so visually fantastical in their own right. They almost had a Tim Burton touch to them. It has been a long time since I’ve seen either of these films but writing about it makes me want to pull out my daughter’s old video tapes and give them another viewing. And how can you not love Ferdinand?
The Princess Bride holds a special place in my life: it played prominently in my first date with Mary back when we were in college. For that reason alone it is a cherished film. Lucky for us that it is also a brilliant movie with a perfect cast. If you haven’t read the book I highly recommend it. I happened to read it before I ever saw the film and it was wonderful. Anybody want a peanut?
Does anyone remember Krull? It came out in 1983 and I remember being so excited about it. I bought the novelization well before seeing the film and read it more than once (funny, I used to do that all the time and now I would almost never do that…I remember reading Return of the Jedi before seeing the movie…that’s blasphemous!) I loved the film as a kid and had the hugest crush on Lysette Anthony. The film doesn’t hold up nearly as well today, but I still enjoy its cheesiness for the nostalgia factor.
Neverwhere, the series, strikes me as a love it or hate it thing. I fully understand why Neil Gaiman felt the need to write the novel, Neverwhere, after the television series did not live up to his expectations. And I’m glad he did as it is a wonderful urban fantasy/magic realism tale. I love the BBC series, and here’s why: first, I had already read the book several times so I was able to fill in the gaps. Second, I grew up watching Tom Baker episodes of Dr. Who. That is exactly what this show is like in terms of production values. For me it is just good fun. Lastly, I really like most of the cast and thought they did a great job with limited resources. While the underground scenes in my imagination are much more richly detailed, this version makes for a nice back up for the incredible novel.
Field of Dreams falls into that magic realism category. If you don’t consider it a fantasy, then you probably aren’t a guy! 🙂 Seriously though, Field of Dreams really is a perfect sports/fantasy hybrid film. It hits every note right and is by far my favorite Costner film. Its been a long time, I’m going to have to Netflix this one and dream about living in a place where professional baseball is actually competitive.
Ladyhawke is a film that I have not seen in ages, and that is a real shame. I think it is time to add that to the Netflix queue as well. Ladyhawke has a great cast and is such an entertaining story of star-crossed lovers that one cannot help but like it.
and finally:
Well, you knew this would be ‘last, but not least, didn’t you?’ The Lord of the Rings trilogy ranks at the very top of my movie favorites, just below the Star Wars trilogy that simply cannot be deposed because of its ties to my childhood. As films, LOTR are beyond compare. The extended edition DVD’s are the hallmark of the format and I now judge everything against them. The films sparked my intense interest in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and for that alone I am grateful to Peter Jackson. They simply are marvelous.
Well that’s it. There are many more than thirteen fun, entertaining fantasy movies out there and it was hard to choose which ones to include today. But you don’t really care anyway, do you? All you want to know is who won the site-visiting contest! Since you probably just scrolled quickly past all the rest of the post I should make you wait. But I’m not that cruel:
There was a relatively small, but determined group who sacrificed their fingertips, visiting and commenting on the 52 sites that were listed when this contest began a week ago. Kudos to all of you! I’m sure you now realize, like I do, that the true reward of visiting those sites is finding new sites that you cannot help but go back to again and again. That is the most wonderful thing about this challenge for me. That being said, in appreciation for those who took the time to do this I am awarding the grand prize, plus 2 runner-up prizes! The names were thrown into a bowl and drawn out at random. The grand-prize winner is:
Chris over at Stuff as Dreams!!!
Get me your t-shirt size and color preference and let me know which of these signed prints you want.
The two runner up winners are:
Elaine over at Quixotical
and
Marina over at Momma Writes About Books.
Both runner-up winners receive a t-shirt and a Stainless Steel Droppings Envelope o’ Goodies.
Congrats to all 3 of you, please email me at cvincent68@comcast.net to give me your address, your t-shirt color (black or white) and the size that you want.
There will be a new contest next week, so stay tuned! I’ll give you a hint though, this one involves Poppets and other goodies!
Ooh! Yay me! Congrats to Chris and Marina too 🙂 Which print are you going to choose, Chris?!
Most of the films you mentioned are favourites of mine too, Carl. Especially Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Mirrormask and LoTR. Field of Dreams was one I used to enjoy a great deal when I was younger.
SQUEEEE!
Congrats to Chris and Elaine 😀
Thank you Carl, for encouraging us to “step out” and meet the other participants.
David Bowie shore does look purty in that Tina Turner wig!
LOTR…sigh…
You forgot about the tight pants, Janet. lol!
Congrats, winners!
(Now I’m going to have “As the World Falls Down” stuck in my head all day…not that I really mind, I guess – I love Jim Henson movies, and Henson + Froud is a dreamy design combo…)
Me too now, RB. Though I don’t mind. It is my favorite song from the movie and movie soundtrack. Love me some David Bowie.
Ah.. Field of Dreams.. that’s one I can watch over and over again..
Ah, Carl, you give me ideas of doing a movie marathon of all the fantasy films I love.
But OMG, I adore “Dark Crystal” – I still remember these lines:
Jen: Wings? I don’t have wings!
Kira: Of course not. You’re a boy.
And the scene when the Mystics just sing in union, and their voices just sound like some deep, resonant horn bass.
I heard they’re doing the sequel. So looking forward to it next year.
Love “Labyrinth” – although Bowie’s hair looks better back in those days.
Love “Ladyhawke” – Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. Ah, love+love.
Love Knight’s Tale: There’s a guy for various taste – and it has Rufus Sewell all swarmy and badass!
Oh yes, I do remember “Krull.” But then again, I have fond memories of the Arnie adaptions of Conan ;p
Anyone else likes “Dark City”?
And anyone remembers the Jim Henson Hour – where they have the Storyteller segment with John Hurt as the Storyteller?
“The Last Unicorn” the animated movie? Or “Flight of Dragons”?
Oh ya, Dark City is fantastic! Saw that one in the theatre (on a visit to Boston, no less). Its a fun one to watch over and over.
As I began reading this post I confess I cheated and scrolled down quickly to be sure that The Dark Crystal made it to your list. Once I was reassured that it was I was able to read the rest of the post. (Great list.)
Jim Henson would haunt me from my grave if I didn’t include Dark Crystal!
Great list here!
Most I have seen and love! I remember (before good special effects) and loved the “black widow” in Krull.. thought it was outstanding how they did it!
(what? no harry potter? lol)
I’m not really an HP fan. Haven’t read the books, have only seen one of the films. Probably blasphemy for a fantasy fan, but it took me over 3 decades of living before I got around to reading Lord of the Rings!
Oh, I LOVED Labyrinth, loved it. What a wonderful movie. And can you believe I’ve never seen the Princess Bride?
You’ve never seen Princess Bride!?!?! There are few true must-see movies that go beyond the boundaries of genre, taste, etc. That is one of them. Get thee to a rental place, now!
Gasp! Gasp…and gasp again! Carl, you haven’t read HP?!? Oh, my friend, that is so very, very wrong.
Congrats to all the winners!!
Oh man….there are some good ones!! I can’t say that I’ve seen them all, but I completely agree with
The Princess Bride (CLASSIC) and the Lord of the Rings. Also, Field of Dreams is one of my all-time favorites!!
Speaking of Muppets, my freak of a brother sent me a link to YouTube last night to a “Sad Kermit” singing Hurt by Nine Inch Nails. Seriously, I may have to go into therapy after seeing it!! I needed to take a shower after watching it!
Oh you have listed MANY of my favorites here. It’s been YEARS since I have seen the Dark Crystal. I need to purchase it and share it with my children, and do the same with my copy of Labyrinth which I also love.
Incidentally, I met my husband while performing our college production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I played Hermia and he was one of the fools. Art mirrors life, I’d say. 😉
That is so cool, and so hilarious, Dana!
Haven’t seen that Youtube clip, Stephanie, I’ll have to look for it.
J.K. Rowling doesn’t need my money, Suzanne. LOL! They are just too damn big for books that are supposed to be written for kids. Maybe if someone puts out abridged versions I’d be more interested.
There are far too many movies on that list I haven’t seen, including (*hides*) “The Princess Bride”! I’m going to read the book for the challenge, and then I plan on finally watching the movie.
Carl, the thing about the Harry Potter books is that they started out small! The first two are not discouragingly big at all. Read those, and by the time you get to the fourth (the first really long one), you’ll probably be so hooked you’ll more than welcome the amount of detail it has. I was telling my boyfriend just last night, “I wish she’d rewrite the first books to make them as detailed as the others”!
Congratulations to all the contest winners!
I’m sure they are fine. HP is still a relatively new cultural phenomenon and I have a TON of books to read…but there is simply no excuse for not having seen Princess Bride! (Of course I’m kidding, but it is such a fun, sweet movie that I highly encourage a viewing asap).
YAY!!! Did I ever tell you how cool you are Carl 😉 Thanks a bunch. You made my day.
I’m definitely going for Tree Woman and Child. I LOVE that one. I’m so excited.
Congrats to Quix and Marina too!
I’ve never heard of Krull! Definitely going to check that one out. But the rest of your list looks almost just like mine. Great minds think alike 😉
I’ll shoot you an email now.
Congratulations to the winners!!! Or should I say winner and runner ups. It is a privilege to be the runner ups; if Chris can’t fullfil all the duties of winner of the contest, the runner up will be asked…
I love Princess Bride, Knights Tale, and Labyrinth. I have never seen Krull that I remember. Why is that, Carl? I like all the movies you mentioned except I would never place Dark Crystal in my top 25 even. It’s okay, but sorry, Carl and Suzanne, I just never got into that much.
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I will be fulfilling my duties 😉 hehe..
Never got into The Dark Crystal?! And you married Carl?! Just kidding of course Mary, y’all are a great couple!
You’ve seen Krull. We rented it a loooong time ago when Tori was little. We’ll have to get it again. And how dare you criticize my inclusion of Dark Crystal….just wait until I get home!!! 😉
Congrats Chris. I was wondering if you were ever gonna get over here to find out you won! LOL!
Carl,
Are you sure we weren’t seperated at birth?
I only have one thing to say….
“Do you know who I am? I am Ergo the Magnificent. Short in stature, tall in power, narrow of purpose and wiiiide of vision…and I do not travel with peasants and beggers. Good day!”
Arguably the best line from Krull – which I think still looks pretty good considering it was ’83
You know, I’m going to have to go out and pick up a cheap copy of Krull on DVD now after all this talk about it!!!
And if we’re talking about that era, who could forget Red Sonja and the Beastmaster?
Haven’t seen either of those in forever. I need to have a long week of ‘classic’ fantasy movie viewing.
First let me say that I am loving your book challenge! I read the reviews first and last thing each day and have added more to my list (darn you!)
And secondly.. I have a friend that “had no extra time to read Harry Potter”.. he read the entire series ONLY while “on the throne!”.. See? You can’t give me any excuses!
Ha, that’s where I do all my other reading! LOL!!!
One of my favorites that I will watch over and over is “Willow” – I thought Val Kilmer was the bomb!
I really thought JoAnne Whalley (spelling?) was hot in that…. Willow was another one where I read the book before I saw the film. The film had some problems but overall it is still a really fun one. Thanks for reminding me of that one, Shannin.
I also send out my congrats to the winners!
Here’s my list of thirteen in no particular order: All 3 LOTR movies, Conan the Barbarian, The Beastmaster, A Knights Tale ( love this one ), Excalibur, King Arthur, Highlander, Timeline, A Princess Bride, Ladyhawke and the name escapes me right now but there is this movie I love about a dragon where Sean Connery provides the dragons voice and Dennis Quaid plays the lead kinght role. I’ll add Shakeshpere in Love for a bonus 14th!
I also loved Krull as a kid but it was HBO a couple of months ago and I tried watching it and found that as an adult I hated it. Too chessey for me know. The lead actress though is beautiful. I know you’ll hate me for saying this Carl but I haven’t watched Labrynith or Dark Crystal in 20 years and I honestly don’t remember much about them. I need to watch them again. Lastly, I must confess as huge of Gaiman fan as I am neither Mirrormask ( story didn’t grab me enough but I loved the visuals ) or Neverwhere ( production values too low to do the great story justice in my opinion ) I feel got it right for me. I hold out hope for Stardust but I believe it’s a fools hope. 🙂
Oh! I forgot to add the HP films love them too and Willow is A lot of fun. ” Willow, where’s the baby?!”
I love Willow! (Matmartigan was yummy.)
You need to borrow Labyrinth from me sometime Jeff and watch it again. I suspect you might not like it as much as you did 20 years ago, but I’ve been wrong before….only once. Was that Connery film Dragonmaster or something like that? I don’t remember either. Excalibur is a good one. I need to borrow your Timeline…after I get King Arthur back to you. 😉 I like Arnie as Conan. The Highlander movies were never my favorites although I did like the few episodes of the tv show that I watched with Adrian Paul in the lead.
I have a ton of Willow lines running around in my head right now!
I believe the Connery movie is Dragonheart. I used to love that movie. Totally forgot about that one! Thanks for the reminder.
What about Dragonslayer? Again, for an older movie, the FX and the dragon were phenomenal.
Hey Carl, I don’t see contact details for you anywhere on the site (maybe I’m not looking hard enough). Can you drop me an email. Thanks.
Dragonheart! Nicely done, Chris.
Email is on the way Stuart.
We still quote lines from the Dark Crystal. That was such a memorable film.
I cannot believe Mary let me down with her Dark Crystal comments…and I thought I knew her! Our marriage is a sham!!!
Great job Chris! Dragonheart was the name I was searching for.
Stuart… I also liked Dragonslayer. In fact I just watched it again last month on HBO. I had forgotten the fact that the lead in the movie was Peter Nichols whom I have enjoyed on the show Numbers.
Carl, I would like to borrow Labrynth from you and you are welcome to borrow Timeline any time.
timeline any time…you slay me! 🙂
Congratulations to Chris, Quixotical, and Marina! Carl, what a great list for Thursday Thirteen. You listed so many of my own favorites!
It’s Jerry rubbing off on me! 🙂
That can’t be good, Jeff.
Thanks Robin.
Did someone mention Highlander? Dearie me…:D
Congratulations Chris, Quixiotical, and Mariana. Very cool for your guys!
I was kind of caught up in a retro thing with some of these fantasy choices, and was limited to 13, so I didn’t say anything about two recent favorites:
Pan’s Labyrinth and Night Watch. Both excellent fantasies from both a storytelling and visual standpoint.
Excellent additions Carl! How about adding Big Trouble in Little China and Flash Gordan to the list also. Personnel favs of fine.
I almost put Big Trouble down initially with the argument that it fits very well in the Once Upon a Time Category because of the asian mythology in the story.
I think that is enough to add BTILC to the list!!!!!!!! I also love Field of Dreams but I wouldn’t qualify it as fantasy myself or it’s at least in a different spirit than the other choices in my opinion.
Field is definitely in a different category, but I do believe it would be considered fantasy, more in the magic realism kind of vein. Players from the past crossing over into our time and interacting with real live people…sounds like a fairy tale to me.
I guess I see what your saying I always have thought of it as more of a spiritual kind of movie rather than fantasy but I guess were just splitting hairs on this one.
I would agree with you there, it definitely is a spiritual movie. I guess to classify it in the fantasy realm it would probably have to go in a category similar to where I would put Widdershins in that there is quite a bit of spirituality in that one, particularly Native American spirituality. Good point, Jeff, never looked at it that way.
Wish we could get a couple of those resurrected guys to play for the Royals….