Ahhh. . . "Dragon Slayer" is - IMHO - one of the underrated fantasy flicks that the mid- to late-80's Sword and Sorcery Wastelands produced. Even compared to complete CGI creations (like the dragon in "Dragonheart"), Vermithrax Pejorative reigns supreme. With the possible exception of the future Smaug in the upcoming "The Hobbit" movies, Vermithrax is the best on-screen rendition of a dragon. Oh. And "Reign of Fire" dragons don't count, since it seems to me they cribbed their design notes from Vermithrax. . . How 'bout some anime-love? Anyone see "Perfect Blue"? Creepy, crazy and totally disorienting. Uzumaki - haven't seen the movie, but the manga series is CREEPY!
You're thinking of "The Killer Shrews" which was awesomely skewered by the crew of the Satellite of Love in MST3K. FYI, the "shrews" looked exactly like what they were: dogs under a buncha mops. . . Thoth-Amon the Mindflayerian wrote:
F33b wrote:
"The Fountain": Have yet to rent it out; loved "Requiem. . ." though "Ran" is awesome in its tragedy, but you forgot to mention "Yojimbo" "M" is such a cool movie, especially the quote at the end, where the mothers wail at the criminal's judgment of execution: ". . . But it will never bring our children back. . ."
Anyone seen a tight little suspense gem, "Frailty"? Awesome little movie, produced by - of all people - Bill Paxton (yeah, of "Game over!" fame in "Aliens") for about $30,000. The premise is simple: what if - during your childhood - your dad woke you up at 3 a.m. to tell you he'd been chosen by God to kill demons. . . Watch it. Awesome.
Cosmo wrote: I love this book. I think that it's a great way to look at the differences between Hermetic-style casters like Wizards (Mr. Norrel) and inborn casters like Sorcerers (Jonathan). It is interesting that I described this the same way to a friend of mine, when I was attempting to convince him to read the book (which he did, and LOVED). As for questions regarding the length of the book, I would comment that there are those books that you grip with white knuckles, because they are a thrill ride; there are others, however, that beckon you to lose yourself in them. JS & MN is the latter kind. It is written to evoke a scholarly tone, complete with footnotes that can be short stories in and of themselves, and this stylistic convention allows you to immerse yourself so completely as to doubt what you may know of history. I double checked my geneaological records of English kings to make sure there wasn't a John Uskglass! As for the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair, as with many characters of weight (Pai Mei of Kill Bill Vol. 2 fame, anyone?), I remember reading that he was a recurring character (villain?) in McDonald's novels. The most dangerous aspect of the fey villain, however, was not his mastery over the wilder powers and magic, but his utter superficiality, his vapidness - if you will. The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair would swat you out of existence with the same amount of thought you would stomp a cockroach. Chilling, isn't it? It is this quality that makes the character stand out in my memory. . . Because he surely was not particularly intelligent, or even clever. If I remember correctly, this book took Clarke 10 years to finish, and it shows. . . I can only hope that her follow up works in this world are as charming and immersive as this one. |