What are the best standalone fantasy movies? I'm going to watch a few with my friends, and so far we've decided Conan, Princess Bride, and Excalibur. I heard willow was good in another thread, but i want to know more opinions. Animations are welcome too.
>inb4 warcraft
>>70719858
Willow is trash to some. Myself included. I know a lot of people like it. I'd test watch it before you show your friends because it can be pretty gay and cringy in a lot of spots
>>70719858
as actual, no bullshit, movies, Princess Bride and The Neverending story are the only two effective fantasy movies prior to LOTR. it's not a coincidence that they're both children's films featuring a kid reading a book - the real problem with fantasy is that back in the 80s filmmakers didn't understand how to give fantasy exposition gravitas. A great example is Ridley Scott's Legend which is his terribad followup to Blade Runner and Alien.
Otherwise everything is interesting but heavily flawed if not outright bad. Conan is cheesy macho fun but is impossible to actually take seriously, Excalibur starts incredibly strong but loses focus because they tried to fit the symbolism of myth, and the whole Arthurian mythology into it directly. Willow is a failed Lucas-ish film similar to Dark Crystal, Labyrinth etc.
>>70720107
thanks for the insight anon. I totally forgot about never ending story, I'll have to add that to the list.
>>70720107
nailed it
>>70719928
Ignore this peck.
If you can deal with princess bride you can deal with willow. It's a bit childish but looks great and is fun.
Legend, ladyhawke, flesh+blood, dark crystal, fire and ice and krull are also good shouts.
>>70720107
>Conan is cheesy macho fun but is impossible to actually take seriously, Excalibur starts incredibly strong but loses focus
Nobody listen to this cuck.
>>70719858
krull
>>70719858
Legit the best fantasy after LOTR and maybe Conan
>>70719858
The dark crystal has some of the best production value and atmosphere for a fantasy film in the late 70's. I could recommend it just for the music!
![The-Neverending-Story-4[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/u4UkcXt.jpg "The-Neverending-Story-4[1].jpg")
>>70720163have hankies ready for TNS
Dragonslayer is probably one of, if not the best of this category. Maybe Ladyhawke as well if it counts
>>70720283
Dragon was so well made they based the dragons in GoT on its design. This is from 1981, mind you.
Disney never released it on Blu-Ray because it's way too violent and has nudity in it. They'd rather people forget it exists.
>>70719858
Yor the Hunter from the Future
>>70719858
Beastmaster
>>70719858
Dragonslayer is pretty good.
>>70720107
>Conan is cheesy macho fun but is impossible to actually take seriously
Spot the numale.
Dragonslayer legit made me want to be a wizard's apprentice
Stardust
>>70719858
Stardust is always worth a watch.
Suffers somwhat from a breakneck pace at the end of the first act, but it's very good overall.
>>70720479
I love that film, its such cheesy fun.
>>70720455
Conan legit made me yearn for the days of high adventure. I want to traverse the jeweled cities of the world beneath sandal-ed feet. I want to crush my enemies, see them driven before me and hear the lamentations of their women.
>>70720492
The book is very good, as is other Gaiman fantasy books like Neverwhere etc, even if they all have the EXACT same theme
>>70720283
Why does /tv/ like Dragonslayer so much? It's dull, lifeless and even a bit depressing. The exact opposite of what I want out of fantasy movies
>>70720107
>Conan is cheesy macho fun but is impossible to actually take seriously
conan the barbarian is a cinematic masterpiece and the musical composition is one of the greatest
>>70719858
Warcraft
>>70720507
>implying it didn't just make you want to be Arnie like every other Arnie movie
>>70720564
>tfw no Sandman movie
>>70720574
go watch warcraft, faggot
Troll
Beastmaster
Sword and the Sorcerer
Sword in the Stone (Disney animated)
Sleeping Beauty (Disney animated)
Secret of NiMH (animated)
Dragonslayer
The Dark Crystal
The Hobbit (animated)
>>70720107
>Legend
>terribad
You have shit taste. The director's cut of Legend is a legit masterpiece
>>70720107
>two meme movies are legit good
>actual cinema are 'heavily flawed if not outright bad'
hullo Lebbit
>>70720579
>the musical composition is one of the greatest
honestly don't get how this became a meme.
>>70720636
>>70720636
Because the musical composition is one of the greatest.
Keep up, anon.
>>70720602
>you don't like this one movie so you must like capeshit or vidyashit
fuck off, faggot
>>70720574
Simple, well told plot.. Good practical effects. Arguably the best dragon ever. Cool wizard. Cute heroine.
>>70720600
Is that still in development hell? I heard progress was made recently, but that doesn't exactly mean much. I mean the Lucifer show that was on Fox was loosely based on the Gaiman Lucifer that got his own comic(which was amazing even if it wasn't Gaiman) so it might be soon.
>>70720636
Get fucked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKYAruk_BPM
>ctrl+f
>the dark crystal
>2 results
i am pleased
>>70720619
Excalibur looks fucking amazing. The trouble is that it doesn't have any characterizations because everyone is stuck as archetypes (except Merlin who gets to be quirky, and Arthur who gets to be dignified). Wagner's Arthurian characters in Parsifal have more actual personality traits.
This may not be relevant but has anyone read The Hobbit graphic novel? I usually hate comics but this was comfy as shit and its probably my favourite adaptation of the book
>>70720594
Yeah that's what I was implying. but Arnie with a huge sword and a mail hauberk.
>>70720479
>>70720492
Stardust is shit.
Watch Mirrormask instead.
>>70720107
>Conan is cheesy macho fun but is impossible to actually take seriously
''No''
>>70720574
>dull
giant dragon fucking shit up is dull
>lifeless
relatable lead and genuinely good leading lady character has no life somehow
>depressing
a story about a dragon being fed sacrifices by the local villagers is supposed to be uplifting
>>70720716
>just Maurice Jarre my shit up kids in 30 years won't know the fucking difference lol
Milius' favorite film is Lawrence of Arabia and he's not exactly hiding it, is he?
>>70719858
Watch Bakshi's Fire& Ice and Wizards.
>>70720702
>Cute heroine
That scene where they say the dragon only wants virgins and it both hits them at the same time...
Ladyhawke
Red Sonja
>>70720785
You're shit
>>70719858
If you watch Conan the Barbarian, might as well watch Conan the Destroyer too. Not as good, but still a fun adventure. You could also give Red Sonja a whirl.
How patrician are your friends?
>>70720872
i think everyone has
>>70720702
>Simple, well told plot
I agree it's simple, not sure about well told though. It seems to spend an inordinate amount of time on developing its characters, which would be nice except none of them are very interesting IMO. I was ready for the film to be over by the halfway mark
>Good practical effects. Arguably the best dragon ever.
No doubt, but they are underused. Most of the movie is just a medieval drama set in some generic town that you find in any fantasy movie. With the exception of the climax, there is almost no action, adventure or magic. I just don't get it
>>70720912
Each to their own I guess. What would you prefer in a fantasy movie?
Fulci's stab at the genre. It's fucking ridiculous but god damn that atmosphere.
>>70720777
that's a perfectly acceptable reason to like conan it's just not what I interpreted the OP as asking.
>>70720107
>Excalibur starts incredibly strong but loses focus because they tried to fit the symbolism of myth, and the whole Arthurian mythology into it directly
Really? I've always heard the opposite. That it starts out kitschy and stupid and things get mote grounded as the movie goes on and the subject matter gets more serious
>>70720899
>the silent flute
so, a stick??
OP, here's a couple B movies that are actually bretty gud fantasy.
Timeline
Outlander
Right, enough of this shit m8s, tell me some old fashioned bargain bin fantasy schlock to watch this weekend, enough of this kino bullshit just give me the bottom of the barrel
pic related Sword and the Sorcerer
>>70721093
isn't Outlander a show?
Is that any good? I've heard that it\s both good and terrible from different people
>>70720987
>What would you prefer in a fantasy movie?
I have a preference for the cheesy action-packed ones like Conan, Deathstalker or Sword and the Sorcerer, or ones that have a lot of magic and beautiful scenery like Legend or Krull. Also as cool as dragons are, I like my villians able to speak and engage in repartee with the hero/damsel
>>70721081
That's exactly what happens, this is very deliberate because even the armor and the design of the castles goes from cartoonish to more regal and elegant, everyone overacts in the beginning because it's the wild chaotic days before Arthur arrives
>>70721116
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vDvuBY97cD4
Sword that shoots swords.
Metal as fuck.
>>70721116
Deathstalker, Dungeonmaster and hawk the muthufuckin slayer
Guys im having a real hard time trying to articulate my thought, please someone help me, this has been bugging me for years:
Film - Excalibur
My thought - they removed all the real audio and amateurishly recorded it after in post production
Sound effects used - Armor clunking, Armor moving, footsteps, horses, swords
dialogue - recorded and read in a calm manner by the actors in a silent room, close to the microphone
Ambience - Soundtrack and other noises
Environment - they added environment noises to make it feel 'real', birds chirping for outside, eery halls etc
Result - all audio feels very strange, I can hear some armor moving and I can see other armor moving, the noises are all out of sync. The dialogue and speech is the strangest, strangest I've ever seen, the facial expressions do not match the tones of voice, things that should be distant are instead upclose and crystal clear.
proof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc-4G0TUUo0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLg_Z6_lDaU
This triggered me throughout the entire film and ruined the experience for me. I seen things move silently and other noises appear out of nowhere, the voices were soo strange compared to the way the characters face moved, everything was uncanny, everything.
>>70721191
the protag never uses it until the end, and in fact it's not even with him for most of the movie
>>70721143
Outlander the 2008 movie is a cheesy popcorn movie about spacemen and vikings
Outlander the ongoing TV series is about an English woman who travels back in time to 1745 Scotland and has to adjust to the culture shock while trying to formulate a plan to get back home. It's really good apart from all the romance.
>>70721081
for me the main plot doesn't hang together because it leans too heavily on the Fisher King legend, i.e. it's literally a story about how Arthur loses his mojo (IIRC starting when he fights Lancelot) and has to get it back. it ended up being too metaphorical for me even though there were really great individual scenes all the way up to the end. that and the no-characterizations problem dragged the film down for me over the course of its running time.
>>70721207
what the fuck are you talking about
>>70720431
This 35 year old movie has a better dragon than the hobbit
>>70721218
he uses it at the very beginning too
>>70721242
I knew this movie long before I even knew the cartoon and was very disappointed Skeletor was an effeminate musclebound faggot in purple instead of how cool he was in the movie
This is for everybody that said Willow
>>70721307
this is some Sand Sneks-tier fight choreography
>>70721300
I don't know if it fits op or the guy asking for shitty movies better.
Yeah the cartoon was not great sometimes. Movie and comics were better.
>>70721283
I'm a big defender of Vermithrax, but Smaug was done incredibly well for the most part. And the dragons in Reign of Fire too.
Van Helsing
