Im a fantasy writer and on this site you'll not only find samples of my work but also articles concerning folklore, myth and legend, reviews of movies, books and graphic novels and much else besides (including the occasional short story - you lucky people!).
The first production of.. mythical proportions came from Germany, with Manfred Noah's "Helena" (1924), totaling 204 minutes! Many of Germany's silent movie stars and comedians had resurrected the capture of beautiful Helen and the fall of Troy, yielding an honorable aesthetic result! The movie had been surrendered to oblivion until its recent restoration by the Munich Film Museum. A must watch from another era.
Electra is waiting for the right opportunity to avenge the death of her father, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, who was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus. The opportunity presents itself when she meets Oreste's brother again. Together they will implement their murderous plan. Two years before Zorba's worldwide success, Michael Cacoyannis created one of the finest tragedy transfers to the big screen, with his 1967's "Electra". A black and white film with music by Mikis Theodorakis and powerful acting, with Irene Papas in the lead role as Electra. The final result garnered a Best Film Award at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film in 1963.
Another gem from Pier Paolo Pasolini. This famous adaptation of Jason and the Argonauts myth focuses on the sorceress Medea, who helped Jason in his quest and was promised by him to be his wife. After returning to his land as a hero, Jason abandons Medea and marries instead a Corinthian princess. Enraged, Medea plots revenge against Jason and his new wife, with tragic events following. With the famous soprano Maria Calls starring, Pasolini successfully adapts the famous Greek tragic play by Euripides.
The powerful Greek demi-god hero was the inspiration for one of the most popular television shows in the world in the late 90s. With Kevin Sorbo as Hercules, the story follows the hero and his sidekick Iolaus in the world of ancient Greece, as they try to save villagers from monsters or evil warlords, avoiding at the same time the whims of the vengeful Goddess Hera.
A famous spin-off of the previous mention, Xena was another popular television series based in Greek mythology. Created by writer and director Robert Tapert, it continued the story of Xena that first appeared in three episodes of the earlier Hercules television series. Lucy Lowell starred as the homonymous character. The premise of the series unfolds mainly in ancient Greece and Italy (but also in other ancient sites), adapting Greek and Roman mythology to its needs. Very inaccurate series but extremely fun to watch!
Undoubtedly, one of the most famous characters from Greek Mythology is the crafty Odysseus (Ulysses in Latin), the hero of the epic poem of Homer, Odyssey. The story follows Odysseus and his crew on their way back to Ithaca after the fall of Troy. A journey that would normally last weeks, lasted 10 whole years! Their epic adventures include many ordeals that the God Poseidon sent to their way, after they showed arrogance towards the Olympians. Terrifying mythical monsters, gigantic Cyclops, beautiful Nymphs and enchanting Sirens are only a few of the trials Odysseus has to face before he returns to his loyal wife Penelope. A personal favorite!
Hercules is a Walt Disney-produced animated musical film inspired by the mythical Greek hero. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, the film was praised for its visuals, music and humor. Although only loosely based on the 12 labors of Hercules, the movie includes the most powerful and famous Olympian Gods and sheds a light to the ancient greek society in a fun way. Oh, and Danny DeVito does the voice of the beloved Phil! Another personal favorite!
Its content is, of course, the Argonautic Campaign, one of the most beautiful stories in Greek mythology! Little Jason becomes an eyewitness to the murder of his father and King of Iolkos, Aeson, by his uncle, Pelias, and escapes his own murder. Twenty years later he will return to his homeland to claim the throne, as a legal successor. To do this, he must offer Pelias the Golden Fleece from Colchis.
If the magnitude of the discussions that took place in the background of the film's release were analogous to its quality, then we would probably be talking about the greatest movie of all time! Wolfgang Petersen's directing may have been mediocre and the film found inaccuracies, variants and rationalistic simplifications of the Homeric poem Illiad, but all of it was sufficiently covered by an action-packed spectacle, visual effects and a glamourous cast including Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger and Sean Bean to name a few. The soundtrack is beautiful and it does justice to the essence of remembrance that the ancient Greeks valued so much. Yes, one of my favorite movies, you got me.
Alexander the Great in all his glory! Although Alexander is a real person and the battles during the movie really happened, many stories in the movie are based on legends rather than facts. With 155 million dollars as a budget, Oliver Stone dared to interpret the exploits of the legendary Greek general in a different way. With a rather Freudian approach, the director covered the main parts of the life of an ancient Greek soldier at times impressive and at times chaotic. We follow Colin Farrell (Alexander) through his glorious life as he tries to conquer the known world and achieve his vision. Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins and Jared Leto are some of the other big names in the cast. Leaving aside the historic inaccuracies, this was a really good movie!
For all Percy Jackson fans out there, it is a dream to travel to Greece and follow in the footsteps of Percy Jackson. If you are visiting Greece and Athens, do not miss the opportunity to join the Hero's Quest Inspired by Percy Jackson!
Dissatisfied with the indignation and disrespect of the mortals against the Olympian gods, Zeus is persuaded by his brother Hades and orders him to destroy Argos to set an example. The only ones who can stand in the way of their plans are the demi-god Perseus and a group of brave warriors. The remake of the 1981 film is more focused on 3D technology and visual effects and overtrained protagonist Sam Worthington has faithfully served the kind of adventure Hollywood fans were after.
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One of the Russian characters crosses herself the Eastern way, from right to left. Later, one of the American characters crosses himself the Western way, from left to right. I appreciate the attention to detail.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is a lot of fun. So fun, in fact, that I want to say a few things about it, but I really don\u2019t want to write a conventional review, because that would feel like work, and that would kill the fun. So instead, here are some bullet points, starting with a few notes about the series as a whole:
First, it is remarkable how the mythology has evolved over the course of the franchise. Indeed, just the fact that it has a mythology is kind of remarkable. The original film, which came out in 2014, was a fun little B-movie but nothing too serious: it\u2019s about a retired hitman, John Wick (Keanu Reeves), who comes out of retirement to avenge the death of his dog\u2014and there really isn\u2019t much more to it than that. Yes, there are hints of a secret world, filled with assassins who follow certain rules, but it isn\u2019t until the sequels that this world really begins to grow into something global and elaborate. Does the mythology hold together? Um\u2026 probably not. Things that are treated like big deals in one film might get written out of the story after just a few minutes in the next film. But hey.
I re-watched the first three films before seeing the fourth film, and, watching all of them in the space of just a few days, I was struck by how slight the original movie is: it runs just 101 minutes, or just a little bit more than an hour and a half before the credits start rolling. (It\u2019s also more than an hour shorter than the new film, which runs a whopping 169 minutes.) Each of the sequels felt like a step up, to me\u2014although Chapter 2 takes some dark turns that I didn\u2019t really care for, like the suicide in the pool. That\u2019s the film in which John has, perhaps, the least agency: unlike all the other films, where he is pursuing his own goals (revenge, redemption, etc.) against incredible odds, Chapter 2 begins with John being forced into doing something against his will, and his resistance to that force doesn\u2019t really fit the momentum or trajectory of the rest of the series.1
Remember how Chapter 2 began with a clip from Buster Keaton\u2019s The General, as a tip of the hat to the silent comedies that inspired these movies and their action scenes? The new film basically begins with a three-part homage to Lawrence of Arabia that made me laugh out loud.2 This super-long sequel definitely wears its epic pretensions on its sleeve, and hooray for that.
There is an image, early on, of four horsemen, and at first I wondered if they might be representative of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Turns out, not quite, as one of the horsemen is actually chasing the other three. But it\u2019s a fitting image, all the same.
One of the first people John meets is \u201CThe Elder\u201D, the highest authority in this parallel criminal universe. The Elder was played by Sa\u00EFd Taghmaoui in Chapter 3 but is now played by George Georgiou\u2026 and I was kind of amused by the re-casting of this character, because I had noticed Georgiou in Carnival Row just a couple days earlier and, at the time, had recognized him as one of the Zealots in A.D. The Bible Continues.
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