The View From The Mountain

High fantasy films are becoming more numerous, thanks to vast improvements in special effect technology over the last twenty years. Aside from the big budget monsters, like The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter , more lower budgeted fantasy movies are being released than ever before. A recent release, A Knight's War , is one of the better of the lower budget titles. A Knight's War concerns itself with Bhodie (Jeremy Ninaber), a knight in the service of an ancient prophecy that heralds the arrival of the Chosen One (Kristen Kaster)--a sacred, red-haired woman who will lead the charge to rid the world of all evil. Yet when the Chosen One is captured by a cult that plans to sacrifice her, Bhodie and his brother William (Matthew Ninaber) assault their lair to rescue her. But viewers' expectations are upended for the first time in this smartly written film when the Chosen One is abruptly killed and physically sent to another mystical realm. Bhodie follo...

I first heard of The Primevals when I was a kid. Back in the day, which was the 1970s, I received all of my movie news from magazines, which was where I first discovered the work in progress fantasy film that was being directed by special effects master David Allen. Using stop motion animation, a technique that was pioneered by Willis Harold O'Brien, Allen created a story of an expedition that travels to Nepal after an incident where a Yeti had been killed during a confrontation with a group of Sherpa. Having received the body of the Yeti (and it was promptly put on display in their museum), this expedition, led by Claire Collier (Juliet Mills, the daughter of actor John Mills, and the sister of Haley Mills), wants to see if they can find more Yeti and perhaps save them from extinction. Hiring a safari guide with the super heroic name of Rondo Montana (!!!), they go looking for more Yeti in the Himalayas, only to find a lost civilization. Don’t you hat...

After a disastrous first attempt at making a movie in 2000, with Dungeons & Dragons , they’ve tried it again in 2023 with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves . And this time, they’ve scored a bullseye in creating a very successful quest. Fresh from the behind the scenes shenanigans of the vastly disappointing Don’t Worry Darling , Chris Pine stars (and also has a producer credit) here as charming thief Edgin Darvis, who breaks out of jail with his partner in crime Holga Kilgore, played by the always great Michelle Rodriguez. Edgin is eager to reconnect with Kira (Chloe Coleman), his young daughter, whom he left behind when he and Holga got caught while trying to pull a heist. They were out to score a magical amulet that would have brought Edgin’s deceased wife back from the dead. But, Edgin discovers that his old partner, Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant)--who promised Edgin that he would take care of Kira--has become the ruler of the city of Neve...

Back in the 1980s, I got caught up in the whirlwind of the Dungeons & Dragons craze (a craze that's still going strong today) and bought myself one of their dragon kits. I never got around to actually building and painting this kit until very recently. It was the new D&D movie starring Chris Pine that actually spurred me onward. I was also inspired to build this after watching the fantastic House of the Dragon TV series. And here she is, in all of her glory. I had to glue on the wings with superglue, then secured them in further with putty. I then painted her with a burgundy red and green paint job, with a honey brown color painton her legs and underside. I also used a black wash on the figure to really bring out the great sculpt job. She came already standing on a rock base, which I glued down to a large block of solid wood. The wood base worked well, because the dragon, being solid metal...