List of Crap: Top 50 Fantasy Movies Countdown

[Johnny Unusual]

 

Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.

 Number 11 Groundhog Day
(86 points on 5 of 14 lists. Top Vote #4 by Monty)

 Plot:   
A TV weather man reluctantly goes to cover the story of Punxsutawney Phil for the third year in a row. Making no effort to hide his frustration about this, he covers the story and moves on, expecting his job to be finished. However, he awakes the 'following' day and discovers that it's Groundhog Day again, and the fun happens again, again, and again. First he finds this burdensome and unavoidable no matter what, then he soon realizes he must take advantage of it in order to secure the love of a coworker.

Magical Spells, Artifacts and Monsters

Feb, 2, 1993 – Try that a few thousand times.

Trivia Notes:
According to director Harold Ramis, most of the times when he tried to explain a scene to Bill Murray, Murray would interrupt and ask, "Just tell me - good Phil or bad Phil?"

Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Ned "the head" Reyerson the insurance agent was the honorary grand marshal in Punxsutawney, PA on Feb. 2nd, 2010. During his speech on stage he performed the "whistling belly button" act he refers to in the film. (I love Tobo)

Director Harold Ramis was surprised to find that his film was attracting a lot of attention from various religious groups, meditative gurus and other parties who were into metaphysics. Ramis was particularly surprised as he was expecting a backlash against him.

Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis wanted to add another Ned Ryerson scene at the last minute, so Stephen Tobolowsky wrote the scene where he rattles off a number of insurance policies. Tobolowsky based his character on his own insurance agent. After the movie's release, the agent called Tobolowsky to thank him for portraying agents so accurately rather than making fun of them as most movies do.

Moment of Wonder
Phil knows what to do and when to do it.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/gKGOG-Pr81E" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/gKGOG-Pr81E</a>

[Johnny Unusual]

And that's it for tonight.  I'll finish this thing off tomorrow.

See you guys later, and take some pizza home with you.  I can't finish it all.

[Raven]

Never Ending Story was number 25 on my list because I remember liking it as a kid, but honestly couldn't tell you a damn thing in it now,  accept that the dogs name is Falcor, since I haven't seen it since I was 10 or so. 

I didn't include Army of Darkness as I look at that as a horror movie, not fantasy but I don't have a problem with it being on the list and pretty high up. 

I definitely had Groundhog Day on my list.  Probably my favorite Bill Murray movie (and that's one of the harder choices I've had to make).

[Johnny Unusual]

Army of Darkness is in no way horror to me.  The first 2 films definitely are, but the first one, though having the same lead, takes it in a much different direction (a Ray Harryhausen homage).

[Raven]

Yeah, I just kinda lump the whole series together.  Like I said, glad it's on the list still.

[anais.butterfly]

Personally, I watched for the first time recently and... it's kind of a mess.  And I don't mean it's a bad movie, it's just a movie with a lot of great stuff and a lot of weak stuff shoved together in the same movie.

The Weak
- The music of America.
- The butterfly at the beginning of the movie who feels entirely out of place.
- It feels like there's stuff that's missing.  A sense of time, characteristics of characters that seem rich that are glossed over (the fact that Prince Lir is kind of pathetic, the unicorn falling in love feels rushed when more time should have been taken with it.) and thematic stuff I wish was emphasized more (it seems that beyond the incompetent wizard, all of the characters are sort of pathetic, tragic or offbeat versions of fairy tale archetypes.  Molly Grue is a young maiden who had nothing happen to her and grew old, Lir and Haggard are basically rulers of nothing and no one, Haggard is less overtly evil than lonely and pathetic, though in a dangerous way).

I disagree with all of this.

America was a great choice for this movie and holds up well. Far better than their regular music

The Butterfly is extremely important. Not only does he prove fantastical whimsy, but he gets the plot going. Without King Haggard and his plan, the world of the forrest would be nothing BUT whimsy, which is why the butterfly is almost bi-polar when he is talking to the Unicron. He is the representation of what was and what is happening, and that is what the unicorn sets out to stop.

The characters are supposed to be more realistic and less straight fantasy types. Typical fantasy will have a magician that is extremely competent, but what if he wasn't? It's very similiar to Archer in that you have a genre piece where the characters are more imcompentant (RE: human) than the typical archetypes found in the majority of stories within than genre. I am sure there is a literary phrase for that.

[Johnny Unusual]

The characters are supposed to be more realistic and less straight fantasy types. Typical fantasy will have a magician that is extremely competent, but what if he wasn't? It's very similiar to Archer in that you have a genre piece where the characters are more imcompentant (RE: human) than the typical archetypes found in the majority of stories within than genre. I am sure there is a literary phrase for that.

This is a thing I like in the movie.  A lot.  But I feel that aside from Schmendrick and Haggard, it doesn't really use it to it's full advantage.  Lir's patheticness despite his competence for knightly pursuits comes across as a throwaway aspect rather than a big motivator for the character, as if it is a given that these characters are supposed to love each other.  Haggard is by far the film's richest aspect.  I also wish we had time to see why Haggard liked having Schmendrick around.  It seems a given that he is, but I feel we could have gotten more out of their relationship.  Does Haggard see him as charming in his modest abilities or does he just see him as a joke he enjoys stealing dignity from.

What is implied doesn't feel like subtlety so much as missed opportunity for enriching the characters.

that is what the unicorn sets out to stop.

Wait, Unicron is in this?  I need to watch it again.  Seriously though, my problem with the butterfly isn't his purpose in the plot, it just how damned painfully unfunny he is.  There are a lot of great fictional characters that combine humour and sadness, but this guy felt like he was out of a My Little Pony cartoon.  And not the good one.  This one.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QP_rIAkb_v8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/QP_rIAkb_v8</a>

Wait, Tony Randall?  Maybe that IS the good one...

[Rainbow Dash]

Wait, Unicron is in this?  I need to watch it again.  Seriously though, my problem with the butterfly isn't his purpose in the plot, it just how damned painfully unfunny he is.  There are a lot of great fictional characters that combine humour and sadness, but this guy felt like he was out of a My Little Pony cartoon.  And not the good one.  This one.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QP_rIAkb_v8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/QP_rIAkb_v8</a>

My Eyes!
My Ears!

Side note.  If you liked Last Unicorn, you might check out the comic, Heavenly Nostrils.  Kind of Calvin and Hobbes, but with a Girl and a Unicorn, and the Unicorn was inspired by Amalthea.  Author even did a thing with Beagle last month for a screening of the film.



Funny enough, I think the movie has aged pretty poorly.  Was never one I got really into as a kid.

[Johnny Unusual]

It's going to be a little longer than I thought.  Probably much later tonight.  Sorries.

[Johnny Unusual]

So our intrepid party continues into the maze, though it is hard to say whether they are going in the right direction.  As they go on, they fight more fearsome beasts, answer challenging riddles and achieve difficult tasks, but sadly they seem no closer to their goal.

[Johnny Unusual]

Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

 Number 10 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(89  points on 5 of 14 lists. Top Vote #3 by Starman!)

 Plot:   
King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obstacles.

Magical Spells, Artifacts and Monsters

The Holy Hand Grenade – 1, 2, 5!

Castle Anthrax – Can’t we have a little peril?

Sir Not-Featured-in-This-List – Sorry

Trivia Notes:
The gorilla hand turning the pages was director Terry Gilliam's. The hand turning pages before that is that of Gilliam's wife.

Unusually for a Monty Python feature, all the female roles (apart from Dennis's mother, played by Terry Jones) are played by women. In the TV series and the two following films, almost all the female roles are played by men.

The King of Swamp Castle says that Sir Lancelot killed "all those guards - they cost 50 pounds each", meaning that Sir Lancelot killed £300 worth of guards.

Since the armour the Knights wore was really made of wool, and the weather conditions in Scotland and England being what they normally are, the actors spent most of the shooting days being very cold and wet. To make matters worse, the hotel where they were staying only had a limited number of baths and hot water. At the end of shooting each day, there was a mad dash to see who could get back to the hotel first, and into some hot water. The Monty Python troupe all seem to agree that they did not enjoy much of the filming experience for this movie.

In an auction of movie costumes in March 2007, the helmet worm by Sir Bedevere (Terry Jones) sold for $29,000, more than ten times the original estimate.

Moment of Wonder
 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/IMxWLuOFyZM" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/IMxWLuOFyZM</a>

[Johnny Unusual]

As the party continue, they find their resources draining and their bodies tiring.  They decide to stop for a quick rest in a garden along the way.  After checking to see if the plants have any fruit (none, I'm afraid) they begin to rest.  However, it is Bono, lacking in a traditional body, who notices that the scents being emitted by the flowers are putting them to sleep, and perhaps poisoning them.  Bono plays a song to rouse the team, but only Montgomery has enough energy left to pull them all out of the room before they fall into eternal slumber.

[Johnny Unusual]

 

Birds fly Over The Rainbow. Why then, oh why can't I?

 Number 9 The Wizard of Oz
(93 points on 5 of 14 lists. Top Vote #2 by Monty)

 Plot:   
In this charming film based on the popular L. Frank Baum stories, Dorothy and her dog Toto are caught in a tornado's path and somehow end up in the land of Oz. Here she meets some memorable friends and foes in her journey to meet the Wizard of Oz who everyone says can help her return home and possibly grant her new friends their goals of a brain, heart and courage.

Magical Spells, Artifacts and Monsters

The Wicked Witch of the West – The second most embarrassing villain death after Boba Fett.

Poppies – Is this why I get sleepy every remembrance day ceremony?  But I kid the veterans.

The Scarecrow – We all agree he’s the best of Dorothy’ companions, right?

Trivia Notes:
Richard Thorpe, the original director of the film, had shot around two weeks of footage before he was fired. Among the scenes he shot were Dorothy's meeting of the Scarecrow on the Yellow Brick Road along with his song and dance, as well as all the scenes involving the Wicked Witch's castle. Thorpe's footage had a remarkably different look from what was seen in the finished film. Most striking was the look of Judy Garland's Dorothy, who in Thorpe's footage had a blonde tousled hairstyle with baby doll make-up.Ray Bolger's Scarecrow also had different make-up as well as trousers. Margaret Hamilton had different make-up as the Wicked Witch of the West. In addition, Buddy Ebsen was playing the Tin Man. In Thorpe's footage the Yellow Brick Road also had a different look, as it was not curbed and made up of artificial looking oval bricks, instead of the curbed real rectangular ones in the finished film. Thorpe's footage has not been seen since it was shot in 1938 but surviving home movies, taken by composer Harold Arlen, shows a few shots of a blonde Garland and Bolger rehearsing their Scarecrow meeting scene, giving the viewer a glimpse of what Thorpe's Oz would have looked like.

[img http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g5j30f8CgQg/UToKmzZNZaI/AAAAAAAAeSk/903MCtDcW2I/s1600/dorothy+wizard+of+oz.jpg
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George Cukor not only changed Judy Garland's physical appearance in the film to the way it looks in the finished version, but also modified the Scarecrow's makeup. Later, when Victor Fleming had been assigned to direct, Jack Haley began filming his first scene as the Tin Man, the scene in which Dorothy and the Scarecrow first discover him. Buddy Ebsen, who had been playing the Tin Man, had to back out because of an allergic reaction to his makeup, and never filmed this scene; he had only filmed scenes that take place in the second half of the film, after the four travelers have been to the Wash and Brush Up Co. at the Emerald City. Haley had been filming his first scene for three days before anyone realized that he had no "rust" on his "tin" costume, even though in the story he was supposed to have been standing rusted for an entire year. The rust was immediately applied to it.

Many of the Wicked Witch of the West's scenes were either trimmed or deleted entirely, as Margaret Hamilton's performance was thought too frightening for audiences.

A scene was filmed in which the Tin Man was turned into a "human beehive" by the Wicked Witch; after he crushes a bee, the Tin Man cries and rusts his jaw shut, then has to be oiled by Dorothy to get his jaw working again. This scene was cut and so the scene of Dorothy and her companions that comes after where the "beehive" scene had to be flipped to match their continuity in the earlier scene, causing them to appear blurred slightly.

The original concept for the Wicked Witch of the West was to have her resemble a strikingly beautiful woman much in the same way the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was conceived. Producer Mervyn LeRoy originally cast MGM beauty Gale Sondergaard in the role as a sleek, sexy Wicked Witch of the West. However, the presence of a sexy Wicked Witch left a large plot hole within the script, for it played against the idea that bad witches were ugly. Convinced that the point was important, LeRoy retested Sondergaard as an ugly witch. Looking hideous in the make-up, she immediately declined the role and was replaced with Margaret Hamilton.

Moment of Wonder
Yeah, Scarecrow is the best.
 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/nauLgZISozs" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/nauLgZISozs</a>

[Starman!]

How did I forget Army of Darkness?

[Raven]

I'm not surprised that Holy Grail and Wizard of Oz cracked the top 10. I'm a little surprised that they were both only on 5 lists though.  I had both of them on my list.