Dragonslayer

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if fresh out of theaters. It is essentially a buffed-up version of the concurrently released Blu-ray, which itself looks striking, here offering the same base with sharper The production design provides us with a glimpse of the dirty Middle Ages. This isn’t like most films with noble knights but with greedy, selfish individuals who do best only for themselves. This was a deliberate choice of Robbins who wanted a gritty film. In the feature-length commentary, Robbins is joined by del Toro who waxes poetic about many aspects of Dragonslayer that influenced his choices with his own film Pan’s Labyrinth. Robbins says it was humbling to hear del Toro’s take on the handcrafted elements of the film, but he still remembers the toll it took to get to the finished film. An excellent long-form documentary is broken up into several separate sections, a Paramount decision from about 20 years ago that enabled DVD extras to be classified not as separate productions but as advertising promos not warranting credit, etc. I’ve retained Paramount’s description of each ‘chapter’ in the stats section below. Christopher John reviewed Dragonslayer in Ares magazine and commented, "Though the dialogue is occasionally stiff, there is a believable reality. When the people and setting of a fantasy are as carefully wrought as they are here, it is easy to get an audience to accept as small and wonderful a thing as a dragon." [18] Vermithrax Pejorative [ edit ]

Set in sixth-century England, an ill-tempered, fire-breathing creature—ominously known as Vermithrax Pejorative—terrorizes its citizens until a young sorcerer’s apprentice named Galen (Peter MacNicol) is reluctantly tasked with confronting the beast. For Galen to succeed, it will take more than magic to defeat the dragon. I get asked about that, too. It was not an easy production either, even without the special effects. But what can I tell you? Except it was a studio film and there were a lot of struggles over that movie, about the post-production, about how to cut the movie and finish it. Paramount has done a great job of restoring the film working with the original camera negative along with the various elements for the visual effects. It’s from the ground up rebuilding of the film and they deserve praise for their work here. When I first heard they were going to make a Dragonslayer 4K, I was both very excited and a little surprised. Peter MacNicol carries this story from a script hitting each trope on the fantasy tree. Virgins, wizards, sacrifice, scared villagers, and magical amulets all factor into this fairy tale. Typically, it’s marginally interesting, holding much of the attention on a corrupt king who accepts bribes to not feed the wealthy virgins to the nearby monster.

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Just the same Dragonslayer is to be commended for trying something different. It is consistent in its approach, a melding of fantasy and grit. John, Christopher (September 1981). "Film & Television". Ares Magazine. No.10. Simulations Publications, Inc. pp.13, 29. props enter the frame and command the screen, instantly making movie magic. Add in seamlessly designed costumes and effortlessly integrated George R.R. Martin's Top 10 Fantasy Films". The Daily Beast. April 11, 2011 . Retrieved June 24, 2011.

First things first: Our sources continue to report that Disney is likely to release both James Cameron’s original Avatar (2009) and his long-awaited remaster of The Abyss (1989) on physical 4K Ultra HD early next year. Both titles are expected to arrive on disc at the same time as the home video release of the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, which debuts in theaters in just 9 days. We don’t have any details as to which version(s) of The Abyss this release may include, but when we’re able to confirm we’ll certainly post an update here. Vermithrax Pejorative (17:48): An in-depth look at the dragon seen in the film, from inspirations to final design on the screen.

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According to Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins and he got the inspiration for Dragonslayer from The Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence in Fantasia. They later came up with a story after researching St. George and the Dragon. Barwood and Robbins rejected the traditional conceptions of the medieval world to give the film more realism: "Our film has no knights in shining armor, no pennants streaming in the breeze, no delicate ladies with diaphanous veils waving from turreted castles, no courtly love, no holy grail. Instead, they set out to create a very strange world with a lot of weird values and customs, steeped in superstition, where the clothes and manners of the people were rough, their homes and villages primitive, and their countryside almost primeval, so that the idea of magic would be a natural part of their existence." For this reason, they chose to set the film after the end of Roman rule in Britain, prior to the arrival of Christianity. Barwood and Robins began to hastily work on the story outline on June 25, 1979, and completed it in early August. They received numerous refusals from various film studios, due to their inexperience in budget negotiations. The screenplay was eventually accepted by Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures, becoming the two studios' second joint effort after Popeye (1980). [3] Dragon [ edit ] According to Barwood, the dragon's basic body plan was based on that of the Jurassic pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus. [4] Vermithrax Pejorative – The filmmakers take on the daunting task of bringing a dragon to life like never before, utilizing every ounce of movie magic available including Phil Tippett’s breakthrough go-motion animation, cutting-edge practical animatronics, visual effects, and compositing. NEW Vermithrax Pejorative - The filmmakers take on the daunting task of bringing a dragon to life like never before, utilizing every ounce of movie magic available including Phil Tippett's breakthrough go-motion animation, cutting-edge practical animatronics, visual effects, and compositing.

Vermithrax Pejorative: A nearly 18-minute deep-dive into the dragon from the initial design to the final version we see in the film and all of the departments that had a hand in making it a reality. The fact that she led her rebellion and was a rebellion of young people, it’s kind of a romantic impulse on the part of all of us when we were making that movie to bring that to life. complementary manner. They cover external filmmaking details but also break down the picture's themes, structure, cast, score, and much more. The animators manage some great shots with moving cameras, as when the creature crawls out of the hazy darkness of the cave. One spectacular shot shows the reptile rearing up and vomiting yellow flame at the cavern ceiling. Vermithrax is given just enough personality to be loathsome. It is also given a bit of motherly sympathy when it discovers that Galen has chopped its babies into ugly dragon-bits. We’re disturbed by the dead girls and the dead monsters.

near perfect example of what this medium is all about. Eh, they really don't make them like they used to. released every catalogue release with this level of TLC. This is one of the finest the studio has ever offered and easily one of the best looking of any An Unexpected Party Chat transcript now available!". Weta Holics. July 30, 2008. Archived from the original on July 29, 2008. lean narrative may be of the straightforward adventure type, but the supporting content, particularly character growth and interaction, only serve to

Guillermo del Toro gives Hobbit update". ComingSoon.net. Evolve Media, LLC. November 12, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019 . Retrieved September 5, 2019. what is happening through the film and pull the listener into each and every locale. The overhead speakers are not prominently engaged with discrete A few moments later, the stage is literally filled with screams, the first of many full bodied surround elements that seamlessly draw the listener into the The Final Battle (13:45): As the title suggests, this piece looks at the complex making of the film's final 15 minutes. Many Vermithrax visuals use full-sized manipulated figures, and smaller puppets. The ‘baby’ Pejoratives look a little puppet-ish, it must be said. Much of the key action with Vermithrax is full on stop-motion animation, embellished with optical work by Industrial Light and Magic, relocated from Van Nuys and fully established in Northern California’s Marin County.Plot: What’s it about? Video: How does it look? Audio: How does it sound? Supplements: What are the extras? The Bottom Line Plot: What’s it about? INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE: Production woes at every turn, horrific baby dragons, and the challenge of creating Vermithrax’s iconic lair plague the filmmakers. Phil Tippett offers a mini-masterclass on crafting powerful creature performance through detailed animation. The studio also included nearly 16 minutes of screen tests of Peter MacNicol with Caitlin Clarke and Maureen Teefy for the role of Valerian and William Squire for the role of Ulrich. Robbins gets into his casting choices in the documentary, so this is a chance to see some of what he was working with when making decisions. I could see how Teefy and Squire weren’t quite right for their roles, despite how well they played them. Dragonslayer is another in what was the seemingly endless movies of the 80’s that had some sort of “Dungeons & Dragons” influence to it. It’s ironic that years later, that same sort of movie would be raking in cash hand over fist and even become nominated for Best Picture along the way (I’m referring to Lord of the Rings, of course). But comparing Dragonslayer and Lord of the Rings isn’t an apples to apples comparison. Every effect is actually done with stunts and models as opposed to computers and I’m reminded of a famous quote “Uh, these effects aren’t very special…”. Then again, that’s also the film’s saving grace and it scores very high on the “camp value” meter as well. Set during the medieval times, we’re reminded of an era in history that we didn’t really think ever existed. Was there ever such a thing as a dragon? Did we really sacrifice virgins twice a year? Can you really kill a dragon with a sword and a shield? Regardless of what philosophical questions you might have, suffice it to say that the movie won’t answer all of them, but what we have here is a mildly-entertaining movie with some cheesy special effects. But what is it all about?