john rhys-davies Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Retro Cinema: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Filed under: Action », Fandom », Home Entertainment », Retro Cinema »
Imagine this: The Paramount Pictures logo fades away into a real mountain as a fedora-topped man and his men travel through the jungle. We see this man in the shadows, from behind, and from the chest down -- all shots obscuring his face. Finally, when they get to a stream and the fedora man pulls out a map, one of his men pulls out a gun. However, before he can shoot, the gun is whipped out of the man's hand with a simple flick, and a thick, mustachioed Tom Selleck walks out of the darkness.
This is what Raiders of the Lost Ark could have been -- a Magnum PI-led adventure film -- had that same show not spirited Selleck away and forced Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to find someone else. They tested Tim Matheson, Otter from Animal House. They tested Peter Coyote -- an actor who went on to play Keys in ET. But no one compared to Harrison Ford, who came in and made Indiana Jones an ageless icon of adventure and archeology.
Review: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Theatrical Reviews »
I suppose that reviewing an Uwe Boll film is a lot like having a fancy restaurant critic do a write-up on McDonald's new McGristle sandwich -- but I'm not "fancy" by any definition of the word, and I've grown madly in love with Uwe Boll's enthusiastically slipshod filmmaking techniques. So to those who thought miracles were actually possible, I have some disappointing news: Boll's latest, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, is every bit as consistently awful as the director's earlier offerings -- only it's 126 minutes long. And that's just not fair.
Also unfair is the stunningly blatant way in which Mr. Boll tries to rip off the Lord of the Rings trilogy in this chintzy little epic. Every other sequence has a musical cue, a costume, a bit of dialog, or a background character that just fell off the Hobbit truck. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Uwe Boll just spent 126 minutes telling Peter Jackson how thin, talented and gorgeous he is. To be completely fair, I did notice a few components (mainly the action scene editing and a few moments of strangely effective cinematography) that manage to improve upon films like Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead and BloodRayne -- but really, you could probably improve upon those three movies using only a cell phone camera and a powerful flashlight.
For a flick that runs two hours, the plot is distressingly skimpy: Villains are ransacking the countryside, so a farmer called Farmer takes up arms, grabs a few sidekicks, and heads out to destroy the evil and perpetually cackling Boss Villain. That's it, really. But we're not going to see an Uwe Boll video game adaptation for the plot, are we? No. We're usually watching his flicks for the sheer unintentional hilarity of it all, but King is even better because it's an ensemble piece! We've got...
First Wave of Fantastic Fest Films Announced
Filed under: Animation », Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », Shorts », Fantastic Fest », Cinematical Indie »
I may not be able to attend Cannes this year, but at least I can look forward to the film festivals taking place in Austin this fall. One of my favorites is Fantastic Fest, the sf/fantasy/horror festival that takes place Sept. 20-27 at the Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar. (Single-venue festivals are so relaxing.) Fantastic Fest, now in its third year, has just released the first list of films in its lineup. Although the big splashy premieres haven't yet been announced, the festival has already sold out of VIP badges for 2007.The features announced this week are from all around the globe: animated films Aachi and Ssipak from Korea and Princess from Denmark; the Canadian thriller The Entrance; a spooky-looking New Zealand horror film called The Ferryman that stars John Rhys-Davies; a documentary about French artist Jean Giraud, Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures; the Russian drama The Sword Bearer; and the surreal Japanese film Wicked Flowers, which Scott Weinberg reviewed at the Philadelphia Film Festival. American films include New Line's Flight of the Living Dead (no snakes, just zombies) and Trick 'r Treat, the directorial debut from screenwriter Michael Dougherty (X-Men 2, Superman Returns). I've listed the short films selected for Fantastic Fest after the jump.
[Thanks to Blake at Cinema Strikes Back for the tip -- check out his entry for mini-reviews of the films that he's seen already as well as some arresting stills.]
John Rhys-Davies (aka Sallah) Written Out of 'Indy 4,' Source Says
Filed under: Action », Casting », RumorMonger », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
According to a recent report that surfaced over at Dark Horizons, stalwart Indiana Jones sidekick Sallah, played by John Rhys-Davies in both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will not be appearing in the fourth installment of the franchise. I'm not sure if this exactly qualifies as a "travesty" or not, but it is a little disappointing, especially as Sallah was a very important part of Raiders and provided the film with some of its best lines, like: "Snakes, you go first" and the classic "Bad dates." So, why is he reportedly not being included in Indy 4? According to the site, Rhys-Davies was asked about his appearance in the film at a recent Sci-Fi convention in New Zealand. He answered that, through a third party, he was told his character was written out of the script in favor of "a younger cast." If that's really the reason he was given for not being in the film, I have to wonder a little about it. And, if his character was "written out," could it be that at one point it was "written in?" Not to be a nit-picker but according to IMDB, Rhys-Davies is actually two years younger than Harrison Ford. Although, I guess you can't really have an Indiana Jones movie without Indiana Jones. Plus, Lucas and Spielberg probably decided that one old guy running around getting into fights, swinging from a bullwhip, shooting bad guys and protecting antiquities was enough for one movie. Thinking about it like that I guess I can't really blame them. Still, what's next, no Short Round either?
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