Tag: sorceress

The Odyssey
(2026)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date July 17 2026
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(2026)
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Director – Christopher Nolan – 2026 – US – Cert. 15 – 172m

**** (regular cinema version, not the 70mm IMAX print)

While Odysseus is lost presumed dead returning home from the Trojan Wars to his island Kingdom of Ithaca, his wife is confronted with multiple suitors – out in UK cinemas on Friday, July 17th

For anyone unfamiliar with the classical Greek literature source, Homer’s Odyssey is about a journey (with which meaning the word odyssey is synonymous in modern parlance). Odysseus (Matt Damon) fights for ten years (a time span unclear in the new film) in the Trojan Wars, then spends another ten getting home to his island Kingdom of Ithaca (the film is clear that he’s away a total of 20 years).

Homer doesn’t play out his narrative in linear form, but goes back and forth, for instance using flashbacks. Nolan’s screenplay uses a framing device of Odysseus’ wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) holding out against numerous suitors hoping she’ll marry one of them and make him king, remarkably similar to that other recent, inferior adaptation of (the Ithaca bits of) the Odyssey, The Return (Umberto Pasolini, 2024), except that Nolan’s instincts for casting are a lot stronger and he has a bigger crew and budget with which to play.… Read the rest

Tags absent father, action, ancient Greek culture, Anne Hathaway, Athena, Bill Irwin, Calypso, Charlize Theron, Christopher Nolan, Circe, classical Greek literature, cyclops, flashbacks, giant, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Helen, Helen of Troy, Homer, Homer’s Odyssey, Horse of Troy, hospitality, husbands and wives, IMAX, Ithaca, John Leguizamo, Jon Bernthal, journey, kingdom, lashed to the mast, lotus-flowers, Lupito N’yongo, Matt Damon, Mediterranean, Menelaus, Mia Goth, missing presumed dead, near-blind, non-IMAX, nymph, Odysseus, Ogygia, Penelope, photorealism, Ray Harryhausen-related, return home, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, sea monster, self-doubt, shipwreck, Sirens, six-headed, sorceress, Sparta, special effects, spectacular, suitors, swineherd, Telemachus, The Odyssey, Tom Holland, Trojan War, war veteran, wax in their ears, whirlpool, wife, Zendaya

Features Live Action Movies Music

Masters
of the Universe
(2026)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date June 3 2026
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of the Universe
(2026)
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Director – Travis Knight – 2026 – UK – Cert. 12a – 132m

***1/2

Prince Adam must recapture Castle Grayskull and the throne of Eternia after his parents, the king and queen, have been deposed by the evil Skeletor – out in UK cinemas on Wednesday, June 3rd

As his father King Radnor (James Purefoy from High-Rise, Ben Wheatley, 2015; Ironclad, Jonathan English, 2011; Solomon Kane, M.J. Bassett, 2009) of Eternia and his trainer Duncan the Man-at-Arms (Idris Elba from A House of Dynamite, Kathryn Bigelow, 2025; Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro, 12013; The Wire, TV series, 2002-4) know only too well, young Prince Adam (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt from Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, Gore Verbinski, 2025; Strike, TV series, 2017) is a bit of a wimp and generally fares badly at Duncan’s open air group combat training classes in the grounds of ancestral home Castle Grayskull. Adam’s best friend and Duncan’s daughter Teela (Eire Farrell from The Wasp, Guillem Morales, 2024; Barbie, Greta Gerwig, 2023) is much better at learning this stuff than he is.

Nothing has prepared either of the pair for real combat, such as when, out of nowhere, Castle Grayskull is attacked by the villainous Skeletor (Jared Leto from Tron: Ares, Joachim Rønning, 2025; House of Gucci, Ridley Scott, 2021; Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve, 2017; Dallas Buyers Club, Jean-Marc Vallée, 2013) and his forces who defeat the King and his Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley from London Has Fallen, Babak Najifi, 2016; Edge of Tomorrow, Doug Limon, 2014; Easy Virtue, Stephan Elliot, 2008) and take over the castle even as Duncan, armed with various inventive items of weaponry, helps the two children to escape.… Read the rest

Tags 15 years, action figure, action figures, alcoholic, Alison Brie, ancestors, ancestral home, army commander, arrested, Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, Arun Bassi, battlements, Beast-Man, Brian May, Camila Mendes, Castle Grayskull, Charlotte Riley, chatroom, Christian Vunipola, cogwheels, combat, combat training, comic book shop, conflict resolution, corporate job, cyborg, Daniel Pemberton, Eire Farrell, escape, Eternia, fist, flatmate, freeway, Gary Martin, group dynamics, guitar, guitarist, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Hung Dante Dong, Idris Elba, inadequate, James Apps, James Purefoy, James Wilkinson, Jared Leto, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Jon Xue Zhang, Kirsten Wiig, Kojo Attah, Laika, Man-at-Arms, Masters of the Universe, Morena Baccarin, Nicholas Galitzine, not good enough, pilot, Prince Adam, queen, robot, Sam C. Wilson, Sasheer Zamata, Skeletor, sorceress, spaceship, statues, Stephen Adentan, stranded, Sword of Power, the Argonauth, throne, toy, Travis Knight, US, weaponry, work cubicle, wormhole

Animation Features Movies

Rebellious

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date October 24 2024
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Director – Alex Tsitsilin – 2023 – UK, Cyprus – Cert. PG – 94m

***

Her true love must rescue the princess before three rival princes after a dragon abducts her on behalf of an evil wizard – fairy tale animation is out in UK cinemas on Friday, October 25th

A dad reads his small daughter a bedtime story, a fairytale about a kingdom where an evil dragon carries off innocent princesses, sometimes as they are about to be married. I’d never stand for that, intones young Mina (voice: Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld), who is herself a princess, and her father a king (voice: David Wills).

Jump forward to her as a young woman hanging out with architecture graduate boyfriend Ronan (voice: Dan Edwards), despite the fact that her more traditional father thinks she ought to marry a foreign prince for political reasons. As Ronan points out, he can handle all the design stuff like strategy, construction and weaponry while she is better at hands on combat, so they make a good pair to rule the kingdom.

There are three princely candidates in the offing: strong but brutish Eastern European Rogdai (voice: Matt Giroveanu), vain Indian ladies’ man Kezabor (voice: Pete Zarustica), and overeating, obese, Oriental Fa Chan (voice: Brian Kim) who is in thrall to his Mommy Dearest (voice: Jennifer Sun Bell).… Read the rest

Tags 3D animation, Abe Goldfarb, Alex Tsitsilin, Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld, animation, Anthony Sardinha, architecture graduate, bedtime story, bewitched, boyfriend, Brian Kim, brutish, carried off, CG, CG animation, constrictor, Cyprus, Dan Edwards, David Wills, dragon abduction, Eastern Europe, enchantment, fairy tale, fairy tale archetypes, fathers and daughters, forest, gardens, giant, happiness, Indian, Jennifer Sun Bell, Jon St. John, king, kingdom, ladies’ man, magic, Marc Thompson, Matt Giroveanu, mother’s boy, obese, Oriental, overeating, palace, Pete Zarustica, prince, princess, proposal of marriage, quest, rescue, serpent, shapeshifter, snake, sorceress, spell, statues, strong, suitors, talking bear, traditional, true love, turned into gold, UK, Vanessa Johansson, wizard