4k movies reviews
Here’s another serpentine fantasy for you. It sounds tempting and silly at the same time. Also, this movie was not at all what I had hoped for.

“The Dragon Beater” caught my eye in Total DVD magazine’s ranking of the top twenty best fantasy films. Of course, I was fired up. I was excited, hoping for some reason for a bright and colorful magical story.

And to check it out I got a grim story about the early Middle Ages. The Dark Ages, as I understand it.

A time when Christianity was still taking its first inexperienced steps across Europe, already old by then. And magic was flourishing, and creatures like dragons were as real as dogs today.

Times when ancient rituals had not yet been completely forgotten or twisted by medieval courtesan tales.

For example:

In the tale, a hero appears and frees the girl from the monster to whom she is bred to be eaten. In reality, in the era of the rite, such a “liberator” would have been torn apart as the greatest wicked one, endangering the well-being of the people, endangering the crops. This fact shows that the plot sometimes arises out of a negative attitude toward a once-existing reality. Such a plot (or motif) could not yet arise as a fairy tale when there was a way of life that required the sacrifice of girls. But with the fall of this way of life, a custom that was once revered as holy, a custom in which the hero was a female victim who sometimes voluntarily went to her death, became unnecessary and disgusting, and the hero of the tale is already the wicked man who prevented this sacrifice.

In “The Dragon-Winner” this is very evident. The people are against the custom of giving girls to the dragon, and at the same time, the wizard who volunteered to help, they chase away in disgrace, and the king’s daughter goes to a voluntary sacrifice for the good of all society.

That is to say, despite the fairy-tale nature of what’s going on, the movie turned out to be too darkly-medieval. Realistic even, I would say, if there were no mages and dragons. And that’s why it was a lot harder to watch than all the other stories about the Middle Ages fictional-unreal (the thirteenth, in other words, the kingdom).

That’s both the plus and the twist of “Winner” and that’s also its disadvantage.

In such a case, I would have to conclude as follows. “The Dragon Beater” is good, but too serious for a fantasy film, which even a fan of fairy tales finds it hard to revisit repeatedly.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (52.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles
English, English SDH, French.

Сообщение Dragonslayer 4K 1981 появились сначала на 4К-MOVIES.BIZ.

4k movies reviews
In the distant future, a space crew traveling near Halley’s Comet finds a giant ancient ship lost in the vastness of the stars, in the womb of which the bodies of perfect people are stored in anabiosis. The bodies will be taken to Earth, where they will come to their senses and begin the process of taking over our planet, sucking the life juices out of its inhabitants. This sci-fi classic from thrash-movie classic Taub Hooper, based on the famous 1976 novel ‘Space Vampires’ by English writer Colin Wilson, was made nine years after the book was published on a very respectable budget of $25 million, which did not, however, pay off.

I both watched the movie and read the novel, and I can say that the movie, unfortunately, came out a little worse. Of course, it’s a movie from my childhood, a movie I saw a long time ago and evoked a sense of deep nostalgia, so it was a pleasure to review it. But if the novel was primarily a sci-fi detective, strongly written and mesmerizing, where the emphasis was on the investigation and pursuit of space vampires traveling through human bodies, Hooper decided to add some action to it, whereby by the end of the film there are scenes of mass disaster, zombies roaming the flaming London, and one of the main characters running through the streets with some obscure sword in an effort to stab the alien invaders with it.

As a result of the director’s innovations, the film sort of falls apart into three parts. The first, finding the ship and delivering the creatures and awakening them, is the most interesting. The second is the pursuit of the leader of the space vampires, much more boring. Well, and by the finale, the mass action begins. The film lacks harmony, and – sadly – lacks the necessary talent. One opening scene of finding a ship of unprecedented size could have been shot to give the audience goosebumps, but the director crumpled it up and cut it down to the maximum, losing the wonderful atmosphere that reigned in the book. Everything happens too fast, so the viewer just doesn’t have time to get into it.

But there is something in the film that shook me then and impressed me again now. It was the actress who played the role of the vampire leader, Mathilde May, for whom this was her first screen appearance. The director needed to find for the role almost a reference woman, the one whose image will be as close to the dreams of most men, to the ideal of femininity. And he almost succeeded. In any case, the girl found in this picture just looks incomparable, mesmerizing its beauty. And besides, almost the whole movie she walks naked, which can not but rejoice.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (75.6 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles
English SDH.

Сообщение Lifeforce 4K 1985 появились сначала на 4К-MOVIES.BIZ.

The planet is ruled by Emperor Ming the Ruthless and his daughter, the evil beauty Aura. The heroes have only one opportunity to save Earth – to destroy Ming, uniting the princes of this distant planet who are at war with each other…

4k movies reviews
You put aside Camus’ book, watched all Antonioni’s films, and your conversations with your friends became so intellectual that passers-by, having heard an excerpt of your friendly conversation, fall into a short-term coma? Are you so stuffed with all kinds of intellectual products that you got glasses (and it doesn’t matter if you have bad eyesight or not)? Are you tired of all this, but do not know what to do? Flash – aaah – will save you from all kinds of thinking activity!

And Flash Gordon is not even a superhero, but just a football player (I will clarify that he is an American football player, not something that was invented by the British, and is the subject of their national pride). He has no superpowers, all sorts of tricks, the highest intellect and wit. All he has is his blonde hair, his ability to play football and his big good heart. And this guy is the savior of the earth. Well, isn’t that cute? Without all the pathos and pretentious intelligence and excessive moralizing, he saved the Earth. You don’t see that in today’s blockbusters. That’s what this movie has in it.

Yes, with its gloomy naivety and stupidity. Imagine there’s a little boy in front of you who you want to slap on your cheeks with a sentence: Look at this silly and funny little boy here. Hold a candy. The logic in this film is exactly as long as it takes to push a locomotive action on the rails of the story, preventing it from moving off the rails and disaster. No more, no less. The purpose of the film is to entertain, and that’s what it does. And the absence of long philosophical conversations and protracted internal torments of heroes gives dynamics to a plot and protects from boredom which necessarily appears when with clever kinds speak nonsense.

Actors, and among them there are such stars as Ornella Mutti, Timothy Dalton and even Max von Sudov in the role of villain Emperor Ming, understand that a deep and penetrating acting game only spoil the film, so do not zealously. But, even this fact is in the film’s favor. The viewer has a friendly understanding of the actors. Yes, I understand that this is not the place of an acting workshop, but I am not waiting for it, do not worry, friend, just play for your pleasure.

The film is made in the genre of fiction, and one of the main tasks of this genre – to impress the audience with something unknown and unusual. And with this task cope costumers, shaken the closet of his imagination, and shaken from there a lot of bright and unusual costumes. Colorful scenery and special effects successfully create a fantastic world in which the main characters get. And let the current viewer at a glance notice the cardboard scenery and unnatural special effects, but it says only that sometimes it is useful not to look closely. Cosmic also adds and the music of the British band Queen (they even performed the wedding march).

Well, Flash Gordon saved you from another bizarre evening. What are you saying? Is he some kind of stupid and naive? Yeah, but Flash is a good guy, simple, straightforward and honest. I like him.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)

Subtitles
English SDH, German, French.

Сообщение Flash Gordon 4K 1980 Ultra HD 2160p появились сначала на 4К-MOVIES.BIZ.