“On October 13, 2008, Filmkameratene AS received an anonymous package with two hard discs containing 283 minutes of filmed material. Everything in the film was shown in chronological order, and none of the images was manipulated. A team of investigators was trying to establish if the film was a practical joke or the material contained on the discs was authentic. It was concluded after their investigation that the footage was authentic.”

Should Hollywood monster-makers take lessons in creature believability? The faux documentary Troll Hunter would serve best as “the” monster film template to follow. Some of you may remember the 2008 film Cloverfield? A film where indiscernible monsters or alien type-things invaded and plagued the city of New York, and filmed from the point-of-view of a pitiful group of party-goers. Cloverfield did not suffer from a lack of creative creature imagination–it suffered by teasing us with visually annoying, blurred, and ‘brief’ snapshots of a non-fascinating creatures. The premise also suffered as well–it lingered within a predictable set of survival circumstances.

Luckily,  Øverdal paid attention. He chose not to err along the lines of enormously repeated explosions, axe murderers, and one too many panty-raids. Nope. He instead, came up with a genius film concept, utilizing state-of-the art cinematography, and a masterful collage of visual effects that comfortably sets viewers up for an “in-your-face” peek at a not so ordinary fairy-tale, filled with ginormous fantastical creatures.

Three curious Volda College students–Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen), heard rumors that there were bears making trouble within the mountains and in the deep forests of Norway. The students and a group of hunters suspiciously ‘suspect,’ that the disturbances are being caused by a mysterious hunter. However,  after the students interviewed a few of the hunters, they both begin to suspect that the destruction was caused by a different ‘type’ of animal. See, the hunters never heard of bears with the ability to level acres of trees, or maliciously mauling herds of sheep, all in one night. It was even believed at one point by less informed citizens, that wolves invaded their farm houses, smashing in doors, and ripping the roofs off barns where livestock were kept. Something strange is going on, and our trio of student filmmakers believe it all has something to do with the mysterious poacher, who drives a seriously tactical and ‘suited-up’ Land Rover.

Hans (Otto Jespersen), is no poacher. He is an under-appreciated government worker–a “trolljegeren,” or “troll hunter,” whose job it is to kill any troll who breaks out of its territory. He is out all night battling Jotnar’s, Ringlefinches, Tosserland’s, and Mountain Kings–trolls–while the people of Norway sleep comfortably at night. Initially, Hans shunned the probing trio of students, but then decided that since he is tired of the long nights and all the unfavorable business of government cover-ups (plus he is not being paid enough for his troubles), allowed the students to film him while he went out troll hunting.

Hans turns out to be the unsung hero in this film, and these curious college students quickly learn that the fairy-tales they learned as children just did not match up with reality. The Norwegian government was truly hiding something–the existence of trolls and a less well know organization the “Troll Security Service (TSS), ” cleverly documented in a modified Blair Witch Project/Cloverfield’ish sort of way.

Absolutely stunning views of the Norwegian landscapes, troll snatching sheep from a bridge, and even if there were a few “breaks” in the story’s pseudo-details, Troll Hunter does not disappoint and is excitingly enjoyable. The film is so convincingly well done, that it teeters on being an imaginative interplay on the subconscious that still, even at the time I wrote this review, wrestled with the thought that somehow, every image, every disclosure, and every bit of rough-cut of film lingered–as if all of what I witnessed, were real.

Trust me. You will believe it too, when you see it.

Troll Hunter (2011)' ★★★★½ 

Click here to view the embedded video.

The ‘Troll Hunter’  DVD host an engaging amount of Special Features:

• Deleted Scenes - extremely entertaining – Hans collecting evidence – Hans ‘the troll hunter’ is digging through a mound of troll shit. In If you are driving at 80KPH - That’s 80 kilometers per hour, and if you stick your hand out of the car window, you may or may not discern a mid-air “boob.” I hadn’t tested it yet.  At Finn’s - Finn is the ‘unofficial’ TSS government liaison that monitors the trolls Hans kill. Cheeky chap. Wolf Wolf! – The townsfolk somehow believe that wolves are ripping the doors and roofs off of their barns. Troll hairball - Well, you can figure this description out for yourself.
• Improv and Bloopers - Funny outtakes from the film – Trashed Car - The college trio’s car was destroyed during a hunt, they seem to think it was Hans that did it. Frozen Pizza and Hunter’s Stew - Self descriptive. Bloopers - More funny outtakes.
• Extended Scenes
• Visual Effects – This was awesome to watch because you get to see the breakdown on how the trolls were created.
• More Behind the Scenes goodies
• Photo Galleries - Troll sketches and habitats
• HDNet look at “Troll Hunter” – The director and some of the actors in the film discuss what it was like on the set.

Trollhunter List Price: $26.98 Price: $13.50 Read Reviews

Image credit: Magnet

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“OK, you settle down. Got your ears open? This is the story of a sad flute, a  laughin’ baby, and a weepin’ sword. A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away, there lived a warrior, a warrior with empty eyes. He trained his entire life for one purpose. To be the greatest swordsman in the history of mankind. He’d just achieved his life’s ambition, but his heart felt emptier than ever.

Two clans, warring for 500 years, vowed to keep on warring until one of them didn’t have a single man left above ground. And so now, here he was, peering down at this very last of his enemy.  When that little warrior princess giggled, it did something to him inside. But this was no time for feelin’.  For when he spared that baby’s life, he put his name at the top of his own clan’s death list. With nothing but the clothes on his back, and the baby in his arms, he decided to pay a visit to an old warrior friend in a far away land”–Ron, town drunk.

When a filmmaker decides to combine different genres in film, they pretty much have to know what they are doing. The film The Warrior’s Way by director Sngmoo Lee would serve as a perfect example of what not to do ever again. 

Yang (Dong-gun) is a mild mannered, yet ruthless assassin, whose sole destiny is to wipe the opposing clan from existence. His clan has been warring with them for over 500 years, and here, at the beginning of the film, you will see a spectacular display of samurai sword wielding action, paired up with high-flying artistic acrobatics, familiar to that of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon‘s famously choreographed action special effects.

After defeating his last standing enemy of the warring clan, Yang was down to its one last member—an adorable baby girl. Taken in by the irresistible smile, Yang decides to, instead, take the baby with him. This instantly casts him out of his own clan for allowing the lone enemy to survive. Now, this kind of thing should never have happen—allowing a potential rival to remain breathing. Therefore, his clan now sets out to find Yang and absolutely the most adorable baby I have seen on film, and kill them.

Yang, with baby in tow, is forced to leave his past behind. He heads to an old, 19^th century western  American town where an old warrior friend of his lives, only to find out that his friend is dead. After a lifetime of ruthless hand-to-hand combat–this is where the world’s most dangerous samurai ends up. There to greet him on his return is Eight-Ball (Tony Cox), a half-sized former circus performer with both a likable and tough demeanor. Then we meet Lynne (Bosworth), an orphan out for vengeance, who endured watching her family mercilessly slaughtered by a corrupt Colonel (Danny Huston), while she laid injured on the dusty, town road. These two form a bond. She teaches him how to operate the town laundry, and he teaches her how to hone in on her knife skills, so that when the Colonel comes “house-calling,” she would know how to deal with him. Of course, whenever you have to pair a bumbling heroine with a skilled fighter something usually goes wrong. And it does.

When the Colonel returns to terrorize the town, during a Christmas party, Yang has to step in and defend Lynne and the townspeople. When Lynne fails to kill the Colonel, the town prepares themselves for him and the rest of his gang to return. However, when the rebel ninjas begin to show up, at about the same time, to exact revenge upon Yang and to kill the last of their rival clan (the baby survivor,) the film begins to get some better-deserved action. However, these moments of desperately needed viewing action scenes were fleeting.

When the intensity of the town’s vengeance-lain plot begins to thicken, Eight-Ball “awakens” the town drunk, Ron, to return to his previously hidden, violent roots to help save the town (Academy Award Winner, Rush). Which, I have to say, performed considerably well, provided that his role was as the town drunk, and also was much of the films most interesting presence, along with the town’s setup in the desolate outskirts of nowhere.

The film was cinematically engaging to watch. Even if the gene-mix was all wrong. Granted, this film certainly has the most impressive cinematic action to watch on the big screen. Actor Dong-gun’s presence on screen as a samurai assassin is concrete and believable. However, Kate Bosworth’s role as the teeterly vulnerable and hapless heroine was the primary reason this film did not go over too well for me. You just cannot pair a skilled, relentless killer with a bumbling, cliché slang-wielding cowboy avenger. It simply does not work. This film was not intended for comic relief, regardless of its initial premise, it was suppose to be set to have a serious undertone.

Let us not begin to mix and confuse samurai warriors with an ill performing lead actress (Bosworth) who was clearly wrong for this role. I closed my eyes during many of the scenes featuring Bosworth and I endured her last, revenge laden fight sequence because I sort of hoped it did not end well. I know, harsh words–but thankfully, it is only a movie.

At least the baby was a cutie.

'The Warrior's Way' ★★★½☆ 

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Warrior’s Way DVD features include:

• Deleted Scenes – The deleted scenes were comprised of additional fight scenes between Dong-gun and the other actors. The “deleted” scenes were appropriately deemed “deleted.” I could have included a few more to the list.
• Behind-the-Scenes Montage – It was pretty cool to watch how some of the scenes were choreographed in the film.  You also get a little bit of the actors commentary on their roles in the film. The behind-the-scenes was definitely worth watching through to the end.

Image credit: iamrouge.com

The Warrior's Way List Price: $29.99 Price: $7.00 Read Reviews

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• The Rescue

Here I stood apprehended by four warriors wearing polished chain armor, while my dream woman was lying on an altar not more than fifty feet away. Her hair was molten gold, and streamed from her head over the alter top. Her eyes glistening like the clearest emeralds said so many words to me at once; her eyes begged me to save her and also forgave me if I failed. Her gown was torn slightly, her olive skin shined like marble in the flickering torchlight of the room. The old tattered woman that stood over my elven beauty seemed to shy away slightly from the light. Now the crone held a curved dagger in her left hand, her skeletal knuckles wrapped firmly around the hilt. Her eyes were venom, and seemed to draw my love’s essence away. My heart tore and my mind was racing with a hundred possible outcomes and ways to save her. My mind screamed at me, I would take her place if I could. If she died then so shall I, I would not want to live if she did not. I would fight until I was killed, and if I should somehow survive and she not, I would slay myself by her side. Her eyes… no tears came from those beautiful eyes. Though her fear was apparent, she had a calm gaze. I read all of the love and hope, sorrow and pain in those eyes. Instinctively, now my mind had snapped and I became a beast, a creature that can only react. My hand whipped to the left, and I grabbed one of the guard’s daggers, the blur of my movement was too fast for their absurdly confident gazes to have noticed. They did however notice when I buried that dagger into the fat guards belly, the man’s gurgling scream echoed in my ears. The other soldiers pointed their blades toward me, but I struck like lightning and was too fast. I navigated around the arcs of their blades, the wind caressing the hair on my neck, and plunged my dagger into the groin of the next guard. His shrill was so loud I expected the altar to fracture, but it held steadfast. A hot sting and I felt my own blood trickle from a wound across my shoulder; I snarled and leapt toward the small scrawny man. My teeth buried into the man’s bearded throat, while my dagger entered his chest and my other hand clawed out his left eye. At this point, the old woman started screaming and I heard more footsteps enter the room. I tripped on the blood of the man I had just killed; the fall was purely accidental however the blade that would have severed my neck missed because of it.

I could not take them on here, not all of them. I noticed a doorway that was left open, there were only two soldiers guarding it. One was a tall man by anyone’s standards with his dark skin glistening like opal in the light. The other man was a half-elf, for a second time stopped around me as I thought that was what our child would be Half-elven. Time suddenly returned as a blade bit into my thigh, not deep enough to damage the muscle, but it still hurt. I kicked backward knocking the armored man to the floor. I then raced for the door, picking up one of the guards swords along the way. The sword was light, but had a long and thick blade. I tested its grip and then swiftly sliced my way through the two men, I was a pretty formidable warrior for my age, and it took merely seconds to drop both guards. By now I was at the doorway, and I had just a moment’s time to peek backward. I saw my love lying on the altar, her hope and excitement burned causing her eyes to glow slightly. Her eyes begged me to escape, begged me to save myself. I heard her say in her mind.

“Caldin, save yourself I will always love you.”

“No” I thought to myself, I cannot just walk out of here. It was her beauty and youth they wanted, if I left they would not delay the ritual. They would steal her beauty and her life right now. I picked up a second blade now, and started walking toward the altar. There were now eleven soldiers in the room, they were all humans and had varied looks about them. They were very respectful of me now, and carefully made their way to me. They made sure to keep their guard up, and started to surround me. I did not care my fury drive me, my heart would drive me. This was either going to be a heroic rescue deserving of the history books, or this was going to be a bitter disappointment.

The old woman now was chanting, and she held the dagger over her head as if about to plunge it into the stomach of the young elven lass who lie restrained and helpless. I threw one of my blades, figuring it probably would just cause a minor distraction. The gods shined on me this evening however, the blade managed to slice the decaying witch’s arm. She dropped the dagger which slid across the ground onto the steps leading up to the altar. This distraction gave me a little more time, and so I engaged the eleven warriors. I immediately opened a gaping smile into one’s throat, while three others stabbed at my sides and back. I whirled around parrying the three blades, but took another cut across my left forearm. I was dripping blood in a slow and constant manner now. A quick parry and thrust left another of the large warriors clutching his bowels, trying to prevent them from spilling over the floor. I was now running and managed to propel myself into a roll, I barreled right into another guard, and as he fell to the ground. I stabbed him through the face, and brought my now blood covered blade straight up into the chest of another.

…unfinished…

What do you think, should I finish the story at some point?

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My favorite author of all-time is Stephen King for many reasons.  His ability to write creative character’s and get inside the thoughts and portray how they think, feel and act is an extremely unique style.  Character’s in his books act “real” flaws in all.  Stephen King’s imagination is boundless, and his style for horror and descriptive writing about everything leave you feeling as if you are actually there standing with the characters surveying the landscape or room that they are in.  I feel like I am in a movie, not just reading a book, I actually stop seeing words and start seeing pictures and hearing characters speak.  I get even more pleasure from listening to Audio Books, I don’t have a lot of time to read anymore, so I listen to audio books when I drive to work or travel.  I find that I can get lost inside an audio book and visualize even better than reading.  You don’t skip over words and are eager to listen and ponder each and every sentence spoken by the narrator.  Fortunately every Audio Book by Stephen King is read by a good speaker.  I have listened to audio books where the reading is monotonous and droning, and this makes it a hard listen.

The Dark Tower is by far the best series I have ever read, from the first book “The Gunslinger” to the final seventh book “The Dark Tower” I have read and listened to them all over the many years several times.  The thing that makes Stephen King even more interesting is how he leaves clue’s in all of his other books that reference the Dark Tower.  Even in his movies clues are left that all point to The Dark Tower, which he describes as his Opus for all of his work.  Truly mind blowing how a western, sci-fi, horror, post apocalyptic genre series is actually so unlike his earlier strictly horror works (Cujo, Christine, Salems Lot…etc).  Stephen King has a very adult writing style and it is very gritty and blatently honest, his descriptions and style are not for everyone, nothing is sugar coated and the raw expression is refreshing in a day an age where sci-fi and mystery are drizzled with predictable plots, boring and bland writing styles and character development. Truly the Dark Tower is one series where you never know what will happen next, it is virtually impossible to predict, and one of the most stunning endings out of any series of books I have ever written.

Kudos to Stephen King, who has been my favorite Author for a long time, I have read his works since I was in Junior High in the early 80′s.  I always wanted to be a novelist just like him when I was a kid.

PS.  I am currently listening to Duma Key, one of Stephen King’s most recent books and it is absolutely fantastic.  It is very down to earth at first and surrealism and paranormal start to set in early on.  The style is just simply amazing, and even this latest book has ton’s of references and commonalities with parts of “The Dark Tower”.  I for one am quite glad that Stephen King couldn’t stick to his self proclaimed retirement.

Write on until the end Mr. King, you will always have me as a fan.

-Dragon Blogger

So, who is your favorite author, and what are your favorite works?  Let me know via post on your blog, or comment on mine.

• Fellow Bloggers who wrote about their favorite Authors:

Crystal Twilight writes about J.R.R Tolkein and C.S. Lewis as her favorite authors in her blog

I have to say my favorite book was “The Hobbit” which I read when I was about 14, and I read all of the Chronicles of Narnia series when I was between 9 and 12.  You really should delve into “The Dark Tower” anyone who likes fantasy fiction I would think can get into the Dark Tower.

Tribal Fusion also is a big fan of Stephen King and mentions Clive Barker who is another one of his favorite author’s.  I have read some Clive Barker’s books, I particularly liked Lord of Illusions.

C’est La Vie’s favorite author is also Stephen King, and mentions some of her favorite books by the King of Horror.

Reanaclaire digs a post out of her past to write about her favorite author Sidney Sheldon and talks about her favorite books.

Aimey lists her favorite author on her Cherry-Blossom blog, where she lists George R. R. Martin as her favorite author and why.  You know I have had numerous people recommend this author’s books and I will start listening to them next on my list.  Thank you Aimey for listing your favorite Author.

Angela’s favorite author is Stephen King as well and she writes about her favorite books by the master of horror on her unsexy.net blog.

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