Beanbioca
As Good As It Gets
StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Blueghost
After shelling out lots of dollars to sit and watch some of the latest romantic comedies, I decided it was time for a little indulgence. Surfing the net I casually caught a still from a film about a ring and dwarfs. The charter's name in the caption was Brunhilde. I thought to myself, that sounds familiar.Well, it looks like someone finally took a crack at bringing Wagner's ring cycle to film format, only this time shot as a Movie of the Week for TV audiences instead of as a feature film for theatrical release. With that in mind, I have some observations to make: For a TV film it gets a passing grade, but only just. I remember ABC's "Movie of the Week", and seeing all kinds of popular TV and film stars being dragged into projects that would be shown once on the network to garnish ratings, and then vanish into the ether to be only shown on Sunday afternoons or late night shows before the national anthem and test pattern. Well, that's kind of what we got here.Only "Curse of the Ring" gives the audience some very high production values in terms of art direction, but not much else. We see the Nordic and Germanic setting of the tale, and are given some decent support cast members, but the two leads nearly slay themselves as they deliver lines with as much enthusiasm as a local weatherman telling us about the latest cold front. The acting from Benno Furman was that difficult to watch. Kristanna Loken wasn't much better, but at least her character had some fire in her. Benno walks through the project like a star eyed school boy who's concentrating on remembering his lines, all the while Kristanna is doing her best to tell future directors that she actually can act in spite of the collagen in her lips and a blonde dye job that would have put a 1950's pinup to shame.Seriously, there's lots of visuals to be proud of here for what the project is. The SFX are quite impressive for a low scale TV production, and the amount of energy and care that went into the art direction is also something of note, but the two leads are as flat as a local theatre troop being recruited as extras for that Hollwood production that rolled into town. Their acting is that bad... or worse.Had the producers pumped a few more dollars into this thing, and cast not necessarily well known talent, but competent talent into the roles, and then re-aired the project several times, then guaranteed this thing would have made its sponsors proud, and then some by boost DVD sales. As it stands now this thing is only five bucks to buy on the open market, and believe you me there's a couple of reasons for that; they are Furman and Loken.Technically, other than the art direction, the shots are simply okay. Better lensing as well as overall direction could have saved this thing, and pushed into beyond its niche, and into the realm of general audiences appreciating a well crafted and acted film. As it stands now it simply appeals to the Tolkien and D&D crowd. And again, this didn't need to be so, but the film is what it is.Dramatically the film tries to go into the realms of love and betrayal, and we get a taste of that by virtue of the story. Even Loken starts to shine a little as an actress when she does her scenes that address this concept, but we're weighed down by the fact that nobody seems to really care about the lines they're reciting. Well, perhaps that's unfair, because most of the supporting cast do an okay job.Overall I'm glad I saw it finally, but it's not something I'd readily recommend.Definitely watch at your own risk.
Christopher Widdowson
As I was flicking through the FoxTel menu I noticed that this was on at 4am in the morning and so decided to record it and wasn't disappointed!I Loved this film... deserves better than to be reserved for the early hours of the morning!!!Did anyone else notice the huge similarities between the character outfits and Arthur Rackham's (1867 - 1939) original drawings? See: www.nibelungs.net Shouldn't they have put him in the credits or something?The costumes were not on par with LOTR but they were certainly close...Either way nice work ;-)
r-c-s
Rating a movie cannot simply ignore the budget and the production values. This is a TV product (mini-series, whatever )with B or C-lead actors and it is EXTREMELY GOOD for what it is, compared to billionaire Hollywood productions with (supposedly) AAA+ actors paid millions each. Photography is the best thing I suppose; Uli Edel does another very good job. For what it is, it ought to get 10/10. Lead actor Furmann gives me the feeling of a young Liam Neeson ( I wouldn't be surprised if that resemblance had impressed casting directors ); Julian Sands seems a re-edition of the Nottinghan sheriff from Robin Hood (the scar,the slimy demeanor etc ); the first scenes (the castle under siege, the medieval armors etc ) seem right out of Excalibur and a great liberty for times when a Roman Emperor was supposed to still be in power. Samuel West as king Gunther is unconvincing...his face doesn't fit the character...completely miscast. Loken is one of the most credible, along with Witt. A great TV product worth rubbing elbows with AAA+ productions like Lord of the Rings. Great courage in filming and adaptation of the real legend, instead of fantasy junk books 'inspired' by the same (originality is dead, eh?). I just dream of what would Edel have come up with with a LOTR budget... Von Sydow does a nice cameo part and he's among the best of the bunch. Overall, I recommend it.
xantrias
I've seen this film twice by now with two years in between and I really thought that my opinion about this film would change, after seeing it the second time but fortunately it hasn't. I've read some books since the last time about this Saga and I thought this film picked quite the essences of the story. In fact: every interesting and important detail was mentioned, those who didn't read the books, they will still understand the film very easy because everything is explained and last but not least: The Saga of the Nibelungs provide here the Story and as I said, most of it is shown in the film. So the Storyline is absolutely according with many books and therefor OK. To the characters: Everyone has done his job quite well...but I would have picked another Man for the role of Gunther, King of Burgund and maybe took also another sister, Kriemhild of Burgund...I didn't like them, not because of their acting, but because I didn't like their faces, but that's to everyone himself to decide. And of course, what enriches this film absolutely is the gorgeous Kristanna Loken with his role as Queen Brunhild...I tell you, she's in her coldness as Queen of Iceland such a beautiful person, i wanted her in every scene :)Enjoy it, 9/10!
