Season of the Witch Movie Review …

Season of the Witch follows the story of two 14th century knights Behmen, Nicolas Cage and Felson, Ron Perlman, who are comrades effortlessly slaying the bad element and almost appearing to take pleasure from the task; they even have an agreement that whichever one kills the most will drink for free that evening. Behmen slays an innocent woman and it’s this that changes his mind and the duo decide to to turn their backs on killing in the Season of the Witch. The pair return together to Behmen’s homeland only to discover that it has been ravaged by the horrors of the Black Plague.

Season of the Witch also stars the wonderful Christopher Lee who always manages to be menacing even when his role doesn’t need him to be! Lee plays the part of Cardinal D’Ambroise in Season of the Witch; the Cardinal is suffering from the Black Plague and looks pretty horrific to say the least. He, along with many of the villagers think that sorcery and witchcraft are to blame for the onset of the Black Plague and they already have their prime suspect; a young girl known simply as ‘The Girl’ who they deem to be a witch.

Season of the Witch then sets its main plot by the Cardinal declaring that both Bemen and Felson will escort the girl to a well respected monastery and once there the monks will ensure she’s given a fair trial before any required punishment is carried out. The monastery is some distance away and the two knights are thought to be the best candidates for the task as they should be used to facing an array of dangerous situations.

Season of the Witch promises a lot but unfortunately fails to deliver at times, note the ‘at times’ because this movie is not all bad and is, in places, very enjoyable. I am a huge Nicolas Cage fan and have defended him to family and friends when they have slated any of his performances! In Season of the Witch though I am saddened to have to admit that Cage does not reach my expectations, he seems to be missing something throughout the Season of the Witch; Perlman appears to have most of the one-liners whilst in some areas Cage doesn’t seem to blend and gel with the Season of the Witch.

In his best roles Cage needs to be quirky and he needs to receive permission to go stark raving mad as this is when he’s at his ultimate best, alas this doesn’t occur in Season of the Witch. Don’t get me wrong here though folks as Cage is still entertaining enough to watch but in my opinion he just seems to go with the flow and hasn’t been given the opportunity to shine as brightly as his loyal fans know he can. Ron Perlman however seems to thrive in his role as Felson with the one-liners coming thick and fast.

Claire Foy puts in a captivating performance in Season of the Witch as the girl who’s accused of being a witch, Foy has a real innocence about her with her bright blue eyes and unkempt hair; she’s has an alluring quality and brings this to her role. We see this as Behmen starts to question whether she really, truly is a witch and whether the trial will actually be fair.

Season of the Witch boasts some spectacular scenery as the filming took place in locations such as Croatia, Austria and Hungary; there are also numerous majestic looking castles to be observed which genuinelly add to the 14th century feeling of Season of the Witch. The CGI effects in some of the scenes leave a lot to be desired but there again I wouldn’t say they were walk out on the movie kind of terrible, simply not as great as they could have been.

Several others join the band of travellers including Eckhart, a knight played by Ulrich Thomsen, a priest called Debelzag, Stephen Campbell Moore, and Kay who wishes to become a brave knight one day, a role played by Robert Sheehan in the Season of the Witch. There are conflicting opinions amongst the group regarding whether The Girl is guilty of witchcraft or not. On their journey to the monastery they encounter much evil including demon wolves and zombie monks.

To say Season of the Witch is a disaster is way too harsh, to say it’s a terrible watch is untrue but if I was to say Season of the Witch is an enjoyable supernatural adventure if you don’t expect a blockbuster I would be about right. Not Cage’s best movie but the other performances help to pull it out of the ‘flops pile’.

Season of the Witch Movie Trailer

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Movie Review …

As a huge Nicolas Cage fan I had been looking forward to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice since watching the first trailer, which by the way you can catch below, and I am delighted to report that I wasn’t disappointed in the least by The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Cage is at his finest in the role of Balthazar Blake with his unkempt hair and wild looking eyes, one of three apprentices to the greatest of all sorcerers Merlin, James A Stephens, the other two apprentices are Maxim Horvath, Alfred Molina, and Veronica played by the beautiful Monica Bellucci in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

It’s 700 AD and Merlin teaches his three keen apprentices everything he knows and they swear to never divulge the secrets but one of them turns rogue and betrays Merlin’s wishes to his greatest enemy, Morgana le Fay acted by Alice Krige, Morgana has desperately been trying to awaken the dead with a spell which will also allow her to control them. Merlin hands Balthazer a metal dragon ring in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice which he informs him will find the ‘Prime Merlinian’ basically Merlin’s successor. Balthazer searches in vain for the kid whose destiny is already written to follow on in Merlin’s footsteps.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice now shifts forward to the year 2000 and a young kid is going off to school he’s Dave Stutler, Jake Cherry, whilst Dave is chasing a piece of paper he unexpectedly winds up in an antique shop. Balthazer is there and hands him the little metal dragon it’s discovered that Dave is indeed the child that Balthazer has been searching for all these centuries. The appearance of Maxim Horvath throws a spanner in the works and Dave and Balthazer part company.

Now The Sorcerer’s Apprentice jumps to 2010 and we are reintroduced to Dave, now played by Jay Baruchel from She’s Out Of My League, who is also reintroduced to Balthazer who tells him, ‘everything you thought you knew about the world is about to change,’ nothing like sugar-coating it then Balthazer, just say it as it is! Then he adds, ‘you are going to be a force for good and a very important sorcerer,’ okay well there you have it then folks Dave’s destiny seems to be set, well at least in the eyes of Balthazer.

Next step Dave has to be trained and yep you’ve guessed it Balthazer will be his teacher, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has many funny moments throughout including the training with the plasma bolt and a savage wolf landing on Dave which suffice to say isn’t quite as savage upon landing! For one-liners in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice the scene with Drake Stone, Toby Kebbell, is brilliant with reference to Depeche Mode.

Dave’s love interest comes in the form of the attractive Teresa Palmer as Becky Barnes, Palmer plays the role with believability and a touch of humour, she reminds me a little of Uma Thurman. Dave and Becky have known one another from when they were both youngsters. Virtual newcomer Gregory Woo is Sun Lok in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and with his piercing ice blue eyes and golden fingernails which an eagle would be proud of as talons he’s more than a little scary.

Alice Krige adds glamour and presence to her part of Morgana le Fay and truly looks and acts the role with total conviction, Krige plays a villain with so much ease as Star Trek Voyager fans will be aware of as she played the Borg Queen. In the words of the Borg, ‘resistance is futile’ when it comes to not liking The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the movie has something for everybody with plenty of non-stop action scenes, humour, special effects and a touch of romance.

Alfred Molina as Maxim Horvath works a treat in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with his trilby styled hat and smart wardrobe. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a typical Disney movie with all the elements that go in to making it such, the fight of good and evil and, as previously mentioned the superb special effects and most of all the wonderful acting abilities of the stars.

Segments of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice are loosely based on Disney’s Fantasia Sorcerer’s Apprentice part; Nicholas Cage had the concept of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice because he wished to make a whole movie concerning the piece from Fantasia with the same name.

If you love Cage in a madcap role and plenty of action then you’ll love The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, best performances for me are Cage and Baruchel with wonderful supporting roles from Molina and Krige.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Movie Trailer

“The Rock” is a fast-paced action thriller that keeps you engaged each and every minute. Ed Harris does a great role as the Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel, who is furious at the government’s lack of response when it comes to paying compensation to the families of Marines who died in all kinds of illegal operations organized by the government. Since he didn’t get any response, he’s ready to take matters in his hands. So he steals a stockpile or rockets armed with a lethal chemical and takes over the old Alcatraz Island, with over 80 tourists who are currently visiting the disaffected prison.

By threatening to launch the lethal gas rockets over the San Francisco Bay Area, he is hoping this will make the government pay the money “owed”.

The authorities are helpless so they choose to release the imprisoned Captain John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), the only person who was able to eascape Alcatraz, to help them enter Alcatraz and annihilate the threat. In order to neutralize the chemicals, they put Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) in their team too. He’s a young scientist, taking a lot of verbal abuse for the seasoned prisoner and soldier.

The action becomes faster and more entertaining as they enter Alcatraz and face a very strong opposition from the Marines who took over the prison. The intensity gradually grows and we barely keep up with it, even if the plot is predictable in some moments. Still it’s an entertaining movie and, even if I personally don’t like the genre, I have to admit it was a great way to spend two hours.

Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine) used to be a First Lady, now she’s just an old widow who’s living alone in an Ohio mansion, and gets to bark orders to few men who are in her service (her cooks, her secretary, her chauffeur and other employees), plus the Secret Service agents who have to protect her from whatever might happen. She’s stubborn and demanding and Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage) just had enough. It’s been more than 3 years since he was stuck there and she doesn’t seem to willing to let him pursue a more challenging job.

Whenever he’s trying to escape his “prison”, Doug is taken back by a simple phone call she makes to the current President. Even if she’s old and widowed, there’s still a lot of influence has over the President, so Chesnic’s only chance to still have a career is to conform and protect the old lady. And she’s doing everything to make his job hard.

Starting as enemies almost, their relationship develops into some kind of acceptance. We can’t say they like each other, but at least the start showing some sort of a respect.

This is an enjoyable movie for sure, offering the chance to see 2 great actors together and it’s got enough funny scenes to keep you entertained.

Dr.Maggie Rice is a heart surgeon who’s losing a patient and get comforted by an angel. Normally humans cannot see these, unless they’re dying, but, weird enough, she can. Seth (Nicolas Cage) is so moved by her sadness (though it’s not normal to face it daily) that he becomes visible. And they fall in love.

The human senses something is wrong with the man dressed in black, when she invites him for dinner and he cuts his finger without bleeding. Her reaction is absolutely normal for us; she kicks him out.

Even if he should resume his “life” as an angel, Seth is obsessed with the woman and would give anything to “feel” her once. To touch her and feel her skin, to have the senses us mortals have been blessed with.

Other movie addicts who have watched more flicks than me, can surely recall Wings of Desire (1988) by Wim Wenders. City of Angels cannot be considered as a remake, but surely draws inspiration from it.

As opposed to other “angel movies”, this one doesn’t consider angels to be “ex-humans”, who got their wings after they died, but totally different entities, who haven’t had a human form and never felt what we do.

What makes this movie “work” are the 2 actors who are both adorable and convincing and the end that I think saves the movie from being a mediocre flick to a “not so bad at all” one. Since it’s been created so many years ago, I assume you’ve already seen it, so I’d love to know how you feel about it.