Dracula Untold

[Knight of Heaven]

And this new Dracula film, as i noted here already, had potential, but they ruined it by making it a fantasy film about spells killing armies. That serves no purpose and i think it will backfire very badly and make this film a disaster for the studio.

This new film dracula untold, is a summer blockbuster if im not mistaken. or on the lines of "event" movie making.
It is incomparable to a Coppolla movie imo.
Hell in the poster of Dracula untold, they blantanly copy Nolans Dark knight imagery.

[PlPs]

New twilight...

[Knight of Heaven]

Meanwhile in japanese anime

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[HannibalExMachina]

oh japan, you so cray.

[Påsan]

Meanwhile in japanese anime

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

wtf

[Kyriakos]

So... what was the Greek phrase on his coffin?
Something about 'Golden poetic' and 'Orestes'?

[Knight of Heaven]

So... what was the Greek phrase on his coffin?
Something about 'Golden poetic' and 'Orestes'?

As for the phrase on the coffin, im no Greek, so i cant realy tell you, all i know is

Alucard's Coffin is a living, mysterious, and magical coffin. It simply appears with him in situations where one cannot imagine how it could such as when the coffin appeared with him on the H.M.S. Eagle when the only logical thing that could have landed on there as well would be on the SR-71 which Alucard crashed upon the aircraft carrier. When active, it reveals multiple eyes, grows arms and legs, and an aura of blood or shadows materialize around it. The coffin is at least 85 years old, as it appeared with him during 1944 all the way to 2029. It was likely around when Alucard was known only as Dracula and perhaps during the early days as a vampire since a vampire requires a coffin to live in, referred by Alucard as "here I was born, and here I shall die". It contains the phrase 'The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me time" on it and was also revealed to hold Alucard's Level 0 army inside.

However the Phrase "The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame."

Its actualy from the ripley scroll, an 15th century book of alchemy, the particular segment of the quotation, as probably to do with awakening the dead, or necromancy, naturaly this theme seems fit for such Anime series, that deals alot in this kind of fantastical elements. Probably proper to be linked to Alucard, so the authors thought.

The Ripley Scroll is an important 15th century work of emblematic symbolism. Twenty one copies are known, dating from the early 16th century to the mid-17th. There are two different forms of the symbolism, with 17 manuscripts of the main version, and 4 manuscripts of the variant form. There are very wide variations in the English text on the different manuscripts, and for the text here I have modernised and unified a number of versions. This is not a properly researched edition, but a reworking of the text into a modern readable form. I add the engravings of the Scroll printed in David Beuther, Universal und Particularia... Hamburg, 1718.

Also very interesting

While the scrolls embody many conventional alchemical symbols the interpretation of these is obscure and a matter for conjecture. Amongst others the psychiatrist Jung has offered explanations of some of the imagery. As in much alchemical writing and imagery there is an evident Christian symbolism throughout. Some of the symbols are familiar alchemical ones: hermetic vases, a toad, the dragon, the Bird of Hermes and the red and green lions. But what they represent is another matter and can differ from one use to another. The toad often signifies earthly matter, or sophic sulphur in which the grosser physical properties of sulphur are absent. The Bird of Hermes which is shown as eating its wing has been interpreted as a stabilising act in relation to mercury. However, mercury does not always represent the familiar quicksilver but is rather a clue to properties more spiritual than chemical.
The alchemical scrolls which are associated with George Ripley are unusual manuscripts which illustrate the pursuit of the Philosophers' Stone. For the spiritual aspect:
The wings of a bird rest on the "shoulders" of the Hermes Caduceus. This signifies the favor of Thoth given to him by the senior gods. A falcon shown resting on the shoulder of a king designated him as "the Horus," the rightful heir to the throne. However, in the ancient world, wings and birds in general were just as commonly the symbols of the healing gods and of the afterlife.
We know that Ripley writes about the Philosopher Stone, which some say his writings claim is the antidote to sickness and death. Also, white (purity) and red (blood) are throughout his writing about his experiments.

This is the full segment

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In the sea without lees
Standeth the bird of Hermes
Eating his wings variable
And maketh himself yet full stable
When all his feathers be from him gone
He standeth still here as a stone
Here is now both white and red
And all so the stone to quicken the dead
All and some without fable
Both hard and soft and malleable
Understand now well and right
And thank you God of this sight

The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame.

From a plot stand point of view, and given the possible interpretation of the verse as the bird of hermes, signifies a volatile substance which distills over the helm, it has wings, meaning it is volatile and not fixed. It probably means it was something that was restricting Alucard powers, and "river of death" ence the leve restriction mention in the dialogue as in being lifted, its also the only time we realy see Dracula, in its original form in this series.

Hellsing anime, is full of symbolism, and semi-hiden references. The anime and manga it self isnt exactly about Vlad tepes, its is own fictional universe, feeding on alot of historical, and non historical themes, From the Nazis, and its hiden research on the supernatural in WWII, trough the hiden organizations, that hunt vampires, and monsters ( zombies and all sort of supernatural forces) etc, like the Hellsing organization, in England in this case, to the hiden vatican branches.
Hellsing organization, is when naturaly our hero comes from, rather anti hero, with always a psychotic aura, called alucard, ( anagram of Dracula) He has many forms and shapes, and names. Suposedly being Count dracula, captured, and defeated by van hellsing, long ago.
The anime it self is very dark and violent, and quite mature, folowing a young police woman in modern day, killed and then turned by alucard, and then joined at the hellsing organization. Naturaly is filed with fantastical elements, as well clear references to Bran Stoker book. Its an anime from the 90s btw.
The initial shot of that vid, for example, places a ship entering river tames, empty and with a macabre visage, with fog all arround. A clear homage to Bran stoker book, of when Count Dracula arrives at london.

besides all the mythos, and ethos of supernatural, and count dracula, the anime countains alot of gun porn

Alucard cheking out of the hotel..

[saxdude]

I'd like to see a modern take on the original Bram Stoker Dracula for once, not a neo goth reimagining or what have you, but something with the same condensed atmosphere, perhaps adapted to a more modern time. Probably in the vein of American Psyco or Y tu mama Tambien, which have nothing to do with each other, but is more regarding the general atmosphere.

This really seems like more of the same dark fairy tale nonsense of hollywood.

[Killerbee]

Kind of how the Sherlock series is a modern take on Conan Doyle's works ? Yeah that'd be interesting

[Inhuman One]

Can always watch fright night. the original from the eighties of course. That's still the best example of a modern vampire I think. One that is intimidating and charming. Its a good translation to the modern age.

Never understood why they moved sherlock to the modern age since that just makes it the same as all the many other CSI series and such.. way too much of that going on, and personly I find it way more interesting to see crimes getting solved without the latest technology.

[saxdude]

Well I'd prefer them to drop the whole vicious monster thing all together in favor of something more subtle. What I meant by modern take goes more along the lines of a modern suspense type movie, where the characters feel real and speak in a way that we can really relate to, period piece or not, where the physical aspects of the monster are toned down, while the psycological aspects are played way up. Different camera work as well, something a bit more down to earth, which is what I meant by Y tu mama tambien or American psyco.
I'd like to see Michael Fassbender play the role for example, and just be really creepy, egotistical and sadistic throughout.

[Halie Satanus]

Anyone seen this yet?

Full synopsis here (though I think it gives too much away)...

I was pleasantly surprised. Expecting another floppy Hollywood fantasy movie (47 Ronin/Conan the Barbarian) where Vampires were either, senseless vermin destined to die in ever more brutal fashion until someone found (and defeated) the ultimate vampire in a video game fashion (kill the boss!). Or an overly suave and pretentious allegory for the catholic church, board by existence and with no purpose but to destroy mankind, if only they can defeat a bunch of pesky kids...

Instead there was actually some depth to the vampire origin and (while only a cameo) expertly played by Charles Dance (he's really become my favourite creepy bad guy). I thought the effects of the vampires seeing a body heat/blood map of the living were a bit corny but, meh.. Overall they didn't mess with the mythology in any way that wasn't believable (sic)..

We start off with our hero discovering evidence of Ottoman scouts on his land, he trails them to an imposing looking mountain where something far worse than Ottoman's lives..........

For those who can't watch a period movie without dissecting the validity of sandals. The plot (sans vampires) is pretty plausible. Vlad is ruler of 'Wallachia.' Having been given up by his father to serve in the Ottoman's army as a boy he has a reputation as a fierce warrior. However we meet him when he has returned home a raised a son and has an agreement with the Ottoman's that his land is a client state and pays tribute. So all well and good, accept the Ottoman's decide they want to raise another army and need 1000 boys to join the Janissaries, including his son....

Costumes/sets. Largely very good, there are obvious nods to fantasy with the armour of Dracula and his friends but even those only make fleeting appearance towards the end. For the most part a lot of uniforms seem to have been raided from the 'Kingdom of Heaven' storage unit with a bit of updating for the period... So not bad at all.

DU will never be more than a Sunday afternoon watch, I don't see it becoming a cult classic and they nearly ballsed it up toward the end but, it's better than the average fantasy fare.

A solid 7/10... Better music and a bit more of Charles Dance would have pushed it to an 7.5....

[Killerbee]

Well thank you Halie for your opinion ! Quite a thorough review actually, almost Metacritic-user worthy

But honestly, I always prefer the TWC amateur review over professional critics

[Denny Crane!]

I loved the movie. Mind you having read the fictionalised account of Vlad the book of the same name Vlad the Impaler I would rather see a ripping good yarn about the real guy or at least a dramatised event like the story. So much more interesting than the fantasy.

That lead fella was amazing though.

[Halie Satanus]

Well thank you Halie for your opinion ! Quite a thorough review actually, almost Metacritic-user worthy

But honestly, I always prefer the TWC amateur review over professional critics

You're welcome.

That lead fella was amazing though.

A'yup. He (with a bit of help from Mr. Dance) kept it in check, stopped it from being cheesy.

[Kyriakos]

^He looks cool, but i saw a yt clip where he (now a vampire) seems to get defeated by a human, with the help of some gold (acting like cryptonite or something). So...meh

[Knight of Heaven]

^He looks cool, but i saw a yt clip where he (now a vampire) seems to get defeated by a human, with the help of some gold (acting like cryptonite or something). So...meh

it is silver ( a knowned weakness of vampires in Pop culture).... and he wasnt defeated by it.
Its what you get for passing judgment without realy watching the piece.
But you are not wrong the film is rather meh.
And it is "Kryptonite"

Anyhow the film doesnt hold a candle to Copolla film, but then again it isnt expected to do so, it realy didnt do much for me maybe if i was 16 years old or younger i would liked it more, now i dont find very enjoyable at all, got the feeling i already watch this kind of movie before over and over in the past.
Still is always great to watch Charles dance perform. Luke Evans was also pretty good regardless, and the props looked cool enough, not too unhistorical, but not too fantastical either. They were plausible enough, and some were quite cool.

I dont share Halie ranking of this movie though, i dont think the film was that good. Entertaining but rather generic, very close of the likes of Van Helsing movie with hugh jackman mixed with generic super hero origin story then actualy a memorable interpretation of a legendary popular character.. but if your dream was to see Dracula defeating armies single handedly with his CGI bats, then the movie is for you.
Honestly i couldnt stop thinking of the new castlevania 2 video game.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_untold/

Btw some of the critic reviews... rather entertaining as well

There was a good reason why this story of Dracula was untold. It should have remained that way.

An orgy of CGI bat and battle stuff -- all of which is remarkably bloodless to hold tight to that PG-13 rating. It's all pretty tepid and mostly cartoonish.

Basically, this "Dracula" needs to be buried in a cinematic coffin overladen with garlic and crucifixes.

If you've grown tired of the vampire genre, it's hard to see this tale providing much in the way of reinvigoration.

Dracula Untold: a story that's been told many times before, and far far better.

[Kyriakos]

^those critics are just... miserable piles of secrets.

[Denny Crane!]

^He looks cool, but i saw a yt clip where he (now a vampire) seems to get defeated by a human, with the help of some gold (acting like cryptonite or something). So...meh

Silver. It is all part of the vampire thing. Silver with its white aesthetics and reflective surfaces that vampires cant see themselves in, popular for making silver crosses etc. 30 pieces of silver for Judas. It has historically been a big part of the myth since vampires inception, well tied into other myths and ended up getting thown in there too syncretically.

[Pinarius]

I dont share Halie ranking of this movie though, i dont think the film was that good. Entertaining but rather generic, very close of the likes of Van Helsing movie with hugh jackman mixed with generic super hero origin story then actualy a memorable interpretation of a legendary popular character.. but if your dream was to see Dracula defeating armies single handedly with his CGI bats, then the movie is for you.

Ironically, CGi bats will be among his enemies in three weeks (Battle of the Five Armies). Maybe he should have played Batman, too (instead of Ben Affleck).