Month: September 2017

5 Amazing Things About The Dark Tower (2017)

  1. The length. So many fantasy films are very long, to the point your bladder is ready to burst before the climax comes. The Dark Tower is a sweet 95 minutes (and that includes credits!).
  2. The story is set up during the first 20 minutes of the film and Nikolaj Arcel directs the heck out of it. The introductory events in Jake’s story come punch after punch. This is an exciting ride that gets the audience ready for the rest of the story.
  3. Evil is painted with a dark brush. This is no sympathetic enemy. The Man in Black and his minions are pure evil, thus their appearances are frightening and tense at times. Matthew McConaughey is a very scary villain, but he comes across in a natural way, as if he is used to doing his wicked deeds through the centuries.
  4. There is a really cool moment where Roland (Idris Elba) shoots a baddie from a great distance. I loved this, and I think you will too.
  5. The Dark Tower contains a suitable level of sentimentality and noble hope. Jake is old enough to be independent and certain about his keen insight, but young enough to hope for the best outcome and the greatest in people.

 

The finest moments of The Horse and His Boy (a Narnia Chronicle)

C.S. Lewis weaves a vivid and strong story in the Chronicle of Narnia that spends the least amount of time in the actual land of Narnia (that is, besides The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where no time is spent in Narnia at all!).

Take the separated twins of The Prince and the Pauper, add a pint of swashbuckling action, tender drama and some hilarious Narnian magic and you have The Horse and His Boy, served in hardcover.

Alright, and paperback!

The Horse and His Boy might be a lesser known Chronicle, but it is not lacking in quality. A young escapee Shasta meets up with two Talking Horses of Narnia, and a new friend from the southern desert land of Calormen. They aim for Narnia and the North, where hope and freedom are guaranteed. Narnia is a land where Talking Beasts live their lives in freedom and joy. But Bree and Hwin have been slaves their whole lives. What culture shock awaits them on their return to their land of origin? Setting their sights before them, they ride purposefully to the North, but their pace becomes desperate when they discover a top-secret plot to attack the nations of the North – including Narnia herself!

In my reading of this novel I was often enthralled by vivid visual descriptions – particularly of the sparkling city of Tashbaan, with its ornate Arabian-inspired architecture and riverside gardens. And I loved the cameos of Queen Lucy, King Edmund, Queen Susan and the Lion Aslan, who we all grew to love while reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Anytime the characters met another creature during this tale, the meaning is priceless (don’t know what I mean? Get the book here.) And when they meet the Great Lion, his beauty, wildness and light enchants me and encourages me.

A really cool thing about this book is the brief mention of other Narnian stories. We read of a daring boxing match with a wild Talking Bear, a two-headed goliath and his dastardly fate, and of the High King Peter defeating the Northern Giants. It makes me feel like I’ve read a dozen tales, not just one.

Today I read the final three chapters of The Horse and His Boy, and I was laughing out loud, feeling pangs of longing and of joy. And on its completion, I feel like Shasta and Aravis are soon to be my friends – someone I have heard so much about, and hope to meet one day soon.

To Narnia and the North!