Dracula Untold is a piece of historical fiction (lol). Vlad the Impaler was a real person who struck fear into his opponents by impaling his victims, and Mehmed was a real Sultan during the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). Vlad and Mehmed did meet each other in the battlefield during Mehmed’s conquest of Southern Europe; whilst spreading Islam. What’s considered Southern Europe? I don’t know, other than Romania — because that’s where Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the vampire) takes place.
Vlad, wants peace as he’s tired from fighting and resents his violent past as well as his methods. He does not want to be known as “The Impaler.” He is the prince of his land and is in charge of the safety of his people. Vlad wants to be a kind but firm ruler, but his patience is tested as Mehmed encroaches into his lands thus commmitting an act of war, however, these are the Turks we are talking about and they have already conquered many lands and knowing this Vlad knew he stood no chance against the sheer size of Mehmed’s army. To raise the stakes even higher, Mehmed taunts Vlad by even threatening to take Vlad’s son to raise as his own. Not knowing what to do Vlad climbs the mountains that no one dares go near in search of a monster that can lend him immense power to fight the Turks.
Much of this film is centered around Vlad’s personal conflicts as the actor Luke Evans portrays Vlad in a one dimensional output of much distress as he cringes his face throughout the whole film, at just about everything.
The important lesson to be learned in this film is that committing your soul to the darkside comes with dire consequences that we as people cannot comprehend on how to control. You cannot seek guidance from a monster and any power lent to you by a creature dwelling in the dark, is just bad news.
Dracula Untold, is accidentally entertaining in that the film tries to make you sympathsize for Vlad as his choice was a difficult one, but when your kingdom and family is threatened what is a prince to do? But we must not forget this is also Dracula, we’re talking about.
I was sorely disappointed in the action sequences as the editing consisted of incredibly fast takes and just when you, the audience realize you were robbed of your time, the cut away scenes get even worse as the filmmakers thought they were clever in preserving the PG-13 rating as the last half of the only fight scene that mattered was resolved via the reflection of a falling blade of a fallen soldier in slow motion. Seriously? Wtf. It felt like I was watching an intro montage, which would’ve been okay, but this was already halfway into the movie.
One brightspot was the villain from my “go to” childhood action movie “The Last Action Hero,” was Dracula’s maker and that was amusing to me as I was able to recognize him right away even with the makeup; funny how those things stick with you. *note I did not mention Game of Thrones
I guess not much was to be expected as this is a cgi infused PG-13 film about Dracula; expectations are to be held in check as this is a farcry from Coppola’s Dracula. Credit is due to the writers as they were able to integrate some historical facts into the film which gave its plot some depth. Furthermore, I am such a sucker for these types of films about heroes with godlike strength — this won’t be the last PG-13 action movie I will be disappointed in and it certainly isn’t the first.
- Emilia Clarke commenting the last season “Best Season Ever” with the most sarcastic voice ever did by a human being
- Nikolaj Coster Waldau and Lena Headey getting paid for the last episode where they didn’t even appeared because of their suggestion (since it was them who proposed to use mannaquins for Jaime and Cersei’s bodies)
- Kit Harington answering with “Disappointing” when asked to describe the last season with a word
- Gwendoline Christie going to the Emmys in a dress with a lion eating a sapphire (House Lannister + House Tarth) regardeless of Jaime leaving Brienne for Cersei
- Nikolaj Coster Waldau getting nominated for Dumb and Dumber’s shitty episode, but then he changed his nomination to an episode written by someone else
- Actors who weren’t even in the show anymore because their characters died in the first seasons like Charles Dance and Jason Momoa clarified that they hated the last season
- Lena Headey saying she wanted a better death for Cersei
During the winter of 1952, British authorities entered the home of mathematician, cryptanalyst and war hero Alan Turing to investigate a reported burglary. They instead ended up arresting Turing himself on charges of ‘gross indecency’, an accusation that would lead to his devastating conviction for the criminal offense of homosexuality – little did officials know, they were actually incriminating the pioneer of modern-day computing.
Famously leading a motley group of scholars, linguists, chess champions and intelligence officers, he was credited with cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany’s World War II Enigma machine. An intense and haunting portrayal of a brilliant, complicated man, The Imitation Game follows a genius who under nail-biting pressure helped to shorten the war and, in turn, save thousands of lives.
My local PBS just rebroadcast the 1997 Rebecca, and I noticed that a secondary WGBH station is playing it tonight (9/21/17) at 9 with 2AM repeats on the main WGBH; so check your local listings!
Anyway, I didn’t realize before all the little nods to Rebecca in the Inspector Lewis episode Life Born of Fire. The reappearance of Rebecca is probably because it stars Game of Thrones actors (Charles Dance, Diana Rigg) but of course, there is also Emilia Fox looking just like Girl Hathaway. (I am still mad that Laurence’s cousin Emilia Fox didn’t play Nell Hathaway in series 9. It would have been too perfect!) And Emilia Fox’s mom Joanna David also played the 2nd Mrs. de Winter in a previous version; Joanna David played Morse’s ex-fiancée Susan. So there’s already a lot of fun Morse-verse connections before even considering Life Born of Fire.
Life Born of Fire co-stars Rachael Sterling as Zoe Kenneth, who burns down the house just like Mrs. Danvers, who was played by Sterling’s mom, Diana Rigg. And just for fun, here is Robbie Lewis’ Charles Dance impression, rescuing Hathaway from the fire. =)
Clicking in the source link, you’ll find +50 avatars (200*320 and 400*640) of House LannisterofGame of Thrones ! This pack inclued :
Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
and will updated on the futur ! :) All avatar can be found on my tumblr. Jaime and Cersei’s children, Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen will be in a futur avatar pack.
If you found this avatars pack useful, don’t hesitate to reblog and like this post ! :) Credits are appreciated ! :)
