Sophia_and_Lee

25 May 2012

Strong themes, poor presentation.

There is so much wrong with this film that those negatives need to beignored to get to the good stuff. Most of the concepts portrayed have agood philosophical basis, it's just the supporting material that fallsshort sometimes. Nicholas Cage, Ron Perlman and Ulrich Thomsen shouldhave been able to deal with a gaggle of Hollywood screen witches beforelunchtime. As it was, I had to force myself to find what was drivingthe film.Some strong themes emerged: That manipulators will use your moralstrengths against you; that a person cannot chose his own path while helabours under the past; that the good in life is bonded to the bad;that the bad is there simply to force you to overcome your delusions,regardless how ugly it gets. These are all easy things to say andinteresting things to watch, but can be somewhat depressing whenapplied to life and the future. The archetype of the witch, too, isbriefly explored. It stops at superficial identification, but there'senough there to leave viewers to think where they might haveexperienced this type of behaviour in their own lives.

24 May 2012

I love witches. Hans and Greta started it for me.

Theres nothing like a good witch story. We all have known a woman who fit the bill as a witch.The season of the witch is no different. Give me a good witch or a bad witch anytime. The special effects were fantastic. Give me a gothic theme and throw in a hero or two and I`m good to go.As far as the critcs go, I would not judge a movie you did not like to begin with. Not everyone is into witches. Nickolas Cage is a great actor. He does his thing and does it well.The season of the witch is a A+ movie. The wizard of oz has nothing on this movie. Have a fireball or should I turn you into a toad. As a man, I just love a good witch or is that a bad one ?

aliweng

23 May 2012

how on earth did they convince Nicolas Cage to play in this movie?

To tell the truth, the photography, acting, music, lightning, etc isnot that bad perhaps maybe above average. However there are shittyparts and gaps in the script and direction plus the the visual effectsare totally inconsistent with the rest. Especially towards the end,there is a recital of PC-game like graphics marching over the dead bodyof the aesthetics. I felt like watching an unintended "from dusk tilldawn" finale! And the unintended is the bad part because it lacks thetouch to become a cult movie. I can not recall any other movies of thedirector, but its really lame of him to release the movie this way. Itis like a heavy funded b-movie!

fung0

23 May 2012

Whats the gripe, exactly?

Season of the Witch is another one of those fantasy films that seems tobe a magnet for hostility. Yet, when you see it, turns out to be justabout exactly what you'd expect. Leading to the question: are peopleseeing it just to criticize it, or what?This film aims to be a medieval horror-action-adventure. And that'sexactly what it delivers. There are some nice creepy bits, some reallyimpressive action scenes, and some CG fantasy stuff. There's a solid,if unspectacular, performance from Nicholas Cage, and a really nicecontribution from Ron Perlman, clearly having a ball in anuncharacteristically jovial role. The story does a good job of movingfrom A to B to C, hitting all the requisite thrills and chills between.So what, for pity's sake, is the complaint? For me, the only realnegative is that the film seems too short. I had the feeling that maybethe backers became nervous (again, who knows why) and a more ambitiousversion had to be abbreviated. I'd have loved to spend more time withthese characters, allowing Cage to evolve his bitterness and doggeddetermination to make things right. And I'd have loved to see more ofthe depths in Perlman's sterling supporting part. But no big deal... Ideduct one star for brevity, but Season of the Witch, as it sits, is areally entertaining bit of escapist dark adventure.When it comes to this type of film, I've entirely stopped payingattention to both critics and so-called 'fans.' Whatever it is youpeople are looking for, why don't you look somewhere else? And stopdumping on nice little films that deliver exactly what they promise.

Matt Shafer

19 May 2012

Thats two hours Im never getting back

Thankfully I waited until this came out on DVD, borrowed it from afriend, and then watched it. This is one of the most atrocious moviesthat I've had the opportunity to view in the last decade. Where can Ipossibly begin?Let's start with the basic premise. A girl is accused of being a witchand spreading the Black Plague across Europe. She's held in a dungeonin some random European locale and needs to be transported "fourhundred leagues, which is about a six days journey" to a monastery inan even more remote random European locale by a batch of relapsedCatholics held together by a suspicious-looking priest. Of course she'sin a prison wagon, and of course all sorts of bad things happen. And, Imight add, not just any old bad things. Clichéd bad things. Wolvesattacking at night in a forest. Your quintessential rope bridgespanning a thousand- foot gorge in the mountains. Ooh, and guess what?The planks are old and rotted and the ropes are unraveling and about togive way. Stop me if you've heard this one.Someone decided that it would be a sneaky move to cast doubt andsuspicion on the priest. After all, priests are great bad guys, right?So you have this innocent-looking "waif" (their word, not mine) whokeeps screaming that she doesn't want to be alone with the priest(Really? How subliminally anti-Catholic is this?). The priest does hispart by keeping his cowl up and looking suitably creepy and everyoneelse looks at him with a marked lack of trust. Now, about halfwaythrough this, loyalties shift and the people who wanted to provide thisgirl with a fair trial are now suddenly hellbent on killing her and thepriest is the good guy again. Whew! Crisis averted. Speaking of anti-Catholic, Nicholas Cage's character, who is somemorable that I've already forgotten his name less than twenty minutesafter watching the movie, is a Crusader. He decides that he's hadenough of crusading after he and his trusty sidekick (played by RonPerlman, who should have stuck with Hellboy) arrive at an epiphanyabout the evils of killing in the name of the Father, the Son, and theHoly Ghost. They make absolutely no bones about this fact to anyone,and their heart-stirring rebellion culminates in Cage's guy saying(very dramatically), "I serve God. I no longer serve the church!"*gasp!* It's farcical.Speaking of farcical...have you heard the one about the bunch of actorswho are portraying Europeans but all speak with Midwestern accents?There's not a bad British accent anywhere in here. You know, I've neveryearned for a bad British accent until this movie.Long story short, the girl's not a witch, she's a demon. The demon'srevealed to be a horrible CGI, people get burned, everyone dies, theyoung kid and the girl ride off into the sunset, Black Plague avoided.Best part of the movie? Watching Ron Perlman trying to keep a straightface while he delivers his lines. Or is it Nicholas Cage trying torediscover his inner Sorcerer's Apprentice? I'll never get these two hours back.

muchodiablo

19 May 2012

Season of Pathetic Screenplay

I usually like most of Nick Cage's work...This is an exception. Could be the worst movie I have seen in 3 years. The acting is bad because the script is garbage. The visuals and effects are pathetic. It reminded me of Army of Darkness, but that movie was SUPPOSED to be a comedy. We started laughing at this stinker near the end. A slow, boring, poorly written movie. STAY HOME!! Do not waste your money. Save your $$ for Green Hornet or something else.. LOL

aaron esmonde

19 May 2012

Truly Eerie Gothic Adventure

Discredited 14th-century knights transport a suspected witch to amonastery as her powers could be the source of the Black Plague. It'spossibly fitting to describe Season of the Witch as a Hollywoodisedversion of Blackdeath, and In the Name of the Rose mixed with a dash ofthe opening of The Kingdom of Heaven. Bragi F. Schut's story delivers everything you'd expect from asupernatural action adventure. Director Dominic Sena delivers afantastic looking film with good sound design and lighting. Overelaborate set ups aside the film is entertaining, the opening scenetruly eerie. It has a Gothic feel reminiscent of Sleepy Hollow and TheWolfman.Nicolas Cage (sporting  his suited Sorcerers Apprentice style hair) ison form and Ron Perlman is a joy to watch as usual. However, oddlybetween the engaging dialogue there's some forced jokes that areill-fitting at times and borderline cringe worthy. Maybe due torewrites or an uneven script, either way this injection of humourslightly mars the overall tone of the film.  The supporting cast arefirst-rate including  Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, UlrichThomsen, Claire Foy,Robert Sheehan and Christopher Lee as the Cardinal.It has great costumes, sets and eerie pious music. Despite theaforementioned problem there's wolves, witches, demons, exorcism,possession, brooding fog, castles, dark forests, swordplay andeverything you'd expect from an atmospheric fantasy period piece.Recommend.

steliospota

18 May 2012

Brilliant in all its aspects, great acting by Nicolas Cage

Upon watching the trailer for this movie I was intrigued yet I did notexpect to see the masterpiece I just saw. I have watched other moviesstarring Nicolas Cage which comment on the supernatural but I thinkthis is the best one.Suffice it to say that Nicolas Cage won my otherwise wavering respectfor him until now (solely based on movies he has starred in.) Not onlywas he very convincing in a very difficult part to play but he alsodelivered more emotion than I've probably ever seen by him. Kudos alsoto Claire Foy who was the most convincing witch I ever saw on screen.I also loved Ron Pearlman's performance which I found a very powerful,who also had great chemistry with Nicolas Cage.Overall, Season of the Witch is a very good story - very well told setin a very vivid and beautifully created historical landscape of theperiod of the crusades.

Scott Gipson

17 May 2012

Ignore the pro critics

My wife and I saw this movie today (1/12/11) and we both thought it was a good movie overall. The acting of Nicholas Cage and his co-actors, the story line, progression and effects were just fine. I've seen Cage at one of his worst like in Bangkok Dangerous and this movie was far from that, so ignore the critique of the so-called professionals, trust that of the yahoo users, and enjoy an entertaining movie.

17 May 2012

Nicholas Cage battles dark forces

This review is from: Season of the Witch (Amazon Instant Video) When it Nicholas Cage become a liability in a film? The way reviewers treat his films nowadays makes it seem that he isn't a good actor. Season of the Witch wasn't treated very nicely but it was okay. It was entertaining, it had a story, the acting was good. Sometimes people expect too much when a movie is primarily to entertain. Season of the Witch was shot excellently and the only beef I have is that the two major characters are very American in speech when this story is supposedly set in Europe. It's also a bit critical of Christianity which doesn't sit well with me but I always keep in mind that everyone is entitled to their opinion and it is only a movie.

GZ

16 May 2012

Very entertaining! Great fun!

A great adventure to go with your popcorn. I didn't expect this to be a masterpiece, but it's definitely entertaining. There is non-stop action with a dramatic story line, set in Medieval time. Visual effect is great, and the acting is solid.

Volya1

16 May 2012

A no shame thumbs up!

I went to this movie expecting to be bored. It was a last minutedecision seeing that all other movies currently playing we had seenbefore, or we were completely uninterested in. Though I'm not aNicholas Cage fan by any means, I remember liking Ron Perlman inHellboy so we gave it a chance.The opening scene was thrilling! Half way through the movie I realisedthat I was still wondering how everything would unravel, which is a bitsurprising for a movie of this genera. There were some good oldfashioned spooks, which left me clinging to my Fiancé's arm, and thecontinuous chase effect had me at the edge of my seat. Near the end ofthe movie, the plot took a few twists, including a gender choice for acharacter that I will not discuss so not to give away the movie here...because you will see it won't you!? All in all I had a blast gigglingabout Nicholas Cage's hair, and the goofy parts of the movie fluiditythat weren't meant to be taken seriously. We all know the plaguedoesn't look like that but who cares!!?? Very reminiscent of a good oldfashioned 80's adventure movie and I loved it! So there!

timigsfan

14 May 2012

Not as bad I thought

Stop bashing Nick Cage. Sure, he was dreadful in this film, but overall I enjoyed it never the less. It reminded me most of the kind of oldmovies you see on Mystery Science theatre, with bad dialog and badacting, but still compelling enough to watch. Ron Perleman as Cagessidekick is outstanding, and worth watching. As I said, the story isgood with two outlaw crusaders tasked with brining a witch to amonestary in exchange for deserting the crusades. Lots of twistsandlots of fighting as you try and figure out if the girl is really awitch. There is also a lot of stunning alpine scenery. I say check itout, you may be surprised as I was. I say this strictly from a netflixperspective or 99 cent redbox. People who are paying 4.99 on cable maywant to think about it.

Topwop

14 May 2012

Very entertaining!!!

I ejoyed the movice and Nicolas Cage always gives 100%. It's not Lord ot Rings, but it's fun to watch. I'd recommend it.

Torchidman

13 May 2012

HORROR FANS, WAIT TILL THE END

YES; IF YOU ARE A HORROR GENRE FAN AS I AM, DO ONE THING; JUST WAIT TILL THE END OF THIS FILM TO SEE SOME GREAT SPECIAL EFFECTS AND ALL HELL TO BREAK LOSE.THE FIRST HALF OF THE MOVIE MOVES A BIT SLOW BUT PICKS UP LATER. THE ACTING IS GREAT AS USUAL WITH SUCH A CAST. I DID NOT LIKE THE STORY LINE AS IT REPLICATED THOSE OF JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH AND A BIT OF WIZARD OF OZ.BUT OVERALL, THIS WAS NOT THAT BAD OF A FLICK.AGAIN, FOR ALL YOU GUYS OUT THERE THINKING ABOUT SEEING THIS FILM, ONLY TO BE LET DOWN BECAUSE THERE ARE NO MONSTERS, YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY.THIS FILM TAKES ON A DIFERRENT TWIST; INSTEAD OF THE TITLE LETTING YOU THINK THIS IS ALL ABOUT SIMPLY A WITCH, YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED..GO SEE IT.

harold37076

13 May 2012

A great movie with a great story line.

My wife and I both loved this film, and will watch it again. It kept uson the edge of our seats. The demon looks very good. The on locationshooting gave the film a very real feeling. Mr Cage was very believableas his character. Mr Perlman was very good as Felson. He was bothcomical and believable a a Crusader. I just wish I would have seen itat the theater were the big screen would have brought it to life. Onour 50" screen was very good, but it lacks the greatness of a largescreen. I would have loved to have seen this in 3D. I hope Mr. Cagemakes another film like this soon. Also the friendship on the leadcharacters are believable, and they work well together.

JoeB131

13 May 2012

A better film than I was expecting

Any film with Nicholas Cage or Ron Perleman in it is usually a stinker.One with both? Actually, not that bad.The plot is that they play two crusading knights who return from theCrusades(which were pretty much over by 1347) are enlisted by thechurch to escort a suspected witch to a monastery with the last copy ofthe Key Of Solomon so they can expunge a demon from her. Except therereally is a demon in her and she wants to get to the monastery todestroy the last copy.The movie itself isn't that bad. It portrays a grimy, not pleasantvision of the "Dark Ages", and Cage and Perleman play their rolespretty well. There's some CGI action schlock at the end, but it isn'toverdone.

12 May 2012

Beter than expected

This review is from: Season of the Witch (Amazon Instant Video) This movie was prety freakin cool. I would almost say a cult clasic but not quite so I give it 4 stars. I was as good as the last resedent evil.

Bloodwank

12 May 2012

Daft but bearable action fantasy nonsense

Plopping out in early January, time honoured dumping ground of inferiorproduct and draped in mediocre to poor reviews, Season of the Witch hadquite a lot stacked against it. But for all this it ended up being oneof the better films I've taken in on a whim, albeit far from any kindof classic or even especially good. Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman playdisillusioned crusaders against witchcraft who get caught trying toescape their service and are recruited for a particularly tricky witchescorting mission. So we get an arduous mission through harsh medievallands, trekking interspersed with action and capped with a nice blazingfinale, and it should be a blast, should be a lot more entertainingthan it is, but owing to lack of budget or balls (or some combinationof both), it ends up being rather forgettable. The first noticeableproblem is studied downplaying from Cage and Perlman, they have somemeasure of chemistry and a small smattering of good lines, but there'sno fire. Both have potential for greatness, and both have a facilityfor the fantastical but for some reason neither of them chew too muchscenery or puff with much in the way of rage so the film constantlyfeels like its missing its opportunities as well. The ethereal ClaireFoy suffers similarly as the witch, she has a sweetly otherworldly wayto her and lights up the screen, so its a shame she doesn't have moreto do. As for Christopher Lee, well he's barely in it and just aboutanybody else would have been a worthy substitute. These problems asideSeason of the Witch manages to be quite good fun for enough of the timethat I overall enjoyed the experience. Its well enough shot to conjurean effectively macabre and misty mood at times, while Dominic Senahandles his directing duties with fair adeptitude, making for someexciting and sporadically stylish action. The pacing is a bit off butnever truly dull and one or two low key spooks (the highlight being arather neat opening) keep things interesting in between the few actionset pieces, while the ending is very daft and rather good fun. If onlyit gelled together better, if only it realised whether it wanted to bea rousing medieval fantasy or a creepy horror and got a better handleon its tone, heck if only it wasn't aimed at a younger audience withits PG13 certificate so it could get away with a few actual shocks.Bah, it could have been a lot worse, 5/10 from me.

jason24691

11 May 2012

Worth a watch

I was looking forward to this film, the plot appealed to me, the first15minutes were OK and looked promising, then i cut to inaccurateoccurrences in the crusades, first of all there's Nicolas cage and Ronpearlman fighting with American accents even though America didn'texist in the 1300s.Maybe I'm being picky but if the actors cant be bothered to at leastattempt to put on an accent maybe i should set my standards a littlelower, so i did and apart for the excellent action scenes and scenery,which i must point out are very good the acting and some of the cheesylines does let a possible good film down, i also get the feeling thatcage is churning out a lot of films lately just for the cash and nothis career.Don't pay for this film wait for it to come on the TV thats all itsworth