Deathstalker II

After watching Josie and the Pussycats (some good episodes; some not so good), I checked out my Deathstalker (I and II) DVD. The DVD from the library had both movies with commentary tracks.  

[One Josie episode had them going after an evil countess with one evil flunky.  Shouldn't have been too much trouble dealing with them! A few were rather fun.]

I listened to some of the first while only listening to a bit of the second (mostly watched the film). Not bad. The second one had both the current Deathstalker character (three actors played him quite differently in four films) and the woman heavy.  Various other people involved in the films were involved but neither of the princesses. 

The films are all silly in some fashion (especially when you have a cut used on a spoof bad movie show; that would be the third that I already talked about).  I'm sure there is a lot of cheesy stuff there (Roger Corman was involved) but the set design to me was not bad. A few good crowd scenes. The acting also overall was decent enough. The bad guys hammed it up some but that comes with the program even in better films.

The first film was generally serious and the title character was loyal to his name.  A lot of killing. The film (and I only saw about half) also had rather much T&A -- multiple women showed their breasts for sure and you got some "A" too as I recall.  The second film was much less serious (though it has some killing) down to the characters talking as if they were on an episode of MacGyver or something.  Very American.  

The second one was fun.  A person comparing the lead to Han Solo is not really a bad thought though this guy was even more jocular about everything. The dual princess (one a fake copy) roles were played by Monique Gabrielle, a Penthouse model. We are not talking about a great actor, but she was fine for the role. She did a better job than the bad actress turned businesswoman/Trump ambassador in the third film.  

Again, she was totally anachronistic in the good version, coming off as an enthusiastic but somewhat troublesome sidekick for MacGyver. She looked totally normal (and to me rather cute) in this version while the evil princess was more sexy (had a bigger nude scene though the other was attacked once and had her clothes ripped off once) in character.  There was a nice twist where the duplicate actually was a cannibal, which was handled in a pretty nifty fashion (with a bit of humor).  

The evil sorcerer also was a total ham who could have easily been some gay beautician or something in another film. More lethal here and yes seemed to be straight. Then again maybe not.  The promotion photo of the heroes is also ridiculously unlike the actual characters. The guy is not a he-man here.  He is more like the guy from Princess Bride. 

It wasn't a long movie though it was getting a bit boring near the end with a bit of a padded final battle scene (basically like the third one) and a not-that-great final battle.  The end was like "Okay, I killed him, time to go." The hero and heroine wound up together in the end, which seems off, but guess you figure that he's not one to stay tied down.  

And, the princess -- for most of the film not much useful in battle -- did show some chops in the end.  She did after all kill her double.  I see that she did a bunch of small roles (and the lead in soft porn) but I liked her here. She also played the heroine in Silk II (tough crime fighter!), which you know, I just want to see even by the little clip on IMBD.

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I am about halfway thru the Leila Aboulela book Bird Summons (a mythical bird plays a symbolic role).  I am not familiar with the author but by chance found the book referenced online.  I overall like it so far and that is from someone who usually has trouble finding a fiction book I like.

The book concerns three Muslim women in Scotland (the author herself lives there) who go on a trip to see the grave of the first British woman to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca.  One is an African with a disabled son, the second is a young woman from Syria already with three husbands, and the third is a middle-aged mom from Egypt having a sort of middle-life crisis about her life.  

Not sure how it will wound up.  

(It was pretty good but had an extended symbolic fantasy portion late that went on too long and was a tad forced.)