Masters of the Universe..... I Have the Power!

You have the Avengers.

But we had the Masters of the Universe..... and He - Man, of course!

These were pretty much what I said to my kids after watching this film.

Well, frankly speaking, any Avengers installment from Marvel will be lightyears ahead of this movie in almost everything, but the film has moments that will be undoubtedly cherishable to a selected class of audience to whom, I quite certainly belong.

Essentially, if you had spent your school days through the 80's and 90's in India, with entertainment on Television, chiefly comprising and mostly limited to the Sunday morning shows, then He-Man and the Masters of the Universe would certainly be one of the appeals to the kid that you were, especially if you have a fetish pleasure with anything, which might be fantastically fictional.

The animated visuals won the hearts but the Dolph Lundgren version of He-Man in the 1987 movie was surely not a success. Well, the He-Man was quite formidable as might be the other Masters of the Universe in the movie, but the story was certainly not! However, all were forgotten and would have remained so if not Travis Knight had revived the franchise with the latest release.

Here again, Adam is lost in Earth, while escaping the wrath of Skeletor as he invaded his homeland, Eternia, the best place that can be in the Universe, but now he must find the sword of power, the only key to return to his planet. The search for the sword would have been difficult, had it not been for the internet (the 80's kid would have raised puzzled eyebrows but quite okay with the kids today) and the only clue that the key was lost in Earth only. Yes, Adam had adapted Earth ways and he is in the cyber age and he pursues a career, not so lovingly but quite sincerely, in the HR department of a company. But to revive his morale he needed the Sorceress and..... Dolph Lundgren, in his cameo appearance as his acquaintance in gym, the 1987 He-Man advising the 2026 version (Nicholas Galitzine) of Adam, with words that may boost the soul with hope.

Well, this was pretty much the introduction that you need to delve deeper. The remaining is mostly battles and battles and battles and..... well, the best part..... all the Masters and Villains in person for you!

To start with, is Skeletor, with his bad jokes, which felt worse with the scene compositions as well, but the nostalgic charm was held supreme by Jared Leto as he portrayed the greatest evil soul of the universe, a proclamation that Skeletor himself had no qualms in announcing with the perfectly sincere intent at every opportunity.

Then, there is Man-at-Arms, with the funnily claustrophobic suit, looking more claustrophobic than ever with Idris Elba inside, but as sweetly accurate as possible.

Teela is there as is Cringer, the royal pet, a talking tiger, but disappointingly, with very limited screen presence that felt bad indeed.

But there was Ram-Man, causing havoc in the enemy ranks with his delightful way of ramming through. The evil force was also no less charismatic with the giant Beast Man with the ferocity of a beast but with brains of the idiot. There was Evil-Lyn, the witch who advised Skeletor and really a frightfully fearsome Trap Jaw, leading the offensive with his heavily weaponized right arm.

Further, there is Fisto, a character that I vaguely remembered, and there are Meckaneck and Goat Man, the characters that I never had any inkling about in the He-Man universe.

We also had a glimpse of the wizard, Orko, buzzing around that might give you a sense of completeness in the tour of Eternia after Skeletor ravaged the city and then He-Man tried restoring the balance.

If these were not all, the film have a mid-credit scene and a post-credit scene as well that shows that the Masters of the Universe are indeed picking their way up through the cinematic evolution while promising a future of at least another instalment of this pleasurable adventure.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: a Cinderella Story

The Game of Thrones was a grand epic.

The House of the Dragon is promising to be another marvellous saga.

But this might just be the fairy tale that touches the heart with the simplicity that the soul always yearns for. In the world of fantasy, where magic and monsters prevail, the story of a simple aspirant is quite a welcome break.

A squire to a dead knight finds himself stranded with the sword of the deceased, three horses and a very uncertain future. Harbouring his cherished ambition of becoming a knight one day, Dunk, the squire, heads for a joust competition that will be hosting participating knights from near and far. But here he faces a tough challenge even before a game begins. The tournament was for knights only and Dunk was not a knight, let alone a famous one. He fabricated a claim of being a knight. But as this was not enough, he needed other knights of note to vouch for him.

Driven by hope but not so by despair, thus begins his interesting journey through the ranks of nobility, inside the tents of the lords and the commoner, traversing randomly, through the varied layers of the society, a queer journey that changed his life forever.

He is joined by the inconspicuous Egg, a lad of tender age, a character with a hint of mystery but a wish of squiring the knight in Dunk, a wish that he sticks to stubbornly, if not as a mule, at least as stubbornly as Dunk wished to be the knight of his dream.

Set about a century before the events of GoT, the story is of dreams to be conquered, friendships that are waged and courage against unforeseen odds.

Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell teams up as the most unlikely partners, Dunk and Egg respectively, in their quest for adventure, driven by passion and fuelled by hope. Created by Ira Parker and George R R Martin, the refreshing pilot season of the series is a celebration of life amid betrayals and tragic twists, which are, but orders of any day at all ages.