Keep in mind that "immersive" and "historically accurate" aren't the same thing, a point touched on in the video. For th
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Paul P. Powell β 5 months ago(October 15, 2025 05:55 PM)
Caligula?
Good one. Bravo.
The only issue is that it is not a competent movie in terms of audience satisfaction, audience reward. No one watches it more than once.
But the production values are certainly present. I salute you for recalling this title to mind.
Peter O'Toole in
"Masada"
is a similar, except in that is a TV mini-series. Bears no comparison to a feature-film.
Or: Alec Guinness in
"The Fall of the Roman Empire"
. Superb location shooting but characters no one cared about.
"Quo Vadis
" βMartin Scorcese secretly likes this dog but it failed for just about everyone else. One of the costliest flops ever.
Liz and Dick in
"Cleopatra
" is yet another Biblical epic which everyone naturally assumes was a disaster βand maybe it was βbut the fact is, it did recoup all it's investment cost.
Still β¦who ever re-watches it these days? Lush though it may be, it doesn't deserve a spot on any 'best-of' list.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player -
filmflaneur β 5 months ago(October 15, 2025 06:31 PM)
I saw Ridley Scott's
Kingdom of Heaven
, director's cut, lately on the big screen and that was pretty immersive. I would also add
Zulu
to the list.
I would certainly recommend
Come and See
one of the finest of all war films, imho.
I think you'll find things are a little more complicated than that. -
Paul P. Powell β 5 months ago(October 16, 2025 01:09 PM)
I would recommend Come and See one of the finest of all war films, imho.
I'll take your word for it.
Reason: because to my way of thinking, who would I root for in a war movie like that?
Bolsheviks vs Nazis, is a lose/lose situation. Those scum can all speed directly to hell straightaway, as far as I'm concerned!
I've seen some excellent Russkie movies βand I'm a fan of Eisenstein, Stanislavsky, etc βbut I'm probably not adding this one to my list.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player -
filmflaneur β 5 months ago(October 16, 2025 06:47 PM)
who would I root for in a war movie like that? Bolsheviks vs Nazis, is a lose/lose situation. Those scum
Without wishing to get into a political discussion, IMHO Klimnov's grim masterpiece shows the sheer horror of war more, and its effects on the human than any other film I know, rather than make a patriotic statement about the Stalin regime. I know though that, due to the power of the piece, it was in the past used for propaganda purposes. (As it happens I must admit that I like Soviet and Russian WW2 films though, of which plenty can be found on YouTube) It puts the over-lauded and sentimental
Private Ryan
, for instance (which, incidentally, contains a clear reference to the Russian epic at one point), quite in the shade. I think you'd be missing out on quite an experience.
At the risk of blowing my trumpet too much, and in case anyone is interested, I wrote an extensive review of the film here:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/review/rw0987277/?ref_=tturv_perm_6
I think you'll find things are a little more complicated than that. -
Paul P. Powell β 5 months ago(October 16, 2025 12:01 PM)
Good thread so far.
The OP could easily make a companion discussion to this one for "period pieces"
It's a fine distinction I'm drawing here; but a "period piece" is not quite a "historical epic".
I'd toss these immediately into the hat
"Chariots of Fire"
(I forget who directed this)
"The Great Gatsby"
(adaptation by Ford Coppola)
"The Sand Pebbles"
(Robert Wise)
"The Garden of the Fintzi-Continas"
(Berdolucci)
"Berlin Alexanderplatz"
(Fassbinder's 9? 13? hour long blowout?)
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player -
PygmyLion β 5 months ago(October 16, 2025 08:51 PM)
I tend to go for war movies and their slice of history
WWI:
Gallipoli
1981
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930
WW II
Saving Pvt Ryan
1998
Battleground
1949
Civil War
The Red Badge of Courage
1951
The Horse Soldiers
1959
Braveheart
1995
Dealing with American Indians
Drums Along the Mohawk
1939
The Big Sky
1952
Of course, there are some good Naval and Air Force movies out there too.