Hi Guys
I did like Gary Oldman(very good actor) in Dracula ,i thought it was an excellent film but Jonathan Harker (Mr Reeves) was poor. His awful English accent ruined the movie when he was on scene ( I do think hes very good in the Matrix but thats about it).
Yes Lord of the Rings is better than Ralph Baski's animation but that might be due to him not being able to finish it ;only about third of the story was done.I quite liked it when i saw it in the cinema years ago when it first came out but it doesn't stand up compared to Jacksons trilogy. However his King Gong is awful compared to the black and white original. Great effects but way to long and i think Jack Black was poor in it. This Classic should have been left alone ,but it was better than the two 70's King Gong movies.
I have yet to get round to watching the Cecil b Demille first version of the Ten Commandments (included in a double DVD with the later colour/talkie version). So i can't really say which is better until i do watch it .However i must say that i do love this film a lot. When i was a young kid i enjoyed all of these Biblical Epics and i still do . The Greatest Story ever Told being a favorite .Max Von Sydnow is brilliant in it (very good actor).
When Gladiator came along it sort of brought back memories of all the epic films i used to watch on sat/sundays when i was very young . In fact it is almost a remake of a film called The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire. Gladiator's story follows the plot of this film in many parts however Ridley Scott's version is better.
Epic movies that i like a lot include ,El Cid,300 Spartans .Animated version better except for the huge Historical errors taken and grossly in accurate costumes for Spartans Persians etc and why monsters as well .For 1300 men to stand against the biggest invading army (up till that time),is that not a good enough threat.
Why must the movie making machine take such liberties? The poor old Thesbians hardly get a mention unlike in the Richard Egan movie .And what about the massive sea battle the Athenians waged against the Persians at the same time. Without that the land battle would have been lost sooner as the Persians hoped to out flank the Greeks ,by landing troops behind the pass .The Athenians won the sea battle ,fought over two days and against greater forces(they did get a bit of help from a storm). It was the Admiral who commanded the sea battle that planned the whole battle and not the Spartan King Leonindas but that does not take away from what the 300 did at the end of the battle.I had hoped a lot for 300 and i was disappointed with it. Back on topic now(i hate gross Historical errors in movies), Glory,Ben Hur , Ran and Kagamushi,Hero,to name a few more historical epics that i like a lot.
Regards D Louth
