Films

^^^Caligula, Ben Hur, Monty Python, Spartacus; even JFK if you're prepared to push the limits of constitutional monarchy.

Mel Gibson is a good shout - Robin Hood Prince of Thieves fits.

Mel Gibson wasn't in Robin Hood.

You dirty fucking liar.

That was Alan Rickman.

I really liked Apocalypto.

Caligula is grossly inappropriate for my needs. Unfortunately.

Ben Hur and Spartacus could be good, though. Haven't seen Spartacus for ages, either.

I'm Spartacus.

Robin Hood & Ivanhoe. Both about royalty, and both AWESOME.

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves fits.

Errol Flynn or GTFO

Anyone seen DREDD yet? Gotta say I'm intrigued.

Not yet. Going to see the new Shite LaBeouf, Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy film tomorrow.

Watched The Imposter last night.

Great film/documentary. Can't believe how so many people were manipulated.....

I'm not sure.
It's obviously an incredible story, but I found the whole thing a bit tabloid.
It read like a story out of Woman’s Own.
A bit more insight, analysis and further digging would've done it wonders.

Maybe I'm prejudiced; I can't abide dramatic re-enactments in documentary films. Make the documentary or make the fucking movie!

I followed it up by watching a couple of Nick Broomfield docs, which are always first class.

Can't stand Nick Broomfield films, even though we share the same name. I dunno, they all seem a bit smug.

What happened to the avatar?

Can't stand Nick Broomfield films, even though we share the same name. I dunno, they all seem a bit smug.

Agreed, and sometimes he deliberately plays on that.

It's not about him though, it's about the reactions and stories that he elicits.

What happened to the avatar?

Was testing out a new logo for my photo business. Didn't work for me. Decided on summat else. So back to the menace.

In film news, Heartbreaker is on iplayer right now, great film.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kcn8l/Heartbreaker/

I have a bit of thing for her.

And she's probably well up for it now that Depp's had it on his toes.

Dvd rips of Promotheus are already out, I wonder how much that would actually cost the studio. Not the insane costs they say in court

What happened to the avatar?

It smashed box-office records and won three Oscars.

Anyone seen DREDD yet? Gotta say I'm intrigued.

Yes. It's good. The plot is nothing very clever, original or complex, but on it's bare bones is built a gritty meaty movie. It's pretty faithful to the spirit of the comics. Dredd keeps his helmet on, Anderson's character really comes to life as her, and the things they changed work well - we're already living in the future so they don't need to science-fiction-ise the details of the world that much. The judge uniform looks practical.

The juddering rumbling bass-heavy soundtrack that sets you constantly on edge is perhaps even more of a reason to see it in a cinema than the 3D.

(Everyone points out how close the concept is to The Raid, but it seems to be a case of coincidence, and 2000AD has a prior claim to block wars (maybe borrowed from JG Ballard?). But anyway both films do it really well.)

Horatio

Bernardo Bertolucci's The LAst Emperor, ought to cover monarchy, absolutism (and it's overthrow).

Hey Ronnie. I actually quite like Bertolucci, and thought about The Last Emperor, but with the exception of Apoloyptico, I'm trying to remain in Europe.

It's for a class I'm giving this term, and I've broken up the history of monarchy into five eras. Trying to give some material beyond primary sources - which are all European, Middle-Eastern, or North African. Figure films are a really good way to see some of the concepts and debates played out in a contextualized (to some extent) arena.

That being said, I'll re-watch it and see if it transfers well enough. I don't want to be accused of only teaching the stories of "dead white men."

Apocalypto doesn't have much about kings or even tribal leaders. It's a standard Hollywood find and rescue narrative with some human sacrifice scenes in it, it's pretty good though.

Can you fit Black Robe in the tribal section ? European interaction with N American tribes and is miles better than Apocalypto

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101465/

Middle Ages just has to be something with Tony Curtis.

Apololypto is better than you'd think if you look at the anthropological literature on prehistoric tribes and the emergence of kings. It's pre-monarchy as we know it, but it, accidentally, nods its head towards many of the "themes" that are considered sources of the political concept.

In that sense, for my purposes, it is being detached from any historical reality it attempts to be a part of.

I saw Black Robe ages ago (probably every Canadian has). I'll give it another view as well.

Dredd - very enjoyable, a proper comic book adaptation for a change