Just saw "The Eagle";

A friend of mine that was there said he did not like it all that much, not enough history or action. I said history? Action? It was all through it!! I think he expected it to be like Gladiator with large scale battles and Roman legions on the march, etc.. It did show some good fighting in it, believe me, but not on the scale of Gladiator. But I liked it a lot for that reason. It more realistic to me. And the northern British Celts, the Scotti and Picts? I thought it portrayed them pretty well.

Another thing I liked about it. As I said, it was about the strife between the Romans and northern British Celts, the Scotti, Picts, etc.. I have a lot of Scottish blood running through my veins and I have studied Scottish Gaelic some and have always wanted to hear it spoken in a normal, real conversation, etc.. Well, in the movie all the enemy spoke Scottish Gaelic. As I said I have studied it a bit and caught some of it. I was thrilled to hear the language spoke in normal way by normal people in conversation.

At first I was unsure what in the heck they were speaking. But after a while the main charactor had to go north of Hadrian's Wall (you'll have to watch the movie to find out why) and took his slave, a northern British Celt, with him. At first when I heard people speak in a fast, normal way, I was unsure. But the Roman and his slave were caught by some folks painted blueish (Picts?), whom the slave and others called the Sea or Seal People (could not tell which). Anyway, they had to reverse roles to keep the Roman alive. The blue painted men asked the Roman's slave who he was and he answered "Is misse Esca!" I caught that and remembered it as being Scottish Gaelic. It simply means "I am Esca", pronounced "Ish misheh Esca". Fascinating and hard to learn language to say the least. But I was thrilled to hear real Gaelic spoken in such a movie. MAde it all the more realistic to me!!
Later,
Freebooter

Thanks for the heads up, it's on my list to see now.

Personally I didn't care for Gladiator much as it was obviously Hollywoodized to the max with a health does of pg-13 stirred in.

Now "Centurian" (European movie which is on stream from Netflix atm) is a great Roman/Picts action flick!! Awesome battle scenes and great swordplay. Definately not pg-13. Those pict chicks are smoking hot. Scary but hot hehe. Also the best of the best imho is the "Sparticus" series of which the whole 1st season and several episodes from season 2 are on Netflix stream too. Seriously guys if you like swords and haven't watched Sparticus your not doing it right. I pulled a bonanza and watched the whole 1st season in one weekend while the wife and kids were out of town. It rocks.

Oh and if you do watch Sparticus don't accidentally start season 2 before watching season 1 like I did. The opening scenes in Season 2 show the climactic end of season 1 .

Anyhow, thanks The Eagle is on my list .

PS - for 9 bucks a month if you are Netflix capable it truly is a great bargain. Not many great bargains out there any more but this is worth every dollar!

You're talking about Sparticus: Blood and Sand, right? I heard a lot of good things about it so I tried to watch it. Couldn't get through the first episode before I had to turn it off. I honestly just don't know what everyone seems to see in it. *shrug*

Rome was the chrome plated and titanium edged monster: loved it, and still do.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand? I had a really hard time getting through the first episode, which was, to my mind, just about one thousand times too much a copy of 300. After that, it DID pick up, although I'll grant Elheru's point that it could have been called Spartacus: Blood and Boobs.

I'm actually taking a break from netflixing Centurion right now, and it's off to a good start, and I'm looking forward to catching The Eagle sometime this week.

It's been much on my mind of late that the time is right for historical movies. We've got the CGI to make them work, and let's face it, there's so much history to be picked over and shown theatrically. Plus, advancements in archaeology means we can make Viking movies without horned helmets (always a plus!). Here's hoping! (Frankly, I think the time is ripe for a good 1066 movie, but then I would, wouldn't I?)

im quite envious of you freebooter , while i still have a long term love affair with highlander 1 ,i could never get the sequels or the series planet zeist in the quickening,the fact that in highlander 3 we were introduced to kane ,and the prize was already won by connor (there can be only one clearly wasnt the case)if id just been released from a cave after centuries of incarceration id be pining for a bic mac and fries ,not to go seeking connor mcloud :lol:
oooh i best stop or ill go into full on rant mode about the highlander 1 reboot ,minus clancy brown and christopher lambert
no,honestly i would, highlander was a bold and amazing piece of film and i think they milked and abused the franchise
for every penny without a thought for the originality of the script ,it could have been so much more.
damn i am ranting lol :oops:

Cossack, check out "1066: The Battle for Middle Earth". Has its moments, but there are a few "dropped the ball" bits that I'll let you find out for yourself. Fun movie, though.

M.

Yeah we used to watch Highlander the series...sheesh I think that was back in the late 80's? I think I remember watching it in the dorm room at college, we'd gather round and watch it. Either there on later when we moved out of the dorm. Was a great series for it's time, still a great series but lacks the "reality in your face" factor. I also agree the first movie was great, possibly even groundbreaking for its time.

I can see where Sparticus could be distasteful to many and I suppose it is just personal preference but I like the realistic brutality portrayed and man is that series brutal. I have never seen vicious open wounds and realistic death like in that series portrayed on the screen before. Not that people being hacked up is a good thing obviously, but men are drawn to violence/war for some reason and if I'm going to be watching it I'm not squeamish and want it as realistic as possible and the special effects are so good that if I didn't know it was fake I would swear it was real.

Yes it could be called "blood and boobs" but my research and preferred historical reading is either late Roman empire or early post Roman Britain time periods and as outlandish as the actions are in that series if you consider the facts of how life was back then it must have been pretty close to how it is portrayed, regardless of how shocking it is to our sensibilities. It's an open the Ark and get the face melt kind of thing .That said I certainly don't consider myself an expert on the time period but I enjoy reading/learning about it and as a result I'm not ignorant about it either. Also it grows on you as you keep watching, or so it did with me. Yes there is the "So do you like watching movies with gladiators in them?" factor, but being secure in my sexuality...meh...whatever there's enough good manly slaughter to keep the scales balanced and then some .

But to each his own, certainly. Just thought I'd toss it out there in the spirit of a recommendation to those who may not be familiar with it and might like an oversexed bloodthirsty toga party :lol: .

I'm glad you brought up HBO's Rome as I haven't seen it and forgot about it..going on the list!

Have a good one

Channel 4 says I don't live in the right zip code! DRAT AND ARGH!