gladiator

Notebook Reviews: GLADIATOR

Ridley Scott – 2000 Ridley Scott‘s Gladiator is a frustrating historical epic. It has some great sequences and impressive effects but there’s quite a bit of inertia in the storytelling. Russell Crowe delivers a muscular, [...]

August 2, 2021

Behind The Scenes: Michael Fassbender & Director Neil Marshall On The Set Of CENTURION

Neil Marshall’s Centurion is not for the faint-hearted. It’s an extremely violent and gory action film in which heads and limbs are removed by slashing swords and every body part that can be skewered, is. In fact, it’s almost too violent: [...]

January 25, 2021

Apple To Make Ridley Scott’s KITBAG; Joaquin Phoenix To Play Napoleon Bonaparte In The Historical Epic

Apple Studios is set to finance and produce Ridley Scott‘s Kitbag, a Napoleon Bonaparte biopic set to star Joaquin Phoenix. Deadline is reporting that Phoenix will reunite with his Gladiator director to play the French emperor and military [...]

January 14, 2021

Review: Russell Crowe Chews The Scenery In The Gritty & Violent UNHINGED

The first wide release in the United States (and pretty much the rest of the world), since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, director Derek Borte’s Unhinged arrives with much more fanfare than usually befits this type of film. A B-movie with an A-list [...]

August 20, 2020

Uncovering Curiosities: Cecil B. DeMille’s CLEOPATRA Starring Claudette Colbert

Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra starring Claudette Colbert in the title roles is a luscious epic filled with opulent sets and costumes. The 1934 film was filmed just before the Hays Code came into play, and because of this DeMille’s film is a [...]

August 9, 2020

What We Do In Life Echoes In Eternity: Ridley Scott’s GLADIATOR At 20

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator has held-up well over the last 20 years. Russell Crowe delivered a muscular career-making performance in the 2000 historical epic, while Joaquin Phoenix gives a wonderfully squirmy performance as the villain of the [...]

May 19, 2020

Empire Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movies Of The Century Features A Lot Of Serious Duds

Taste is an interesting thing. Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course, but some people simply don’t have good taste. They’d rather eat at McDonalds than a good restaurant. This list of Empire Magazine’s 100 films of the [...]

January 18, 2020

Blu-ray Review: Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT Is Loud And Dumb

Transformers: The Last Knight is a bad film. I knew that from the outset having seen a couple of the other Transformers films (I keep popping back to the franchise for some cinematic sadomasochistic reason). The main flaw in this Michael Bay [...]

October 28, 2017

Book Review: THE ART AND MAKING OF PENNY DREADFUL

Not only have Frankenstein and Dracula been hugely influential pieces of literature but they’ve become iconic in the realm of film and television. Penny Dreadful (named after a type of 19th Century pulp fiction) sees them rub shoulders with Oscar [...]

March 30, 2015

Holy Moses! The Final Trailer For Ridley Scott’s EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

Ridley Scott‘s Exodus: Gods And Kings looks like it hits the right epic notes, but let’s hope that it’s more Gladiator than Kingdom of Heaven (the above poster image implies that it is). See Christian Bale‘s Moses face-off [...]

November 15, 2014

DVD Review: Renny Harlin’s THE LEGEND OF HERCULES Is A B-Movie Sword And Sandal Romp

I imagine that if I was eight years old, Renny Harlin’s The Legend Of Hercules would be a film that I could endlessly watch and re-watch. It’s filled with action, amazing feats and heroes and villains who are straight down the line. It all fits [...]

July 27, 2014

Blu-ray Review: Cecil B. DeMille’s Epic CLEOPATRA

Eureka DVD’s latest film in its Masters of Cinema series is Cleopatra, Cecil B. DeMille’s 1934 epic starring Claudette Colbert in the title role. The film is luscious on Blu-ray, with the 1:37: 1 aspect ratio highlighting the magnitude of the [...]

September 11, 2012

Eli Roth Directs Russell Crowe In HARKER

Eli Roth (Hostel) looks set to direct Harker, a retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film is a new interpretation of the classic vampire tale, which will see Russell Crowe play the legendary blood sucking Count. Lee Shipman & Brian McGreevy [...]

July 11, 2012

Eye-Popping Image From THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS

Russell Crowe in a Kung-Fu movie. That sentence is attention grabbing in itself, but when you throw in the above image, then The Man With the Iron Fists moves up a few notches on the must see list. Pam Grier, Lucy Liu and Jamie Chung join the [...]

June 27, 2012

Review: Russell Crowe And Ben Affleck Get Political In STATE OF PLAY

State of Play is a classy piece of Hollywood filmmaking that delivers an entertaining two hours in the cinema and features enjoyable star performances from Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams. The film which is based on the British BBC [...]

April 10, 2012

Review: Michael Fassbender In Director Neil Marshall’s CENTURION

Centurion follows the Roman army’s infamous Ninth Legion as it moves forward from Hadrian’s wall into Scotland to destroy the Picts, a violent and barbarous race that plagued the Romans throughout their time in Britain. The film opens with a [...]

April 4, 2012

THE WIRE Star Idris Elba And Bond Girl Naomie Harris Take A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM

Thor actor Idris Elba and Skyfall’s Naomie Harris are set to portray Nelson and Winnie Mandela in the biopic Long Walk To Freedom. Justin Chadwick is in talks to direct the film; a move which will see him reunite with Harris, who he directed in [...]

March 14, 2012