Valhalla Rising

[Lord Ciaran]

I am the new guy here and this is my first post. I liked the first part of "Valhalla Rising" but the second part was a little out there. I enjoyed " Season of the Witch", but its far from accurate. "Black Death" was another I liked. And finally , I want to sue the producer of "Iron Clad" and get back the $10 and two hrs of my life lost on that.

[Sir Brian]

You really didn't like Ironclad? - Why? It was reasonably accurate both with the armor and weapon usage and nominally close to actual historic events.

[Lord Ciaran]

I thought going into Iron Clad I would really like it. It just fell short all the way around. Having James Porfoy and Paul Giamanti I figured it would be much better. I am disappointed with most movies that are supposed to be "based on a historic event". We can pick apart every movie , what is corect and was isn't, but they usually ruin the story or change it because they feel it's more dramatic. Real history is pretty dramatic and usually far better than the fictionalized versions we see.

[Sir Wolf]

lol~

[Sir William]

I thought it was great; as I have often said, if you look for historicity in Hollywood, you will forever be disappointed.  If it were a documentary, I'd call it to task as well, but its just a movie, made for entertainment purposes only.

[Lord Ciaran]

I suppose I would have liked it better if I had seen it having lower expectations.

Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood" has been one of my least favorite versions of RH because Scott kept talking about how historically acurate it was and that it would be the definitve RH. I think it was more how not to make a RH movie.

When "Knights Tale" came out , I thought it was serious movie. Thankfully I read the reviews before I saw it. I went into it knowing it was anachronistic and fun. I really liked that movie. I probably would have been very negative had I saw it thinking it was suppose to be a serious  movie.

Maybe I need to go back and watch Iron Clad with a less critical eye.

[Sir Wolf]

haahhhhaha a man after my own heart lol

[Sir James A]

I thought it was great; as I have often said, if you look for historicity in Hollywood, you will forever be disappointed.  If it were a documentary, I'd call it to task as well, but its just a movie, made for entertainment purposes only.

Perhaps the biggest key to enjoying medieval themed movies ... Movie vs Documentary. If you look for history in a movie, you're going to have a bad time.

[Lord Dane]

I thought it was great; as I have often said, if you look for historicity in Hollywood, you will forever be disappointed.  If it were a documentary, I'd call it to task as well, but its just a movie, made for entertainment purposes only.

Perhaps the biggest key to enjoying medieval themed movies ... Movie vs Documentary. If you look for history in a movie, you're going to have a bad time.

Well stated Sir James. I watch movies for the entertainment value not the historical depiction which tends to be lacking or have something added to it for sensationalism. Documentaries are preferred for factual reference or academic research. But both tend to have a touch of Hollywood.

[Sir William]

I thought it was great; as I have often said, if you look for historicity in Hollywood, you will forever be disappointed.  If it were a documentary, I'd call it to task as well, but its just a movie, made for entertainment purposes only.

Perhaps the biggest key to enjoying medieval themed movies ... Movie vs Documentary. If you look for history in a movie, you're going to have a bad time.

I should make that my sig line considering how often I've said it.  You're setting yourself up for disappointment if you're looking for that.

With that said, I find it somewhat odd that he liked Season of the Witch (which was absolutely horrible, special effects aside); Black Death was a gritty medieval horror but nothing about it was historic, except for the plague which also named the movie...I actually liked it for the ambience.  I liked Scott's RH too...again, nothing to do with historicity and everything to do with watching a good movie.

My favorite RH is the Kevin Costner one...that in itself would probably get me drummed right on out of a medieval society if I actually believed any of it.  Who is to say that one or the other has the right of it when they can't even prove he actually existed?  As far as I was concerned, Scott's RH had most of the principal characters, and I didn't mind the changing of the backstory (instead of being noble-born he's a commoner, but that's fitting) and I thought the setpiece battles were pretty good...altho you could tell Oscar Isaac had never really ridden before- at least not ride and wield a sword but hey, its a movie.

I liked A Knight's Tale too...I've seen it a few times, I like the jousting scenes, and I'm a big James Purefoy fan.

[Sir Edward]

To me, the definitive Robin Hood was the old '80s "Robin of Sherwood" series from the BBC.

[Sir William]

Nostalgic to watch now, isn't it?  It is rare that I find a show that I loved as a kid to still have that 'hold' over me...having never seen it, Sir Edward, I couldn't attest to that but if you still love it, it gives it merit in my eyes.