|
|
Rating:  - Not a movie. A film crew was taken back in time to capture the events
Coleridge is alleged to have envisioned Kubla Khan in a dream. this is an extraordinary thing that may happen to a gifted artist once in a lifetime and I propose that this movie is John Boorman's Kubla Khan. The whole thing unfolds before your eyes as if you are in a dream. And I don't mean this in a non-real sense. I mean this in the sense that it borders on that place where dream becomes a religious epiphany. This is a very powerful movie. There are images and moments in this movie that will ingrain themselves on you forever. Scenes like Uthur Pendragon (Arthur's father) in full armor clinking wounded through mud and forcing Excalibur into a stone. Or a long shot of two knights battling with maces, or a race through an apple blossom field. And of course there is the lady in the lake and the Round Table itself. Yet through all of this you get the ring of truth around the people and the setting. There are no elaborate sets designed in Hollywood. (Except maybe for Merlin's Lair) Everything feels as if it were filmed right where the legend supposedly happens. This is one of those movies that everyone has to see. But it is not a popcorn movie. Put the kids to bed then wait an hour for the worries of the world to fade then go into it with an open mind.
Rating: - Absolutely love this movie, A often forgotten version of the King Arthur legend
This is by far my favorite version of the King Arthur tale, and is one of the better adaptations of the story in the legend/storytelling perspective. The newer King Arthur movie for 2004 is a supposed re-evaluation of potentially more historic evidence of King arthor, but this is the one that most of us know and I like. The original score to this film is outstanding, and the effects and camera work are great for the time. It follows Arthur from a boy to king by the luck of the sword excaliber, and the rise and fall of his empire. It ads new twist to the legend in that it has his sister as the sourceress that battle Merlin, and he has a son out of an ill-fated meeting with his sister (yeah, thats correct). But the film still blows me away every time i see it, again, just a plain manly man film. Unfortunately it could also be a film rich in Dungeons & Dragon material, but i never did play that game, Just don't overlook this film because of this potential sterotype (no harm intended for those that play D&D). Not really a film a date might like, so rent something else when our with the ladies. Just see this film
Rating: - the best Arthur film ever made
Excalibur usually creates one of two reactions in veiwers. Either they loved it or they hated it. To be honest this is really Merlin's movie. He's the dominant personality and is the most interesting. King Arthur reacts to events rather than making them himself, the actress playing Guinivere was downright homely and the scene where Lancelot runs naked made me laugh but the mood of the film, the way everything is shown in shadow or in an eerie overbrightness, the glorious Wagner music, the since of destiny and doom and the serious performances of each actor make this the best King Arthur movie ever made.
Plus, the scene where Arthur finally rouses himself from a Theoden like stupor and rides out with his knights for one last time while the land suddenly bursts into fruifulness is amazing. I love this movie and whenever it comes on TV I'm there.
Rating: - Old, but great movie
I saw this movie at school last week, and I thought it would be the same old boring King Arthur sroty, but it turned out to be a very entertaining movie, with lots of action and dramatic scenes, and it really sticks to the reality!
That new King Arthur movie released last year (or 2004, I don't remember) is just fiction! But this is a great movie. It doesn't have the coolest special effects, but the story, the cast and the film in general is very good.
Rating: - Essential King Arthur Film
One of the greatest cinematic portrayals of the Arthur legend, "Excalibur" does a magnificent job of synthesizing different features of this diverse legend. It brings together the mysterious Grail story, the myth of the King's healing sword, and the destructive adultery that threatens the kingdom's unity pretty much seamlessly. If you are going to watch three classic Arthurian films, pick this one, along with the musical romanticism of "Camelot" and the refreshing humor of Monty Python. The three pretty much provide a comprehensive triangle of approaches. All three films are true, each in its own way, to Thomas Malory and the medieval Arthurian legend.
Be ready for the movie's stylized approach. The knights are never without their armor. The film essentially fetishizes metal. Magicians and Knights alike speak throughout in a rather stilted way, and the violence is made sexier and more appealing than I think it needs to be. There is almost a militaristic aesthetic here, though that's not untrue to the very male focus of the medieval legend. The Wagnerian sound track of course underscores the instability of this aesthetic, which at times almost verges on a Third-Reich glorification of manliness.
As a counterbalance to all that, I'll just say that my favorite performance in this film is the young, exceedingly talented and wonderfully sexy Helen Mirren as Mordred's mother, Morgana.
|
|