Agora (2009)

Agora is about Hypatia of Alexandria.  Historically, she was a learned woman who gave advice to Orestes, the Roman governor of Alexandria.  She was either beaten to death or flayed alive by a mob of angry Christians.  Unfortunately, none of her works have survived.  The movie itself is beautiful to look at.  The costumes and scenery are gorgeous.  The plot is something I would describe as historical-ish.  We don't really know a lot about Hypatia, so a lot of embellishing had to be done to create a complete character.  I really enjoyed this movie, and it gives me a break from the tired Christian Martyr narrative.

Angels in America

Check out Hadrian's Villa.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Continuing with our not-quite-period reviews, Roman Holiday has lots of great scenery, full of Roman ruins.  It also counts as the 1950s, but that's skipping way ahead.  The costumes are gorgeous and Audrey Hepburn manages to keep a character that could be cloying very like-able.  It is available to stream on Netflix.

28 Days Later

Again, I'm just posting this for the statue. :)

Funny Face (movie - 1957)

Check out The Winged Victory at 8:19.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Jason and the Argonauts is a lot of fun.  Especially if you like creepy claymation.  It does have some problems though.  It runs on a bit too long.  By the time they were at Colchys I just wanted them to grab the fleece and go.  I also felt like the Hercules/Hylas relationship was handled sort of sloppily.  I understand why they didn't stick to the mythology, but I think they could have come up with something better than, "they threw a Frisbee together and now they are best friends".  (OK, so technically it was a discus, but still...)  Also, some Greek soldiers in the beginning are scene wearing theatrically Roman armor.

Olympia (1938)

This is a documentary about the 1936 Olympics, but the first few minutes is all Greek statues and wandering around the Acropolis.

Some Spartacus for Fun!

Ben Hur (1907)

This movie is more interesting as a piece of history than it is a film about history.  It's only ten minutes and worth having a look.

Cleopatra (1963) Revisted

This movie is still great to look at.

Time Bandits (1981)

Part of this movie takes place in ancient Greece.  It's a bit cartoon-y and the movie in general is really weird, but definitely worth watching.  The costumes are not particularly accurate, but I don't believe they are trying to be.

Prince of Egypt Revisited

The monuments in this movie are ridiculously over sized.

Death On The Nile (1978)

This one is set in the 1920s, but Ancient Egypt is kind of underepresented on this blog, and this movie has some great shots of monuments.  It also happens to be very entertaining and funny in places, with some really great actors.

True Lies

To add to my list of things that aren't really historic, True Lies has some great reproductions of Assyrian art.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any good clips.  Also, I'm thinking about cross posting here and tumblr.

Ozymandias vs Rorschach and Nite Owl II

Posting this for the scenery.

I know it's not historic, but it has some nice shots of ruins.

I think I might start posting clips and things in between reviews.....

Constantine and the Cross (1962)

This movie was OK.  It's difficult to find a hard copy, but is readily available on YouTube.  It focuses mostly on the events leading up to Constantine having his famous vision and winning the battle that, in the film, is kind of anti-climactic.  A lot of the plot points, like Christians stubbornly refusing to renounce Jesus in the face of terrible death, are starting to feel pretty stale to me.  But, if you really love sword and sandal stuff, this one might be worth a look.

Sebastiane (1976)

This movie is soft core gay porn.  This makes it my new favorite.  Sebastiane is a Roman Soldier who converts to Christianity and gets sent off to the boondocks with six other soldiers as punishment.  They wrestle, bath, run around naked and play Frisbee.  Sebastiane won't follow any orders and get punished all the time.  When his friend asks him why he acts this way, he tells him he likes getting beat up and wants to die.  For Jesus.  One thing I admire about this movie is it flat out states what a lot of these early Christian films dance around, that the main characters are extreme masochists with death wishes.  If you are intrigued by any of this, it is streaming on Netflix.