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.