Saturday, January 15, 2011

Warriors: Part II

Website and trailer here.
Cecilia and Arn
Watched Arn: The Knight Templar the other night, cautiously optimistic as most online reviews negatively referred to it as the truncated/choppy version of a mini-series produced for Swedish viewers. I found it flowed quite well, given that we follow the hero from boyhood to man. Many of the lead actors are unfamiliar to me, but Stellan Skarsgärd and Vincent Perez (as Brother Guilbert) nicely round out the cast. The ending credits revealed some of it was shot in my beloved Scotland.

As the title implies, part of the movie takes place during the Crusades and graphically shows the horror of war in the name of religion and the needless suffering that caused (past, present and future) yet the underlying theme is one of a man bound by love and honor.

12 comments:

  1. And another one for the list. My "to view" list is growing out of hand!

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  2. It looks so good! I wish I already had it here to watch. I don't think I can wait till I get paid again, I'm just going to order it now.

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  3. WOL - and if you have Netflix, this one is in their instant view thingy.

    Lostcitadel - can't wait to compare notes .

    Hermes - I really loved this movie, especially after having paid to see "Season of the Witch" (for which I need brain bleach).

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  4. Since i live in Sweden, I watched this movie as soon as it came out. I liked very much the historical reconstructions, environments and details, but I think that the two main characters (Arn and Cecilia) deserve more expressive actors.
    People who read the book trilogy said the books are much better, and really well and beautifully written.

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  5. Morgaine - I would have loved to have seen the original uncut version. The books sound intriguing too!

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  6. Just discovered your lovely site yesterday.

    Some relative film titles not mentioned elsewhere on this blog include "Black Death" (2010) set in 1348 and starring Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne--still not yet available on Region 1 DVD, "Ironclad" (2011) set in 1215 and starring James Purefoy and Paul Giamatti--no release date yet available, "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005) set in the 12th century and starring Orlando Bloom and Eva Green, "Kristin Lavransdatter" (1995) set in the 14th century and based upon Sigrid Undset's Nobel Prize winning novel trilogy of the same name, and "Hagbard and Signe" (1967) set in Iceland of the sagas.

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  7. rsvp2mee - thank you for stopping by and for the heads up!!! - a few of these I'd not heard of and usually post films as I randomly watch them. I loved Eddie Redmayne in Pillars of the Earth, so will be on the lookout for "Black Death" in particular.

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  8. 1 more film which brought your beautiful capes to mind.....the new Medieval "Red Riding Hood" to be released on March 11th. See the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2514656025/

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  9. rsvp2mee - I think some are calling it Twilight II, but it looks great to me. I'd watch it for Gary Oldman alone:) Thanks for the trailer link!

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  10. Umhmmm.....same Director and similar feel, which is why I didn't cite it previously.....but the red cape flooding like blood over the white snow jogged my appreciate recollection of your own graceful capes!.....and then there were the dark tree limbs against the snow like that indie film clip on this site.....so I submitted to the submission in homage. ;^)

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  11. rsvp2mee - I'm glad for the alert and look forward to swapping reviews with you afterward.

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