Epic Tuesdays

I have come to the conclusion that my favorite genre of movie is the epic. And, for my money, the best season in which to watch epics is fall. So, I have a tradition of watching one epic movie every week for the final, oh... 19 weeks of the year. Because you can feel fall coming in late August.

I call it "Epic Tuesdays" because, well, Tuesday seems like the least likely day of the week to ever be described as "epic." I like to do it on Friday night. If you choose to go along with it, feel free to watch them whatever day you want.

I recommend, though, that you do it the same night every week. That way you can look forward to it. That's kind of the point of this tradition--when you have movies scheduled ahead of time, you can anticipate them. Make it like an event. It's an interesting change from, "Oh, I don't know... I guess I'll watch this tonight."

Here's the schedule.
Week of: August 19 - The Last Samurai (2003)
August 26 - Far and Away (1992)
September 2 - LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
September 9 - The Patriot (2000)
September 16 - Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
September 23 - Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
September 30 - Braveheart (1995)
October 7 - Gettysburg (1993)
October 14 - Last of the Mohicans (1992)
October 21 - LotR: The Two Towers (2002)
October 28 - Legends of the Fall (1994)
November 4 - Kingdom of Heaven (2005) (Director's Cut highly recommended.)
November 11 - Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
November 18 - The New World (2005)
November 25 - Gladiator (2000)
December 2 - LotR: Return of the King (2003)
December 9 - Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
December 16 - Beh-Hur (1959)
December 23 - Hook (1991)

Every week, I'll post a reaction to the movie after I've watched it.

Oh fall is a great time for watching them!

Have you seen all those movies before or are you including some you haven't seen?

Some of those movies I really like.. and some not so much.

For the Lord of the Rings movies are you going to watch the theatrical versions or extended?

I have seen them all. Though I only saw a few of them for the first time last year.

For LotR, I only have the theatrical versions on blu-ray. And I need my hi-def

OMG! I love every one of those movies!!! There's not a single one I don't like!

I look forward to seeing what you say about all of them, even though you've already seen them all.

I love all those movies! I'm glad you included Far and Away; it's one of my favorites!

 

Also, feel free to recommend other epic movies, maybe I'll use them next year. Others I've used in the past: Dances with Wolves, Master and Commander, O Brother Where Art Thou.

Showing this week:

Miss Spaulding wrote:

Oooh. You included Gettysburg and The Last of the Mohicans.  ...And Master and Commander is literally one of my favorite movies.

Is there a particular time you watch each one? I may join in myself. A couple, I confess, I am not a fan of...*hangs head in shame*...but most of the list is excellent. Great, now you have me brainstorming about suggestions for next time.

I like to watch them on Friday nights, around 7 or 8. You can come over if you want. I try to get my family involved, when possible.

Gettysburg and Mohicans are two of the most beautiful and moving films on the list, IMO. October is probably my favorite month on the schedule.

Hook is fantastic, but the only "epic" on your list is Braveheart

ooohh this looks awesome!!

Being on my list makes them epics

Miss Spaulding wrote:

Maybe...it's because you are epic, Strider.

Great power, great responsibility, etc.

As a person, I don't hold Tom Cruise in very high esteem. But I have a good deal of respect for his work, and the diversity of his resumé. The man is talented, too. Ed Zwick is a solid director with a few of my favorites under his belt.

The Last Samurai seems like it owes a lot to the big-budget epics that came before it, like Dances with Wolves and Braveheart and even LotR (Samurai filmed in New Zealand too). And at some points, it seems like an obvious star vehicle for Cruise.

Spoiler:

You can tell that Cruise and Zwick and company pulled out all the stops to make a great big historical epic, and they succeeded. As a whole, I love it. I love the visuals, I love the music. I love the samurai characters, and the atmosphere of quiet discipline around them. I love the fights and the battles. I love the overarching conflict of the story—the traditional versus the modern... which will win? Does one have to win? The culture differences... the Japanese accepting their shame versus the American refusal to give up. The fact that Japan's modernization is largely driven by one rich man's desire to own the entire country. And the fact that he brought in experts in every field, which included “warriors from America.”

Playing this week:



I'd like to hear your thoughts, too!

And no, I didn't plan on having two Tom Cruise movies in a row, but they both feel like good August movies, and I try to alternate between movies that are action-heavy and those that are not.

I saw Far and Away last weekend; it came on one night. I love this movie! I used to be very interested in immigration and the opening of the West so it's a great historical movie in that right. It's one of the few Cruise movies that I really like. I love the guy that play's Shannon's father; he's so funny while his wife is so stuffy. I read somewhere that Ron Howard watched How the West was Won and was inspired on how to film the Oklahoma west scenes from that movie.

Far and Away seems like something of an oddity to me—an unassuming epic. That sounds like a contradiction, but that's how the movie feels to me. Sure, it's a big film, spanning Ireland and Boston and Oklahoma, with a full recreation of the 1893 Land Run and a running time of 140 minutes! BUT, somehow it doesn't feel like most of the epics I'm accustomed to. Perhaps because of the emphasis on the romantic plot, and that's fine. I'll watch the heck out of any romance movie if it's couched in historical drama, with charismatic lead actors and beautiful cinematography and a rousing musical score. In fact, I have another one of those on the schedule; it's called Legends of the Fall.

Perhaps it is so unassuming because of its tone. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but the humor also doesn't descend into wackiness. It kind of feels like a movie that might come out of the 30's or 40's, which I think is a great compliment. Many of the movies on my schedule seem portentous... this one does not. And yet it also feels like a fair representation of the late 19th or early 20th century immigrant experience—the people who helped build America.

Yes, I'm pretty sure it is the tone that sets it apart from most other epics. Even when Joseph and Shannon are separated and Joseph has given up his dream, the film doesn't sink into some kind of end-of-the-world depression. And that's refreshing, because life does go on, people do get past heartbreaks, and it's always possible to find a new dream if your first one doesn't work out. (That's not the case here, but you know what I mean.)

Spoiler:

It's really a movie about the American Dream. Or, perhaps, what the American Dream used to be.

Showing this week: :bounce: 

I remember the first time I saw The Fellowship of the Ring... nearly exactly eleven years ago. The week before I moved out of town for college for the first time. I bought the dvd without knowing a thing about LotR, just because it was such a big deal. Then I bought the books. Then the soundtrack. Then, whatever other LotR merchandise caught my eye. It's been eleven years and the Flight to the Ford still makes my palms sweat. Gandalf's fall still brings tears to my eyes. The battle at Amon Hen still takes my breath away.

When this movie came out, no one knew what to expect. I distinctly recall seeing the advertisements and thinking “Who's Peter Jackson?” Well, we found out. And we found out that making movies out of Tolkien books was right up his alley. I don't think I can pick a favorite LotR movie, but Fellowship certainly had the biggest impact on me because it was the first. It introduced us to the characters, the visuals, the style, the music... the second and third films were just as great, but the world was no longer new to us. I was working on a movie at the time (for fun) and Peter Jackson's style greatly influenced the way I shot the last couple scenes and the post-production.

Here's something you may not know—I learned it in the midst of writing a paper on LotR for grad school. When facing the Balrog, Gandalf says “I am a servant of the Secret Fire.” The Secret Fire was set in the center of the world by Iluvatar, the creator and god of Tolkien's world. This is described in The Silmarillion, which I haven't read. So, when Gandalf says that line, he's basically saying “I am a servant of God.” The wizards are technically angel-like beings called Maiar in human form. And the Balrog is explicitly described as a demon.

On the whole, Fellowship gives me a special warm and fuzzy feeling, like I'm visiting home from college on a crisp autumn Saturday and I have no worries.

I haven't seen a lot of those movies. But YAY HOOK!

PinkSweetart wrote:

I haven't seen a lot of those movies. But YAY HOOK!

Haha  

Showing this week:



(I hate the intro and outro, but it's the only decent version, sorry.)

Man... The Patriot is probably the bloodiest movie on my schedule. And that's saying something, because Epic Tuesday is saturated with swords and daggers, axes and arrows, and many other means of bodily harm.

This is a departure for the director, Roland Emmerich. Before this, he made Stargate and Independence Day and the ill-received Godzilla remake. I'm glad he made this departure, though, because it's a very good and well-produced film. The cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel (yes, father of Zooey and Emily), does good work. There are shots in The Patriot that could be mistaken for Rembrandt paintings. The battles are really something to see. And the story is a compelling one. Mel Gibson is solid, as usual. Guys like Chris Cooper and Tom Wilkinson elevate every scene they're in. Jason Isaacs... has he ever played a good guy? And it's good to see Heath Ledger. Oh yes, and the French guy... he might be my favorite character. (He was in La Femme Nikita, a very good but violent movie.)

Something about this film seems off to me and it's difficult to describe. But I'll give it a shot. You see, some parts of the movie—the war aspects, mostly—are very honest. Brutally honest. Yes, men used to stand in open fields and shoot at each other. They lost body parts to cannonballs. They would tear each other apart with bayonets and tomahawks. Blood everywhere. Those parts ring true, as some would say. But other parts of the film are... ridiculously idyllic. Almost Disney-like. It doesn't jive with the brutally honest depiction of war... not to me, at least. Also, it bothers me when the African-American “servants” say “we're not slaves, we're freed men.” Come on. Most people had slaves back then. Let's own up to it.

Anywho, there are no films in Epic Tuesday that I dislike. The Patriot remains a very good movie, one that I like to see every couple years.