Posts Tagged ‘1800s’

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Genres: Drama | Romance | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Clark Gable | Vivien Leigh | Leslie Howard | Olivia de Havilland | Thomas Mitchell
Directors:
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Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Genres: Adventure | Animation | Family
Countries: USA
Actors: Matt Damon | James Cromwell | Daniel Studi | Chopper Bernet | Jeff LeBeau | John Rubano | Richard McGonagle | Matt Levin | Adam Paul | Robert Cait | Charles Napier | Meredith Wells | Zahn McClarnon | Michael Horse | Donald Fullilove
Directors: Kelly Asbury
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As a wild stallion travels across the frontiers of the Old West, he befriends a young human and finds true love with a mare.

Vanity Fair (2004)

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Genres: Drama | Romance
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Gabriel Byrne | Angelica Mandy | Roger Lloyd-Pack | Ruth Sheen | Kate Fleetwood | Reese Witherspoon | Lillete Dubey | Romola Garai | Tony Maudsley | Deborah Findlay | John Franklyn-Robbins | Paul Bazely | Rhys Ifans | Jonathan Rhys Meyers | Charlie Beall
Directors: Mira Nair
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The British Empire flowers; exotic India colors English imaginations. Becky Sharp, the orphaned daughter of a painter and a singer, leaves a home for girls to be a governess, armed with pluck, a keen wit, good looks, fluent French, and an eye for social advancement. Society tries its best to keep her from climbing. An episodic narrative follows her for 20 years, through marriage, Napoleonic wars, a child, loyalty to a school friend, the vicissitudes of the family whose daughters she instructed, and attention from a bored marquess who collected her father’s paintings. Honesty tempers her schemes. No aristocrat she, nor bourgeois, just spirited, intelligent, and irrepressible.

The Elephant Man (1980)

Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Genres: Biography | Drama
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Anthony Hopkins | John Hurt | Anne Bancroft | John Gielgud | Wendy Hiller | Freddie Jones | Michael Elphick | Hannah Gordon | Helen Ryan | John Standing | Dexter Fletcher | Lesley Dunlop | Phoebe Nicholls | Pat Gorman | Claire Davenport
Directors: David Lynch
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Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves, Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a side-show freak.

Murder by Decree (1979)

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
Genres: Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Countries: Canada | UK
Actors: Christopher Plummer | James Mason | David Hemmings | Susan Clark | Anthony Quayle | John Gielgud | Frank Finlay | Donald Sutherland | Geneviève Bujold | Chris Wiggins | Tedde Moore | Peter Jonfield | Roy Lansford | Catherine Kessler | Ron Pember
Directors: Bob Clark
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Sherlock Holmes is drawn into the case of Jack the Ripper who is killing prostitutes in London’s East End. Assisted by Dr. Watson, and using information provided by a renowned psychic, Robert Lees, Holmes finds that the murders may have its roots in a Royal indiscretion and that a cover-up is being managed by politicians at the highest level, all of whom happen to be Masons. Homes races to save the life of Annie Crook who has been forcibly incarcerated in an insane asylum and that of her friend Mary Kelly, in whom she has entrusted her secret.

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure
Countries: UK | USA
Actors:
Directors:
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” The Man Who Would Be King” is about two ambitious ex-soldiers stationed in India who set out to become the rulers of an entire country. After finishing their tour of duty in India, Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan have decided that India is “too small for the likes of them,” so they decide to bribe a local ruler and extort money from him, in order to buy twenty Martini rifles, which they will use to take over villages in Kafristan. They face many challenges and perils along the way, including difficult terrain, hostile natives, freezing temperatures, and an avalanche high in the mountains. They eventually come to a small village, Urheb, where they meet Ootah and Billy Fish, an Indian who speaks English; he then becomes their translator. They then train the natives of this village to use the rifles, and soon conquer village after village. During a battle, Daniel is struck by an arrow that seemingly sticks out of his chest. The ignorant natives believe that he must be a God for not having died, and fall down and begin worshiping him. Daniel and Peachy decide that it would be easier for a “God ” to take over the country, so they pretend that Daniel is a god, the son of Alexander the Great who has returned after 2200 years to again rule Kafristan. The entire country celebrated the return of their new ruler, the Son of Segunda (”Alexander”). As a token of their admiration, the holiest of holy men gives Daniel all of the gold and riches left by Alexander in 328 B.C. It is enough to make them the richest men in the world . . . All goes well until Daniel’s ego and greed gets the best of him. He asks Peachy to bow when he walks in front of him. He later tells Peachy that he has decided to stay, and now believes that he is the son of Alexander ( ‘in spirit, anyways”), and that to fulfill his destiny, he will marry Roxanne, like his “father” Alexander did before him. The Kafiri’s believe that a mortal cannot marry a God, but Daniel goes ahead anyway. Peachy was set to leave with his share of the treasure, but Daniel convinced him to stay ” for old time’s sake” for the wedding. At the ceremony, Roxanne, believing that she would soon die, bites Daniel, drawing blood. The entire crowd realizes that since Danny is bleeding, that he is a man, not a God, and that he has been deceiving them the entire time. Peachy grabs Daniel and they run off with their twenty soldiers, shooting at the crowd of monks who set out to kill them. They are eventually captured, and Daniel is forced to walk out on a rope bridge. The monks cut the ropes, and Daniel bravely falls to his death. Peachy is later crucified; when they come to see him the next day, he is still alive, and they say that it is a miracle that he lived and they cut him down. He eventually climbs down into the valley and retrieves Danny’s head, still wearing the crown. He brings it back to Rudyard Kipling, a writer for the Northern Star, as proof that Daniel accomplished his goal, and became the King of Kafristan. Themes developed in the story: 1. ambition 2. friendship 3. taking risks 4. perseverance (not giving up) 5. power 6. honor and dignity

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Monday, November 17th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Russell Crowe | Paul Bettany | James D'Arcy | Edward Woodall | Chris Larkin | Max Pirkis | Jack Randall | Max Benitz | Lee Ingleby | Richard Pates | Robert Pugh | Richard McCabe | Ian Mercer | Tony Dolan | David Threlfall
Directors: Peter Weir
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During the Napoleonic Wars, a British frigate, HMS Surprise, and a much larger French warship, the Acheron, with greater fire power, stalk each other off of the coast of South America. Russell Crowe brings great intensity to the role of Captain Jack Aubrey. Lucky Jack, as he is referred to by his crew, is well regarded by his men, who trust him implicitly, even after the first devastating battle and an apparent personal vendetta against the French captain. While the naval battle sequences are quite fantastic, the film is successful because director Weir chose to build the story to get to know the men who are locked aboard the tight quarters of a small ship and how they interact everyday. The officers and the mates are well-known by the time the final battle comes. Paul Bettany offers a strong performance as the surgeon and naturalist who balances the violence of his chosen life with the quiet demeanor of the scientist. He is the captain’s friend and confidant, the two frequently playing violin and cello duets together. The horrors of the injuries from the war are frequently implied, but vividly depicted in the reactions of the characters.

The Last Samurai (2003)

Monday, November 17th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama | War
Countries: Japan | New Zealand | USA
Actors: Shin Koyamada | Ken Watanabe | Tom Cruise | William Atherton | Chad Lindberg | Ray Godshall Sr. | Billy Connolly | Tony Goldwyn | Masato Harada | Masashi Odate | John Koyama | Timothy Spall | Shichinosuke Nakamura | Togo Igawa | Satoshi Nikaido | Shintaro Wada
Directors: Edward Zwick
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In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by Americans who want lucrative contracts with the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet’s first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren’s courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way, and participates as advisor in Katsumoto’s failed attempt to save the Bushido tradition, but Omura gets repressive laws enacted- he must now choose to honor his loyalty to one of the embittered sides when the conflict returns to the battlefield…

BloodRayne II: Deliverance (2007)

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Genres: Action | Fantasy | Horror | Western
Countries: Canada | Germany
Actors: Natassia Malthe | Zack Ward | Michael Paré | Chris Coppola | Chris Spencer | Brendan Fletcher | Sarah-Jane Redmond | Michael Teigen | Michael Eklund | John Novak | Tyron Leitso | Jodelle Ferland | Mike Dopud | Vincent Gale | John Tench
Directors: Uwe Boll
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It’s a hundred years later, and the dhampir Rayne has arrived in the town of Deliverance, Montana where a group of vampire cowboys have emerged. Led by Billy the Kid, hell-bent on creating is own kingdom, he slaughters townspeople and rounds up children. He spares the life of Chicago Chronicle reported Newton Pyles. Rayne aligns herself with Pat Garret, a member of the long-thought-dead Brimstone society, a dishonest preacher, and a low life named Franson, to stop Billy the Kid and show the world how the West was really won.

Nomad (2005)

Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | War
Countries: France | Kazakhstan
Actors: Kuno Becker | Jay Hernandez | Jason Scott Lee | Doskhan Zholzhaksynov | Ayana Yesmagambetova | Mark Dacascos | Ashir Chokubayev | Zhanas Iskakov | Almaikhan Kenzhebekova | Tungyshbai Dzhamankulov | Erik Zholzhaksynov | Dilnaz Akhmadieva | Termirkhan Tursingaliev | Asylbolat Ismagulov | Sabit Orazbaev
Directors: Sergei Bodrov
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An historical epic set in 18th-century Kazakhstan, where a young man is destined to unite the country’s three warring tribes.