Enjoyable AOS films
First off, sorry if I'm making too many entires. Just tell me to stop. I just have a ridiculous amount of thoughts and questions and interests going through my head at the moment. :)
As I did with books, I'm wondering about movie recommendations!
The thing with AOS movies seems to be, to me, that either you get a good one that hits the spot exactly (M&C, Hornblower series, Sharpe series) or you get one that is a bit dated but still enjoyable (The Bounty, 1984) or you get one that's dated and unbearable (Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N., 1951 - and sorry to anyone who might like it, I found it awful. XD) and lastly you get those that are sort of right but deviate from the subject a little, like Vanity Fair, 2004 or Pirates of the Caribbean. I think Mary Bryant, 2005, falls under this category as well because it's not so much a story ABOUT war, as about people who happen to be in army and navy and got sent to Australia (poor bastards.) Or "Pride&Prejudice" (any version) would probably JUST ABOUT belong, but I guess it's more period than about the army and navy of that period. There's a fine line there, I think, and you can't watch everything that's set around 1800. (I suppose you can but you'd be there all year... XD)
I'd be interested in seeing if you agree with my specifications or if you think I missed something.
Soo... can anybody recommend any more films that fall under the three GOOD categories? Ideally the first. :)
So far we have: (I've commented on the ones I know)
Pippi in the South Seas, 1948 - This is from the Pippi Longstocking series and it's actually a kid's film, but I HAD to include it because it's always given me a wonderful feeling of being at sea. It is dated, but it's Swedish, so it's not that cheesy, and very imaginative, as Astrid Lindgren tends to be. I'd love to find it again but it seems out of print...
Billy Budd, 1962
Damn the Defiant!, 1962
Carry on Jack, 1963
The Duellists, 1977
The Bounty, 1984 - a lot of seafaring going on, yay! Nice tensions between the characters. Maybe a LITTLE Hollywood, but let's not be too picky. Anthons Hopkins and Mel Gibson.
Shaka Zulu, 1987 - IMHO not dated, very enjoyable, a lot of Africa rather than ships but you do get your "British society and uniforms" fix, lovely Aubreyad-esque dynamics between characters. Christopher Lee!!!
Sharpe TV series - 1992 - 2008 - What do I actually need to say about Sharpe? Sean Bean.
Pride and Prejudice TV series, 1995 - with the guy from Bridget Jones. *ducks*
Hornblower TV series, 1998 - 2003 - We all know this. We all love this. <3 I will say though, that if Sharpe had a shoestring budget, Hornblower was walking barefoot. But I guess ships are more expensive than shipping a filmcrew to Estonia? Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay.
Longitude, 2000
Pirates of the Caribbean, 2003 - 2011 - historically inaccurate as hell, but the FEELING gets across and that's what matters - to me, anyway. I can put the historical bits to right in my own head. Johnny Depp, Jack Davenport, Keira Knightley, Mickey Mouse...
Master & Commander, 2003 - awful movie, wouldn't recommend it to anyone. ;) Paul Bettany and Russel Crowe doing their best at climbing into squirrels.
Vanity Fair, 2004 - more of a period film than Napoleonic specifically, and makes a social point and so wouldn't necessarily HAVE to be set in the period it's set in, but still hit the spot for me ... Rhys Ifans.
Mary Bryant, 2005 - not much at sea, not much at war, but a lot of officers and a lot of issues and sex. Jack Davenport.
Pride and Prejudice, 2005 - Keira Knightley.
Any more??
As I did with books, I'm wondering about movie recommendations!
The thing with AOS movies seems to be, to me, that either you get a good one that hits the spot exactly (M&C, Hornblower series, Sharpe series) or you get one that is a bit dated but still enjoyable (The Bounty, 1984) or you get one that's dated and unbearable (Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N., 1951 - and sorry to anyone who might like it, I found it awful. XD) and lastly you get those that are sort of right but deviate from the subject a little, like Vanity Fair, 2004 or Pirates of the Caribbean. I think Mary Bryant, 2005, falls under this category as well because it's not so much a story ABOUT war, as about people who happen to be in army and navy and got sent to Australia (poor bastards.) Or "Pride&Prejudice" (any version) would probably JUST ABOUT belong, but I guess it's more period than about the army and navy of that period. There's a fine line there, I think, and you can't watch everything that's set around 1800. (I suppose you can but you'd be there all year... XD)
I'd be interested in seeing if you agree with my specifications or if you think I missed something.
Soo... can anybody recommend any more films that fall under the three GOOD categories? Ideally the first. :)
So far we have: (I've commented on the ones I know)
Pippi in the South Seas, 1948 - This is from the Pippi Longstocking series and it's actually a kid's film, but I HAD to include it because it's always given me a wonderful feeling of being at sea. It is dated, but it's Swedish, so it's not that cheesy, and very imaginative, as Astrid Lindgren tends to be. I'd love to find it again but it seems out of print...
Billy Budd, 1962
Damn the Defiant!, 1962
Carry on Jack, 1963
The Duellists, 1977
The Bounty, 1984 - a lot of seafaring going on, yay! Nice tensions between the characters. Maybe a LITTLE Hollywood, but let's not be too picky. Anthons Hopkins and Mel Gibson.
Shaka Zulu, 1987 - IMHO not dated, very enjoyable, a lot of Africa rather than ships but you do get your "British society and uniforms" fix, lovely Aubreyad-esque dynamics between characters. Christopher Lee!!!
Sharpe TV series - 1992 - 2008 - What do I actually need to say about Sharpe? Sean Bean.
Pride and Prejudice TV series, 1995 - with the guy from Bridget Jones. *ducks*
Hornblower TV series, 1998 - 2003 - We all know this. We all love this. <3 I will say though, that if Sharpe had a shoestring budget, Hornblower was walking barefoot. But I guess ships are more expensive than shipping a filmcrew to Estonia? Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay.
Longitude, 2000
Pirates of the Caribbean, 2003 - 2011 - historically inaccurate as hell, but the FEELING gets across and that's what matters - to me, anyway. I can put the historical bits to right in my own head. Johnny Depp, Jack Davenport, Keira Knightley, Mickey Mouse...
Master & Commander, 2003 - awful movie, wouldn't recommend it to anyone. ;) Paul Bettany and Russel Crowe doing their best at climbing into squirrels.
Vanity Fair, 2004 - more of a period film than Napoleonic specifically, and makes a social point and so wouldn't necessarily HAVE to be set in the period it's set in, but still hit the spot for me ... Rhys Ifans.
Mary Bryant, 2005 - not much at sea, not much at war, but a lot of officers and a lot of issues and sex. Jack Davenport.
Pride and Prejudice, 2005 - Keira Knightley.
Any more??