FanFare

[TRAILER] Genghis Khan (John Wayne... no, seriously, they did that) and his 12th-century Mongol horde abduct the daughter (Susan Hayward) of a wicked Tartar. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Dec 12, 2022 - 5 comments

[TRAILER] Civil War soldier John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) develops a relationship with a band of Lakota Indians. Attracted by the simplicity of their lifestyle, he chooses to leave his former life behind to be with them. Having observed him, they give the name Dances With Wolves. Soon he is a welcomed member of the tribe and falls in love with a white woman who has been raised in the tribe. Tragedy results when Union soldiers arrive with designs on the land. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Nov 29, 2022 - 4 comments

[TRAILER] Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) takes power and strips rank from Maximus (Russell Crowe), one of the favored generals of his predecessor and father, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the great stoical philosopher. Maximus is then relegated to fighting to the death in the gladiator arenas. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Nov 29, 2022 - 17 comments

Perseus (Harry Hamlin), son of the Greek god Zeus (Laurence Olivier), grows up on a deserted island. His destiny is to marry Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), who will someday rule the city of Joppa. But as long as the satyr Calibos (Neil McCarthy) -- who uses a giant vulture to kidnap Andromeda's soul every night -- is alive, no one can marry her. Perseus travels to Joppa, where he must defeat Calibos and other mythological monsters to rescue Andromeda. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Nov 22, 2022 - 14 comments

When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall) is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman (Lillian Gish) petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father (Ralph Lewis) and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch (George Siegmann). [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Nov 16, 2022 - 12 comments

The life of southern belle Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) begins on a sprawling plantation, then veers across the history of the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and her tangled love affairs with Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Nov 9, 2022 - 13 comments

Return to The Meridian with New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse's sequel to the most critically hailed epic fantasy of 2020 Black Sun — finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Lambda, and Locus awards. [more inside]
posted by DowBits on Jul 4, 2022 - 1 comment

David Lean's 1965 epic historical romance film adapts the 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak. Russian physician and poet Yuri (Omar Sharif), although married to Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), falls in love with young field nurse Lara (Julie Christie) and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution. Score by Maurice Jarre. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jun 6, 2022 - 7 comments

Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
posted by Omon Ra on Oct 21, 2021 - 179 comments

The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. [more inside]
posted by DowBits on Jul 29, 2021 - 8 comments

An English junior officer in World War I Cairo is able to arrange his being sent to observe the Arabs in their rising against the Ottoman Empire. The British have their reasons for aiding the Arabs. The Arabs have their reasons for rising up against the Ottomans. And the English junior officer has his own reason for going into the desert. "Fun." [more inside]
posted by Fukiyama on May 29, 2021 - 21 comments

Bela Tarr’s seven hour epic of 1990s rural Hungary. Residents of a collapsing collective farm scheme about what to do with a large cash payment. Plans change when they discover that Irimias, a former co-worker who they thought was dead, is coming back to the village. [more inside]
posted by mrcrow on Dec 2, 2019 - 2 comments

During the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on May 7, 2018 - 22 comments

In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, challenging his idea of what it means to be a parent.
posted by ellieBOA on Jan 1, 2017 - 2 comments

A thread to discuss the entire first season of The Expanse, as well as the James S. A. Corey book it's based on: Leviathan Wakes.
posted by zarq on Feb 4, 2016 - 58 comments

CBC's production of Lawrence Hill's acclaimed epic novel begins by introducing 11-year old Aminata Diallo, just as she is stolen from her home in West Africa and forced into slavery. [more inside]
posted by chapps on Jan 25, 2015 - 4 comments