King Arthur. Swords! Magic! Zeppelin!

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:40 pm

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD

One day someone will make a King Arthur Movie worthy of Excalibur. Today is not that day.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:47 pm

Will never happen.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:43 pm

I wonder why Eric Bana isn't a bigger star. I mean, the guy was amazing in Chopper.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:59 pm

Hmmm, I dunno. Many years ago I read a lot of different takes on the Arthur legend. This doesn't look like it's up to any of them, but we'll see how the reviews look.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 6:25 pm

Jude Law? Does he owe someone money?

Arthur is not Michael Bay. Arthur is T.H. White.

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:38 pm

Guy Ritchie is no Michael Bay, thats for sure. I also understand that they are making a action adventure film and not a historical treatise, so Im willing to give it chance.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:43 pm

Jax Teller is English isn't he?

He sounds like..Jax Teller.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:07 am

I tend to like most things Guy Ritchie does, and thought his Sherlock Holmes films were a blast. This looks like it might be some mindless fun in that same vein.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:14 pm

Saw the trailer on TV last night which made no sense. Still have no idea what the movie is about. Looks like they just made a fantasy/action fairy tale for the sake of fancy sets and SFX, and used just enough existing lore to call it King Arthur. I predict a big-budget flop.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:30 pm

Skinypupy wrote:I tend to like most things Guy Ritchie does, and thought his Sherlock Holmes films were a blast. This looks like it might be some mindless fun in that same vein.

That's my take as well.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:13 pm

Redfive wrote:Jax Teller is English isn't he?

He sounds like..Jax Teller.

It will be a treat to hear him calling a vote at the Round Table for a visit from Mr. Mayhem.

Default · Post by **Default** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:56 am

Severely disappointed in the dearth of lighter-than-air vehicles.

Hardly worth seeing, imho.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 1:16 pm

I also was looking for dirigibles in the trailer.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 1:22 pm

It's no Three Musketeers.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:45 pm

Was watching the DC show Legends of Tomorrow last night with my son and they went back in time to a fictitious Camelot. When my son asked what was Camelot and who was Merlin, I realized I need to educate him. I don't think he's ready for Excalibur yet and he would never watch Sword in the Stone.

So what are some good King Arthur movies for a teen?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:53 pm

There's a 2008 series, Merlin. I have not seen it, so I can not vouch for it. Wiki suggests that it's Smallville for the Arthur set. It's available on Netflix.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:57 pm

Jag wrote:Was watching the DC show Legends of Tomorrow last night with my son and they went back in time to a fictitious Camelot. When my son asked what was Camelot and who was Merlin, I realized I need to educate him. I don't think he's ready for Excalibur yet and he would never watch Sword in the Stone.

So what are some good King Arthur movies for a teen?

Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Seriously.

Of course my parents actually took me to Excalibur when it came out. (They had no idea about That Scene.) I was twelve, and it was awesome.

For books, though, I'm all about T.H. White's The Once and Future King. Disney's Sword in the Stone took just the first quarter of the novel and made it a kid's show, but most of it is so so much more than that.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:57 pm

Jag wrote:Was watching the DC show Legends of Tomorrow last night with my son and they went back in time to a fictitious Camelot. When my son asked what was Camelot and who was Merlin, I realized I need to educate him. I don't think he's ready for Excalibur yet and he would never watch Sword in the Stone.

So what are some good King Arthur movies for a teen?

Give him The Once and Future King to read?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:20 pm

Of course T.H. white is putting a modern stylistic and satiric spin on the story, so it's not a pure introduction to the basic myths. The classic source for that would be Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, which at its full length would not be the most enjoyable read for a teen. Maybe just use excerpts from that? Most editions will probably make it easy to find the most important parts.

I just did a cursory search and didn't find a good straight-up retelling of the Arthur myths for a teenage reader. (There's a lot of stuff for younger kids and a number of YA re-imaginings.)

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:54 pm

TheMix wrote:
Jag wrote:Was watching the DC show Legends of Tomorrow last night with my son and they went back in time to a fictitious Camelot. When my son asked what was Camelot and who was Merlin, I realized I need to educate him. I don't think he's ready for Excalibur yet and he would never watch Sword in the Stone.

So what are some good King Arthur movies for a teen?
Give him The Once and Future King to read?

Bingo!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:58 pm

I think I saw Excalibur at age 11 or so and I was a huge Arthur fanatic for many many years.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:38 pm

I honestly don't think he'll understand any of Excalibur and I have to be careful with the books I suggest because he reads, but he's not an avid reader. I'm feeding him a steady diet of light YA fantasy which he seems to like well enough, but he's not ready for anything stronger yet.

Combustible Lemur · Post by **Combustible Lemur** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 12:23 am

The clive owen reimagining is fun, first knight is more a fairy tale rendition and has Connery and lots of fights, does he like old musicals? Camelot

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 12:59 am

I like the cast. Could be a fun action movie.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Sun May 14, 2017 12:11 am

gilraen wrote:I predict a big-budget flop.

Well, I called it...

Box-Office Bomb: 'King Arthur' Limps Toward $14M Debut Behind 'Snatched'

Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is a flop of epic proportions. The movie opened to an estimated $5.3 million Friday from 3,702 locations for a projected $14.5 million weekend after costing $175 million to make before a major marketing spend. It also appears to be falling on its sword overseas, where it only grossed $6.8 million on Friday from 51 markets for an early three-day foreign total of $11.6 million. In China, it opened to a mere $1.8 million to place No. 3.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun May 14, 2017 12:31 am

big ouchie

em2nought · Post by **em2nought** » Sun May 14, 2017 2:26 am

I prefer the musical, C'est Moi!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc5NPVWd1CI

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Sun May 14, 2017 9:58 am

The release timing probably wasnt the best as it is up against GOTG 2 early in its run. That being said maybe there just isn't a big call for Arthurian fantasy these days.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Sun May 14, 2017 10:31 am

I'm a big fan of Arthurian legend and Excalibur is my favorite movie. However, I have no interest in this film. It's like King Arthur for the Fast and Furious generation.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Sun May 14, 2017 12:29 pm

Jag wrote:Was watching the DC show Legends of Tomorrow last night with my son and they went back in time to a fictitious Camelot. When my son asked what was Camelot and who was Merlin, I realized I need to educate him. I don't think he's ready for Excalibur yet and he would never watch Sword in the Stone.

So what are some good King Arthur movies for a teen?

Your best bet would likely be The Resistance: Avalon game, which provides a vastly superior and more entertaining means of learning the fundamentals of Arthurian legend than most books and movies. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's basically a social deduction game that plays like an Arthurian version of Mafia/Werewolf, but without the need of a moderator.

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Sun May 14, 2017 7:49 pm

gilraen wrote:Saw the trailer on TV last night which made no sense. Still have no idea what the movie is about. Looks like they just made a fantasy/action fairy tale for the sake of fancy sets and SFX, and used just enough existing lore to call it King Arthur. I predict a big-budget flop.

I liked the King Arthur story in general, I liked the Disney cartoon, and love Excalibur, but I got the same impression you did from the trailers and such.

What's this about and why should I care? I just didn't see anything worthwhile in all their lead up to the movie. If they were banking on "It's King Arthur, what more do you need!" then they screwed up. I've seen Excalibur, what does this movie bring to the table? That's what they should have promoted, assuming this movie brings anything to the table.

One other thing, and this is just a personal preference, is that I think Excalibur did the right thing in making the story beautiful to look at. Boorman could do visuals and he was peaking with Excalibur. The trailer for this new King Arthur movie has a standard post-LOTR action fantasy look, it couldn't make this movie look more generic if it tried. That kills a lot of the potential joy right there.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Sun May 14, 2017 8:18 pm

I always lived how Boorman had these big battles with armies of knights fighting each other when there was never more than a handful of people on the screen at once. He certainly knew how to make more from less.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Mon May 15, 2017 9:20 am

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Your best bet would likely be The Resistance: Avalon game, which provides a vastly superior and more entertaining means of learning the fundamentals of Arthurian legend than most books and movies.

Other than the names of a few people in the stories and the general who is good/bad, how does Avalon teach about the Arthurian legends? Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game for people that like social deduction, I just don't know that there's more than the bare minimum of educational value in the game.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon May 15, 2017 10:18 am

Was having this discussion with some friends about good Arthurian movies, and it was amazing how hard it was to come up with a recommendation other than Excalibur. The second recommendation was Camelot, followed by The Sword in the Stone. I have vague memories of both Knights of the Round Table (1953) and Prince Valiant (1954) but not enough to recommend.

Oh, and as far as games? I would totally recommend Shadows Over Camelot before The Resistance:Avalon. Very fun co-op game that you can play with a traitor thrown in.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon May 15, 2017 10:38 am

I had always been told that Le Morte d'Arthur was essential reading for Arthurian legend, but I skipped that and went straight to a Cliff's Notes style source.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon May 15, 2017 10:54 am

Morte D'Arthur is pretty out there. Lots and lots of killing with heroes chopping down dozens of knights in a battle. I read it in college and it was no t what I was expecting.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon May 15, 2017 10:58 am

You wanted more Zeppelins?

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Mon May 15, 2017 11:00 am

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:
Anonymous Bosch wrote: Your best bet would likely be The Resistance: Avalon game, which provides a vastly superior and more entertaining means of learning the fundamentals of Arthurian legend than most books and movies.
Other than the names of a few people in the stories and the general who is good/bad, how does Avalon teach about the Arthurian legends? Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game for people that like social deduction, I just don't know that there's more than the bare minimum of educational value in the game.

I wasn't suggesting it as a comprehensive treatise on the subject. But for a teen completely unfamiliar with the subject, I think the game provides an entertaining and engaging introduction to many of the fundamental characters and tropes of the tale. Come to think of it though, I do think hentzau's suggestion of Shadows over Camelot may be even better. The point being though, with the Excalibur movie out of the question, I think games may offer a more approachable way of introducing the basics of the tale to a teen.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon May 15, 2017 11:02 am

hepcat wrote:You wanted more Zeppelins?

Isgrimnur wrote:It's no Three Musketeers.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon May 15, 2017 11:14 am

It made Tarantino's list of top 10 movies of 2012!

The A.V. Club also was puzzled, but smartly noted that QT “probably has some very long, arcane explanation as to why” he chose “Musketeers.” That’s a good bet considering that Tarantino probably has a very long, arcane explanation as to why he chose to eat lentil soup for lunch today.