Greetings folks!
For those that haven’t heard, MYTHOI Births: WIGLAF was just released (you can read it here) and it rocks. Jed and James really kicked @$$ on this one. I was so impressed with the awesomeness of the book, that I went back and read Beowulf. And the Bible. All of it. Furthermore, my list today is ten of my favorite historical epics in honor of Wiglaf. This is a cross-media list, so film, books, video games, and anything else are fair game. If the story is epic, and the time period is.… well, historical, it could be on this list. Enjoy!
1) BRAVEHEART: Oh man, BRAVEHEART is intense. The story is gripping, the battles are fierce, and the kilts are plentiful. Oh, and if you don’t cry at the end of the film, you might be heartless.
2) ASSASSIN’S CREED: The only video game on the list, Assassin’s creed takes the game player back to the time of the crusades to go and kill people (as assassins are wont to do). This one might be a bit of a cheat, but man this game is pretty.
3) MONGOL: A great historical piece about the rise of Genghis Khan, the baddest mamma-jamma this side of Sho-nuff.
4) 300: The movie was a ton of fun, but the comic, about 300 Spartans showing the Persians what’s what, was Frank Miller at his best.
5) LAST OF THE MOHICANS: The Cooper book left me a little cold, but I loved the movie.
6) GLADIATOR: This movie had Russell Crowe at his very best, and Ridley Scott was no slouch either behind the camera. What really gets me every time I watch this movie though, is Joaquin Phoenix just going bat-s#!t crazy as Emperor Commodus.
7) THE MISTS OF AVALON: I’m a big fan Aurthurian legend, and THE MISTS OF AVALON was a very different and interesting take on the story. I know Mr. Wolff will make fun, but I still liked it.
CLASH OF THE TITANS: The movie that anyone born in the 1980’s saw a thousand times while in school, CLASH is awesome. They are remaking this movie, and it looks pretty awesome, but I don’t know if anything can stack up to the original.
9) THE ILIAD: The ancient Greek poem about the ten year Trojan War. And a great cautionary tail about what can happen when you chase tail. The movie TROY was good, but was only the reader’s digest version of this epic.
10) ROBIN HOOD: Bandits, politics, corruption, sex, the crusades, ROBIN HOOD has it all. There are many versions of this story, but in my opinion, the best one is the animated Disney version. Oo-da-lolly!
Thanks for tuning in folks, and don’t forget to go check out MYTHOI Births: WIGLAF!