Antiquity on Screen – The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

Sidequest 25 – Ben and Victor Review Troy: The Director’s Cut

Victor returns to the podcast to discuss 2004’s Troy. But not just Troy. No, we skip the theatrical release version and go straight into the 196 minute (not a typo) director’s cut. Why did we do this? Good question.

Anyway, we take some time to figure out what went wrong with this movie, what good parts it had and, of course, we talk about Deep Blue Sea (there’s a connection here, trust me). We also point out that the ending sequence for the Trojans in this movie was really, really idiotic. Most important, we raise a significant issue that should be studied by film historians – does throwing in an exploding volcano make a movie better? Listen and find out.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Sidequest 24 – Antiquity on Screen Part II: Those About to Die and The Odyssey with Monica Cyrino

Our friend Monica Cyrino returned to the podcast to discuss Those About to Die and the upcoming Christopher Nolan film, The Odyssey. Those About to Die is a Peacock series which is set in the Flavian dynasty. It’s an ambitious project that has some good parts and some not so good parts. If we were to give it one of our movie review ratings, I’d give it a Probus. It is worth watching as there are some good moments that are historically accurate. There are some other moments that are … not.

We also get into the futures game and play a version of conference realignment talk by discussing what shape The Odyssey may take. It’s an ambitious project and, to be honest, I’m not sure I see a movie in the source material absent extensive editing and rewrites. And, if that happens, I’m certain the notoriously happy OnlineClassics folks will react with calm, quiet reflection. Narrator: They won’t.

We conclude the podcast by talking about a few projects that Dr. Cyrino is working on which I highly recommend.

Your reading assignment is Judy Dench’s Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent.

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Sidequest 19 – Ben and Victor Review Two Terrible Movies Set in Roman Britain

First, apologies for my audio at times in the podcast. I’m not sure what happened. Second, apologies for the two movies we’re about to review. While the Centurion squandered a chance to be good, The Last Legion is just awful. As we discuss these movies, we reference the brilliant Black Zeus X and then try to figure out what it is that Hollywood gets wrong when it makes movies “based on” Antiquity. We also discuss how great actors are constantly wasted in these movies and resurrect the term “McNulty Subplot“.

Our next movie review episode will combine Troy and Helen of Troy.

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Sidequest 13 – Ben and Victor Review The Eagle

For our second movie review, Victor stops by to talk with me about the 2011 film The Eagle. While this movie got overlooked when it was released, it’s a pretty darned enjoyable flick that we highly recommend. There are some predictable accuracy issues, but The Eagle gets a lot of the Roman fighting techniques correct. That’s not common when it comes to Hollywood and is just one reason this movie should be appreciated.

From a plot perspective, The Eagle follows Marcus Flavius Aquila who, guided by his slave Esca, goes on a quest to find the Eagle of the 9th Legion that Marcus’ father lost in battle. Co-starring Donald Sutherland, this is an entertaining movie about one man’s quest to restore his family’s lost honor. On the way, Marcus learns that the so-called “barbarians” aren’t that different from the “civilized” Romans. This leads us into a sidequest about how movies, particularly Westerns, portray the clash of “civilization” and the “savages” in the frontier. Clocking in at just under two hours, there’s no reason not to give this movie a chance.

The Eagle is based on a book that you can order here.

On the opening theme music, for now it’s from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/kevin-macleod/folk-round
License code: SHTJJRTVTRXQAID1

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Sidequest 9 – Antiquity on Screen with Dr. Monica Cyrino

Dr. Monica Cyrino, a consultant for many TV and film projects, stopped by to talk about the opportunities streaming services created for stories from Antiquity. We cover a host of movies and TV shows including Troy: Fall of a City, STARZ’ Spartacus (which is an insanely over-the-top show), Those About to Die and a few gladiator films (I bet you can guess which ones we’re talking about). Somewhat unexpectedly, we talk a lot about Ridley Scott movies which isn’t a bad thing, I just didn’t see that coming.

We also cover the negatives associated with more Antiquity content which, in the case of Troy, turned out to be racist online trolls. It’s unfortunate that those trolls had such a negative effect on what is a very good show that I came across on Netflix. The fact that a Black person was cast as Achilles shouldn’t bother anyone and if you’re going to spend your efforts trolling the show on the internet, maybe you need to get a hobby.

But enough about Antiquity. Dr. Cyrino consulted on one of the best television shows ever made, Better Call Saul. During our interview, she discusses how she got involved in the first episode and what her work consisted of. It turns out there’s a reason behind Chuck McGill’s choice of Latin pronunciation.

If you want to read some of Dr. Cyrino’s work, check out her book “Big Screen Rome“.

On the opening theme music, for now it’s from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/kevin-macleod/folk-round
License code: SHTJJRTVTRXQAID1

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Classical Antiquity Sidequest 6 – Ben and Victor Review 300

In our first movie review episode, our old friend Victor Lamas stops by to give us his thoughts on the Zack Snyder epic 300. It takes us a while to say “This is Sparta!” but we get there. Eventually.

During the review, we cover a lot of topics in this review including the miscasting of Dominic West (Jimmy McNulty from The Wire) as Theron as opposed to a soldier, coin the term “McNulty Subplot”, cover what the film got right and scratch our heads over why Hollywood feels the need to add ahistorical events to what are already awesome stories. We (read Victor) also provide a good historical backdrop on why the Persians and Spartans were fighting in the first place. Another topic we cover is how Zack Snyder did the Persians dirty in this movie – the portrayal of the Persians was just awful (albeit not as bad as in the sequel which is just flaming garbage). Seriously, Snyder dropped the ball here and could’ve been much less jingoistic in his portrayal of the Spartans compared to the Persians. This is especially true given that the Spartans were no lovers of freedom which we fully discuss.

If you want to read more about the 300 and The Battle of Thermopylae, read Gates of Fire and Herodotus’ account of it. Those are very, very good.

On the opening theme music, for now it’s from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/kevin-macleod/folk-round
License code: SHTJJRTVTRXQAID1

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.