Best greek-themed movie

[Kyriakos]

In recent years there have been some major movies about the ancient Greek world. Which of them appealed more to you, and why?

Personally i liked both Alexander and 300, but not Troy which was a ludicrous amalgam of false plots, and had little to do with the original Iliad.

The battles were better in 300, which had an expressionistic feel, and although the dialogue was poor (to non-existant) the feel of the movie made up for that in my view.

The last contestant is an "other" option. Kings of Mykonos is some new movie out these days, made by a greek-australian director i think

 

[Dudemeister]

It was lovely. I laughed so much at the depiction of the little cultural oddities of greeks.

 

[Kyriakos]

Sadly such movies show stereotypes, and not the reality, although i suspect that greek-americans have become too much of their own thing by now.

 

[Mango Elephant]

Greek-Americans arn't any different than other americans, they just pretend to be different so they can say 'You know that guy Hercules? Yeah, my ancestors invented him. OWNED!'. Same thing with Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans, and they all get on my nerves like nothing else can.

Oh, and I like 300.

 

[Lillefix]

I see Clash of the Titans isn't up there. Probably just as well. Kraken...

 

[Kyriakos]

Hm i just watched the trailer of Clash of the Titans. It doesnt look very greek.

 

[Lillefix]

Hm i just watched the trailer of Clash of the Titans. It doesnt look very greek.

If you thought Troy was an unfaithful adaption of the Illiad, then you'll get a heart attack when you see how the story of Perseus and Andromeda is treated.

Hint: The title of the movie...

 

[Traitorfish]

300. Alexander and Troy were both good, and are arguably better films, but both fell short of their intent, while 300, as far as I can, achieves everything which it sets out to. 300 is simply the most complete film, so it gets my vote.

Greek-Americans arn't any different than other americans, they just pretend to be different so they can say 'You know that guy Hercules? Yeah, my ancestors invented him. OWNED!'. Same thing with Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans, and they all get on my nerves like nothing else can.

Because, of course, it's not like any of them actually speak their ancestral languages, observe ethnic customs or adhere to a form of religion particular to their ethnicity. Everyone is exactly the same, unless they look different enough from you, in which case they're not really Americans at all.

 

[Kyriakos]

If you thought Troy was an unfaithful adaption of the Illiad, then you'll get a heart attack when you see how the story of Perseus and Andromeda is treated.

Hint: The title of the movie...

Perseas was a hero, not a titan The Titans were the pre-olympian order, entities like Cronos. And given that Zeus is in the film (at least i think he is) it is pretty much out of the question that they show any real Titans, since then they would have been locked in constant battle against the Olympians

 

[Mango Elephant]

Because, of course, it's not like any of them actually speak their ancestral languages, observe ethnic customs or adhere to a form of religion particular to their ethnicity. Everyone is exactly the same, unless they look different enough from you, in which case they're not really Americans at all.

From my experience they don't speak greek, but are sometimes orthadox. I don't know, they just seem American, not different from any of the rest of us. If their parents were born in Greece, thats one thing, but usualy its quite a few generations back and they adhere to almost none if any Greek customs. As for looking different, uh, Americans look so different from each other that looks don't matter at all when it comes to identifying as an American.

 

[History buff33]

300 is god awful and is the most overrated movie in history. I have watched Troy almost a 100 times. It is my favorite movie EVER. I will NEVER say anything good about that god awful pice of crap called 300. EVER. Troy forever!

 

[Fifty]

So your criticism of Troy is that it is unrealistic, yet you like 300.....................

 

[Lord Baal]

So your criticism of Troy is that it is unrealistic, yet you like 300.....................

This.

The original film The 300 Spartans was fairly decent. The original Clash of the Titans may actually have been worse than the new one. I've never seen Alexander, but I haven't heard many good things. Troy and 300 are awful. At least Troy had Peter O'Toole in his best performance since Lawrence of Arabia, and Eric Bana was good in it as well. 300 just had a new style that I like to refer as "shoutiness." Basically, it's acting like you're Samuel Jackson, without doing it right. Beowulf appeared to do this as well, though I only watched the previews. Oddly, films based in Ancient Greece seem to be less good than similar films based in Ancient Rome. Ben-Hur and Spartacus are pretty good when compared to similar 'Greek' films.

My favourite 'Greek' movie - that I can think of right now - is probably the Australian movie, The Wog Boy, which The Kings of Mykonos is a sequel of. It's set entirely in Australia, and is simply about Greek-Australian culture. It has a plot that is just as ridiculous as many of the others mentioned, but it's a comedy so that's okay. You probably have to be Australian to get it though, as it's clearly more Australian than Greek. I don't hold out much hope for its sequel, which is about fifteen years too late and is just an attempt to cash in on Australia's Underbelly-inspired 'wog revival' that is currently taking place.

 

[Tani Coyote]

300, of course.

...even if I did dislike the fictional touches a bit.

And to the dialogue being poor, you do know quite a bit of it was actual quotes?

"Come home with this shield, or upon it" - traditional Spartan saying to say to one's children or family when they went to war; they would either return from battle dead(upon it), return victorious(with it), or, worst of all, run away from battle and drop their shield to run faster(hence why this isn't in the saying).

There's countless more, but you can find many of them at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconic_phrase

Truly, the Spartans had quite a sense of humor, and while it may seem out of place, the dialogue has strong historical roots.

...that said, some lines do make it sound like a giant right-wing propaganda flick. Like the "freedom isn't free at all." Also the fact the Europeans are depicted as civil and democratic(blatantly false in Sparta's case), while the Middle Easterners are depicted as savages or just flat out weird/bizarre.

 

[classical_hero]

Can we consider Mamma Mia as being Greek themed, since it is set on a Greek Island?

 

[Kyriakos]

300, of course.

...even if I did dislike the fictional touches a bit.

And to the dialogue being poor, you do know quite a bit of it was actual quotes?

"Come home with this shield, or upon it" - traditional Spartan saying to say to one's children or family when they went to war; they would either return from battle dead(upon it), return victorious(with it), or, worst of all, run away from battle and drop their shield to run faster(hence why this isn't in the saying).

There's countless more, but you can find many of them at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconic_phrase

Truly, the Spartans had quite a sense of humor, and while it may seem out of place, the dialogue has strong historical roots.

...that said, some lines do make it sound like a giant right-wing propaganda flick. Like the "freedom isn't free at all." Also the fact the Europeans are depicted as civil and democratic(blatantly false in Sparta's case), while the Middle Easterners are depicted as savages or just flat out weird/bizarre.

I recognised the greek quotes The pic i posted has the saying Μολών Λαβέ, which in the movie is translated to "Come and get them" (the spartan weapons). A more faithful translation would have been "take it yourself"

But overall i liked 300. It didnt aspire to be historically accurate beyond a certain degree, and as has been pointed out elsewhere it was afterall a tale told by one of the survivors of the day, so it could be a bit more grandiose than mere reality

 

[Kyriakos]

Can we consider Mamma Mia as being Greek themed, since it is set on a Greek Island?

I haven't seen it, but if it has a greek theme of some sort then yes, why not..

 

[Dudemeister]

300 had a lot of sexy oiled up men, which was pretty hot.

 

[Verbose]

You know, I'd like to see a Greek historic film made about Alkibiades. Should have pretty much everything.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

This is madness!