Genre: Historical Epic

Spectacular historical epic. Perhaps the best thing about this movie is that it portrays the crusades from both sides, and is a great example of how war can be unavoidable, no side is wrong, no side is evil, and nobody wants to go to war. One of those movies which everyone's talking about for days afterward, where you end up spending hours on Wikipedia reading about everything that intrigued you about the movie from Lepers to Saladin. Just ignore Orlando Bloom's weak acting.

Everything you want from a historical epic. It's a long history lesson that remains gripping, with characters defending their honour in big battle scenes. Tom Cruise plays his favourite Maverick role and there's even a bit of Billy Connolly. Very enjoyable.

I forgot how long this three hour epic was, explaining the slow pace of the first hour and the dragged out closure of the movie that contained just one battle more than it really needed. Despite being almost entirely historically inaccurate, the film did have an interesting message. No matter how successful you are at uniting your common men to defeat a foreign invader, your country is never free until all men are equal.

Huzzah! Based on a classic Royal Navy adventure novel. Capt Jack Aubery must battle the odds pursuing the yankee-built Acheron to the far side of the world. Great scenes from the Galapagos, and of the hardships faced by navy seamen, but perhaps a bit light on plot substance.

A cruel, depressing movie about the dark side of the birth of America. As the union ended slavery and fought the South to uphold its values, New York city was a slum controlled by gangs where even the fire brigades would rather fight each other than put out a fire. It makes you wonder how such a icon of civilisation emerged so quickly from such barbarity, and worth seeing for this reason alone. Though, for a simple revenge tale it is too long; I fell asleep during the middle half-hour and the plot hadn't moved on.

What is it with Mel Gibson's obsession with bringing dead languages back to life? Despite the dull first-half the movie becomes more engrossing as we get to see some real Mayan civilisation and an exciting chase finale. Would've been nice to have seen more emphasis on the Mayan civilisation and its accomplishments than just the primitive hunting tribes.