Gladiator II

After a Roman attack on North Africa, led by general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Hanno (Paul Mescal) is captured and brought to Rome where he becomes a gladiator… just like…

Caligula: A Penthouse Look at Rome

Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren. Photo: Penthouse Films International In the 1970s, Bob Guccione had become a notorious but  successful man. His Penthouse magazine had made him wealthy and he…

Ben-Hur: The Gospel of Judah

Charlton Heston. Photo: MGM The kind of film that starts with a five-minute overture, Ben-Hur is about as classic a 1950s Hollywood blockbuster as they come. Burt Lancaster was reportedly…

I, Claudius: Fool, Biographer, Emperor

Derek Jacobi. Photo: BBC One thing is certain. The years may fly by in this adaptation of Robert Graves's books on the first four Julio-Claudian emperors, but when 77 years…

Rome: Rise and Fall of a Dictator Perpetuus

Photo: HBO It is obvious where Rome got its primary inspiration. In 1976, I, Claudius was quite the phenomenon, a well-written British drama series that chronicled key events in Rome…

Gladiator: Echoing in Eternity

Russell Crowe. Photo: Universal Gladiator is one of those films that opened as early as May, without all that much fanfare, and then kept building until the Oscars many months…