The King is Dead: Son of Hollywood History
Cripes! I forgot a bunch of stuff -- including several movies I own!
More Movies I Own or Have Seen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Screenplay by Charles McKeown & Terry Gilliam
Directed by Terry Gilliam
Honestly, there's not much to swipe here -- after all, the POV of The King is Dead is pro-Enlightenment -- but who can't enjoy this film?
The Duchess
Screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher, Andrew thomas Jensen, and Saul Dibb
Directed by Saul Dibb
Keira Knightley plays Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, in a brutal biopic that shows just how terrible life was for women back then, even at the top of the social ladder. Did you know that the Bavarian Illuminati believed in women's rights?
Written & Directed by Tommy Wirkola
This movie desperately wants to be in the same league as Army of Darkness and just doesn't quite cut it. Arguably the wrong period again, but useful for the crazy witch-hunting clockpunk weapons.
Jack of All Trades (TV series)
Written by Eric Morris
Produced by Sam Raimi
Bruce Campbell as an American spy/masked highwayman in a crazy, anachronistic setting in the vein of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Blackbeard! Ben Franklin! Verne Troyer as Napoleon!
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin
Specifically Dennis Moore (Episode 11 of Series 3) and The Golden Age of Ballooning (Episode 1 of Series 4). 'Nuff said.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Screenplay by Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger, and Tom Tykwer
Directed by Tom Tykwer
Based on the horror/magical realism/suspense novel by Patrick Süskind, it's the story of a man with no body odor who decides to create the world's greatest perfume by killing beautiful women. The novel is so popular (amongst a certain set of people, at least) that it's inspired five different songs!
Be warned that I have only ever listened to the Nirvana song and I put these links in without watching the clips.
Ridicule
Screenplay by Rémi Waterhouse, Michel Fessler, and Eric Vicaut
Directed by Patrice Leconte
A lowly country squire comes to Versailles to plead for funds to save his villagers and gets caught up in the backstabbing games of one-upmanship the nobles play. A great example of why you should hate the aristocracy.
Rob Roy (1995)
Screenplay by Alan Sharp
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
A lowly Highland clan leader comes to Edinburgh to plead for funds to save his villagers and gets caught up in the backstabbing games of one-upmanship the nobles play. A great example of why you should hate the aristocracy that features a truly awesome climactic duel.
The Three Musketeers (2011)
Screenplay by Andrew Davies and Alex Litvak
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
The wrong period yet again, but it features the kind of clockwork/proto-steampunk tech that I imagine Weird Science will produce in The King is Dead -- which is why this version of The Three Musketeers is on the list and other versions aren't. Also, Milla Jovovich's Milady is a great inspiration for female PCs in the setting.
Vatel
Screenplay by Jeanne Labrune and Tom Stoppard
Directed by Roland Joffé
Gérard Depardieu plays François Vatel, chef to the Prince de Condé, who is driven to desperate and dishonourable action to help the Prince appease Louis XIV. I just watched this over the weekend; it's again the wrong period (I got my Louis mixed up) but it's also again a greate example of why you should hate the aristocracy. Even though Malleus is pseudo-England mashed with pseudo-Germany, I have to remind myself that's only for linguistic simplicity and that I'm writing about how much I loathe the French aristocracy as much as anything else.
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