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Anyone seen this? The one review is positive:
[url:2j6oe3ma]http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0106227/[/url]
Age of Treason (1993) (TV)
Quote:It's 69AD in Rome and streetwise hustler Marcus Didius Falco gets caught up in the death of the son of a man close to the new emperor, Vespasian. Hired by the victim's sister to discover the truth, Falco and his newly acquired slave, the gladiator Justus, uncover plots involving a cult which reaches into the Imperial household.
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Quote:Anyone seen this? The one review is positive:
[url:1muqmgs6]http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0106227/[/url]
Age of Treason (1993) (TV)
Probably written by the producer, then ;-) I gather Lindsey Davis wasn't too impressed with it. I watched it (even have it on tape somewhere but would cheerfully record over it if ever they put Thunderbird 6 on telly) and it was okayish, although anything with Bryan Brown in always make me think of FX and its derivatives.
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 hock:
Now there's a shame.
Quote:(even have it on tape somewhere but would cheerfully record over it if ever they put Thunderbird 6 on telly)
I'd tape over Aliens for Thunderbird 6.
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Quote:The one review is positive:
:?: You call this a positive review?
Quote:Maximus stupidus...a contempo detective movie set in ancient Rome with a made-for-TV sheen.
This is apparently based on a series of mystery novels about a private eye in ancient Rome (I can't imagine!), but comes across as a convoluted pilot episode for TOGA-PARTY MURDER, SHE WROTE. Still, it's entertaining in a goofy, bad-taste sort of way with it's sex cult and gladiator games being the highlight. Flagrantly Aussie Bryan Brown and Aryan bodybuilder Matthias Hues make quite a pair! Hokey dokey.
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That's not the review I read! There's another there somewhere.
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The BBC were going to make a 'Falco' series recently, but dropped the project in favour of 'Rome' :x
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Well, I did tape over my copy of this movie, probably with Star Trek :lol:
I was completely unimpressed by the movie, it was low budget and low quality. I usually tape everything I see on the tv about Rome in case I want to use it for teaching, but this one didn't make the grade.
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Quote:That's not the review I read! There's another there somewhere.
Ah? I just followed you link to find this review, which was even worse...:
Quote:Abysmal filmmaking at its finest, 22 November 2000
I fail to see how anyone who has actually read the M. Didius Falco mysteries could make such a mockery of them. An Aussie has no business in Ancient Rome. Nothing of the books is in this film except the setting and characters, and they are wasted on a plot thin enough through which to read the silly script. Kevin Connor and Lee Zlotoff have a lot of nerve displaying their names in the credits.
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Nope, that's not it either. Anyway, all the other reviews which I didn't see, and the ones I see here, means it's a load of old pants.
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Tarbicus wrote:
Quote:Nope, that's not it either. Anyway, all the other reviews which I didn't see, and the ones I see here, means it's a load of old pants.
Actually I thought it was a brilliant evocation of ancient Rome and brought the whole Falco novels to life! Bryan Brown was my first choice to play the role and captured all the idiosyncrasies of Falco's Character. Amanda Pays was stunning as Helena and it was nice to finally see some real attention paid to the costumes at last. Everything was there from Falco's Ma to the laundry and squalid tenements.The gladiatorial sequences were amongst the best ever captured on film and the cut and thrust, life and death struggles in the arena neatly paralleled the political machinations of the court. Vespasian was played superbly by Anthony Valentine who in a nice touch had been a tribune in Masada many years ago. The Praetorian guard wore historically researched exotic Hellenistic costume not storm-trooper black and I loved the running gag of the huge marble head of Nero being carted through the streets. In one instance someone was actually sawing part of the roof off to let it through! I treasure this on my old VHS and can't wait for the DVD to come out. Copy over it you must be mad and.......oops sorry I have just woken up! Yep your right it was pants! Amanda Pays excepted.
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"Abysmal" is exactly the word I'd use. Here's a review I wrote for our newsletter back in August, 1998:
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...It's supposed to be based on Lindsey Davis' wonderful Falco novels, but the only recognizable similarities are the names of some of the characters--not their roles or personalities, just the names! Rather than launch into a diatribe on this celluloid atrocity, I'll just offer a few bits of advice to those involved in its creation.
To Lindsey Davis: Our deepest sympathy.
To the Script Writer: Never mind, you've obviously never read ANYTHING about Rome before, so you won't be reading this!
To the Actors: Act.
To the Director: Wakey, wakey!
To the Costume Designer: Congratulations! This is the very FIRST work of fiction to highlight the fact that Roman ladies wore undergarments! However, you omitted the overgarments.
To the Props Department: Discover Brasso.
To the Set Designer: What a clever re-use of the old "Planet of the Apes" sets!
To the Producers: Our sincere and eternal gratitude for NOT following your original intentions to make this into a TV series!
---------------
Have to agree with Graham that Amanda Pays was the highlight, especially with regard to the afore-mentioned undergarments. But she doesn't make it worth watching.
Valete,
Matthew
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Matthew wrote:
Quote:To the Costume Designer: Congratulations! This is the very FIRST work of fiction to highlight the fact that Roman ladies wore undergarments! However, you omitted the overgarments.
Have to agree with Graham that Amanda Pays was the highlight, especially with regard to the afore-mentioned undergarments.
Matthew from what I remember, or is this still the dream, I think the undergarments were actually supposed to be some form of dress! So perhaps the film does not even merit that small amount of praise. :roll: Still as everyone has now wiped the evidence from their tapes perhaps we will never know! :wink:
Kate how could you! Did you know the Gladiator actor was actually a Klingon general in another life?
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Quote:Kate how could you! Did you know the Gladiator actor was actually a Klingon general in another life?
Graham.
Er, no, that one had passed me by. Which Klingon general?!
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Kate Gilliver wrote:
Quote:Er, no, that one had passed me by. Which Klingon general?!
Matthias Hues who palyed Justus also played second Klingon General in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,
Ancient Source IMDB
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
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So, is it any good or not?
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