Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le pacte des loups)

IMDB: Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le pacte des loups)

• OVERALL: 93
• VISUAL: 95
  
• STORY: 94
  
• ACTING: 90
  
• BETTER THAN: Dancing with Wolves
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: Babe
  
• WAS MISSING: An even creepier score.
  
• SEE IT FOR: Fighting in the rain, vengeance personified and one of the best movie monsters ever.

Dragons II: The Metal Age

IMDB: Dragons II: The Metal Age

• OVERALL: 71
• VISUAL: 86
  
• STORY: 49
  
• ACTING: 79
  
• BETTER THAN: Dragonheart II: A New Beginning
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real (The Last Dragon)
  
• WAS MISSING: Earth, Wind & Fire on the soundtrack.
  
• SEE IT FOR: Your dragon fetish. Past that, the only people who may truly enjoy this would be fans of the old Gargoyles series, because the style of the dragons matches that old artwork.

Henry V

IMDB: Henry V

• OVERALL: 91
• VISUAL: 89
  
• STORY: 91
  
• ACTING: 93
  
• BETTER THAN: Love's Labour's Lost
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: Dead Again
  
• WAS MISSING: An illuminated manuscript at the beginning to highlight Derek Jacobi's bookends.
  
• SEE IT FOR: Branagh's deeply moving and passionate directing debut and portrayal of the title character, especially in the pivotal Falstaff scene. Jacobi is fiery, plus you get a young Christian Bale in a supporting role.

Frazetta: Painting With Fire

IMDB: Frazetta: Painting With Fire

• OVERALL: 92
• VISUAL: 99
  
• STORY: 93
  
• CHARACTERS: 84
  
• BETTER THAN: Crumb
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: The Joy of Painting (TV Series & Collected)
  
• WAS MISSING: Even more time spent on the countless knock off Frazetta artists, including comic book covers, magazines, films and album covers. So many people used his style. I would've loved to see even more of these exposed, either as plagiarism or homages.
  
• SEE IT FOR: Unbelievable mastery of art and the human form. You would never have guessed his lack of training, his "funnies" beginnings or his sincere dedication to family. I also truly enjoyed the before and after shots of works he repainted in hopes of improving them.

Darkon

IMDB: Darkon

• OVERALL: 69
• VISUAL: 73
  
• STORY: 75
  
• REAL LIFE CHARACTERS: 60
  
• BETTER THAN: Lord Protector (The Dark Mist)
• NOT AS GOOD AS: The Visitors (Les Visiteurs)
  
• WAS MISSING: Respect. I couldn't take anything very seriously and it seemed to feed right into every negative stereotype you'd think they would be trying to knock down.
  
• SEE IT FOR: I love medieval themes more than most, and I'm down with costumed role players, fairs and games... but I've never been down with professional LARPer-types who live out the medieval days, on and off the field. Disappointingly, Darkon did not change my mind, but to each their own!
  

Fire & Ice

IMDB: Fire & Ice

• OVERALL: 78
  
• VISUAL: 91
  
• STORY: 75
  
• ACTING: 69
  
• BETTER THAN: Quest for Camelot
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: Heavy Metal
  
• WAS MISSING: Clothes. I think everybody chose fashion over protection.
  
• SEE IT FOR: Frazetta's artwork inspired this bad boy, so enjoy the battle sequences, women and warriors.

Nomad: The Warrior

IMDB: Nomad: The Warrior

• OVERALL: 75
• VISUAL: 80
  
• STORY: 74
  
• ACTING: 70
  
• BETTER THAN: Warriors of Heaven and Earth (Tian di ying xiong)
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: Gladiator
  
• WAS MISSING: Originality. It has every epic movie cliche rolled into one Kazakh setting. You may actually think you are watching Gladiator if you doze off.
  
• SEE IT FOR: Kuno Becker's smile. Really. Also, composer Siliotto makes a score that sounds eerily similar to Edelman's Dragonheart score, which isn't a bad thing!
  

Lancelot of the Lake (Lancelot du Lac)

IMDB: Lancelot of the Lake (Lancelot du Lac)

• OVERALL: 87
• VISUAL: 89
  
• STORY: 92
  
• ACTING: 81
  
• BETTER THAN: Lancelot and Guinevere
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: First Knight
  
• WAS MISSING: Any sense of passion or leadership from the King Arthur character.
  
• SEE IT FOR: One of the best "Huh? Say it ain't so!" endings ever. Plus, one of the rawest portrayals of Guinevere as a young, naive girl who finds herself innocently torn between her distant sense of duty and her blossoming intrigue for passion.

Jabberwocky

IMDB: Jabberwocky

• OVERALL: 73
• VISUAL: 79
  
• STORY: 69
  
• ACTING: 72
  
• BETTER THAN: Satan's Cheerleaders
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  
• WAS MISSING: John Cleese and gangs of medieval nuns.
  
• SEE IT FOR: Slow-motion jousting and knights playing hide-and-seek. The movie ends with an impressive visual of the horned-helmet knight versus a great, giant Jabberwocky puppet monster.

Excalibur

IMDB: Excalibur

• OVERALL: 99
  
• VISUAL: 100
  
• STORY: 100
  
• ACTING: 96
  
• BETTER THAN: The Sword in the Stone
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: Braveheart
  
• WAS MISSING: Not much. If I had to be picky, I'd say an original score that matched the greatness of the movie.
  
• SEE IT FOR: One of Liam Neeson's first roles, as well as Orff's masterpiece Carmina Burana in its finest form. It's been used in so many movies since, but never has it been more inspiring and epic than Excalibur's scenes of the knights charging up over the misty hills on armored horseback.

Braveheart

I have tried to get my wife to watch this numerous times by telling her it is a love story. For me, it is! It is one of the saddest and most compelling love stories I've seen! Talk about a man driven by passion! Still, once his first wife leaves the film, my wife shuts off. I don't blame her... that's one of the toughest scenes to watch no matter how many times you've seen it, at least for those of us with a heart!

You get plenty of action and witty Mel Gibsonisms, and the score for the movie is one of the best I've ever heard. To this day, any time I am trying to get somebody to wait or hold on, I annoyingly yell "HOLD... HOLD... HOLD!" If you don't get that, watch the movie again! That is an extremely intense scene and the music and visuals perfectly build to a fulfilling climax!

The quotes you can take away from this movie are endless, and for my dollar, the betrayal, scheming and battlefield hijinx in Braveheart stand alone at the top of the drama heap.

IMDB: Braveheart

• OVERALL: 99
  
• VISUAL: 99
  
• STORY: 100
  
• ACTING: 97
  
• BETTER THAN: Apocalypto
  
• NOT AS GOOD AS: For the genre, this IS the best!
  
• WAS MISSING: More camera time for the women so my wife believes it's a love story!
  
• SEE IT FOR: It's a love story! Really! James Horner's score perfectly frames the passion and betrayal.

Top 10 Best Medieval Movies (Non-Animated)

Top 10 Best Medieval Movies (Non-Animated)
Links will be added as the reviews go up! The list keeps growing!

1. Braveheart - 99
   
2. Excalibur - 99
   
3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy - 98
   
4. Gladiator - 97
   
5. Flesh & Blood - 95
   
6. Ladyhawke - 94
   
7. King Arthur - 93
   
8. The 13th Warrior - 93
   
9. 300 - 93
   
10. Camelot - 93
    
11. The Princess Bride - 92
    
12. Monty Python & The Holy Grail - 92
    
13. Henry V - 91
14. Dragonheart - 90
    
15. First Knight - 90
16. Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le pacte de loups) - 90
    
17. A Knight's Tale - 90
    
18. The Reckoning - 89
    
19. Timeline - 89
20. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc - 88
    
21. Krull - 88
    
22. Robin Hood: Men In Tights - 87
23. Lancelot of the Lake - 87
24. The Highlander - 86
    
25. Conan The Barbarian - 85
    
26. The Three Musketeers - 85
    
27. Pathfinder - 83
    
28. The Last Legion - 83
    
29. Troy - 80
    
30. Willow - 80
    
31. The Man in the Iron Mask - 78
32. Beowulf (1999) - 77
    
33. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - 76
34. The Viking Sagas - 75
    
35. Lancelot and Guinevere - 75
    
36. Kingdom of Heaven - 74
    
37. Alexander - 74
    
38. George & The Dragon - 73
    
39. Jabberwocky - 73
40. Black Knight - 73
41. A Kid in King Arthur's Court - 72
    
42. Attack of the Gryphon - 70