[Jack Black]

Ridley Scott has made Blade Runner, Gladiator and Alien. I will see any movie he makes simply because of his track record of making really great films.

[macamadamia]

Have you seen his first (I believe it was his first) movie, The Duellists? Oddly, of all Scott's movies, I like this one the most. Some have criticized Harvey Keitel's (sp?) accent, but frankly it didn't bother me because there was much else that I found exquisite. The cinematography and music are something else, but an old VHS copy doesn't do justice to the photography.

[Sans-Culotte]

You should definitely get the DVD of The Duellists. There is an interesting interview with Scott in which he reveals some interesting facts about the making of the film, such its roots in a Conrad story which was in turn based on a real historic story, etc. And he has a commentary track with more info about how he achieved many of the efffects in the film, why he cast whom he did, how it was under budhet and on time, etc. The film is beautifully mastered in widescreen and has a stereo soundtrack for the first time. You also get an isolated track of the film score, with commentary by the composer.

This new film looks rather uninspired. The plot seems kind of lifted from the old Fox film Captain From Castille, in which Tyrone Power, after losing a sister to the Inquisition, flees Catholic Spain joins Cortez' "crusade" to the New World.