tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

In Part 2 of our 20 Most Anticipated Period Films, we're listing down another 10 up and coming period movies. But this time, a lot of the movies' release dates are still unavailable.

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However, these period flicks have generated a lot of buzz and obviously, there's a lot of excitement in their upcoming release. With stars such as Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, James McAvoy, among others, how can they not create excitement?

More about these flicks, stills and their trailers after the jump!

# 10 - Black Death
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Timeline: The 14th Century
Director: Christopher Smith
Stars: Sean Bean, Carice van Houten, Eddie Redmayne
The Plot: In medieval England fallen under the shadow of the Black Death, a young monk called Osmund is charged in leading a fearsome knight, Ulric and his group of mercenaries to a remote marsh. Their quest is to hunt down a necromancer - someone able to bring the dead back to life. Torn between his love of God and the love of a young woman, Osmund discovers the necromancer, a mysterious beauty called Langiva. After Langiva reveals her Satanic identity and offers Osmund his hearts desire, the horror of his real journey begins.

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Buzz: Reports from Digital Spy featuring the film's director Christopher Smith:

Christopher Smith has revealed details of his upcoming movie Black Death, which has recently finished filming. Speaking to Digital Spy, the Triangle and Severance director described the project as "a medieval 'guys on a mission' movie where Sean [Bean] and a group of knights ride into this village during the bubonic plague to find out why this one village has been spared the plague." "There are rumours that there's a necromancer there who has a deal with the Devil," he continued. "It's all about how medieval people think. It's all very real. It's not supernatural, but you think it is." Smith, whose first foray into the horror genre was the acclaimed Creep, added that Black Death "should be coming into the cinemas in either February or October. There's basically a window [the studio] want to hit to keep it in the winter." [ read more ]

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# 9 - Glorious 30 - ( Release date: November 20, 2009 UK)

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Timeline: 1939 in London, England
Director: Stephen Poliakoff
Stars: Romola Garai, Julie Christie, Juno Temple, Eddie Redmayne
Plot: 1939 is set between present-day London and the idyllic British countryside in the time before the beginning of the Second World War. At a time of uncertainty and high tension, the story revolves around the formidable Keyes family, who are keen to uphold and preserve their very traditional way of life. The eldest sibling Anne is a budding young actress who is in love with Foreign Office official Lawrence, but her seemingly perfect life begins to dramatically unravel when she stumbles across secret recordings of the pro-appeasement movement. While trying to discover the origin of these recordings, dark secrets are revealed which lead to the death of a great friend. As war breaks out Anne discovers the truth and flees to London to try to confirm her suspicions, but she is caught and imprisoned and only then does she finally begin to discover how badly she has been betrayed.

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Buzz: Read more about the movie in tMF's film focus article.

# 8 - Barbarian Princess

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# 7 - Solomon Kane - (September 2009 - Austin Fantastic Film Fest)

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Timeline: The 17th century
Director: Michael J. Bassett
Stars: James Purefoy, Jason Flemyng, Rachel Hurd-Wood
The Plot: Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A 17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms. His adventures, published mostly in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, often take him from Europe to the jungles of Africa and back.

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# 6 - Red Cliff -  (Release date: November 20, 2009)

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Timeline: The 3rd century in China
Director: John Woo
Stars: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang
The Plot: In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale, led by the Prime Minister, himself. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance. Numerous battles of strength and wit ensued, both on land and on water, eventually culminating in the battle of Red Cliff. During the battle, two thousand ships were burned, and the course of Chinese history was changed forever.

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# 5 - Ironclad
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Timeline: The 1200s in England
Director: Jonathan English
Stars: Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy, Bob Hoskins
The Plot: It is the year 1215 and the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal to the Magna Carta, a noble, seminal document that upheld the rights of free-men. Yet within months of pledging himself to the great charter, the King reneged on his word and assembled a mercenary army on the south coast of England with the intention of bringing the barons and the country back under his tyrannical rule. Barring his way stood the mighty Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel's momentous struggle for justice and freedom.

Buzz: Screen Daily article.

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# 4 - The Last Station - (Release date: November 3, 2009 AFI Film Festival)

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Timeline: The 14th century
Director: Michael Hoffman
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy
The Plot: A historical drama that illustrates Russian author Leo Tolstoy's struggle to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things.

Buzz: tMF has 2 articles about The Last Station: Spotlight on James McAvoy | Film Focus article


# 3 - Robin Hood - (Release date: May 14, 2010)
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Timeline: The 14th century
Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt
The Plot: The story of an archer in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion who fights against the Norman invaders and becomes the legendary hero known as Robin Hood.

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Buzz: Photos of Russell Crowe as Robin Hood as appeared online, more here. Reports ScreenRant:

Universal Studios has posted synopses of some of their major 2010 films, and two are piquing our interest here at Screen Rant. The first is "Untitled Robin Hood Adventure," directed by Ridley Scott of Blade Runner, Alien, Black Hawk Down, and I could keep going, fame. Russell Crowe steps into the tights (well, more like armor this time around looking at the Crowe's Robin Hood costume) of the mythic English folk hero who enacted his own economic stimulus package for the peasants of Nottingham village. This story has come to the big screen countless times, twice in one year even, with 1991 seeing Patrick Bergin in Robin Hood matching barbs with Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Some would say neither film, which played up the bandit's romantic soul and added period realism, hit the bull's-eye, and still consider Errol Flynn's swashbuckling The Adventures of Robin Hood the gold standard. [ read more ]

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# 2 - The Conspirator - (Release date: 2010)

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Timeline: The 14th century
Director: Robert Redford
Stars: James McAvoy, Robin Wright Penn, Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long
The Plot: In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt: her own son.

Buzz: tMF article about Redford's filming on the set here.

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# 1 - The Tree of Life (Release date: 2010)
Timeline: The 1950s
Director: Terrence Malick
Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn
The Plot: Tree of Life is a period piece centered around three boys in the 1950s. The eldest son (Hunter McCracken) of two characters (Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain) witnesses the loss of innocence.

We trace the evolution of an eleven-year-old boy in the Midwest, Jack, one of three brothers. At first all seems marvelous to the child. He sees as his mother does, with the eyes of his soul. She represents the way of love and mercy, where the father tries to teach his son the world's way, of putting oneself first. Each parent contends for his allegiance, and Jack must reconcile their claims. The picture darkens as he has his first glimpses of sickness, suffering and death. The world, once a thing of glory, becomes a labyrinth.

Buzz: Anne Thompson provides some additional perspective on the movie and its release:

Writer-director Terrence Malick's long-awaited family drama about grief, The Tree of Life, will not be released by year's end. Apparition had tentatively scheduled a December 25 release for River Road's 50s period film, which stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. But Apparition chief Bob Berney says that a year-end opening was "wishful. It's definitely not going to come out this year." That's because it won't be finished in time. Malick has taken 30 years to make the movie, so he's not in any rush. [ read more ]

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What's on your mind? Which of these movies are you most excited and look forward to the most? Any other upcoming period/historical movies that should have been part of this list? Let us know what you think!
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tMF recommends Long Ago Captures, a website dedicated to historical/period films and TV series and shows. They got the most up-to-date coverage on period movies.