“You can break a man’s skull, you can arrest him, you can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what’s up here? How do you fight an idea?”
Sup, Cinemaniacs! Ealan here with another HMC newsletter!
Ben-Hur – the epic tale of Judah Ben-Hur in Roman times hit theaters last week and we want to talk about it! Although, unfortunately, the showtimes weren’t exactly ideal – especially given that the movie’s runtime is just shy of 4 hours – so that meant we watched it at home. But fear not! We shall still dive into this classic Charlton Heston film.
So join us today at 4PM PDT/7PM EDT as we break down why this film was such an incredible feat of its time…and if it still holds up today.
Since it was my first time actually watching it from start to finish, I definitely have some thoughts. 😎 Have you even seen it? Or remember much of it? How long has it been? Let us know!
“Are you not entertained?! Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?!”
To go along with the epic tale of Ben-Hur, we decided to pick Gladiator (2000) to watch for next week’s Double Take stream. Because let’s be honest…after watching Ben-Hur, one could tell that Gladiator was heavily inspired by it. A man wrongly accused who is sent away as a slave where those in charge would expect them to die, only for the victim to return stronger than ever?
And let’s not forget Ridley Scott’s incredible direction with this film, along with Russel Crowe’s stellar performance! It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won 5 in 2001, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, Best Actor, and Best Picture!
It’s been several years since I’ve given it a watch, so I’m excited! And I know Derek is, too!
Lastly, a shout out to another nod to physical media I did for the eCoustics YouTube channel over the weekend! This time it was about 3D Blu-ray! Is it still relevant? Did it die completely? How can one go about watching anything in 3D in 2026? All this is answered in the video, and it’s caused a lot of die hard 3D fans to comment on it already! Check it out and comment yourselves! 😎👇
That’s it for this week’s newsletter! Hope to see you during the live stream! Don’t just watch TV and movies, experience them! Especially with friends!