Excalibur

Blind buy of Arrow. My score is probably a bit biased having read The Bright Sword recently, but I enjoyed this far more than I expected to.

The tone might be a little off putting - with Merlin coming off as goofy more than Fae mirth - and the importance of characters does change over the course of the movie almost episodically (from Arthur to Lancelot to Percival) but they each had their arcs much in the order largely followed by the book adaptations.

Casting was great - with still-famous actors popping up everywhere. Direction was solid and effects that aged quite well. I did catch what seemed like visual homages to both Monty Python's Holy Grail and Empire Strikes Back.

I think the most shocking thing was that I actually cared about the characters. It's wild to see earnest portrayals when postmodern ironic detachment is the norm now.