Even Kubrick's Spartacus was far from stellar. I saw it a few years ago after not having seen it is a long long time. I was surprised how sappy/corny it was.

The lions are not what they seem (David Lynch version).

Perhaps the lion has the same significance in Ben Hur that the gorilla has in No Country for Old Men.

I'll have to see it again. As of now I vehemently disagree with you. It's far and away the best "epic" I've ever seen, and the musical score by Alex North is one of my top five. Also the opening credits. Also Jean Simmons. I love Spartacus. And I own it. So I will watch it, and hope not to change my mind.

Joe--Thank you for the props for KD, who is one of my three or four favorite male movie stars of the sound era.

Others are Jimmy Stewart, Van Heflin, Mark Ruffalo, and...I'll have to think.

In a totally different vein:

In the Mood for Love is a film of romantic sexual frustration set in Hong Kong in the mid-1960s. The Chans and Chows rent parts of apartment suites next to each other, moving in on the same day to memorable confusion. Mr. Chan and Mrs. Chow both are gone on business trips a lot, and come home late when they're not and Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) gradually start putting the pieces together, noticing things like the two husbands have identical ties and the two wives identical handbags, all of them bought on business trips and not sold in Hong Kong. What a coincidence?

Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan have already independently figured out what is going on, and finally air things out, but can't figure out how it happened, so they start pretending to be Mr. Chan and Mrs. Chow. Unfortunately, they start understanding too well, which is a bit of a problem because they both think they are above adultery (or at least think the other one is).

This all sounds like a farce, but it's generally (but not always) played straight, with lots of mood music, and I found it moved pretty slowly. It's interesting to try to figure out whether the couple is playing their cheating spouses, being real, or both. It was nice to see Mrs. Chan dolled up in tight-fitting dresses for work, but showing up in the same outfit for noodles because she couldn't bother changing. She obviously has a good clothing budget.

Really, for my taste, it moves too slowly and is too moody, and I rather wished the couple would take the playacting to the logical conclusion and have a torrid love affair, preferably starting about halfway through the movie.

There is a sequel, 2046, which stars Leung as Mr. Chow trying to pick himself up after this film, and it's even more moody but less focused and less pleasant, but I actually like it a bit better, and it has what I consider Ziyi Zhang's best performance (and Li Gong and Connie Cheung in supporting roles).

I love the high level of stylization in In the Mood for Love - there's so much more going on than whether they're having a physical affair. I never got to see 2046, though.

I should go watch this again.