Today is Mel Gibson's 59th birthday! Happy Birthday Mel. 2014 was also the year that Scotland decided it didn't want FREEDOM after all. As such, Braveheart, directed by and starring Gibson, is quite clearly the ideal film to be watching tonight.
In case you haven't seen it before, Braveheart is an "epic historical medieval war drama" about the Scottish Wars of Independence, and especially the life of William Wallace. It's a fantastic tale of intruige, bravery, romance and patriotism. It's also, academically speaking, a pile of horseshit. According to respected Scottish historian Sharon Krossa: "The events aren't accurate, the dates aren't accurate, the characters aren't accurate, the names aren't accurate, the clothes aren't accurate — in short, just about nothing is accurate."
Despite being more a work of fiction than history, it's still a decent movie: Gibson is a passionate, if slightly over-the-top actor, and the plot (as long as you forget all your high-school history) is tight, fast-paced and has exactly the ending you want. [Netflix/iTunes]