The incipit of an item from ANSA:

Tokyo, March 29 – An Ancient Roman time traveller who shuttles between his own era and modern-day Tokyo is the hero of the comic strip awarded this year’s global manga prize.Lucius, a Roman architect who specializes in designing public baths, stars in a strip called Thermae Romae, which has been announced as the winner of Japan’s 2010 Cartoon Grand Prize. Created by the Europe-based Japanese artist Mari Yamazaki, the comic tells of how Lucius, a resident of Hadrian’s Rome in the 2nd century AD, is transported into 21st-century Tokyo. The architect is sucked into a hole in a vast bathhouse in Ancient Rome and is ejected into a modern Japanese equivalent, a sento, where at first he doesn’t even notice the difference so similar are the two structures. After the first incident he learns to travel back and forward After the first incident he learns to travel back and forward between the two cultures, although he believes the voyage carries him merely to a far-off country, not another time.

Inspired by his trips into modern Japan, he develops similar innovations for the Ancient Romans, where his suggestions for fruit milkshakes and showercaps are an instant hit. Yamazaki, 42, is originally from Japan but has spent much of her adult life in Europe. She moved to Italy at the age of 17 to study fine art, where she met and married a comparative literature student and history buff, who helped inspire the character of Lucius. But the idea also came from Yamazaki’s own passion for Japan’s public bathhouses. Speaking at the award ceremony by video link from Lisbon, where she lives with her Italian husband, the artist said she still missed sentos despite her many years in Europe.

• via Ancient Roman time-traveller strip – News in English – ANSA.it.

I haven’t seen a copy in English of this yet; here’s an info page of sorts with what seems to be the cover art if you want to keep your eye open for it ….

Seen at Rotten Tomatoes:

When HBO pulled the plug on its expensive coproduction Rome, there was talk of the possibility of the series continuing on in movie form. Fans of the show who were also familiar with similar promises of Deadwood movies knew, however, to perhaps take such talk with a grain of salt. We may still never get a Swearengen movie, but a movie starring legionaries Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) and Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) may yet be in the stars, as the Romans would say. Series cocreator Bruno Heller has turned in the script for a Rome movie, which will continue the adventures of Pullo and Vorenus four years later in Germany, where Rome’s battles for conquest were still quite ongoing in the film’s setting of 27 BC (also the year Octavian became Caesar Augustus). A focus on Germany is a departure from the original series plans. Heller revealed a few years back that the second season (which focused on Octavian, Mark Antony, Cleopatra and Egypt) was actually a condensed version of what had originally been planned for seasons 2, 3 and 4. The hypothetical 5th season of Rome would have focused on the rise of the messiah in Palestine. The next step for Rome, which is now an independent production with no involvement from HBO, is to find a studio and a director.

via ROTTEN TOMATOES: Weekly Ketchup: A Rome movie and Honest Abe fighting vampires.

The Independent has a feature on sword and sandal flicks with a handy list at the end of just-released and to-be-released films of the genre. Here are a few to keep your eyes open for:

The Eagle of the Ninth

In Britain, this time in AD140, but with the Ninth Legion again as a young soldier attempts to find its lost emblem. Released in September.

Clash of the Titans

Remake of 1981 classic. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes battle gods in a tale based on the myth of Perseus and the Medusa. March release.

The Resurrection of Christ

Cashing in on the success of Mel Gibson’s 2004 The Passion of the Christ, but with added “Gladiator dimension” and first-century political intrigue. Starts shooting in July.

Ben Hur

Ray Winstone stars as the Roman general Quintus Arrius and Joseph Morgan plays the chariot-racing champ Judah Ben Hur in a television remake of the 1959 classic story set in the early days of Christianity. To be screened later this year.

The Argonauts

Jason is off to find the Golden Fleece once again in this remake of the 1963 classic, left, – noted for its special effects by Ray Harryhausen – scheduled for release next year, exactly a century after the first Argonauts film.

Cleo

Ray Winstone (again) in Steven Soderbergh’s 1920s musical version of Antony and Cleopatra’s story. Elizabeth Taylor starred in the 1963 original.

Hercules: The Thracian Wars

The son of Zeus is to be given the 300 treatment in this film based on the bloodthirsty US comic book in which Hercules loses his family and finds solace in battle. The film is being developed by Universal Pictures to be released next year.

Coriolanus

The film of Shakespeare’s play about a banished hero avenging himself on Rome will be directed by Ralph Fiennes and is about to start shooting.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Greek gods make mischief in modern-day New York as they race to find Zeus’s missing bolt of lightning. In cinemas now.

Dawn of War

This time it’s the story of Theseus which will be given the full cinematographic visual trickery, as the hero of Athens takes on the Minotaur – half-bull, half-man – among other monsters. Starts shooting next month.

Centurion

Dominic West and Michael Fassbender star as Roman soldiers on the march with the legendary Ninth Legion in Britain in AD117. Released in April.

via Swords and sandals: A bid for box-office glory | The Independent.

I knew that Spartacus was highly regarded in Marxist circles, but I didn’t know this sort of thing occurred with the Kirk Douglas film came out (in medias res from an article on a showing of the film):

As a leader, Spartacus has been admired by revolutionaries seeking to overcome the power of an over-class. Karl Marx admired Spartacus as did Che Guevara, the revolutionary who played a key role with Fidel Castro in overthrowing the Cuban dictator, Batista. Spartacus was hailed by the German Communist movement during World War I and by the Austrian anti-Fascists during the 1970s.

So, it was particularly shocking in 1960 when the film “Spartacus” was released with Dalton Trumbo as the screenwriter. Trumbo was one of the Hollywood Ten who had refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 as they attempted to uncover Communist influence in Hollywood. As a result, Trumbo was blacklisted from working in Hollywood and spent 11 months in prison.

Out of concern that “Spartacus” was a sign that Hollywood seemed to be falling under the influence of “Soviet indoctrinated artists,” the American Legion attacked Trumbo and Kirk Douglas, the film’s star and executive producer.

The American Legion issued letters to 17,000 veteran posts around the country, advising them not to see the film because of its suspected Communist influence. Furthermore, because of the bloody battle scenes, the skimpy slave and gladiator costumes, and the sexual suggestiveness set in pagan times, the film ran into difficulty with the Motion Picture Association of America, which insisted upon numerous cuts and changes to the film in order to accommodate its censorship guidelines.

via NAU Film Series: ‘Spartacus’: A controversial film set in ancient Rome | Arizona Daily Sun.

The conclusion of a piece on of Deliverance, Zardoz, Point Blank (et alia) fame:

As the new decade kicks off, Boorman seems to have his hands full. He has been working on an animated version of The Wizard of Oz for several years. A film based on the Emperor Hadrian is still under development. And he seems confident that he will soon get to shoot a script he wrote with Neil Jordan a quarter of a century ago. Perhaps it’s a bit early for a lifetime achievement award.

via Deliverance’s duelling banjos were a budget cut | The Irish Times.