Yeah, for what it’s worth I don’t think you’re attacking it either.
This all goes back to people holding today’s effects against films from 30-40 years ago without consideration for the time period and the limitations of that time. It’s a erroneous way to critique it, as you must consider the passage of time and the era it was released.

Maybe it's a generational thing. I've always liked the acting in Excalibur, but I've heard lots of younger viewers criticize Nicol Williamson and Nigel Terry, among others, and those are two Shakespearean veterans. I admit that it's a complex film, but it's basically a sci-fi/fantasy/spectacle (sort of an Earthbound-version of Star Wars) with serious issues involving Man vs. Nature, a major John Boorman theme. Plus it's a pretty good horror flick too. It will just never be a b-movie no matter if somebody thinks it's aged.

Absolutely loved Nicol Williamson as Merlin. RIP to him he was truly great. Excalibur was made before we were born but we recognized him from Spawn.
Afterward, we discussed what roles he'd be perfect for if he was still alive today. Seems like he would have been a great Alfred in Batman.

Re: Excalibur (1981)
 

As I said, I love Excalibur and I actually touched the b-movie aspect in my review for the Fantasy HoF:

While I don't think it's a straight-up b-movie, it certainly has elements that do link it with them. If I'd have to name an Italian barbarian film (like I did for the next genre) I'd probably go with Lucio Fulci's Conquest (which, I guess, could be argued to be an artsy fantasy too).

Terminator is cheesy??? Say what:p
Oh boy, I don't think you know what a b-movie really is and was. In a nut shell a b-movie was made on a shoe string budget with no intentions of being great. Often they were part of a double feature at a drive-in and usually had a shorter run time and were aimed at teenagers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie

Yep. I own a whole book That covers the subject.
I think the issue here is exactly that. The definition. It seems the term is being used here pejoratively for any film with a big budget that seemingly failed.

Best B-movie ever, Mad Max (1979), hands down!!!!

Oh that's right I remember you talking about your b movie book. Gosh that would be a good Xmas gift to get myself:)

There you go, a b-movie for sure and one that hit really big too.

heck yeah and Rocky Horror Picture Show.. they are freaking awesome!

Always played after midnight at the drive-in cinema when I was younger (in the early 1980s)

I always preferred The Road Warrior myself but yes, Mad Max is good

The strange thing about making a movie about Arthur is that there is nothing there to start with. There are a couple lines in a history that say that he won a battle and then died. Everything else is 1400 years of myth and fantasy, so Arthur has always been whatever is popular fantasy at that moment. The movie played to the "knights in shining armor" stereotype, which includes castles with tall parapets and ladies in medieval garb, doing wicked dances to 20 century fantasy music. Most of the look is mainly fantasy from the 19th century romantics. The next Arthur might as well be Arthur on Mars.

I liked the movie because it veered closer to dark age grit than they usually do, in spite of the grossly anachronistic sets and costumes. I also loved Nicol Williamson's enigmatic Merlin, who is smart and manipulative, and knows how to guide the violent, shallow warlords.

It looks a lot like the "serious" version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmInkxbvlCs

i agree

Didn't say Terminator is cheesy, said "elements that are cheezy by today's standards". If you show older movies to younger people today,yes even the Terminator they find parts of it cheezy. That may be the reason why the movie Excalibur was recommended to us.

Yes, I know the definition of b-movies, but when we go to people and say "recommend us a movie to review for our b-movie show" a lot of people will recommend movies that you wouldn't consider a b-movie by that definition. They will recommend movies like Battlefield Earth or Waterworld. To a younger generation, the term "b-movie" has expanded to stuff they think looks cheap, campy, lo-fi in any way. Stuff that is classic and was cool when it came out, but looks dated today they'll consider it a b-movie.

So since it was recommended to us, we tried to see it from that perspective and raised the question. That is all.