cult film freak: biblical

Written by James M. Tate / 12/13/2014 / No comments / 2014 , biblical , christian bale , joel edgerton , ridley scott , sigourney weaver

CHRISTIAN BALE IN EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr>
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Right before the strategic waves crash down, when the Red Sea finally parts, it's really more... drained.<br />
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That's what it feels like sitting through two-and-a-half hours of Moses and Ramses going back and forth: one holds a grudge, the other has conversations with God himself. Though not from a Burning Bush… that’s but a rudimentary apparition to get the ball rolling… Here the Creator takes form of a really tough child who gives the famously temperamental Moses a run for his money. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bale & Edgerton</td></tr>
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Directed by Ridley Scott and starring the always-intriguing method-acting Christian Bale, EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS is a different sort of Biblical epic – while visually immense, the geography mostly centers on two locations where each grouchy leader resides.  <br />
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Bale does a passable job in the lead role, a sort of MOSES: FIRST CLASS budding superhero partaking in LORD OF THE RINGS style swordplay, while Joel Edgerton, as the antagonistic Ramses (looking more like Brando's Colonel Kurtz than a nostalgic Yul Brynner), can’t shed his omnipresent frown...<br />
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Very understandable since Moses has more than a slight edge, including the ability to thwart a barrage of plagues: impressive scenes to watch but the searing melodrama had by each character is enough for the audience to pray for a conclusion.

2014, biblical, christian bale, joel edgerton, ridley scott, sigourney weaver

CHRISTIAN BALE IN EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

year: 2014 rating: ** Right before the strategic waves crash down, when the Red Sea finally parts, it's really more... drained. ...

Written by James M. Tate / 3/31/2014 / No comments / 2014 , biblical , darren aronofsky , disaster , emma watson , jennifer connelly , russell crowe

DARREN ARONOFSKY DIRECTS NOAH

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">year: 2014 rating: **</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">If you think building a giant boat that will protect a few selected humans from God’s forty day/forty night torrent, or the pairing up of every animal, including reptiles, is detailed that much in director Darren Aronofsky’s fantastical epic, think again… All these important elements occur as quickly as falling raindrops… </span><br />
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Thanks to giant spiderlike rock trolls – formerly fallen angels who have risen from the Earth – constructing the Ark is easy enough. The real task is Noah himself... will he ever come to his senses? Figuring God must want all humans dead, eventually, Russell Crowe’s bearded prophet becomes more of a tormented villain than a Biblical icon, and as doggone stubborn as two mules put together.<br />
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Once the Ark is built, and the Trolls have battled hordes of evil men wanting a free ride, and the floods have taken over completely, scenes where Noah’s vengeful middle child is tempted by a nefarious stowaway provides the only suspense. Meanwhile, the best <i>visual</i> shows Creation as Noah tells the story around a cozy on-deck fire… This is about the only time dad gets any respect from his family, all on the verge of mutiny, and then some.   <br />
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While it’s understandable that poetic license must be taken when basing an entire motion picture from a surprisingly few amount of verses, it seems Aronofsky’s either making the flood story (or as Wikipedia seems it "The Flood Myth") seem as engagingly farfetched for Believers as the Bible itself is to Non-Believers, or perhaps he simply wanted to direct a big budget disaster film for everyone, no matter what their religion or lack of. But NOAH is much too slow and brooding for its own good…<br />
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What we can use right now is some old school Charlton Heston: over-the-top or not, that man delivered!

2014, biblical, darren aronofsky, disaster, emma watson, jennifer connelly, russell crowe

DARREN ARONOFSKY DIRECTS NOAH

year: 2014 rating: ** If you think building a giant boat that will protect a few selected humans from God’s forty day/forty night torren...

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)ROBBERY 3)HELL IS A CITY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)HOT CARS 7)VIOLENT SATURDAY 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)FALLEN ANGEL 19)A PRIZE OF ARMS 20)THE BIG HEAT 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE MARKED ONES 23)THE DRIVER 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)JOURNEY INTO FEAR 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER