But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Which is my smartass way of asking if you've seen the movie you're excoriating.

Who was killed by this movie?

Click on Chris's original link.

Two lightning strikes on the star, one heart attack casualty -- shouldn't people who believe in things like magical boats and resurrection of the dead be taking these things as "evidence" of God's wrath?

K

I saw it and as an agnostic I thought it was OK but suffered from trying to hit the viewer over the head over and over again. The slow motion, , the demon kids, devil,mini-me, eye plucking all go well beyond heavy handed. The one thing that really hurt the movie for me is that it makes such over the top caricatures of so many people, mostly Jesus' persecutors which I think actually dulls the effectiveness of the film. The scene with Herod is basically the Jabba the Hut scene from Star Wars. They even have a cackling lackey.

The movie was effective in making me feel revulsion for what people can do to another human being but I was also bothered by the whole concept that I was suposed to view this horror as a good thing. The Snuff film angle has a point since the film uses the torture and death to elicit a reaction more than anything else.

Because while I agree with Mr. Gibson's right to make a film about his beliefs and views, I also do disagree with a lot of the things his particular sect of Catholicism espouses and don't want to personally support it myself. At least not without knowing if he's giving profits from it to his church or what.
Hey, I also won't buy new copies of Left Behind novels or Veggie Tale toys either.

Lest we forget, there is a common ground the Big 3 Patriarchal religions can agree on! They all like to vilify us!

Quote:

*As Judas weeps and gnashes his teeth after betraying Jesus, a group of children wander by to taunt him. Soon the taunts grow angry, and they scream that he is cursed. Then, again thanks to the magic of CGI, they begin to transform into Gollum-like demons.

A statement on the current trend of over-permissive parenting perhaps? Jews didn't kill Christ! Dr. Spock and Barney did!

Quote:

Perhaps this scene was in the Gnostic Gospels, or perhaps Mel has the Evangelist's Cut of the book of John or something.

I just began reading the Nag Hamadi, I'll be sure to post if I find any references to Annie Lennox, Gollum, or the Creation myth of Thee Holy Ikea Table. In the meantime this movie just sounds cooler all the time!

Quote:

... always ready of fuck up at the most crucial moment, Mel sends in Satan again, but OH! She is not alone! Jesus gazes at her through his bloodied eyes, and she reveals that she is carrying (NOT AN IMAGINARY STORY!) a midget, clad in black lace, WHO LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE AUSTIN POWERS' MINI-ME AND GRINS A WIDE, WICKED GRIN!!!

WHAT!?! This is fantastic! When I was being taught Catholicism I always felt something was missing and I always thought it was the lack of a Feminine interpretation of Divinity. But now I realize that wasn't it at all. It was a MIDGET THAT WAS MISSING!!!!

An entirely fair and defensible position. Thanks for clarifying. I was genuinely curious.

"I saw it and as an agnostic I thought it was OK but suffered from trying to hit the viewer over the head over and over again. The slow motion, , the demon kids, devil,mini-me, eye plucking all go well beyond heavy handed."

See, as I've said before, this is what I'd feared, given the horrible, overdone previews I'd seen. I'd hoped that the delicacy-of-a-heard-of-buffalo approach that characterized the trailer would prove to be just *of the trailer* and not find its way into the film itself. But your comments are not encouraging. I fear Gibson might be a director who can't grasp the concept of subtlety.

Of course, I don't know. I haven't seen the film. I'm just saying that the preview itself is typical, overdone, Hollywood hogwash, and it doesn't make me want to see the film.

A shame, as I'm such a fan of Caviezel. Again, I think he's a perfect bit of casting, here.

Matthew

This has been quite a long thread already, and nobody has yet mentioned "The Life of Brian." A situation that needs to be rectified asap.

May I suggest whistling "Always look on the bright side of life" while watching the crucifixion scene in Gibson's movie?

That's because we're discussing fictionalized accounts, not what really happened, Andrei. It would appear that LOB remains the best looking biblical epic.