Alexander

[Pubrick]

i'm actually more excited for baz luhrmann's alexander the great movie.

haha http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?p=162266&highlight=#162266

[Ghostboy]

I saw Alexander this morning, and my full review is forthcoming, but in the meantime, I'll just say that it's okay. If you're an Oliver Stone fan and want to like it for that reason, you'll find many admirable things about it -- I certainly did. But it also is really all over the map, as if Stone couldn't decide whether he wanted to do an ambitious adventure film or an ancient political film. It's kind of a mix of both, but they aren't necessarily congruent. It really starts to get good towards the end -- when Stone finally lets loose with hyper Natural Born Killers-style visuals, he finally hits his stride and the film becomes his own, and very good. Before that, it's intermittently good, frequently silly, and never completely satisfying.

A rundown of the cast:

Farrell=good as always, and his hair works in the context of the film
Jolie=overacting like crazy, sometimes to good effect.
Kilmer=kicks ass in his brief screen time
Hopkins=his scenes are the worst in the film, but it's not his fault
Dawson=has absolutely nothing to do but be scorchin.' Beneath her talent (although accents are not her strong suit), but damn if I can't really complain.

Also,  you can tell Stone has no interest in inspirational speeches before battles, and how he deals with this at one point (the conquer death speech in the trailer) is pretty cool.

Oh, and I admired how the bisexual aspect was handled. Just totally upfront and in an unconfrontational way.

[modage]

I saw Alexander this morning, and my full review is forthcoming, but in the meantime, I'll just say that it's okay.

damn, i knew it.  it looks only 'okay'.  as long as its better than troy...

[Ghostboy]

I never did see Troy, but I can't imagine it being better than this. I can, however, imagine it being more straightforward and perhaps more satisfying to the average moviegoer. It looked sorta boring to me. At least Stone tries to do interesting things. A failure from a great director is usually more worthwhile (to me, at least) than a competent film from a boring director.

[Pubrick]

A failure from a great director is usually more worthwhile (to me, at least) than a competent film from a boring director.

yes, PDL is still heaps better than The Family Man.

[evaderhead]

But it also is really all over the map, as if Stone couldn't decide whether he wanted to do an ambitious adventure film or an ancient political film. It's kind of a mix of both, but they aren't necessarily congruent.

Actually I think the mix can turn out good, hoping to see it.

[MacGuffin]

Angry Greeks Deny Alexander the Great Was Bisexual

ATHENS (Reuters) - A group of Greek lawyers are threatening to sue Warner Bros. film studios and Oliver Stone, director of the widely anticipated film "Alexander," for suggesting Alexander the Great was bisexual.
 
The lawyers have already sent an extrajudicial note to the studio and director demanding they include a reference in the title credits saying his movie is a fictional tale and not based on official documents of the life of the Macedonian ruler.

"We are not saying that we are against gays but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the audience that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander," Yannis Varnakos, who spearheads the campaign by 25 lawyers, told Reuters on Friday.

Stone was quoted on the MSNBC.com Web Site as telling the upcoming edition of Playboy magazine that the film's depiction of Alexander could offend some.

"We go into his bisexuality. It may offend some people, but sexuality in those days was a different thing," he was quoted as saying.

While the film starring Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie will be released on Nov. 24, Varnakos said he has already gathered enough information regarding the content of the movie to suggest there are "inappropriate references."

"We have not seen the film but from the information we have already there are references to his alleged homosexuality, a fact that is in no historical document or archive on Alexander," he said. "Either they make it clear that this is a work of fiction or we will take the case further."

This is not the first time Greeks have been angered by suggestions Alexander was homosexual and had affairs with young men.

Two years ago hundreds of northern Greeks from the province of Macedonia, where he was born, stormed an archeological symposium after one speaker presented a paper on the homosexuality of Alexander. Police were called in to evacuate the participants.

One of the greatest military leaders of all time, Alexander, who was never defeated in battle, conquered about 90 percent of the then-known world before his mysterious death at the age of 32, building an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan.

Varnakaos said as Stone has the right to freely express himself, the audience should have the right to know.

"We cannot come out and say that (former U.S.) President John F. Kennedy was a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and so Warner cannot come out and say Alexander was gay," Varnakos said.

[ono]

I didn't know Greeks were from the deep south.

[analogzombie]

"We cannot come out and say that (former U.S.) President John F. Kennedy was a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and so Warner cannot come out and say Alexander was gay," Varnakos said.

I think that's the best analogy I have ever heard.

The historical fact is though, that Alexander, like many Greek men in his day, did engage in sexual acts with with men and women. In fact they also engaged in sex games with prepubescent children. It wasn't taboo, it was just how it was.

The people who are getting so worked up about all this must remember that you can't try to evaluate history in terms of today's values, norms and mores.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and basically every important ancient Greek philosopher was bisexual. It was culturally expected. I don't know why they would be offended or even surprised. Surely they must have some understanding of their own history. This may be an overgeneralization, but sexual morality (in the way we think of it) wasn't even invented until Christianity.

And how can they try to defend Alexander, really, in any way? What did he do that was even remotely defensible?

[pete]

Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and basically every important ancient Greek philosopher was bisexual. It was culturally expected. I don't know why they would be offended or even surprised. Surely they must have some understanding of their own history. This may be an overgeneralization, but sexual morality (in the way we think of it) wasn't even invented until Christianity.

And how can they try to defend Alexander, really, in any way? What did he do that was even remotely defensible?

you mean sexual morality in general or sexual morality in the Roman/ Greek culture?  you're wrong on both counts.

[rustinglass]

I hate greeks

[Jeremy Blackman]

you mean sexual morality in general or sexual morality in the Roman/ Greek culture?  you're wrong on both counts.

I think I mean sexual morality in the Christian sense... isn't that the Western frame of reference today? Is there an earlier frame of reference that has the same kind of fear of homosexuality and the kind of Virgin Mary virtue model?

[MacGuffin]

Sidewinder Boss: Hey. Hey. How many times do I have to tell you? No shirt, no service. Get the hell out of my store. What do you think this is, Club Med?
Doug: It's called America, dude. Learn the rules.
Sidewinder Boss: "Learn the rules?" No, YOU learn the rules. We Greeks invented democracy.
Doug: You also invented homos.

[cron]

I hate greeks

because of the eurocup? please say no.