General Stuff: General MoviesGeneral Stuff explains movies.Aimless "Passion" Misses Theological Centrality of Crucifixion- February 28, 2004 From "For One Catholic, 'Passion' Skews The Meaning of the Crucifixion" in the NY Times today: Mr. Gibson's defense is that he tells it like it is. Or like it was. But that is not precisely the case: the film's screenwriter, Benedict Fitzgerald, has added extra-Scriptural details: the character of Claudia, Pilate's wife, is much amplified from the Gospel hint; Pilate is given a sympathetic psychological complexity that is nowhere found in the Gospels; details of Jesus' childhood have been...http://blogs.salon.com/0003158/categories/generalMovies/2004/02/28.html#a143 Branding Jesus- February 28, 2004 Given the opening week success of The Passion of the Christ, the obvious question is: What next Does this mean we have to suffer a bevy of biblical fantasies writ large, with exotic historical trappings like foreign languages and ultraviolence (because, let us recall, in the Christian world gory violence signifies realism, but explicit sex signifies the work of Satan) Please, if you haven't seen the film yet, don't. You will only be encouraging them to make more of this nonsense. The relative...http://blogs.salon.com/0003158/categories/generalMovies/2004/02/27.html#a142 Mad Mel Cashes in on White Jesus, But Even Bible Says Jesus Was Black- February 26, 2004 Crowds and protests greet Passion. Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ takes $20m at US box offices in its opening day, a report says. BBC News Entertainment World Edition I'm not a religious person, but I think I have more respect for religions that discourage depictions of their godhead. It seems to me like if you were a true believer, you wouldn't want your god debased by having him, her, or it depicted in a movie, especially one as crass and opportunistic as Mad...http://blogs.salon.com/0003158/categories/generalMovies/2004/02/26.html#a141 The Passion of the Christ is about Passion not History -- And That's The Problem- February 25, 2004 Christ film 'riddled with errors'. Scholars say Mel Gibson's film about the last 12 hours of Jesus' life contains several historical mistakes. BBC News Entertainment World Edition I'd like to explain why I will not see Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. For starters, I'd like to cite people like the ones quoted in the BBC item above: Kathleen Lewandowski, who saw it in Chicago, said: "I was gasping for breath." Fellow Chicago viewer Joan Moder said: "Everybody should see it. It gives...http://blogs.salon.com/0003158/categories/generalMovies/2004/02/25.html#a138 In Defense of Meg Ryan and In The Cut- February 11, 2004 Critics and moviegoers generally dismissed In The Cut, the 2003 noir thriller starring Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo now out on DVD. Only 33% of the critics at RottenTomatoes.com liked it, and the film scored an average grade of 4.9 out of 10 from said critics. At the box office the film made only about $5 million domestically, also according to RottenTomatoes.com. By all counts, it was a staggering failure. The critical and financial failure of the film is all the more staggering...http://blogs.salon.com/0003158/categories/generalMovies/2004/02/11.html#a113 Website Spoofs MPAA Hypocrisy- February 9, 2004 Anti-Piracy Campaign Gets a Laugh. A website launched by a pair of independent filmmakers pokes fun at efforts by the Motion Picture Association of America to prevent the illegal copying of Hollywood films. By Jason Silverman. Wired News Mirvish believes the MPAA ads are hypocritical -- the studios, he said, don't exactly have a great record of supporting the little guy. "It&146;s disingenuous for the MPAA to use these (blue-collar) guys to sell their point when they will fight them...http://blogs.salon.com/0003158/categories/generalMovies/2004/02/09.html#a107 |