SITE EDIT, 12/10/07 – This post is by former site contributor, “justaguy“, whose author title isn’t recreated on these republished posts of his after the site was upgraded to the use of MT 4.0 (his work was successfully imported and republished but his User Account was not, and, thus, this manual edit to identify the contributions on this blog by “justaguy“.)
In other words, “justaguy”‘s posts have been imported and republished using the site Admin. account, which is mine, “-S-”, although I did not write these posts.
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Oliver Stone went on record last week stating that he wasn’t really worried about the U.S. performance of his latest epic, “Alexander,” which stars Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, and Val Kilmer. Stone’s prediction (or, rather his “hope”) was that it would fair better overseas. Well, the reviews are trickling in.
Here is a taste…
“Farrell fell short. Val Kilmer played his role like a one-eyed cowboy. And Angelina Jolie showed off her beauty but not her talent,” critic Dimitris Danikas wrote in Athens’ Ta Nea newspaper, one of Greece’s largest circulation dailies.”
I was able to view the film during the Thanksgiving holiday. My main problems with the movie were the following…
(In no particular order…)
1. Bad accents.
Example:
Olympias (Alexander’s mother) was the princess of Epirus. I’m still trying to identify Jolie’s accent. Though, it’s still not as bad as Brad Pitt’s accent within “Troy.”
2. Bad writing (dialogue, fatuous innuendos, etc.).
Example:
“Conquer your fear, and I promise you’ll conquer death!” – Alexander
Did “TV Funhouse” help write “Alexander?”
(After the two kids wrestle) “Alexander was only defeated once, and that was by Hephaestion’s thighs.” – Ptolemy
The sexuality of Alexander (historically) was “hazy” at best. But, if you’re going to play the whole bisexuality angle…handle it with tact.
Finally, the scope. The script was all over the place.
3. Bad casting choices.
Example:
Oliver Stone insisting to cast an actress of Puerto Rican ancestry (Rosario Dawson)…as Roxane (a Bactrian princess)…really befuddles me. It brings back memories of the old Chris Rock joke about how we cast Puerto Ricans as American Indians within the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Hey Ollie, how about Aishwarya Rai?
Total Gross (Dec. 3): $26,300,000
Production Budget: $165,000,000
Only time will tell…as to if the red states will be blamed.
-justaguy
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Ha, something approaching remarkable, that last link as to Paramount blaming the Election on the BO failure of their remake of ALFIE. That, along with Stone’s avoidances of the awful results for ALEXANDER, is similar to the DNC/Democrats blaming…um, blaming…um…unable to recognize that their failure was due to their failed politics, and, that John Kerry lost because of John Kerry (I don’t read that he is yet to recognize that, or that the DNC is, either).
ALEXANDER should be awarded with the “Bad Acting” and “Worst Script” Awards, or those Awards ought to be cooked up so they can be awarded to that film — I didn’t see the remake of ALFIE, out of respect for the original.
There’s a problem in entertainment with the “remake genre,” such that it seems to be pursued for BO instead of for filmmaking. Remake any literary tale, is my point, but spare the ‘bigger, badder, worse’ inflation of added gizmos, twirling effects and lack of tone (which seems to be the result of the pursuit of BO rather than of anyone involved concerned with the filmmaking, but only with the effects and vanity of names affiliated).
People will still stand in line for hours/days for a great film, and they do. There’s nothing to blame for failed BO where films are concerned but bad films. Oliver Stone, for instance, would grow immensely as an artist if he would only recognize that the reason ALEXANDER failed is almost certainly the fault of Stone as screenwriter, producer, director. No amount of great costumes and production quality can account for a bad story, failed/inappropriate performances, no central message, all of which ALEXADER characterises.
The only thing Stone accomplished with that film is the denigration of Alexander’s legacy. The principle actors, well, what was the point? There wasn’t any ‘there’ there.
Sorry, principal actors.