landru141

I read Joshua Zyber's DVD review of Alexander - Director's Cut at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=16903 and...
man, is he wrong. This movie was not only the worst of the year, it has since made me think twice before going to the movie theater. The day I saw it was opening day. I had no knowledge of the reviews and, frankly, it ruined the rest of my day. It was so bad that my friends left early and headed back to Dallas, prefering a long road trip to hanging out being depressed. IT WAS BAD!!!

Josh Z

I think I made my case pretty clearly in the review. You are of course free to agree or disagree as you see fit.

garmonbozia

so Josh, your advice to someone who has not seen this movie yet would be to skip the "director's cut" and to see the theatrical version?

InnocentBlood

i agree with what the review said - it's just 'cool' to bash certain movies. i actually saw this movie in the cinema and while i thought that it could have been better, i certainly did not think that it was absolute trash.

i don't understand all the hate that is generated towards this movie but i do believe to each his own.

i for one am looking fwd to revisit this movie on DVD again. i may not buy it brand new but i would pick it up if it turns up 2nd hand or something.

Josh Z

My advice would be to rent the theatrical version. If you like it, the DC is worth at least one viewing for curiosity's sake, but if you hate the movie there is nothing in the DC that will change your mind so you might as well skip it.

das Monkey

Josh, your review is not of the Body. It is not of Landru.

das

Big Worms

Thanks for the review. Too bad Blockbuster does not rent the theatrical version. I am going to have a friend see if Netflix does.

Liquid Death

Netflix has the theatrical cover art for Alexander, so I'm going to assume its not the DC...

scrotalsac187

I picked up the Korean CE a few months ago. It is definitely not the greatest movie ever, but I din't find it to be that terrible. The common movie fan will not like it at all due to it being more story than action. But if you are a history fan and a historical epic junky (like myself), than it does a pretty good job of summing up the life of Alexander The Great in 173 minutes. There is some things that could have been changed (or added) to make this a better movie, and it's sad to see he didn't do any of those things with the DC.

Josh Z

"Brain and brain! What is brain?!"

(Yes, I realize that's from a different episode.)

I don't know what's sadder, that you are a big enough TV geek to make a reference like that, or that I get it.

jrobinson

I'm going to go with the former, because I don't get it either.

Abrave9

Josh, I'm a little confused. Is the only different feature on the DC and TC the audio commentaries? Or, do they have other differences as well? Thanks

Josh Z

I believe that's the only difference, but I was not sent the Theatrical Cut DVD for review.

Terrell

Nice review Josh, though I have to disagree with your assessment of the film, not that is matters.

Houstondon

I thought the movie was a harmless piece of fluff that had little worth liking and liked the review better than the movie. Keep in mind that it was just a movie and his review was just one man's opinion (nothing to get worked up over).

Wayde

Josh, I read your reivew. It's interesting because I think you're right on that it became fashionable to bash this movie.

I reviewed it here. I've only seen the director's cut on DVD, never saw it in the theaters.

Let me know what you think of my reivew. I'm an amateur reviewer. But I did like the movie. I like historic epics, what can I say. I think Stone had a real vision of what Alexander's life must have been like and it's unique. I've never read so much focus on his Asian marriage and never gave much thought to the spectacle of his decline in the end. I always assumed Alexander got careless in battle because of the mutiny and he wanted to make things go faster. I never considered the mutiny being tied to the marriage as a part of the general treatment of his Macedonians.

Josh Z

I like that you brought a historical perspective to the review rather than just a movie perspective.

There's been some interesting discussion of this movie at www.epicfilmtalk.com.

Calistoga

Josh thank you for an excellent review. I too think the movie has been unduely criticized and undervalued. I found your review an accurate, honest, and insightful critque of the film.

Bawno

I agree. Alexander was a great film. I have yet to watch the directors cut as I purchased the theatrical version. Is it as good, I've heard its not!

tasha99

Well, I'm halfway through it and am calling it a night. I'm not sure if I'll watch the rest--I had no idea this would be so storyless. So far (1.5 hours into it) it seems like a bunch of disjointed scenes with some of the most important parts narrated instead of shown--more like a history lesson with flat characters than a story.

When the opening scene was an old man giving a history lesson before flashing back to Alexander's life, I started to think watching it was a mistake, and when they took the time to recount myths that everyone already knows, I knew it was. It's almost as if the writer decided to challenge every storytelling rule of thumb on a dare, and so far, "tell don't show" isn't working. (I've also got to say, I think it would have been cool to start an epic film about a Greek hero in medias res, so starting after the action was doubly bad for me).

My daughter said she heard Colin Ferrell was naked later in the film, and all I can say is I hope to God that's true. There's not much chance of this movie suddenly becoming witty or entertaining, but maybe some sex could keep it from being completely boring.

I can't say this movie won't redeem itself in the second half, but so far .

(No offense to people who liked the movie. This is just my opinion, and I've only seen half. I usually love period pieces and historical epics, even the ones critics don't, so I'm surprised I'm not enjoying this movie. Maybe I'm on a bad movie roll--I quit watching Meet the Fockers halfway through a couple nights ago because I just couldn't stand it anymore.)