Passion Of The Christ Review!
02-23-04, 01:14 PM
#51
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A friend who works in the theater business said that his boss saw a screening of it this past weekend, and said that it was well done, but it was toe-curlingly brutal.
02-23-04, 01:17 PM
#52
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Originally posted by movielib
Every last dang one of 'em!
Every last dang one of 'em!
02-23-04, 01:36 PM
#53
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Originally posted by DGibFen
Seems a bit old. Show me a list of these that comes from someone in the last 5 years and with a newer translation.
Seems a bit old. Show me a list of these that comes from someone in the last 5 years and with a newer translation.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...tradictions%22
02-23-04, 03:37 PM
#54
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I saw it this morning and it's quite frankly one amazing piece of cinema.
I'm not religious at all but I was moved by the story and the events of the film.
It's graphic and violent and brutal and even I had to turn my head away from time to time as the imagery became too much..
I'm under an review embargo untill midnight Wednesday the 25th but I will be giving this film a very positive review.
I agree with Ebert and Roeper and hope that people judge this film for itself.
M.
I'm not religious at all but I was moved by the story and the events of the film.
It's graphic and violent and brutal and even I had to turn my head away from time to time as the imagery became too much..
I'm under an review embargo untill midnight Wednesday the 25th but I will be giving this film a very positive review.
I agree with Ebert and Roeper and hope that people judge this film for itself.
M.
02-23-04, 04:30 PM
#55
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Originally posted by clappj
I am curious...
What are these contradictions that you speak of?
I am curious...
What are these contradictions that you speak of?
The classic "Christmas story" is pretty much a pick-and-choose affair across these four stories. Some shepards here, some wise men there. Bethlehem here, Jerusulum there. A stable here, tax collection there. They don't even agree on a lot of the classic Christmas icons.
02-23-04, 04:35 PM
#56
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Originally posted by mgbfan
Have you read the four gospels on the birth of Jesus? Read them all sometime, back-to-back.
The classic "Christmas story" is pretty much a pick-and-choose affair across these four stories. Some shepards here, some wise men there. Bethlehem here, Jerusulum there. A stable here, tax collection there. They don't even agree on a lot of the classic Christmas icons.
Have you read the four gospels on the birth of Jesus? Read them all sometime, back-to-back.
The classic "Christmas story" is pretty much a pick-and-choose affair across these four stories. Some shepards here, some wise men there. Bethlehem here, Jerusulum there. A stable here, tax collection there. They don't even agree on a lot of the classic Christmas icons.
Check out Craig Bloomberg's "The Historical Reliability of the Gospels" In it, he speaks specifically about the differences between the Gospels. Bloomberg is a Christian who believes that the Bible is the word of God (so you know his bias in advance). It's a revised version of a scholarly work, published for the laymen. The original was a 6-volume work entitled Gospel Perspectives.
02-23-04, 06:15 PM
#58
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Originally posted by DodgingCars
Oh.. and for every one of Movielibs URLs I can post a rebuttal URL if you'd like.
Oh.. and for every one of Movielibs URLs I can post a rebuttal URL if you'd like.
02-23-04, 08:42 PM
#59
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IMO, I wasn’t too thrilled with it.
Not that the film is anti-Semitic – IT ISN’T. But I was bothered how Pontius Pilate was a fully realized character, nursing a troubled mind over what to do with Jesus, and the Jewish temple leaders were pretty one-dimensional, calling for crucifixion without MUCH internal struggle. And the Romans are practically imagined as feces-throwing gorillas the way they stomp around. A little too broad for me.
And the bloodletting seemed to stop serving a point about halfway through. It became a little gratuitous, but I wasn’t horrified. I have a steady diet of Dario Argento film to thank for that. Damn numbness to violence…
The Jesus and Mary scenes are just beautiful, and I came out wishing there was more of an emotional core to the story, and not just Mel fetishizing the crucifixion. There are a handful of other complaints, but I definitely wasn’t blown away. Dare I say it, but I felt more spirituality coming from DOGMA than this film.
Outside of the faith and Mr. Gibson, I can’t imagine this appealing to too many people.
Not that the film is anti-Semitic – IT ISN’T. But I was bothered how Pontius Pilate was a fully realized character, nursing a troubled mind over what to do with Jesus, and the Jewish temple leaders were pretty one-dimensional, calling for crucifixion without MUCH internal struggle. And the Romans are practically imagined as feces-throwing gorillas the way they stomp around. A little too broad for me.
And the bloodletting seemed to stop serving a point about halfway through. It became a little gratuitous, but I wasn’t horrified. I have a steady diet of Dario Argento film to thank for that. Damn numbness to violence…
The Jesus and Mary scenes are just beautiful, and I came out wishing there was more of an emotional core to the story, and not just Mel fetishizing the crucifixion. There are a handful of other complaints, but I definitely wasn’t blown away. Dare I say it, but I felt more spirituality coming from DOGMA than this film.
Outside of the faith and Mr. Gibson, I can’t imagine this appealing to too many people.
. . .
02-25-04, 10:03 PM
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I just got back from seeing this and am of mixed feelings. I thought I would share a few of my observations anyway.
As someone mentioned in one of the discussions, the whole movie is a climax... which made the end almost anticlimactic.
The violence was much less severe that I expected. It's intense, but there certainly are movies out there that are more violent and make much more liberal use of gore.
If someone comes away from this feeling like persecuting Jews, they must not have paid much attention at all. The Roman soldiers come across as being *much* more violent/sadistic/evil than the Jewish leaders.
It does seem very true to the Biblical account, though not perfect by any means. There are things that we simply don't know and Gibson took liberty to fill in those gaps. Some of those things worked very well, others I didn't care for. Still, these were minor portions of the movie and didn't really detract from the overall presentation.
Several people have complained about the length of Christ's hair as though every individual in a society would have the exact same hair cut. It seems that Gibson took a number of suggestions on hair styles and represented several of them. IMO, the complaint about the hair might be valid if everyone's cut went against what we believe was common, but that is not the case.
Some don't like that Jesus is portrayed as carrying a complete cross... interestingly, the other two men headed toward execution are carrying only the cross beams.
I have other thoughts that I may be able to put in to coherent comments later on, but that's about all I can offer right now. All in all, it was a pretty powerful film that gave me the opportunity to think about some things in ways that I hadn't before.
As someone mentioned in one of the discussions, the whole movie is a climax... which made the end almost anticlimactic.
The violence was much less severe that I expected. It's intense, but there certainly are movies out there that are more violent and make much more liberal use of gore.
If someone comes away from this feeling like persecuting Jews, they must not have paid much attention at all. The Roman soldiers come across as being *much* more violent/sadistic/evil than the Jewish leaders.
It does seem very true to the Biblical account, though not perfect by any means. There are things that we simply don't know and Gibson took liberty to fill in those gaps. Some of those things worked very well, others I didn't care for. Still, these were minor portions of the movie and didn't really detract from the overall presentation.
Several people have complained about the length of Christ's hair as though every individual in a society would have the exact same hair cut. It seems that Gibson took a number of suggestions on hair styles and represented several of them. IMO, the complaint about the hair might be valid if everyone's cut went against what we believe was common, but that is not the case.
Some don't like that Jesus is portrayed as carrying a complete cross... interestingly, the other two men headed toward execution are carrying only the cross beams.
I have other thoughts that I may be able to put in to coherent comments later on, but that's about all I can offer right now. All in all, it was a pretty powerful film that gave me the opportunity to think about some things in ways that I hadn't before.
02-25-04, 10:18 PM
#64
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An amazing, sobering look at the final hours of Christ. Mel Gibson succeeds in bringing us with Christ as he faces those horrendous hours of pain and suffering. I found the audience and I to be in step with every single exasperating breath that Christ takes. It was hard to watch, and yet, it was something that hits at your spiritual core with the ferocity of those Roman soldiers delivering the scourging of Christ. This was a very moving film, on many levels.
For me, it wasn't about the "intellectual/scholarly" aspect of the film's subject that was of interest to me. It was the unflinching flood of emotion and empathy that gripped me by the throat for almost 2 hours and gave up its hold slowly as Christ found release in his final moments on earth and whose spirit moves believers on a daily basis to live the good life, to be good to all, to embrace life everlasting.
Jim Caviezel pulls off the performance of his life, relying on his body language to fully immerse himself into the role of Christ and all that he suffered and all that he gave freely to any and all who would listen to him at the ultimate cost to him.
It's been quite a while since I spent the last hour of any film with tears welling up in my eyes as I was immersed in these final hours of Christ, agonizingly each step of the way. In trying to stave off outright sobbing, my breathing had to become more labored and controlled, else I might have lost it.
Words fail me as I exited from the theater. I was on auto-pilot driving home as scenes played through my head, my heart. Chills continued to go through my body several hours afterwards.
I give it 4 stars, or a grade of A. But it seems silly to even "score" this film because it was more of a moving experience that left me with an indelible mark on the inside.
For me, it wasn't about the "intellectual/scholarly" aspect of the film's subject that was of interest to me. It was the unflinching flood of emotion and empathy that gripped me by the throat for almost 2 hours and gave up its hold slowly as Christ found release in his final moments on earth and whose spirit moves believers on a daily basis to live the good life, to be good to all, to embrace life everlasting.
Jim Caviezel pulls off the performance of his life, relying on his body language to fully immerse himself into the role of Christ and all that he suffered and all that he gave freely to any and all who would listen to him at the ultimate cost to him.
It's been quite a while since I spent the last hour of any film with tears welling up in my eyes as I was immersed in these final hours of Christ, agonizingly each step of the way. In trying to stave off outright sobbing, my breathing had to become more labored and controlled, else I might have lost it.
Words fail me as I exited from the theater. I was on auto-pilot driving home as scenes played through my head, my heart. Chills continued to go through my body several hours afterwards.
I give it 4 stars, or a grade of A. But it seems silly to even "score" this film because it was more of a moving experience that left me with an indelible mark on the inside.
