Into the Woods [2014]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RE.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RE.com (S. Wloszczyna) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review

Into the Woods [2014] (directed by Rob Marshall, screenplay by James Lapine [IMDb], based on the stage musical by Stephen Sondheim [IMDb] and James Lapine [IMDb] which combines a number of Grimm's Fairytales into generally pleasing "soup") makes for a rather safe family-oriented movie to go see this "Holiday season."  I write "Holiday" rather than "Christmas Season" because the film is certainly (and certainly intentionally) a "religion-free zone."  On the other hand, this is a film that will certainly offend almost no one.  Hence, it's SAFE but also ... FUN.

Certainly Meryl Streep must have had a blast playing the story's Witch, who, since she was cursed (for reason(s) unclear) by her mother to "lifelong ugliness" turned around and cursed her neighbors' home inhabited by a lovely, mild-mannered "Baker" couple played by James Corden and Emily Blunt rendering the couple childless.  Mind you, the "Witch" had nothing in particular against the "Baker couple."  It was just that _her life_ was "cursed," so why shouldn't theirs be as well ;-/. 

So ... near the beginning of the film, Witch cheerfully tells them (again, she doesn't have any particular resentment against them ...) what THEY need to do TO HELP HER remove the curse that was PLACED ON HER, and ... in return she'd then cheerfully remove the curse AGAINST THEM.  (In truth, the story's kinda about "cheerful" "Fairytale blackmail" or even "Fairytale terrorism" ... The Witch was unhappy and so long as she was unhappy the lovely / innocent people next door were rendered unhappy as well...)

What did they have to do?  They had to bring to the Witch four items: A cape "as red as blood," a cow "as white as milk," hair "as yellow as corn," and a shoe "as pure as gold."  Since their village was "small" they had to leave their little village "INTO THE WOODS" to search / find these items. 

And .... in those "woods" (strange, outside of their normal day-to-day experience) ... they run into ... hmmm ... Little Red Riding Hood (played amusingly by Lila Crawford), a little boy named Jack (played by Daniel Huttlestone) taking his mother's cow to market, long/blonde haired Rapunzel (played by Mackenzie Mauzy) locked-up in a lonely tower, and a not particularly "decisive" Cinderella (played by Anna Kendrick) who has a hard time deciding if she really wants to become Prince Charming's (played by Chris Pine) wife (It turns out later that her intuitive cautiousness was quite justified ... ;-)

So ... "the ingredients" are all there, but nothing is that easy:   It turns out Little Red Riding Hood's kinda a brat ;-), Jack wants to be paid, Repunzel has need for that hair, and Cinderella, poor Cinderella, has the above mentioned affliction of not being able to make-up her mind.  So ... much has to ensue ... and it does.  And even after everything would seem to be resolved, well ... there's at least one more act to go ;-).

So ... this is a pleasant and often quite funny revisiting of some of the Grimm's Fairytales that many/most of us would remember from our younger days.  Probably the show-stopper tune in the film is "Agony" sung by Cinderella's Prince Charming and Rapunzel's beau (played by Billy Magnusen) complaining how "difficult" it is to be a "privileged prince" ;-).  Then Meryl Streep's unhappy but quite powerful witch has fun "unhelpfully" appearing and disappearing again throughout the story, "helping" to make the other characters in the story "unhappy" because, well, she's unhappy.  Many of us have friends, neighbors and/or relatives like that ;-). 

So ... while this movie could have been released pretty much any time during the year, it's NOT A BAD ONE to go to now if the relatives are over (especially with little ones) and you don't know quite what to do with them anymore ;-).

I'd also add that part of the film's charm is that though it is a movie, set often outdoors, it's quite "stagey" (and IMHO _intentionally_ so).  So I'm sure that plenty of high school drama coaches will be scratching their heads as they watch the film, saying to themselves "Hey, WE could do this.  And wouldn't this musical be a blast to put on stage at our school in a year or two...."

So all in all, one can't really go wrong with this film.  Good job folks, good job ;-)


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Annie [2014]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  ChicagoTribune (1 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller-Seitz) review
AVClub (K. Rife) review

BET coverage
Ebony (R. Mays) interview w. Jamie Foxx
Essence.com (T. Lewis) cover article
TheSource.com interviews [1] [2]

I honestly didn't expect to like Annie [2014] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Will Gluck along with Arlene Brosh McKenna based on the stage play by Thomas Meehan [IMDb] based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray).  When I was a kid growing-up, I didn't much like or even have interest in the original stage musical.  Even at 10 or 12 I had a remarkably similar view of the musical as I later had of the musical Les Miserables [2013] -- I basically found it to be poverty porn: "Oh look at how much the characters suffered (and AT A TIME SO FAR, FAR AWAY), but the Actors SANG SO WELL (or NOT SO WELL or WHATEVER ...)."

So I went to see the remade / updated  Annie [2014] (the lovely, precocious African American 10 year old Quvenzhané Wallis playing the precocious starring role previously played by lovely preccocious white/redheaded vaguely Irish looking girls) in a matinee, going to see it only _because I felt I had to_ for the sake of the credibility of my movie review blog... :-)

I left already liking the new film, and liked it EVEN MORE when I got home and rented the canonical 1982 film version (the one which starred, among others Carol Burnett as the evil, self-serving/scheming orphanage running Miss Hannigan).

Why the change?  Well, I found the updating of the story both BRILLIANT and WORTHY of the story -- the new version setting Annie's story, not during the Great Depression (FAR FAR AWAY...) but IN THE PRESENT DAY.  And then, if one is going to move "Little Orphan Annie" to the present day (while STILL SETTING IT IN NEW YORK), IT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE to change her from a precocious curly red-haired vaguely Irish-looking girl living in a Depression Era orphanage to a precocious, yet still big / curly-haired African-American girl living in a CONTEMPORARY "FOSTER CARE" situation. 

Then the rest of the characters in the original story translate VERY WELL into the new.  Cameron Diaz' drunk, sulking, scheming "I could have been a star" Hannigan making a few extra bucks by taking-in kids as a "Foster Mom" is a brilliantly dead-on updated version of Carol Burnett's character in the canonical 1982 film version).  Jamie Foxx' telecom billionaire Will Stacks (running in the current version for NYC mayor) is a similarly brilliantly updated version of the Depression Era Oliver ("Daddy") Warbucks tycoon played by Albert Finney in the 1982 film, though much of Daddy Warbucks' privileged / "evil" default tendencies get shifted to Stacks' "I get paid to do the things that you can't" campaign manager credited in the new film as simply "Guy" (played by Bobby Cannavale).  Then Rose Byrne does a wonderful job in the current version of playing Grace, Stacks' personal assistant, whose role is an updated version of Daddy Warbuck's assistant Grace Farrell played (and danced ...) in the 1982 version by Ann Reinking.   Stack's driver Nash (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) played a pretty good updated version of "Punjab", Daddy Warbucks' driver (played by Geoffrey Holder in the 1982 version).

Then some of the scenes in the updated version, which more-or-less follows the trajectory of the original, are again brilliantly inspired.  In both the current and the 1982 versions, there's an episode in which Annie wants to go to the movies.  In the 1982 version, Daddy Warbucks makes a call and RENTS OUT THE ENTIRE RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL so that HE, Annie and Grace could go to see a movie (which turns out to be some appropriately sappy 1930s melodrama).  IN THE CURRENT VERSION, Annie convinces Stacks to take HER, her other foster home friends and Grace to see a sappy Twilight-like film apparently starring Mila Kunis in a Bella-like role,  Ashton Kutcher as the Twilight-like Edward (or perhaps Jason)-like "lizard-man hunk" (with Rihanna and Scarlett Benchley playing assorted, "moon and fish goddesses").  It's simply PRICELESS to watch Billionaire Stacks, there, popcorn-in-lap, TOTALLY DISORIENTED in a theater FILLED WITH SIGHING 10-12 year old girls (and Grace) holding-onto EVERY WORD and EVERY GLANCE in this very contemporary "sappy melodrama" involving an "impossible romance" between the Twilight's Bella-like character (played by Mila Kunis) and her "lizard man" beau ;-).  [Actually, to my Czech ears, the plot of this Twilight-like "water saga" seems VAGUELY like the libretto of Antonin Dvorak's opera about the "water nymph" Rusalka [wikip] [YouTube] ;-)]

So folks, what I would suggest to skeptics here is to go see BOTH the current updated version of Annie and then come home and RENT the 1982 version.  I think that most would honestly appreciate what was done here.  The updated version honestly came across to me as FAR MORE REAL than the DEPRESSION ERA version (set again, at a time SAFELY "far, far away...")

And finally to those who would find some of the messaging in the current version to be uncomfortably "Liberal" ... remember that THE ORIGINAL was UNABASHEDLY LIBERAL / pro-FDR.  Indeed FDR and Eleanor WERE EVEN CHARACTERS in the play (played in the 1982 version by Edward Herrman and Lois de Banzie respectively). 

So I found this film far, far, far more engaging than I ever thought possible prior to seeing it, and as I did in the case of the "crazy" (DaVincian airship filled) updating / re-imagining of The Three Musketeers [2011] some years back I APPLAUD THE COURAGE AND CREATIVITY OF THE SCREENWRITERS and FILM MAKERS HERE.  Awesome job here, simply awesome.  And again, I didn't even really want to go see this film!


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Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb [2014]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (G. Kenny) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb [2014] (directed by Shawn Levy, screenplay and story by David Guion and Michael Handelman along with Mark Friedman, characters by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant) continues and perhaps concludes this very nice / family friendly series of films about lowly New York Museum of Natural History night security guard Larry Daley (played by Ben Stiller), who in the first film, Night at the Museum [2006], discovered that thanks to a magically endowed ancient Egyptian tablet, all the statues / wax figures in the museum "come alive" at night. 

Among the "people" that Larry met in the first film were: (1) Teddy Roosevelt (played by Robin Williams); (2) an eyes rolling Sacajaweja (played by Mizou Peck) (Lewis and Clark NEVER asked her for directions ;-); (3) a strangely sad Attila the Hun (played by Patrick Gallagher) (who pillaged because he never had a good father-figure in his life ;-); (4) two miniature figurines, one of an American "Wild West" era prospector named Jedediah (played by Owen Wilson) and another of Roman Centurion Octaius (played by Steve Coogan) from neighboring (and it turns out competing) "dioramas" (Jedediah and his miner friends would try to "miniature dynamite" their way into the neighboring Roman empire themed "diorama" while the Romans would try to blow their way into the "Wild West" themed "diorama" with a battering ram... ;-); and (5) finally "young" Egyptian pharoah Akhmenrah (played by Rami Malek) to whom the magical tablet "belonged."  All these figures, who previously just caused havoc in the Museum after dark come to like the lowly and previously largely down-on-his-luck / friendless, night-watchman Larry and later rally to save his job when HE gets blamed for the mess that they cause each night.  And thus, an ensemble for many, many playfully "historically based" adventures was born ...

The second movie, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian [2009], moved the story to, well, Washington D.C., where at the Smithsonian Institute Larry and his "band of anachronistic merrymen/women" met the energetic and brave Amelia Earhart (played there by Amy Adams), the hapless Indian-War loser General Custer (played there by Bill Hader) as well as a true "gang" of History's "bad guys" including a cursed Egyptian pharoah named Khanumrah (played there by Hank Azaria), Ivan the Terrible (played there by Christopher Guest), Napoleon Bonaparte (played there by Alain Chabat) and Al Capone (played there by Jon Bernthal).  The "gang of baddies" had nefarious plans of "world domination" if only they could get their hands of the magical tablet ... ;-).  Much ensued...

The current movie, moves the story to the British Museum, where N.Y.C. Museum of Natural History's "young" pharoah Akhmenrah's father Merenkhare (played by Ben Kingsley) "lives."  The magical tablet was starting to wear-out and the characters from the N.Y.C. museum had to figure out why.  So ... Larry as well as a number of the other characters ... find their way to London's British Museum, and ... much again ensues ;-). 

Among that which ensues is that they meet "Sir Lancelot" (played by Dan Stevens) who, when brought to life by the magical tablet has an interesting problem that differs from the experiences of the other figures under its spell: Lancelot never actually existed, but NOW there he is ;-).  It's an interesting take on the question of "What to do IF YOU "DISCOVER" THAT _YOUR WHOLE LIFE_ HAS BEEN 'A LIE.'" ;-). 
 
Another priceless bit that perhaps is a MINOR "SPOILER" here but is simply worth sharing is the dialogue between the Ben Kingsley's Pharoah Merenkhare and Ben Stiller's Larry the Security Guard when Pharoah hears that Larry's "half Irish and half Jewish."  Pharoah says delightfully: "Oh I always LOVED Jews, I used to own 40,000 of them ;-).  Always, happy people, loved to sing..."  To which Larry responds: "Oh, believe me, the feeling wasn't mutual.  They spent 40 years in the desert running away from you.  WE STILL GET TOGETHER _EVERY YEAR_ to talk about it ;-)"

Additionally, the film had its (since its making) poignant moments.  Two actors from the film, Mickey Rooney (who plays a bit part as a retired museum security guard) and Robin Williams have died since the making of the film, Robin Williams, of course, of suicide.  Seeing Williams' ever "saddish" smile is quite sad to watch.

In any case, a very good film capping a very nice three part, ever family friendly series.  Good job folks!  Good job!


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The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  ChicagoTribune (2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (S. O'Malley) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review  

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies [2014] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Peter Jackson along with Fran Walsh, Philipa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro) is the final part of a three part series of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's [IMDb] novel The Hobbit [Amazon] released over the past several years.

The near universal critical opinion of this project has been that the source material, a single 300 page or so book (shorter than any of the three part Lord of the Rings Trilogy [Amazon]), was simply too thin to justify a three part film.  Yet, as I wrote in my review of the first part of this trilogy of films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012], those viewers who were "at all enamored by (or perhaps more fittingly here, enchanted by ;-) the LOTR series, [will probably] just bask in the opportunity of spending a few extra hours in the 'Middle Earth' of these films because the New Zealand location, the CGI and the cinematography in general are once again simply AWESOME."

Some nine hours (!) of three Hobbit movie(s) later, my own patience has admittedly worn thin as even MOST TEENAGERS could probably READ THE BOOK in shorter time than that need to watch the three movies ;-).  Still, I suspect that many fantasy role-playing gamers (and I would count myself as a lesser one among them) will probably find the extended (and I mean extended, perhaps 2/3 of the current movie) battle scenes between the promised five armies -- dwarves, elves, orcs, humans (Laketown refugees) and (once sleeping cousin) dwarves and/or orcs again (I lost count / got confused after a while ;-) -- quite AWESOME again ;-). [Note here that the book posits the Battle of Five Armies to be between dwarves, elves and humans (said Laketown refugees) on one side and "goblins and wild wolves" on the other (pg 281 of 305 in my Kindle edition).  While goblins do certainly make a brief and identified appearance -- "Look, there!  (A rather small detachment of) Goblins!" --- the primary enemy in the film would appear to be orcs].

The battle scenes are filmed then made "close-up" to show various individual hand-to-hand battles, as well as well "from a distance" to give a "bird's eye view" (which actually proves important because as in the book, the battle finally comes to an end with the arrival of Eagles ... ;-) who swoop down to take care of the remaining goblins (or orcs).

Now why was there fighting at all?  This is where IMHO things get interesting from my perspective (writing this blog) as well as that of Tolkien fans who've ALWAYS understood his works to be more than "just fantasy" but rather fundamentally allegorical in nature: Arguably The Hobbit is an allegorical presentation of World War I: 

The Dwarves (little people) whose mountain kingdom was stolen from them by the Dragon Smaug "centuries before" perhaps represent the "little kingdoms of the Slavs" and/or various other "little kingdoms" of Eastern and Southern Europe which had been swallowed-up by some of the larger countries in the region.  The Elves (living mostly "in the woods," and who _didn't particularly like the Dwarves_...) could have been the various Germanic peoples (with their own little / magical kingdoms).  The Hobbits, "living quietly in the Shire" would have almost certainly been "common English folk."   At the beginning of the story, the Hobbit Bilbo (played throughout by Martin Freeman) gets recruited by the Merlin-the-magician-like wizard Gandalf (played by Ian McEllen) perhaps representing British "high aristocracy" (or "all that is/was good and true in ancient / modern Britain / Britannia") to join the fight _of the dwarves_ TO REGAIN _THEIR_ (mountainous) HOMELAND (Note that with the exception of Poland, itself bordered to the south by mountains, the whole of Central and Eastern Europe is one mountain or mountain range after another).  Bilbo's initially quite skeptical but does ultimately join The Cause.

But as soon as Bilbo and the small party of Dwarves drive the Dragon out of the Dwarves' Mountain (their ancestral homeland) ALL SORTS OF PROBLEMS BOTH ANCIENT and NEW APPEAR.  Among the ANCIENT PROBLEMS that (RE)APPEAR are those pesky Orcs/Goblins who had seemed buried (or at least out of mind) before.  Among the NEW PROBLEMS that APPEARED was the destruction of the previously PEACEFUL TOWN OF "LAKE TOWN" (Flanders??) whose residents were now Refugees as a result of its (unwanted) battle with (and ultimate defeat of) the Dragon Smaug.

Then finally, the Dwarves, PITIED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY (for having lost their homeland centuries before as a result of the BEASTLY DRAGON SMAUG) TURN OUT TO NOT BE ALL THAT "GOOD" AS SOON AS THEY REGAIN THEIR MOUNTAIN KINGDOM.  Their "king" Thorin (played throughout by Richard Armitage) turns out to be quite greedy / self-interested as soon as "he gets his gold back."  Thus, he proves NOT willing to help the Laketown refugees, who after all, were the ones who ACTUALLY DEFEATED THE DRAGON (the dwarfs just chased him out of their mountain ...) and then he didn't even want to pay Bilbo his promised share for having joined their expedition to begin with.

It's fascinating, but a lot of Englishmen _could have felt similarly_ like Bilbo or the Laketown people after World War I (then The Great War).  Millions of Englishmen died in The Great War, for what?  Okay, the Central Powers of Europe (Imperial Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire) were defeated / destroyed.  BUT the resulting tiny countries that reappeared all quarreled with each other and many/most probably didn't even appreciate how many Englishmen died in that War that didn't really give England all that much as a result, except PERHAPS the sense of "having done the right thing."

The story today could remind us that even "just causes" have unexpected consequences and even the leaders of various just causes, when in power, could end-up "like the Dwarf King Thorin," that is, "problematic."

Still, Bilbo (and Gandalf) "did the right thing" and certainly Bilbo got an Adventure that he could talk about "in the Shire" (where "nothing ever happened") for the rest of his life.

Hence the book (or the THREE movies) gives one much to think about ... the value / pitfalls of setting out on a "Grand Adventure" even when "the Cause" is Just.  (Yes, it's still worth it, but ... not without its Disappointments).


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The Imitation Game [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  Chicago Tribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (1 1/2 Stars w. Expl.)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (S. Wloszczyna) review
AVClub (M. D'Angelo) review  

The Imitation Game [2014] (directed by Morton Tydlum, screenplay by Graham Moore based on the book by Andrew Hodges [IMDb]) tells the story (in very rough outline it turns out) of smart, socially-challenged oddball (and gay) Alan Turing who improving on similar machines already designed and constructed by Polish intelligence services in the 1930s, designed and supervised the construction of the proto-computer (that he nicknamed "Christopher") that definitively broke Nazi Germany's all-but unbreakable Enigma code during WW II that helped the Allies win the war.  

Turing's story plays out in this film in three stages of his life: in the 1920s when he when he was a teenager at a British all-boys boarding school, during the war years 1940-1945 when he was first part of and then allowed (very, very reluctantly by his bosses much less bright than he and his colleagues ever were) to lead the U.K.'s Bletchley Park Enigma code-breaking unit (code-named ULTRA) and then in the early 1950s after he was arrested for a (homosexual) morals charge.  As a teenager, he is played by Alex Lawther, as an adult, engagingly and magnificently throughout by Benedict Cumberpatch (Cumberpatch is almost certainly going to get an academy Award Nomination for his performance in this film and despite some other excellent performances by other actors in other films this year, I'd hand him the Oscar now). 

As could be imagined from the hints already given above, this is a fairly challenging story to put on screen.  First of all, Turing was an interesting character -- brilliant but perhaps almost necessarily odd.  Second, while his role in breaking the Enigma code was certainly significant, the film really plays the Polish contributions the code's breaking with almost categorical racist (WASP in the worst possible way) disrespect.  And yet, after the war, BECAUSE HOMOSEXUALITY WAS STILL A CRIME IN BRITAIN, Turing, without a doubt A LEGITIMATE WAR HERO (if only the public and EVEN CIVIL AUTHORITIES of the time would have / could have known) was DESTROYED for not fitting the heterosexual norm: Given a choice of PRISON or "hormonal therapy" (for A BLOW JOB ...) he chose the latter so that he could continue his work in the then still infant science of computer engineering.  In 1954, he died as a result of (probably) committing suicide...

The film's thematics, IMHO are excellent: Can we accept diversity AS A GIFT?  It did take someone who was "odd" (and not just that he was gay, even today, he'd probably be considered "socially challenged" / "odd") to do something next to unimaginable.  Yet, I do wish this was done in a manner that did give DUE CREDIT to the Poles (who are AS WHITE AS CAN BE and yet _still_ considered by more "Anglo" / "Aryan" whites to be SOMEHOW NECESSARILY "LESS" than they ...).

Sigh ... _excellent film_ otherwise, but 1 1/2 to 2 Stars ... (and I do think I'm being kind here on account of its _otherwise excellent message_).


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Exodus: Gods and Kings [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

Nat'l Catholic Register (S.D. Graydamus) reflection , interview w. director / stars of film

The first thing to say about Exodus: Gods and Kings [2014] (directed by Ridley Scott, screenplay by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian) is that it is an intelligent, thought-provoking, discussion-provoking film.  It is not simply a retelling of the story of Moses of the Book of Exodus.   What good would that do, after both having received the Canonical text in the Bible, and even perhaps a "canonical" presentation of it in Cecil B. DeMille's presentation of it in The Ten Commandments [1956]?

Instead, the current film, is a kind of Midrash or Reflection, as it tries to "get into the heads" of the Exodus story's main characters -- Moses (played by Christian Bale), Ramses (played by Joel Edgerton) who was according to the second chapter of Exodus for the first 40 years of Moses' life "like a brother to him", and yes, even God, or at least a messenger of God or Moses' visualization of God, credited in the film as Malek (played by Isaac Andrews).  [Note that Malek translates from Hebrew to English as "Angel" or "Messenger"].

For instance, the film explores the question of what would have it been like / WHAT COULD HAVE IT BEEN LIKE for Moses who grew-up AS AN EGYPTIAN to encounter the THE HEBREW GOD at the Burning Bush?   The film-makers' portrayal of God here is fascinating:  They portray Moses "seeing" the Hebrew God as a VERY POWERFUL (indeed DIVINELY POWERFUL) ... CHILD. 




Now why would Moses "see" / "experience" the Hebrew God "as a child"?  Well, Moses would have grown-up in the Royal Court of the most powerful, most sophisticated country of that time.  Egypt had an elaborate and complex / ELABORATED Pantheon of its own, perhaps even TOO ELABORATED for his liking (Near the beginning of the film, we see him more or less "roll his eyes" as a very solemn-looking Egyptian Priestess goes through the very solemn-looking motions of performing an oracle for the Pharoah's court).

As someone educated in Egypt's court, the Hebrew God VERY WELL COULD HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCED by Moses, as somewhat "childish" / "primitive", indeed at times PETULANT and YET, PERHAPS, ...  ALSO _FRESH_.

The Divine Name that the Hebrew God gives for Himself, "I am what I am," when Moses asks Him for it at the " Burning Bush" (Exodus 3) , IS kinda ALL OF THESE THINGS: "childish", "petulant" and FRESH ... God tells Moses (and US, the readers) that HE (God) can be WHOEVER / WHATEVER HE WISHES TO BE.  Indeed, isn't that a pretty good fundamental definition of a God?  A GOD [TM] would be someone WHO CAN DO WHATEVER ONE WANTS.

And yes, someone truly "Godlike" (able to do whatever he/she likes) WOULD RUN THE RISK being experienced (at least initially) as "kinda childish," "kinda despotic", "kinda petulant" UNTIL ... one got to know him better.  ;-)

And yet, such a partly "childish" God would be ALMOST THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF A LARGE IMPOSING STONE STATUE REPRESENTING ONE OR ANOTHER EGYPTIAN "GOD" about whom very long and (seeking to be) manipulative incantations would have been written (and often dryly recited...) which could have been the experience of someone like Moses who had grown-up in a "sophisticated court" like Pharoah's.

The Hebrew God may have seemed "childish", at times even "petulant" but ALSO SOMEHOW FAR MORE ALIVE than the "stone Gods" of Egypt.

So ... having made his "initial acquaintance" with "the God of his forebears" ... Moses then struggles with his Call.  Why him?

Good question, why?  By this point in the story, Moses was NO LONGER OF PHAROAH'S COURT but LIVING AS A SHEPHERD IN FAR OFF EXILE.  In the film, the "boy" representing "God" tells Moses: "I don't need a (lowly) shepherd.  I need a General."

Again, why?  The film has Moses coming back to Egypt initially to try to train some sort of a Hebrew resistance army.  But, if this seems apocryphal (and it certainly is), the film then makes clear that NO this was NOT the reason why "God needed a General."  AS IN THE BOOK OF EXODUS, SO TOO IN THE MOVIE, NEITHER MOSES NOR THE HEBREWS DO ANY REAL FIGHTING.  IT'S GOD WHO DOES THE FIGHTING FOR THEM THROUGH THE VARIOUS PLAGUES ... and yes, while SOME OF THE PLAGUES WOULD SEEM TO INITIALLY BE ATTRIBUTABLE TO "NATURAL CAUSES" (and plausibly would have even experienced by the Egyptians at the time as such ...) AS THEIR INTENSITY INCREASED, IT BECAME INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO "EXPLAIN THEM AWAY" IN THAT WAY ... (As such, the film actually does _powerfully affirm_ God's action in the tale).  [So why did God "need a General" if not for fighting?   MILD SPOILER ALERT: The film makers remind us that a General does more than just fight.  A General is, above all, a logistician, one who can organize and _lead_ a great deal of people].

So this IS an INTERESTING TAKE ON THE EXODUS STORY one that is CERTAINLY NOT "Literalistic" but tries to play, indeed _wrestle_ with the points / implications of the Exodus story:

Would God [TM] "not care" what happened to all those Egyptians killed by the Plagues sent down on them?  Well the "childish" but quite self-righteous God portrayed in the film gives a quite "certain" answer to this question: "Did the Egyptians 'care' about what they have been doing to their Hebrew slaves over the last 400 years?"

I'm fascinated by this kind of newly audacious inquiry into / wrestling with the Scriptures and I'm VERY HAPPY that a director like Ridley Scott did TAKE THE RISK of making a film such as this.  Martin Scorsese was certainly "burned" for making The Last Temptation of Christ [1988] and the result has been to scare-away serious directors from making Biblically themed movies for almost a generation.

I'm very happy to see that since Terrance Malick's Tree of Life [2011] the drought may have finally come to an end.

Good job Ridley Scott!  Good job!


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The Pyramid [2014]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChiTribune/Variety (1 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C-)  Fr. Dennis (2 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
ChicagoTribune/Variety (G. Lodge) review
RogerEbert.com (P. Sobczynski) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review  

The Pyramid [2014] (directed by Grégory Levasseur, screenplay by Daniel Meersand and Nick Simon) is actually a kinda fun horror movie conflating one of the oldest genres of horror films (the "mummy movie" with one of horror's newest genres (the "lost footage film").

Set in contemporary Egypt with Cairo, in flames because of various disturbances, we're told that using satellite imaging American researchers recently discovered a previously completely buried pyramid located in the desert some 200 miles to the south. 

The researchers, a father and daughter team Miles and Nora Holiday (played by Denis O'Hare and Ashley Hinshaw respectively), both PhDs of course, are both "working together" and "of different schools." 

When a documentary crew Sunni (played by Christa Nicola) and Fitzie (played by James Buckley), probably hired by the daughter, comes out to the excavation site, they encounter something straight of an Indiana Jones movie -- hundreds of Egyptians with shovels, pick axes and wheelbarrows clearing away the sand to expose said pyramid, and more to the point "an entrance" detected previously by ground penetrating radar.  Who hired the Egyptian diggers? probably dad.  Who thought of getting the radar imaging scan? probably the daughter.  Dad's looking forward to entering the pyramid, "old school," with rope, pick axe, etc.  Daughter and her techie Egyptian boyfriend Zahir (played by Amir K) are looking forward to sending a small remote control rover, "borrowed from NASA," into the pyramid first. 

So part of the initial joy of watching this film is the back-and-forth between Father and Daughter, who again, are "(basically) on the same team," but then again "they're (kinda) not" ;-)

Okay, the hired Egyptian diggers get to the entrance to the Pyramid and ... suddenly, they are ORDERED by the Egyptian government TO STOP.  Now remember folks, Cairo's "in flames" ... So why the heck would they care about a dig 200 miles away?

Well, that's exactly what both Father and Daughter (Americans) think.  So they try to tell a rather angry Egyptian soldier (played by Faycal Attougui) sent there to shut them down to give them just a "couple of hours" to at least get to see something of the inside of the pyramid that they spent so much time and money digging out.  He's not exactly convinced, but they decide to steal those few hours anyway.

What now?  Well, the rover seems the better way go now since they don't really have the time to explore it (quickly) themselves.  HOWEVER, a few minutes into the rover having entered the pyramid SOMETHING -- is it some sort of a feral dog? -- jumps out of nowhere and knocks said rover out of commission.   Well, that rover REALLY WAS "on loan from NASA" and we're told it cost $3 million.  So now the team has to go quickly into the  pyramid ... to retrieve that rover ;-).  The rest of the movie ensues ...

What ensues? ... Well, there are "things" in there that appear to be really dangerous.  What kind of "things"?  Well, the kind of things that perhaps a society really would want to entomb / bury for a really, really long time (and perhaps even for eternity).  Hence _perhaps_ answering the question of why the Egyptian government with seemingly "much more on its plate than simply a random 'dig' by a team of American archeologists" would _care_ about the dig ... 

Anyway, what follows is a kinda an "Ancient Alien" inspired stew (kinda "Ancient Alien" inspired but not that much...) that's again both kinda fun to watch and kinda scary.  And, of course, every "bump in the night" is being recorded by the invited "Documentary Crew."

So this is NOT a particularly deep movie.  But it is quite contemporary.  And CNN / History Channel junkies would probably enjoy it.  So even though this film will certainly win no Oscars ... IMHO it is a kinda fun movie to watch.  So good job folks, pretty good job!


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