Alexander [R]

[Goodsport]

Is Oliver Stone's new movie Alexander (http://alexanderthemovie.warnerbros.com/) worth watching? :confused:

I'll most likely watch it this weekend, but I was wondering if anyone else had already seen it (and if so, if the movie is good)? :)


-G

[Val1]

Without having seen the movie, I can tell you the battle scenes will be great, and gory, and long. But the movie is long. We'll also get way too much introspection, as Stone has spent 10+ years on this project. This too will be long, but then, the movie is over 3 hours. Collin Farrell can be a decent Alexander, but ultimately the movie's going to be more about Stone than anyone else. Stone's always had an axe to grind, and since I haven't seen this movie, I don't know what axe he's going to grind here, but it'll be way too over-the-top. I'm going to pass...

[Goodsport]

Without having seen the movie, I can tell you the battle scenes will be great, and gory, and long. But the movie is long. We'll also get way too much introspection, as Stone has spent 10+ years on this project. This too will be long, but then, the movie is over 3 hours. Collin Farrell can be a decent Alexander, but ultimately the movie's going to be more about Stone than anyone else. Stone's always had an axe to grind, and since I haven't seen this movie, I don't know what axe he's going to grind here, but it'll be way too over-the-top. I'm going to pass...

Yeah, it seems that some of the reviews for the film have been less than stellar.

I wonder if I should go see it after all. :confused:


-G

[giggs88]

Goodsport, my good phriend ;)

I just saw Alexander yesterday. (first day) It will be pretty decent if you don't know a lot about Alexander the King. I was not very satisfied because a lot of the historical facts were distorted. But hey, its Hollywood.

For me Guagamela didn't do too much. It was just a whirl of dust. I couldn't see people getting killed.Battle of Hydapses was another story, those Indian elephants were awesome. Plus Princess Roxannes' HUGE MELONS alone are good enough an excuse to watch Alexander.

[Dante]

I saw Alexander tonight and was disappointed. I was expecting more, but in typical Oliver Stone fashion he goes a little too far off the deep end. The cinematography was great as were the costumes, but there were scenes were it went on too long.

The music seemed a bit out of place too.

[Labdarugo]

I just saw Alexander yesterday. (first day) It will be pretty decent if you don't know a lot about Alexander the King. I was not very satisfied because a lot of the historical facts were distorted. But hey, its Oliver Stone

Fixed your post. ;)

I'm a stickler for historical details. I'm interested in the subject matter very much, but if Mr. Stone is going to change the historical facts for the sake of the movie, then I'm not interested in seeing it. I haven't read any reviews yet, but thanks for the heads-up.

[Mani]

I was not very satisfied because a lot of the historical facts were distorted.

Persian academics in particular are really pissed about this movie for that very reason:

http://www.iranian.com/Parsi/2004/November/Alexander/index.html
Throughout the movie Stone portrays Persians not from the eyes of the ancient Greeks, but from the perspective of 18th century Europeans. Persian warriors are swarmed with flies as they await battles, they are oppressed, inferior, and secretly yearning to be liberated by the personification of Western superiority, Alexander.

[nicephoras]

Oh God. There may be many mistakes in Alexander, but the article you got that from, Mani, is even worse.

The problem is, however, that the ancient Greeks weren't racist. Their obsession with the East was driven by their fascination for Eastern civilization, philosophy and science. The Greeks learned from the Egyptians, admired the Babylonians and studied Zoroaster. They believed that their civilization had come to spring through interaction with the East, not in isolation from it.

But as early European racism was beginning to fold in the 18th century, as so aptly described in Martin Bernal's Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985), the need to posit Europe and the "white race" as origins of human civilization gave way to a tradition of historical revisionism blindly followed by Stone.

Quoting the disproved crap that is Martin Bernal's Athena is the last straw. The Greeks most certainly did NOT learn from the Egyptians; we have no evidence at all to suggest they did. In fact, the Egyptians incorporated far more Greek things than vice versa. Nor did the Greeks particularly respect Persian science and philosophy. Pray tell me, what was Persian philosophy? The Greeks regarded Persia as a rival, and as the greatest Empire of its day. But they hardly viewed it as the progenitor of their own culture - whether philosophy, science or anything else.
The recent pop culture attempts to discredit Greece by ascribing some sort of odd superiority to Persians denigrates the many excellent things Persians did. However, most of the crap above is just nonsense.

Oh, and reviews of Alexander have been awful, in general.

[giggs88]

And whats up with Angelina's stupid 'greek' accent while everyone else in the ancient world is English?

[persiantiger]

lol they were interviewing this persian guy who was one of the extras and he said that only 10 of them were actually persian and they spray painted all the persians dark! when they said why are you doing this this is our color, they said no you are from a hot place so you people are dark! the rest of the so called persians in the movie are either arabs, turks, indians or south americans.. all in all Olive Stone is a moron.
As for the accents, haha angelina jolie sounds like the bride of Dracula, and every time alexie talks i am waiting for him to say me sword or me shoes or where are me lucky charms. Pathetic!

[riverplate]

Estimated grosses for Wednesday & Thursday (Box Office Mojo):

1. National Treasure $13.7 mil
2. Christmas with the Kranks $9.4 mil
3. The Incredibles $9.3 mil
4. Alexander $8.2 mil
5. The Polar Express $7.3 mil

"Alexander" cost $155 million to make.

[Ghost]

All I know is that several reviews that I have seen describe it as being loaded with unintentional humor, and the commercial that I've seen has had me breaking out in laughter twice. Not a good sign.

[Cweedchop]

Let's get down to the real nitty gritty..

Does Angelina Jolie get naked or what? :p

[Soju Gorae]

Let's get down to the real nitty gritty..

Does Angelina Jolie get naked or what? :p
Indeed. Does she or does she not?


Seriously though, with Oliver Stone at the helm, the movie will at least be entertaining. I'm expecting crazy compositions, angles, editing, and trippy visual set-pieces. Or not...

[riverplate]

Grosses for Wednesday to Friday:

1. National Treasure $26.87 mil
2. The Incredibles $19.4 mil
3. Christmas with the Kranks $18.49 mil
4. The Polar Express $15.06 mil
5. Alexander $13.84 mil
6. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie $13.76 mil


"Alexander" keeps tanking.

[Val1]

Not to hijack the thread, but then, Alexander is not worthy of it's own thread, but I saw National Treasure and kind of enjoyed it. Of course, it too is Hollywood, but it's kind of fun to see history geeks being the heroes. Of course, I don't look anything like Nick Cage and my wife doesn't look anything like the babe, but still fun to see.

[Danks81]

Let's get this thread back on track. Who has pictures of Rosario's sweater puppets?

[Foosinho]

Let's get this thread back on track. Who has pictures of Rosario's sweater puppets?
Eva Mendes >> Rosario Dawson

Based on my brother's review, and that of this thread, I think I'll go watch Stuck on You again instead of catching Alexander.

[Txtriathlete]

Alexander SUCKED!
What the hell does alexander have to do with Zoroastrinism by the way? Confused the hell outta me!

[Dante]

Well they don't really talk about Zoroastrianism in the film, but Alexander had the priests and killed and ordered the holy book of Zoroastrianism, the Avesta, to be destroyed.