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7/10
A Rare, Timeless Film Does Justice to the word "Classic".
1 October 2005
This film is so popular and DeMille puts together such a cast that if anyone out there is thinking about a remake, I would guess the casting department would be mulling over who would play Charlton Heston, rather than Moses; who would portray Yul Brynner as Rameses; and who would be the perfect Ann Baxter? Doing a remake of DeMille's rendition would be like remaking THE WIZARD OF OZ or CASABLANCA.

When her character is introduced at the beginning of the film, Ann Baxter looks stunning as she strikes a now classic pose. She also does a great job toying with Rameses mind in the palace, as both her and Rameses pray for their dead firstborn son to be brought back to life by the god, Horus. The words "So let it be written; so let it be done" spoken by Rameses father, and then by Rameses II. My favorite line spoken by Yul Brynner is: "The slaves are mine; their lives are mine; all that they own is mine." This finally cements his image as a truly tyrannical Pharoah, though any child would have figured this out already. The screenwriter loves to have the cast refer to Moses by saying his name twice in succession: "Moses, Moses!" I told myself once I would sit down and count how many times "Moses, Moses!" was said in the film. There is one segment of the film however, where the script is so 1950s cornball I can barely stand it. Everyone is so happy that all good things begin happening at once, i.e. " ... You have a newborn son!" (Yay Yay) If this happened in modern times someone surely would bellow "I won the lottery". (The scene I am referring to is when the slaves are leaving Rameses' city heading for the promised land).

Still, DeMille successfully translates his own majestic, original vision creating this epic for the big screen. When I saw it the first time on the big screen at age seven, I thought this was the greatest movie ever! The frequent cornball dialog in places is easily forgotten when one becomes awestruck by all of the huge, glorious sets which are favorably complimented by solid art direction, cinematography and, as advertised at the time, "a cast of thousands!" This film is a "must see" for any serious film student, fan or fanatic! Enjoy with lotsa popcorn!
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Alexander (2004)
7/10
Not as Bad as Critics Have Reviewed the Film to Be.
30 September 2005
I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining Alexander is and did not agree that this film deserved the poor reviews I've read so far. I attribute this to some clever film editing in certain parts of the film, resulting in an evenly paced rendition considering Alexander kept going and conquering everything east of home. There have been two other historical epics that focused on ancient Rome and Greece that were released during the past five years and thought Alexander made TROY look and sound just plain dumb, Alexander having overall more intelligent and involving dialog. Also I felt Alexander was more rich, lush and honest in it's screenplay and art direction, and was impressed by the costume design. I must applaud Oliver Stone for not hiding the truth about Alexander's personal life. Like it or not, that is the way a lot of soldiers related to one another back then. Being honest in depicting Alexander's personal relationships allowed for more freedom in character development; had Stone ignored history, the film would have had a lot of the stilted feel of TROY. I feel that a lot of the bad reviews were not honest; the reviewers perhaps too afraid to say they didn't appreciate the portrayal of unrestrained intimacy between Alexander and his friends, and for the rest of the Army. So they deliberately searched deeply for flaws.

Any film which picks me up and makes me forget I'm sitting in a chair in a theater is a pretty darn good film, and my involvement with Alexander was like a magic carpet ride in places; Stone hypnotizes in some scenes very well and in just the right places. Colin Farrell was just right for the role of Alexander; Angelina Jolie would have been given more credit had this been a premier role/film for her; instead she is so distinctive being herself that it is distracting - almost to the point of making me feel there was a commercial coming up soon. Further, the most annoying thing I found about the film was that Alexander and everyone around him all had heavy Irish, Scottish and English accents. Does anyone remember how out of place Ralph Richardson's accent was in DR. ZHIVAGO?

I enjoyed this film overall, and plan to view it 3 or 4 more times. My thanks to Stone and everyone involved for historically accurate storytelling!
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10/10
The Very Best Scene of All Time
30 September 2005
Warning: Spoilers
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, released in 1962, is one of the best motion pictures ever made. Be that as it may, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA contains one particular scene that is my favorite out of all the thousands of movies I have viewed over the past 50 years. To my mind, this scene is the most beautiful, most joyous and wonderful cinematic experience.

So I would like for you to experience this scene from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA as well, but you must do the following. Watch it on the biggest and best screen available to you, turning up the sound to movie theater volume. Additionally, the scene won't be appreciated unless you watch LAWRENCE OF ARABIA from the very beginning, including "The Overture".

The scene begins at night, just before sunrise. Lawrence and his "army" have succeeded in crossing the "sun's anvil" portion of the Nefud desert. Lawrence then notices there is a camel with no rider. It is Gassim's camel; perhaps Gassim fell asleep and fell off the camel and could not catch the camel in time to remount? Lawrence decides to turn back and rescue Gassim if that is the case.

This is where the scene begins. It ends when Lawrence, completely exhausted, looks at the ground and falls onto a mat into a deep sleep. Everything that happens in between is the most enjoyable piece of cinematic art I've ever seen and is now there for you to discover and enjoy. This is all I will reveal.
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5/10
The First Campy Scary Movie I Ever Saw.
30 September 2005
I saw THE KILLER SHREWS the first time on TV. Late every Saturday night, the local TV station played a horror film. We were alerted by a fellow junior-high student who saw the film in another city and his "word of mouth" was to run around the hallways at school pretending he was a shrew; so when it was on TV we all stayed home to watch and see what made our friend so crazily enthusiastic.

For the time it was original in concept as no one had seen "monster shrews" before. The shrews, looking like a bunch of German Shepards dressed up for a Halloween party, have large, saber tooth tiger-like teeth ... they're coming to get ya and eat you alive! Also, one of the main characters is played by Ken Curtis a.k.a. "Festus" from the TV Series "Gunsmoke". We found this a novelty after we read THE KILLER SHREWS was filmed entirely on location in Texas!

I have to make it a point to add THE KILLER SHREWS to my film library as a campy, low-budget, 50's monster movie!
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