Movie thoughts and fiction updates.
Gladiator made a mark on Hollywood in 2000. Financially successful and well regarded by both critics (except for Roger Ebert) and the Academy, Ridley Scott's sword and sandals epic ignited Hollywood's love of epics for the first time in decades, something even the success of Mel Gibson's Braveheart could not do. The love affair didn't last very long,… Continue reading Alexander the Awful
[Also see my reviews for The Theatrical Cut and The Director's Cut.] Yes, Oliver Stone's third cut improves Alexander. No, it's not suddenly some misunderstood masterpiece waiting for rediscovery. It's still a bad film, just not quite as bad as the other two previous cuts. There are changes throughout the movie, and the most obvious… Continue reading Alexander (The Final Cut)
[Also see my reviews for The Theatrical Cut and The Final Cut.] He made it worse. Somehow, Oliver Stone looked at the incoherent mess that was his theatrical cut of Alexander and he found a way to make it even more incoherent. Not a single problem from the first cut is remotely addressed, and some… Continue reading Alexander (Director’s Cut)
[Also see my reviews for The Director's Cut and The Final Cut.] This is such a fascinating failure of a film. It's not the worst film ever made, for sure, but it fails pretty consistently. I think it's a failure of vision on the part of Oliver Stone. He wanted to tell the definitive story… Continue reading Alexander (Theatrical Cut)
David Vining, Author 