[shhrubbery!]

I think Bernard's column today is well written.

However, what on earth did she expect when she wrote a movie review with such vicious (and untruthful) rhetoric as this:

Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II.

[Uncle Hal]

Looking at the writers picture, I am reminded of the old joke about the gal checking out of a super market. A drunk behind her says "you are single aren't you?" The gal quickly looks at her groceries and sees nothing in her cart that would indicate she is unmarried. So she says to the drunk "how did you know I was single." The drunk replies, "because you are ugly."

[mhking]

My main objection to "The Passion" is that Gibson has used the tools at his disposal to disguise sadism as piety. My tools, meanwhile, are words.

Which shows your lack of understanding of the subject matter and the means Gibson used to show the content of the subject matter.

[Melas]

In defense of this guy, it's not necessarily a liberal/conservative thing. Certain people have such an emotional investment in this movie, that if you don't like it, it's taken as a personal insult.

[LisaMalia]

I believe Ms. Benard did, in fact, receive tons of protest emails regarding her review. I do NOT believe that most of these are unprintable. Why are they unprintable? Because they disagree with her highness?

She is obviously trying to portray Christians in a bad light. Unfortanately for her, we all know better.

She used (or should I say, misused) her position as a jounalist to give a very bad review to a movie based on her personal feelings. This is just another example of BAD, BIASED JOURNALISM, which is running rampant in our society today.

I haven't yet written an email to Ms. Benard, but I'm going to now. It will simply say..."God loves you, Jesus Christ died for our sins, and I'll include you in my prayers." I wonder if she will deem that "printable"?

[Dr. Scarpetta]

What interests me as a movie critic is the profusion of people who do not understand or care how to evaluate a movie.

To Jami Bernard, movie critic:

I'm not interested in your criticisms of this movie; in fact, it makes me happy that I'm going to see it this very afternoon.

[ClearBlueSky]

Awwwww! Did they hurt her widdle feewings??
She gave her ONE opinion, and gave it to the public.
Now the public( numbering in the millions) is giving theirs back.
So what? Now she's outnumbered and persecuted?
Poor delicate, victimized film critic!

[JThomas]

"According to this twisted logic, if I take issue with Gibson as a filmmaker, then I must be anti-Christian."

That's the general tone taken by the movies' fans. Love the film or you are Satan. Even if you are a Christian.

[Lancey Howard]

LOL, a lesbian movie review of The Passion!!

[Nick Danger]

Ah, you've been with the professors and they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have discussed lepers and crooks
You've been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
You're very well-read, it's well-known
But something is happening here and you don't know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?

[Cold Heat]

A little taste of the coming political season perhaps........

[Former Proud Canadian]

All you need to read are the first three sentences of her "review". To wit:

No child should see this movie. Even adults are at risk. Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II.

My only question. Did she see the movie????

[sweetliberty]

"This feedback provided a clear indication that "The Passion" is attracting two kinds of ticket-buyers — true Christians who look to the movie as a spiritual experience, and nut cases who need little excuse to spill their bile."

Wonder which category she falls into. < /sarcasm >

[nightdriver]

"My main objection to "The Passion" is that Gibson has used the tools at his disposal to disguise sadism as piety."

It isn't sadism. The author is hampered by lack of semantic knowledge.

The horrendous physical torture described in the Bible is actually much worse than depicted in the movie. The actual literal rendering says that He was no longer recognizable as a man!

The unbelieving liberal (redundancy) will always trip over the physical horror of the Cross, but what we couldn't see was God's transaction with Christ that was even worse than the physical because God saw and judged Jesus as though he was the sinner that you and I are.

I'm glad the movie was made.

[Maigrey]

Sounds like she had her mind made up on her viewpoint of the movie before she walked in.

Disappointing.

I wonder how she votes. Probably not with her brain.

[TalBlack]

This feedback provided a clear indication that "The Passion" is attracting two kinds of ticket-buyers — true Christians who look to the movie as a spiritual experience, and nut cases who need little excuse to spill their bile.

Uhhh, Jamie, sweetheart, you forgot to give us the PROPORTION of vile to not vile in the mail you recieved.

It's pretty sneaky, hon, to cast ALL of those who didn't like your review into the same basket, you know, calling you "fat" or "ho" etc.

Most people in your position who are trying to make the point that they have just dicovered a certain group of people is less civil GIVE THE PROPORTION in the e-mails that DEMONSTRATES this truth.

Get back to me, will you dear?

[Gumdrop]

The problem I have with Ms Bernard's critique of the Passion of the Christ is this: She obviously went to look for bad things in the film. She had been preconditioned by Foxman and Rabbi Meir to find bad things. She naturally found one hook nosed person (whom I never noticed by-the-way) and took offense at that too.

If one goes to a film as a professional critic, the manner of approaching the film must be neutral, which obviously was not the case here. So, she gives it a 1 star rating and rants (yes, I mean rants) against the film in her review.
Now she is moaning and feeling sorry for herself because some people were offended by her critique. If she really did receive death threats and nasty personal letters, it is unfortunate. Certainly it would be un-Christian to threaten her. However, her preconceived notions about the film and about Christian beliefs lead me to even doubt her honesty now. I really have some doubts about how bad her e-mails actually were. Maybe she tells the truth, but I do not respect her anymore, so I cannot believe all her self pity is justified. If I am wrong, then it's a shame, but her behavior makes me doubt her.

[kidkosmic1]

Quentin beats influences to a bloody pulp

 

 

 

Uma Thurman is a killing machine in 'Kill Bill'

Quartet of Divas: The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad's (l.-r.) Hannah, Fox, Madsen and Liu

KILL BILL: VOLUME 1. With Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica Fox A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Running time: 93 mins. Rated R: Strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content.

You want blood?

You can shower in it in "Kill Bill: Volume 1," a giddy and only occasionally brilliant homage to all the kung fu fighting, B-movies and spaghetti Westerns Quentin Tarantino scarfed down during his movie-centric adolescence.

It's writer-director Tarantino's love of genre flicks and his will to cram in a little of everything that gets you through the rough spots of this uneven revenge fantasy - grandly billed as his "fourth film" after an absence of six years.

But this long-awaited movie has been unwisely chopped into two pieces - the second is due in February - when it really needed to be one long, delirious ride.

Uma Thurman barely has a chance to catch her breath as the protagonist, dubbed the Bride. She's a steely killing machine who was mowed down in late pregnancy along with her entire wedding party by the DiVAS (Deadly Viper Assassination Squad), her former gang.

After this "Once Upon a Time in the West" opening, the Bride managed to hang on in a coma. When she springs back to life some years later, with not quite the potency of Thurman's resurrection in "Pulp Fiction," she's all about revenge, ticking her opponents off a to-do list as she visits the farthest corners of the globe to kill them.

The action is presented in chapter form. One slugfest takes place in a suburban kitchen, with frying pans and kitchen implements as weapons. Another takes place in a snowy Japanese tea garden to the beat of flamenco.

Meanwhile, there's an anime segment providing one character's backstory and a stopover for a deliberately obscure negotiation with Japanese martial arts legend Sonny Chiba, playing a retired samurai.

What's cool is that Thurman speaks Japanese in several scenes, complete with English subtitles, just the way James Bond would in similar circumstances.

The Vipers are played by Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen and Vivica A. Fox. Each goes by a nom de snake (the Bride, for example, is also known as Black Mamba).

Liu is allowed to have more fun than in "Charlie's Angels," while Hannah gets laughs merely from her outfit, one of many visual non sequiturs - a starchy nurse uniform with a red cross over a white eyepatch.

Bill, played by an unseen David Carradine (of that TV chestnut "Kung Fu"), is the Vipers' leader. Presumably he will get his in "Volume 2."

"Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" fans will be delighted with the in-jokes, gore, movie references, and chunks of flesh and brain splattering the walls.

(For the record, I wrote the 1995 book "Quentin Tarantino: A Man and His Movies.")

The humor in "Kill Bill" resides in those references, in the variations of intensity with which the blood spurts, and with the way the fight scenes, choreographed by Woo-ping Yuen and Chiba, both recall and one-up their sources.

At the same time, the movie has no emotion beneath all this mirthless mirth.

There's enough material to fuel an eternity of Trivial Pursuit, but no one to root for, nothing to take home - not even a good debate about Quarter Pounders - nothing really to keep the fires burning until "Volume 2." There's as little feeling as the Bride has in her stubbornly non-wiggling toes when she first awakens.

There's a lot to admire in "Kill Bill," and a lot that should have been lopped off like the arms and legs and scalps that go flying.

What this undoubtedly enthusiastic writer-director needed was someone who would just say no, be it an editor or Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Originally published on October 10, 2003

[gitmo]

What interests me as a movie critic is the profusion of people who do not understand or care how to evaluate a movie.

They don't see how film images are juxtaposed to create a desired emotion, that what is left out of a screenplay can be as important as what is kept in, and how constantly and subliminally manipulative a medium this is. They cannot see through filmmaking's beautiful deceptions.

Perhaps she is correct. But we can judge the effectiveness of a movie in evoking the desired reactions. Few of the movies the critics rave about touch me at all.

The Passion, however, is the most moving film I have ever seen. It touched me more deeply than any piece of art. Handel's Messiah is a close second.

But more importantly, I think this film changed me. It renewed my dedication and commitment to God and His Son. I think the change will be long-lasting. I pray so.

I'm sorry I don't reach Jami Bernard's expectations in my ability to properly discriminate between films. But then again, that's not why I went to this amazing movie.

[juzcuz]

Hey Jami-- SEEK JESUS....

Jesus received major 'hate filled backlash' for expressing His opinions too. He knows what your going through. Maybe, you should seek Him... He could inspire you as to how to handle it all... He's been there and done that.. He's the expert..