Movie Reviewers Lie -Or Deliberately Mislead

Catholic Exchange ^ | 3/8/04 | David Sisler

[Aquinasfan]

This is worth repeating:

The Passion of the Christ does not end with the death of the Son of God. Jesus rises from the grave, and with His face firmly set, He leaves the tomb. The music that plays in the background is not harp music, not a palatable, Sunday school piece that would have satisfied A.O. Scott. It is martial music. It is battle music. And the risen Son of the Living God marches out of the tomb to continue the war against hell for the souls of men.

[Aquinasfan]

Movie reviewers' lies regarding "The Passion."

[Jeff Chandler]

Don't give away the ending! Now you've ruined it for the people who haven't seen it yet.

[Verginius Rufus]

Roger Ebert...wrote, "For we altar boys..."

It doesn't appear that he was paying attention in English class, either.

[Aquinasfan]

Don't give away the ending! Now you've ruined it for the people who haven't seen it yet.

Doh! Sorry. Wasn't thinking.

[alpha-8-25-02]

GREAT POST
the ground at the base of the cross is level
SOLI DEO GLORIA

[Clint Williams]

See Is Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" really anti-Semitic? [One FReeper's analysis]

[cryptical]

Will there be a sequel? Passion II: Spring Break in Galilee?

[AgThorn]

The film is also incredibly violent. We have sanitized the cross. For most Americans (indeed, for most people around the world) the cross is a beautiful piece of jewelry or an ornament to grace an altar or a communion table. The cross was in reality a brutal means of torture and execution. It was designed to humiliate the victim and draw out death as long as possible — often the victim suffered for a week, going totally mad before actually dying. During the siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, Roman crosses lined the road going into Jerusalem. One story from history says that they ran out of trees from crucifying so many Jews.

This movie gives us a wonderful opportunity to ask people that wear a cross as just a piece of jewelry if they have seen the movie! I have seen gangs, bikers, loosely clad women, etc. all wearing a cross a cross as some sort of adornment or jewelry, earing, tattoo, etc. When each of us sees this, we should encourage them to see the movie so they can understand what it is that they are standing for.

This movie is a Godsend!! Thank you Mr Gibson for following the advise of the Holy Spirit in it's creation.

[Jeff Chandler]

Will there be a sequel? Passion II: Spring Break in Galilee?

The Return of the King.

[alnick]

This is one of the better reviews that I've read. Thanks for posting it.

[MizSterious]

Seems there's always someone--like the producer of Laugh In who was on Cavuto yesterday--who will try to tell viewers that only people who love violence will go to see it. They keep trying to keep people away, but they keep showing up and waiting in line. It must drive them crazy, to be ignored so obviously!

[Khurkris]

"Up from the grave HE AROSE!...With a mighty triumph O'er HIS foes!..HE AROSE the victor O'er the dark domain, Now HE LIVES in Heaven with HIS Saints to REIGN!.."

[ChadsDad]

Shine Jesus, Shine...

[VOA]

Will there be a sequel? Passion II: Spring Break in Galilee?

Insider/friends of Mr. Gibson say he's not thinking of any sort of Passion-sequel,
at least not now.
But suppossedly, Mel has mentioned that some of the stories in The Old Testament
are so good that they need telling.

(Myself, I've been suprised that someone hasn't given a really good try at the
book of Job, whether told in it's own historical setting or a modern one.
Maybe some movie has been done based on it, but just didn't get the buzz of The Passion.)

[VOA]

HE AROSE the victor O'er the dark domain, Now HE LIVES in Heaven with HIS Saints to REIGN!.."

being a teenager in a mainstream Church of Christ during the "rock-n-roll" years,
I didn't get into many of the hymns...but that one always did pump me up!

[Dan Evans]

The Passion of the Christ, made and marketed for about 45 million dollars is expected to gross over ten times that amount, making the film the most profitable story ever told -- at least in terms of return on investment. But there are other ways of demonstrating public acceptance of the film.

The Rotten Tomatoes and the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) websites calculate a summary rating of movie reviews from hundreds of critics. The poor ratings for the Passion have illuminated the Hollywood bias against this film.

Rotten Tomatoes has two groups of critics. The "Cream of the Crop" are critics from major media, the Hollywood in-crowd. These are people who are showered with pre-screenings, dinners, travel, trinkets and white wine parties with major stars. Only 36% of the "Cream of the Crop" critics have given Passion a passing grade and their average rating is 5.6 (out of ten).

The other group consists of reviewers from Internet and smaller newspapers (about 200 critics). They have a slightly higher opinion, 52% give a thumbs-up and the average rating is 6.6.

On the other hand, the IMDB allows the general public to rate films. The median rating for over 200,000 films is 6.9. The weighted average of the 11,798 votes for the Passion is 7.7 and 78% gave it a passing grade. On a percentile basis, that would put the Passion in the top 250 list of all films.

But there is something strange about that 7.7 figure. The IMDB calls it a "weighted average". They have a formula that is somehow supposed to defeat "vote stuffing by individuals more interested in changing the current rating of a movie than giving their true opinion of it". (Presumably, there are people who thought the Passion stinks but decided to rate it a 10 anyway).

The formula for the weighted average is secret. The unweighted average for Passion is 8.3. That is an unusual difference. Most films show only a few tenths of a percent between the two numbers. I would suspect that the difference is caused by the fact that Passion is drawing many people who have not seen a move in many years and are logging into the IMDB for the first time. The weighted average formula probably interprets that as "vote stuffing".

If the 8.3 rating is closer to the truth, that would put Passion at about the 45th rated film of all time -- quite different from the drubbing the major critics have given it.

 

[valkyrieanne]

Most reviewers are lying sacks of offal when it comes to other movies besides this one. They give away major plot points and in some cases misrepresent the movie so badly you wonder if they even stayed awake. Sometimes I wonder if it's the job that editors give to the most unintelligent writer on staff - you know, the one that's his nephew or something. The reviews of The Passion have been the worst of the bunch.

[feedback doctor]

Will there be a sequel? Passion II: Spring Break in Galilee?

I'd like to see see a movie of the parable of the Prodigal son. Now that is a story!