Posted on 11/24/2004 4:10:44 AM PST by jalisco555
If you played a word-association game with "Alexander the Great," you'd probably come up with "conqueror," "king," "warrior," "legend," "despot," "wastrel" or "killer." Unfortunately, Oliver Stone has chosen to build his epic of the Macedonian military genius around a word highly unlikely to make the list: "crybaby."
In Stone's view, this is a highly neurotic young man whose emotions, far from being repressed or disciplined as one would expect of a great soldier of the 4th century B.C., are worn on his sleeve, except, of course, that he doesn't have sleeves, the shirt still being two millennia down the road. So he wears them on his wrist -- and it's a limp one.
As Alexander's mother, Angelina Jolie (replete with snake) is given a thankless role, while star Colin Farrell gets lost in the shuffle in another been-there, seen-that battle scene. (Photos Jaap Buitendijk -- Warner Bros. Pictures)
That's the weirdest aspect of the extremely weird, if absurdly expensive, movie. Stone gives himself much credit of "telling the truth" about Alexander's bisexuality as if it's some progressive badge of honor, but at the same time he can't get away from the cruelest, least imaginative stereotyping: His Alexander, as expressed through the weepy histrionics of Colin Farrell, is more like a desperate housewife than a soldier. He's always crying, his voice trembles, his eyes fill with tears. He's much less interesting, except as a basket case, than Richard Burton's Alexander of far less enlightened times -- 1956 -- in Robert Rossen's "Alexander the Great."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Oh, that's good. LOL
"autobiography" kind of implies that Alexander himself wrote it. It's a "fictional biography" - or just "fiction".
I just knew Oliver Stone would screw this up...
If you wouldn't vote for John Kerry because of the crazy bullsh!t allegations he made against our valiant Viet Nam veterans, why would you pay to see a movie by the guy who made Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July?
I honestly don't see what makes her so coveted. She's a second-rate actress at best.
The book is a work of historical fiction. It pretends to be Alexander dictating his memoirs to a young man in his court during the time of the mutiny in India. The author uses this device to try to explore Alexander's motivation, to try to understand what drove him to be the conqueror he became.
One scene was his personal favorite too - it proved that Alexander The Great was the 'Forth Shooter' in Dallas!
~~Stone mocking off~~
the above should be "Fourth" Shooter
I believe she's cast in the role of MILF.
Edith Bunker: Ohhhhhh.
No doubt Stone will claim his movie was butchered by the evil capitalists at the releasing studio. The directors cut version will of course restore this film to its true greatness.
Ya know, that film always make me wonder. Since it's based on Oliver's Vietnam War experiences - almost a bio if you will, I've always tried to figure out which character in the movie is supposed to be him??
So far I've got it down to:
The director's cut will leave no doubt as to which of the handsome young men was Alexander's lover... and he won't be pronging him with a spear...
"Stone gives himself much credit of "telling the truth" about Alexander's bisexuality"
This ABC broadcast premier is sponsored by Tucks-For soothing relief. And Preparation H -to help the burning. KY Jelly- What are freinds for?. And, The National Hamster Foundation- bringing boys and pets together.
"Alexander the Fabulous".
LOL, good one! This was an enjoyable pan.
Don't be so fast to judge. Historical fiction is often just a way to bring history to the masses. Much historical fiction is painstakingly researched and just puts history in a narritive format. It is one of my favorite genres. "Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara brings the battle of Gettyburg to life like no dry historical account ever could and is completely accurate. (depending on whether or not you subscribe to the Longstreet blew it version of the battle.) The Alan Eckert books on the taming of the american frontier read like an Indiana Jones movie but are historically accurate to the smallest detail. Myself, I am intrigued by this fictional autobiography of Alexander and plan on checking it out over the holidays.
"Aristotle's male chauvinism probably had its greatest effect on his best-known pupil, Alexander III, King of Macedonia, whom the world insists on calling 'the Great.'"~Eva C. Keuls~
The Reign of the Phallus
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985, p. 406
Review by Stephen Hunter, creator of Bob Lee Swaggger.
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