Posted on 08/23/2007 5:45:11 PM PDT by Reaganesque
"This handsome indie Western damningly recounts the 1857 slayings of 120 settlers passing through Utah, but the didactic presentation, grim speechifying and tacked-on love story all signify a less-than-healthy regard for the audience's intelligence."
Variety Justin Chang
1/4 "The film feels less like historical drama than a venomous religious tract printed on celluloid." Minneapolis Star Tribune Colin Covert
"September Dawn has the ham-fisted lyricism of political ads and pharmaceutical commercials." Village Voice J. Hoberman
"When the movie isn't doling out ham-fisted history...it gives us magnificent vistas of a pristine prairie...and there's a deep sweetness to the subplot of Jonathan and Emily falling in love." Film Journal International Frank Lovece
1.5/4 "When watching the screen depiction of a historic event in which 120 people were murdered, giggling is not the appropriate response." Salt Lake Tribune Sean Means
1/5 "It has the chilling certitude of the self-righteous." Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore
2.5/5 "The real problem is that September Dawn isn't a very good movie. It moves too much like a public-school history pageant and gives us mono-dimensional characters who speak dialogue that fairly reeks of printer's ink." Arizona Republic Richard Nilsen
1/5 "The jarring MTV-style filmmaking is so distracting and the 'messaging' so unsubtle that after two long hours you find yourself leaving the theater with a massive headache, wondering when you started to hate Mormons." Orlando Weekly Brett Register
1/4 "Forget Grindhouse. September Dawn is the year's first honest-to-goodness exploitation flick." Slant Magazine Nick Schager
1/4 "Bombastic, slow-drying dramatization with lead-weight dialogue and a turgid romantic subplot." Newsday Gene Seymour
D- "Has serious problems in historical terms. But in this case they're exacerbated by the simple ineptitude of the filmmaking." One Guy's Opinion Frank Swietek
"Even if one gets past the movie's controversial depictions, there is the matter of its second-rate, made-for-television fare -- the poor battle choreography, the wooden editing and the cheesy writing." Washington Post Desson Thomson
2.5/4 "If September Dawn is a kind of Western, it's a Western utterly devoid of heroism or the usual archetypes. But the core message transcends time: Hatred laced with religious fanaticism is a toxic blend." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Dave Tianen
1/4 "Doesn't even measure up to an episode of your typical, cowboy TV show from the Fifties like Roy Rogers or The Lone Ranger. Get my drift, Kimosabe?" NewsBlaze Kam Williams
Click here for links to the full reviews.
I am amazed how a massive massacre of innocent American men, women, and children gets treated as an insult to Mormons by Romney campaign supporters.I>< P>It just shows how much they HATE us!
--MormonDude(unloved)
Oxymormon....That's a joke son.
That's RIGHT!!
ANYthing that does not at least TOLERATE us, shows how much they HATE us!
--MormonDude(feeling REALLY lonely!)
I wonder if there were any LDS organization members in the cast or as extras?
What is SLC headquarters take on the film?
A clever play on words. I would still appreciate an honest answer.
KJV Matthew 13:24-30
24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Of course; we disagree as to which bunch is the weeds...
But not ALL of them - some they 'adopted'.
If anyone wants to imply there is MORE than this; well...
Hey! Mr. Custer!
I don’t wanna go...
#####It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who finds the drunkard’s point-of-view cinematic style unwatchable.#####
Ditto. A friend talked me into going to see the new Bourne movie last week. I could handle the Political Correctness, which was mild by comparison to a lot of films. But that MTV style is ridiculous. I thought close-ups were the cinematic equivalent of a punctuation mark. CUs tend to lose their value when they constitute half the film. The shaky camera also might have some value for a specialized scene (conveying that a character is ill, or something), but for the whole damn movie?
And these films must be aimed at audiences with ADD because it’s rare for a shot to last more than five seconds.
I went home and watched CASABLANCA on DVD as an antidote.
And the descendants on the OTHER side tell of the soldiers of agression, in yet another attempt to drive them from their native lands, made a vast technical error.
I've floated down Marble Canyon, exiting at Lee's Ferry; too.
Did you go into the root cellar?
I was there when it was 107, and the half-buried cellar, with no door on it, was a good 15 degrees cooler!
Where are the U&T when you really NEED them!
Maybe that's why you ain't now!
History attributes to Henry, the words: "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest...
Thomas Becket
Yup; just look at how many MILLIONS are spent on political ads!
Imagine two young men on bicycles, traveling through your neighborhood bragging about 9/11, pointing at you and saying "You're next, Gentile!".
Perhaps that is why the LDS Church should open its archives to an independant scholarly committee. Wouldn't that be more appropriate?
There are independant scholars out there who have been in the archives as well as x Mormons etc
Some how many of them who were not bias did you fit many of you agenda!
Oh! But He IS!!
It's just that ALL the gospel is not present in your holy book.
The glories of the RESTORED Gospel IS included in OUR Holy Books!!
--MormonDude(New! Improved!!)
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