On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 19:27:21 GMT, David Oberman
Post by David ObermanPost by Jim BeaverPost by Steven L.Cruise, a devoted Scientologist, made the decision after reading the
afterbirth contains important nutrients and vitamins.
So do Chocks, and I know which one I'd prefer.
Has anyone ever seen Tom Cruise and Michael Jackson at the same time? I'm
starting to wonder.
Tom Cruise is obviously an insane freak.
Plus, I'm starting to get nauseated.
Plus, I saw "Scary Movie 4" last weekend & one of the trailers was for
the new Tom Cruise "Mission Impossible" movie. The camera didn't hold
still for even two seconds & I got sick & vertiginous. I'll gladly
miss that flick when it flickers into theaters.
Plus, I was watching "The Ten Commandments" last night & I noticed
something unusual. The dialog in the De Mille movie was all that
phony-sounding "stately" stuff, meant I guess to sound King Jamesish.
________
Moses: No son could have more love for you than I.
Sethi: Then why are you forcing me to destroy you? What evil has done
this to you?
Moses: The evil that men should turn their brothers into beasts of
burden, to be stripped of spirit, and hope, and strength - only
because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a god, he
did not mean this to be so.
________
Joshua: If their work lags it is because they are not fed.
Moses: You look strong enough.
Joshua: I am a stone cutter. The pharoah likes his images cut deep.
________
Now read these exchanges again. What do they sound like? Don't they
sound EXACTLY like the exchanges in the "Lord of the Rings" movies?
How come the dialog in "The Ten Commandments" is laughed at & enjoyed
only as camp, while the dialog in "The Lord of the Rings" is accepted
as stirring & profound? Will "Lord of the Rings" come to look & sound
like camp in twenty or thirty years? I mean, how different is THIS
Moses: Love cannot drown truth, Nefretiri.
Aragorn: Are you frightened?
Frodo: Yes.
Aragorn: Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you.
Elrond: His strength returns.
Gandalf: That wound will never fully heal. He will carry it the rest
of his life.
Elrond: And yet, to have come so far, still bearing the Ring, the
hobbit has shown extraordinary resilience to its evil.
Why are people so blind to the silliness in the Peter Jackson movies?
____
"I'm your father's bastard son!"
-- Heath to Nick Barkley (The Big Valley)
I am not in any way endorsing the 1956 version of "The Ten
Commandments." I have always thought that DeMille's direction of that
film was atrocious and laughable. Some of the histrionics seemed
staged from the silent version (e.g. the women on the rock while the
Red Sea parts). I am also not endorsing any of "The Rings" trilogy. I
think the reason why the "Rings" films get away with the dialog and
"The Ten Commandments" does not is: Good acting and good direction
can overcome bad dialog. There are people here who will flame me, but
I cannot think of a DeMille epic made after the late 1940s, where the
direction, dialog, and acting was not over the top, and miscasting is
not rampant. DeMille, who was such a moral right wing type that he
makes GW seem like a radical leftist, chose his actors not so much for
their abilities, or being right for a role, but based on whether or
not he liked them and their ideologies. Many of the same people
worked on DeMille projects again and again. Heston may have been many
things, but he was not a versatile actor, nor were Anne Baxter, and
Yvonne De Carlo. All were about 10 years too old to be playing young
twenties in the first half of the film. BTW, I am not saying that
Anne Baxter was a bad actress, just that she was limited to a specific
type of contemporary hard woman role, which she excelled at. The big
problem is DeMille's direction though. As I wrote, in his epics he
just does not know that less is more. In "The Greatest Show on
Earth," good actors like James Stewart, Cornel Wilde, and Gloria
Grahame give the worst performances of their careers, chewing up the
scenery like it was a platter of Big Macs. I expected that from Betty
Hutton (a last minute replacement for a pregnant Lucille Ball), but
not them. I attribute that to DeMille's direction. By the way, that
film, now unwatchable except for laughs, won an Oscar for Best Picture
of 1952 against: "High Noon," "Moulin Rouge," and "The Quiet Man,"
all of which are now considered classics. If you want a laugh fest of
DeMille bad dialog, over the top acting/direction, and in the case of
"Samson and Delilah" really bad miscasting of the two leads (both too
long in the tooth to be playing a young stud and a sex kitten): Try
watching "Samson and Delilah" (1949), "The Greatest Show on Earth"
(1952), and "The Ten Commandments" (1956). All are dreadful, and
unintentionally funny. In answer to your question as to why the
stilted dialog worked in the "Rings" films: The director, and the
actors overcame it.
T.C.
"Hands off the man, the flim flam man"
from Tom Cruise's theme song?
Boycott all Tom Cruise films and products!