Exodus: Gods and Kings

I really don't see the point of this basic remake of the former Ten Commandments. It must have cost a fortune and it's not very good at all. Mind you The Ten Commandments was a piece of junk as well, they say, but in 1955 a film of that magnitude even with the horrendously bad script and special effects of the day could be a hit and did play for two years running according to my mother at the grand former University Theatre. I have seen the 1955 Ten Commandments a few times and actually laugh at the stilted dialogue and the very bad, appalling acting! So they changed the title but it's all the same c***. Christian Bale and Joel Egerton are really no match for the classic stars Charlton Heston and Yul Bryner. They made much more of an impression and could pull off these enormous biblical roles though one could never say their performances were good. THEY WERE NOT! In fact every performance in The Ten Commandments rated a FAILING GRADE. It was so funny to see Edward G. Robinson, a tremendous star, trying to navigate his way through the film. He was lost. And Anne Baxter played it so over the top that you simply gave up all hope. In Exodus I wasn't too crazy with the colour palette thinking it not quite right for this type of film. Again the script was a problem and the special effects didn't move me much in this day of great excesses of every type. To be quite honest, it was all in a ridiculous vein to see stars who have made all different types of movies suddenly finding themselves ill at ease in a biblical epic. Christian Bale is such a good actor even in films like OUT OF THE FURNACE, but he is way over his head in this one. Cecil B. De Mille since his first movie THE SQUAW MAN in 1912 was known to be a notoriously bad director. He never once was nominated for a Best Director Oscar. Until his last film in roughly 1958, The Buccaneer, he proved only adequate. He was a showman not a good director like D. W. Griffith. Ridley Scott, on the other hand has made some damn fine films including the Oscar winner GLADIATOR not to mention his many classics that have stood the test of time. Unfortunately this one didn't hit the mark It was an enormous miscalculation to make this sort of film for 2014 audiences. They just won't buy it, by and large! With year end awards and nominations coming in, this gigantic film has not earned a single award or nomination in any category. It was completely shut-out at the Golden Globe Awards as it will be at the Oscars. People want something more sophisticated and daring in contemporary cinema, not resurrecting JUNK from 60 years ago. ALL FOR NOTHING. It will lose tons of money. I always say this will prove that re- making "classics " is very dangerous stomping ground always proving to be disasters or of very inferior quality. The only remake I loved was the Coen Brothers TRUE GRIT which was actually better than the original John Wayne version in 1969 for which he, Mr. Wayne, won an Oscar. NO MORE BIBLICAL ANYTHING ANY LONGER. They don't work in today's markets. This dud will make producers and investors think twice about the nature of a film before poring millions into a project that SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN MADE!.. WITH ALL THIS SAID IT WOULD PROVE HILARIOUS IF SOMEONE CAME UP WITH THE HAIR BRAIN IDEA OF REMAKING "SAMSON AND DALILA" WITH JENNIFER LAWRENCE AS THE BIBLICAL JEZEBEL. Maybe we would all run to see the epic as a COMEDY!