April 20, 2014

Happy Easter from White City Cinema

By michaelgloversmith

How do you like your cinematic Jesus? I prefer mine with a Marxist slant.

matthew

Happy Easter!

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About michaelgloversmith

Filmmaker, author and Film Studies instructor. View all posts by michaelgloversmith
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2014 at 8:22 am and tagged with , , and posted in Holiday Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

10 responses to “Happy Easter from White City Cinema”

  • Mitchell
    April 20th, 2014 at 10:42 am

    He always seems so pissed off in that movie. Maybe he was upset because he miss out on being in Salo?

    Reply
  • Russel DDK
    April 20th, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    My favorite Jesus is William Dafoe from Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ”.

    Reply
  • John Charet
    April 20th, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    Happy Easter to you too:) Here are my favorite films dealing with Jesus Christ. Interestingly or not, neither of them are big-budget Hollywood spectacles. Here they are:

    * * * * (Out of * * * *)
    1. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1966) (Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini)
    2. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) (Dir: Martin Scorsese)

    * * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
    1. The Passion of the Christ (2004) (Dir: Mel Gibson)

    * * * (Out of * * * *)
    1. King of Kings (1961) (Dir: Nicholas Ray)

    Keep up the great work as always:)

    Reply
  • John Charet
    April 20th, 2014 at 10:01 pm

    Correction: King of Kings is a big-budget spectacle and while it is neither a * * * * or * * * 1/2 star film, I felt like adding it anyway considering that I am a big fan of Nicholas Ray’s work even If that one was not one of his best or very best. P.S. what did you think of the films I just labeled as my favorite about Jesus Christ? Regards:)

    Reply
    • michaelgloversmith
      April 21st, 2014 at 8:35 am

      Thanks for the reply, John. I like Nick Ray’s “I Was a Teenage Jesus” movie but I haven’t seen nor would I ever see Mel Gibson’s horrible, evil film.

      Reply
      • Mitchell
        April 21st, 2014 at 10:00 am

        Being Jewish, I felt the way you did about the Passion of the Christ – no way would I go to see it! Then thinking it over, I figured ‘Know Your Enemy’, and I did go to see it. One thing you have to give to Mel Gibson is that he is an effective film maker. The film is a visceral experience. Anti-Semitic? I fear so. Bad, inaccurate theology? Definitely. Torture porn? No doubt.

        There is a huge moral and theological issue in so graphically depicting the Passion (that is the torturing and crucifixion) and giving almost no screen time to the point of the whole story, namely the Resurrection and Triumph Over Death.

        As a Jew, I was outraged by the throwback cartoonish way the priests are depicted as the ones responsible for the whole mess. I think that the greater outrage should have been among the Fundamentalist Christians who praised the film to the skies. It seems to me that the cornerstone of Christianity is the Resurrection and not the bloody path to it. Mel was having none of that unfortunately.

        And yes, I felt guilty for enjoying Apocalypto!

      • michaelgloversmith
        April 21st, 2014 at 5:32 pm

        I’m an atheist myself so the whole idea of a blog post commemorating Easter was meant to be tongue-in-cheek to begin with. I do love Pasolini’s movie though.

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