WTF?!? I haven't even taken two sips of my coffee and the first thing I see is some pathetic producer blame his failure on the fact that Americans are generally good and decent people.
"YOU TELL 'EM, OLLIE!"
Posted on 01/09/2005 4:23:57 AM PST by billorites
HIS LATEST attempt at ridiculous historical revisionism, “Alexander,” having met defeat at the box office, director Oliver Stone has sought a scapegoat for his failure: Americans.
“Americans don’t read about ancient history like the Europeans. And in America there is a raging fundamentalism and morality,” Stone said last week in an attempt to explain his flop. “From day one the Bible Belt people did not show up because there was one phrase throughout the media and that was ‘Alex the gay.’”
According to Stone, the “raging fundamentalism and morality” of Americans kept his film from doing well because we didn’t want to see Alexander the Great as a bisexual.
Yes, it must have been that raging homophobia that prompted a New York Times critic to write of the film: “Certainly it’s brought out the worst in terms of the puerile writing, confused plotting, shockingly off-note performances and storytelling that lacks either of the two necessary ingredients for films of this type, pop or gravitas.”
When “The Village” did far worse than its expectations last year, M. Night Shyamalan didn’t go around insulting his audience. But then, Oliver Stone is no M. Night Shyamalan. Stone, who has built a career out of making films that express unveiled contempt for his own countrymen, is an artist permanently detached from reality. Shyamalan, by contrast, seems to have an innate compassion for average people and a better understanding of human nature.
If Stone quits insulting his audience, “Alexander” might have a chance at passing the equally panned “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” in box office take. But we won’t hold our breath for either to happen.
WTF?!? I haven't even taken two sips of my coffee and the first thing I see is some pathetic producer blame his failure on the fact that Americans are generally good and decent people.
"YOU TELL 'EM, OLLIE!"
Perhaps someday we will mature to the level of Europe but, alas, not this day ;-)
PS: good riddance to bad trash.
We call it righteousness. God's righteousness. Don't care for it? Well that puts you on the other side then doesn't it?
So what's the problem. Would he rather have it "Raging relativism and immorality" - Answer: YES.
If he would just resort to making good movies instead of preaching his BS, he might actually earn a paycheck.
Americans who DO read ancient history would never bother with an Oliver Stone movie. We'd rather watch Ben-Hur.
Or a Mel Gibson flick...
Or maybe the film sucked?
We recognize intellectual dishonesty when we see it.
Whiner.
Another self-appointed cultural and moral arbiter whining that his efforts are misunderstood by the "great unwashed".
Too bad....so sad...
Put together something without a lot of leftist preaching and maybe we'll be interested...but until then......
Isn't it interesting that people like Stone use this country for everything they can get, yet don't miss a chance at biting the hand that feeds them. We can hope that he flounces off to Europe in a huff, to live and work there permanently, but that's probably a pipe dream.
**** And in America there is a raging fundamentalism and morality.****
I'm throwing myself down on my knees and begging God not to smite all of us for being "moral."
An alternative explanation is that many people, like me, simply won't view anything produced or directed by Stoned.
"Troy" is out in video stores now, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Wolfgang Petersen (he directed the WWII submarine thriller Das Boot). "Troy" is set in ancient Greece and did fine at the box office because it moves right along in classic action movie style. The fight scenes are awesome.
Mr. Stone's excuses for the failure of "Alexander" sound hollow.
I think that say it rather well...
Whaaaaa!!!!
"“Americans don’t read about ancient history like the Europeans. And in America there is a raging fundamentalism and morality,” Stone said last week"
Well if he knew all that BEFORE he made the movie... Then why did he make it?
He wanted to fail?
Perhaps it was all just a big test to see if he could get us interested in ancient history? Ooops, we failed.
Or could it be that it was an even lamer film than 'The Alamo' (new version). Boy was that a bad flick. Made the mistake of finally watching it on T.V.
Over, and over, and over again, I would love to see this explanation provided for why America rejects Hollywood and European values:
"And in America there is...morality."
>>Americans who DO read ancient history would never bother with an Oliver Stone movie. We'd rather watch Ben-Hur. <<
LOL!
Another self-appointed cultural and moral arbiter whining that his efforts are misunderstood by the "great unwashed".
How very French!
We'd rather watch Ben-Hur.
My favorite film of all time!
"Alexander is a prodigious film making achievement. After all, there are few directors who could take one of the most fascinating, compelling, and exciting stories in the history of the world and make such a terrible mess of it that people would reject the movie in droves. All the self-important fool had to do to make real money was stick to the actual history, something Hollyweird seems congenitally incapable of doing when deealing with real history and when adapting novels to the screen.
When I saw the trailers for Flight of the Phoenix I couldn't believe they were trying to remake that classic. Jimmy Stewart can't be topped, especially in that role. Not only that, the trailers looked like a hip hop version of the original. I certainly wasn't going to go see it and I'm sure those who remember the original had the same thought I did. I'm frankly glad to see it's tanking.
The Village wasn't that bad. It wasn't wonderful but it was a pretty good popcorn flick.
Alexander on the other hand simply stank.
Your comment brings to mind "Titanic". The actual, historically accurate story is captivating and could stand on it's own without all of the adornment that it was filled with. Though it was a Box Office success I think it would have been more so had the producers/directors stuck to history. I personally found the Hollywood version boring.
An article I read said the EU didn't care for Alexander much either. I read Mary Renault's Praise Singer. Great read. Possible concept for Alexander's history. I love the figure of Bucephalus, his war horse (think Black Stallion). I was looking forward to this movie..........
Sorry Stone. Bad is bad is bad. In any language. Period.
I actually went to see it knowing that there would be some gay elements. But it was the horrible acting and bad pace that made me want to walk out the door twenty minutes into the movie. Alexander and Hephaeston making eyes at each other and Alexander later kissing one of his Persian servants just made it worse.
Stone hinted he'd make changes to the movie's DVD. He said the "bond" in the homosexual scene could be "suggested in different ways".
Maybe Stone can depict a gay bar scene---like in Star Wars ---only the actors are all in drag, clad in pink satin, and carrying feather dusters. Real subtle.....
no flaming faggotry (/sarc).
This excuse for a film cost $200 million to make. Now I want to know how Follywood is gonna account for the huge losses.
I sincerely hope and pray (/sarc) that Ollie and the gang they won't resort to cooking the books or use accounting procedures in order to fool shareholders....
.......like misusing corporate reserve accounts, concealing losses, inflating asset values, improperly accounting for transactions, deferring losses into reserve accounts, improperly shifting capital funding.....stuff like that.
B/c fooling shareholders would compel the SEC to step in. Shareholders should contact the SEC.
enforcement@SEC.gov
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In a nutshell.......Hey Ollie. People are tired of the BS.
Yes, Good point!
It now appears that "Alexander" has bombed in Europe, as well.
On average, American movies make about the same internationally as they do in the states. Many smaller American movies do not get released in Europe at all, while Europeans actually seem to clamor for the worst, noisiest, special-effects-laden, big-budget disasters they can. (Like Armageddon, for instance.) (So much for the stereotype of European cinema being so artistic and cultured!)
Alexander's production costs were $160 million. Using standard rules of thumb, Stone must have counted on the movie to make about $160M domestically, and $160M internationally. (That would only break even, even with home-theater sales and rentals: theater owners take about half of the grosses, and distribution cost $60M.)
"International-type" movies (LOTR, Harry Potter, James Bond, big-budget novies) typically make 60-70% of their revenue oversees. So he probably was aiming for about $200 oversees and $120 domestically.
What he got was $45M overseas and $34 domestically. He actually drew a smaller portion of his ticket sales oversees then any of the LOTRs, James Bonds, Star Warses, Harry Potters, Titanic, Jurassic Parks, Matrices, etc.
In fact, those are the movies which were hits domestically. Usually, a big-budget production will succeed in Europe no matter how terribly it does in the US. (Think "Waterworld" or "AI.") Europeans typically don't care how terrible a movie is, as long as it has a big budget.
And yet, they stayed away from Alexander in droves.
"Raging morality." I'd like to see that. I wonder what it would be like?
If Stone quits insulting his audience, “Alexander” might have a chance at passing the equally panned ...
No it/he won't. I'll never go see any of his movies.
The world to Oliver Stone: DROP DEAD !
You can really take only so much "artistic and cultured" stuff even in Europe. For some reason any more those seem to be code words for "sleeping pill".
With the absolute dearth of good storytelling in most films, the audience says, "At least give us guns spaceships and explosions if you are unable to write a coherent plot."
You're absolutely right. The thing that gets me is that anyone expected anything other than what they got from Oliver Stone.
No. We read ancient history and everything else more avidly and more thoroughly. That's why your flicks flop, Oliver.
When was the last time you read Homer, Thucidides, Plutarch, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Aeschylus, Euripides, Oliver? Never? Hmmmm. I'm looking at them right now.
By the way, one of my most delightful experiences was reading Thucidides while travelling through the Peloponnese, drinking Greek wine, eating the fabulous fruits, sipping and reading the the summer shade. I love Greece!
Another of my most delightful experiences was the National Museum in Athens. Hire a personal guide! It's well worth the time and the money!
Then there are the cruises through the islands, reading Homer as the Ionian Coast drifts by--sipping resin-tinged Greek wine, smelling the wine dark sea!
One of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen is nightfall on the island of Hydra. The world passes through every conceivable hue of the color blue.
But I digress...
Oliver's a fool. He also doesn't know what he's talking about.
What Stone seems to have mixed up is the difference between a history lesson and entertainment.
Some Americans will pay for history lessons, even those as skewed as Stone's vision of the Kennedy assassination.
Others use their entertainment dollars for entertainment. Based on experience of his films (like the one cited above) they may not feel like listening to a Stone sermon, and they won't buy the tickets.
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