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It's been a  few years since the release of the film The Thirteenth Warrior. It was a rarity: an intelligent actioner. Directed by Michael Crichton and based on his novel Eaters of the Dead, it was a retelling and rationalization of the ancient Beowulf legend. In Crichton's version, the monsters of legend comprise a tribe of human cannibals preying on Viking settlements. The story is told through the eyes of an educated Arab visitor who has traveled to the far north out of curiosity and wanderlust. He witnesses an attack by the cannibals in which the Vikings panic and run...

Anti-Christian Crusade - Beowulf is the latest installment in Hollywood’s attempt to reconfigure history By now, the oft-recurring negative portrayals of Christianity in major Hollywood movies have become hackneyed and predictable. The recent rendition of Beowulf only reinforced this trend. The same subtle depictions and motifs present in movies from decades past were once again present, a favorite being the attempt to try to depict pagans as “open-minded” and “free-spirited” peoples, or, quite anachronistically, as medieval counterparts to the modern, secular, liberal. The idea being that pagan peoples — unencumbered by the suffocating forces of Christianity — were/are happy, passionate...

I’m trying to pull together some thoughts on Robert Zemeckis’s “Beowulf,” though at this point I’ve only seen the film once and don’t have much more than a gut reaction to offer. It strikes me as Zemeckis’s darkest and most misanthropic film to date — to the extent that he’s even banished a human presence from the final product, completing a process that began with the violently distorted bodies of “Death Becomes Her” and the desperate flight from human society in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Forrest Gump.” In tone, I think it’s closest to “Contact,” extending that film’s satire...

Debbie Schlussel: Early Movie Review: 3-D Spectacle "Beowulf" is Fun "300" as Played by WWE Characters By Debbie Schlussel It's definitely not for kids. And I didn't care for the right-in-your-face naked CGI rear ends of Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and Grendel's Mother (a skank played by a skank--Angelina Jolie). But I thoroughly enjoyed "Beowulf"--the 3-D marvel, in theaters tomorrow (Friday). And, yes, guys, this movie is for you. Dragons, fire, monsters, kings, warriors, swords, damsels in distress--this has all those and more. It's the story of the swashbuckling, but exaggeratingly braggadocious, fair-haired warrior Beowulf who saves Danish King Hrothgar's (Anthony...

Olde English meets new technology in 'Beowulf' BY JOE STRIKESunday, November 11th 2007, 4:00 AM Beowulf, voiced and motion-capture-acted by Ray Winstone Beowulf faces down Grendel's mother, Angelina Jolie (also below). When Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf" opens Friday, it'll be moviegoers' first opportunity since last spring's "300" to ogle well-muscled, barely clothed men of war. Like that earlier film, "Beowulf" is set long ago and far away, when men were men and uniforms were skimpy. Thanks to modern technology, "Beowulf's" bare-chested hot bods are buffed to the max without the benefit of steroids. The cast of "300" had to endure...

An angry parent has blasted the East Penn School District for requiring its students to read books he said are "full of filthy vulgarity." Richard Jones of Upper Milford confronted the school board Monday about some of the books on his 15-year-old son's 10th-grade summer reading list at Emmaus High School, saying they're trash. Following its standard practice, the board limited Jones to three minutes and didn't respond to his criticism during the meeting. But later, board President Ann Thompson said, "We listened carefully and it is being investigated carefully."

The funny side of `Beowulf' BY DAVE BARRY (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on Nov. 2, 1997.) I believe that we parents must encourage our children to become educated, so they can get into a good college that we cannot afford. I try to help my son, Rob, with his schooling, but over the years this has become more difficult. Back when he was dealing with basic educational issues such as why the sky is blue and what a duck says, I always knew the correct answers (''It doesn't matter'' and ''Moo''). But when Rob got into...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

    The door to the Mines of Moria Viking-era carvings on Sweden's Sigurd Rock   Viking ship post (circa A.D. 850)(Photograph from National Geographic Television) Stonehenge, one of the many ancient British ruins that inspired Tolkien(Photograph from National Geographic Television) A transcript of Tolkien's lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”(Photograph from National Geographic Television and Jane Chance) Akseli Gallen-Kallela's 1891 painting “Aino Myth,” which depicts a passage from the Kalevala, a compilation of old Finnish ballads and poems(Photograph courtesy Art Museum of Ateneum) Ian McKellen as Gandalf(© 2001 New Line Productions, photograph courtesy New Line Cinema)  ...