Friday, February 26, 2016

‘Gods of Egypt’ (The Movie)

 Rarely have the lesser gods of Hollywood produced a decent (believable) movie about Ancient Egypt – and this one seems to be no different. In the words of Cecil B. DeMille: "Creativity is a drug I cannot live without." Problem: One needs to take the right drug, or all mayhem breaks loose.
 The following is an amusing  partial  Review by MANOHLA DARGIS as featured in the New York Times Section of the Egypt Monitor:
       Bosomy damsels and brawny slabs; cheering digital crowds; a lachrymose sphinx; a bedazzled Geoffrey Rush; a galactic cruise ship; an Egyptian god played by the Dane Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; the sword-and-sandals enabler Gerard Butler; a smoky monster that from one angle looks like a fanged doughnut and from another an alarmingly enraged anus — “Gods of Egypt” attests that they do make them like they used to, or at least like the King of the Bs, Roger Corman, once did, except with far more money.
If “Gods of Egypt” were any worse, it might be a masterpiece. 

A glowing threat in “Gods of Egypt.” Credit Lionsgate
It is instead a demented entertainment, an embarrassment of kitsch riches that, in between inspiring giggles and snorts, incites you to consider imponderables like, who greenlighted this, and why? Is there really still a market for would-be spectaculars with cartoonish effects and self-parodying dialogue delivered with “Downton Abbey” drawls?

How does a cast like this take shape? Did Mr. Rush sign on first and the others follow like lemmings? And how did Mr. Butler, with his furred musculature and marble-mouthed Scottish accent, become a standard-bearer for midlevel exploitation cinema?

Perhaps, before you head to the movies, you may want to read the entire Review here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/movies/gods-of-egypt-review.html




Or, you can spend half the money and read a good novel about Ancient Egypt. 

I just happen to have one for you:






1 comment:

  1. That's a hilarious review! Thanks for sharing it. I'm pretty sure horrible movies like this are why so many sequels and series come out of Hollywood. Obviously, they get gun-shy when something this expensive fails, and worse, gets laughed at. (And I've heard lots of laughing and groans on social media.)

    Thanks for stopping by my blog and voting! You're awesome! :)

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