Reviews

There is something seriously amiss about the bad reviews of this film! Okay, maybe I'm just 'completely crazy'. It's entirely possible. While it's not like it's the greatest film crime drama/ heist film to ever hit American cinema, for this film to receive the reviews it's getting is down right disgusting to me! (More so then any violence ever depicted in this movie).

In fact, there is a scene in the movie where one of the characters says something to the effect..."You are targeted!". Well that's exactly how I feel critics and film snobs are reviewing this movie. First of all, I'm a movie lover (first) of ALL genres, AND I've actually written an indie $25 million dollar movie that appeared on thousands of screens, not to gloat but just to give you some perspective. And my movie was ripped by critics and film snobs alike too.(And that ripping was deserved!),just to show you some humility, but these reviews are not just when it comes to this film.

But think about it for a second...what IS exactly a "professional critic" OR "film snob" critic? For starters, neither have ever written/directed/starred/ or produced a film that was any good OR cost millions of dollars of someone's money. EVER! So f' them all to begin with. A bunch of hack nobodies that can't actually create anything themselves, with the exception of garnering some popularity for being "said critic". Like seriously...losers if you ask me. If they're so good at evaluating movies. Why don't they go out and smash grab a couple of ten million dollars or so and actually PRODUCE something besides a review of another's work?!

But I was a FILM LOVER, waaaaaay before I got into the biz...and this crime film was very very good! The first thing that caught my eye, was that the acting performances were stellar. I've never seen Casey Affleck so good, and I've never EVER seen Kate Winslet so diabolical OR as 'sexy' before this film. (I didn't know she had in it her for both so kudos to her!

And as long as we are talking "cinema snobs", I actually read a "critic review" that discussed how bad Winslet's 'Russian Accent" was in this film. Really? We are now going to rip an "Academy Award" winning actress for her accent in a "crime drama" movie that was meant for just pure entertainment of the genre and is not supposed to be fing Citizen Goddamn Kane or Gone with the fing Wind? Well, yes we will apparently so exactly that. As if we can ALL do it better.

I LOVED Woody Haralson's character in this film. Yeah, we've seen bits and pieces of this type of character from him in the past, but he's great in this! Okay, yes, Norman Reedus is a little bit "Daryl", and yes, Aaron Paul is a little bit "Jessie Pinkton" (Do we NOT still all love those characters???), they are still very very good in this movie too! And I have to admit, Even though I've seen them, I'm not as familiar with Chiwetel Ejiofor or Anthony Mackie, BUT I AM NOW....and will be following for sure in the future..both will be house hold names in a few years.

And Clifton Collins Jr.....I almost didn't recognize him...but a great actor that's been around for YEARS...and will also probably finally be a household name within a few as well. I hated him in this movie..."as a character"...and that's exactly how we were supposed to feel! And what about the giant set of balls (no pun intended when you see the film)of actor "Michael Kenneth Williams" for his role of "Sweet Pea"! Come on, now! Okay, now let's talk about "crime/drama/heist movie/ plot. The plot is a bit different than most heist films too. It trends on the darker side, like a Reservoir Dogs type film, but it's NOT trying to be Reservoir Dogs either. It's more of a 'Departed, meets "Reservoir Dogs", meets 'Training Day' type movie...without all the self importance! Now as for the Director/Writer team of John Hillcoat & Matt Cook, I'm honestly not that familiar with either, although I really did like Hillcoats "The Road", but I'm looking out for their future stuff now too because of this film. Great directing and writing.

Oh, and btw, what big studio film put this out??? NONE. Is your answer. It's purely an bigger budgeted 'indie film" produced by (count them) 21 PRODUCERS! That either put their heart, blood, sweat, money..or....made a phone call or lend-ed their name for half a sec. (it's Hollywood, people, that's how indies get done sometimes)to get this sucker made.

And yet it's ripped by "Hollywood Critics" and "Film snobs" alike.

My point is, if you like a really good, non academy award winning, non film snob, non big budget, non big studio, non Hollywood machine, non anything that is popular (beside the cast) type crime film....

SEE THIS MOVIE...it's worth your $15 at the box office, it's worth your $10 to own, it's worth you're $6.95 to rent/stream in HD, it's worth your $1 at Redbox. It's just worth seeing period.

Beyond dreadful. No excuse. They clearly spent money on the film, but spent no thought whatsoever.

Wait - let's start with the positives: Most of the sets are decent, and some of the background extras actually look like they are middle eastern - so let's give it one star for the sets, props, and extras. Also, the costumes are nice enough, although amazingly clean and well pressed. The only other redeeming thing I can think of, is some of the musical scoring was at least vaguely from the region. The rest was much like the scoring to a 1940's romantic drama. That is about all I can say except...

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Ever. Ever, ever, ever.

I hardly know where to start... the British voice as the Angel? The stilted performances of just about everyone? Herod as played by an itchy stand up comic? The 12 year old Jesus as played by some kid from the San Fernando Valley? The hunky, tan, blond John the Baptist, who looked like he wandered in from a Tarzan movie (furry loincloth an all!)? The adult Jesus getting snotty with his mother in the water into wine scene? Or maybe it was the overall effect of so many choppy scenes? The flat, one dimensional characters? The dreadful dialogue? The complete lack of direction? (I don't care what the director's resume is - he was clearly not on the set except to pick up his check)

Herod's death scene actually had me laughing out loud it was so absurd. Joseph's funeral scene, on the other hand, came out of nowhere - uh, was Joseph sick? Since he appeared to be in his late 30's, tops, what killed him? The last supper reminded me of a bunch of snotty young men sitting around whispering about "who farted?". The crucifixion scene was... indescribably bad. How did they manage to shoot the death of Jesus without any dramatic tension or real feeling? The random decent actor who managed to make this terrible script seem remotely real just served to make all the others look even worse.

If you showed this film to someone who had not already a decent grasp of the gospel story, a viewer would be utterly lost -there is no coherent story line! Also I'm not sure why this was called "Mary of Nazareth" since it's about Jesus, not his Mother Mary. She's absent from MANY scenes, and no attempt was made at all to explore what her point of view/life might have been like.

Oh, and by the way - the "other" Mary (Mary of Magdalene) is easy to identify - unlike any other woman in the movie, she has bright red hair, lip liner and mascara. So we'd know she was a WHORE I guess, despite the fact that this movie was made in 1999, and almost all biblical scholars agree Mary M was NOT a whore at all.

This film was so terrible I had to look it up to make sure this was a real movie and not an elaborate hoax. I'm not kidding. It's that bad.

There are many fine gospel based films - this is assuredly NOT one of them.

"Troma at its best!!" Space Daze is a very funny indie film which combines the documentary style of "Best in Show" with any "Reality TV" show you see on TV today. The funniest scene in the movie, and I won't give it away, but its a scene where Corey Feldman makes a comment about Michael Jackson. "Yes," Michael Jackson apparently does have a secret, but you'll have to rent/buy the movie to find out what it is!!!! There are also some other very funny scenes which involves other celebrities and the central theme....do "Aliens" really exist??? I don't really know one way or another, but I do know this...this movie made me laugh so hard, I thought an Alien was going to burst from my stomach!!! Great Flick!!!