Tag Archives: Christianity

Visions of the End

26 March 2018 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Apocalypse M Apocalypse 2015

Theaters:  NA (TV Movie – 2000)

Streaming:  April, 2004

Rated:  NR

Runtime:  96 minutes

Genre:  Drama – Faith – Religion

els:  3.0/10

IMDB:  6.4/10

Amazon:  4.3/5 stars

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  NA/10

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  2.9/5

Metacritic Metascore:  NA/100

Metacritic User Score:  NA/10

Awards:

Directed by:  Raffaele Mertes

Written by:  Francesco Contaldo, Raffaele Mertes, Gianmario Pagano

Music by:  Marco Frisina

Cast:  Richard Harris, Vittoria Belvedere, Benjamin Sadler, Bruce Payne

Film Locations:  NA

Budget:  $ NA Low-Budget, Made for TV

Worldwide Box Office:  $ NA

St. John, John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder (Harris) is held in the Aegean island prison of Patmos as a scribe for his Roman jailers.   God speaks to John and commands him to disseminate, as letters, the visions he sends him. The letters are be sent to the 7 churches of Asia Minor.  The visions include truths and admonishment to the churches and how the beginning of the end of times will transpire.

This is a made for TV movie that exhibits its low-budget pedigree in almost every scene.  But the movie wasn’t made to garner any awards, rather it was made to educate the public about the Book of Revelations, the last book of the Bible. It does accomplish this but the story is out of sequence and the method is clunky and amateurish.

The supporting actors are all bad with the atrocious acting trophy going to the Bruce Payne playing the Roman Emperor Domitian. Moving from bad to worse, the special effects were categorically dreadful.  If there is an award for worst special effects this movie would win. The movie’s effects were on par with what passed as realistic in the 1958 movie: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor. Spending a few dollars more on marginally better special effects very likely would have taken this movie from ugh awful to mildly entertaining.

The only true shining light in this movie is Richard Harris, he can’t save the movie, but he is a joy to watch.  The kindly Dumbledore persona comes through in every scene. A natural teacher with a gentle soul.  Interestingly, his full name is Richard St John Harris.

 

Human Nature Yesterday

27 April 2017 By in Books Nonfiction Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land

Written by:  Thomas Asbridge51c32nyzebl-_sx330_bo1204203200_

Published by:  HarperCollins

Copyright:  © 2010

In 1095 AD, during the high middle ages, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus of Constantinople asked the Latin Pope Urban II for assistance in recovering parts of Asia Minor lost to the Seljuk Turks. The Pope responded, with less than altruistic motives towards his eastern Christian cousins, by embroiling western Europe and the Levant in 200 years of war which eventually became known as the Crusades.

Thomas Asbridge presents a compelling history of Christian struggles to seize control of the holy land from the Muslims, thus reviving the Islamic concept of jihad, while attempting to answer the questions of how these battles of conquest and religion reverberate through western history into our modern times.  Interesting enough Asbridge suggests that the crusades “belong in  the past” and inferences to todays apparent sequels are “misguided”.

This is a excellent and thoroughly researched march through the 11th and 12th centuries of western Europe and the Levant, bringing alive names of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin and others that Sir Walter Scott so richly romanticized in his historical 19th century novels, Ivanhoe and The Talisman.  The Crusades is a fast paced read with sufficient twists and turns in the narrative that you may suspect that this is a movie screenplay rather than a history.  This is a great read. Well worth your time.