Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

In which Jason Isaacs plays a very ungodly man of God.

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thunder
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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by thunder » Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:15 am

LadySekhmet wrote: Himself did the Prophet well, and like thunder says, he was limited by the strength of his script, which could have been stronger and more vibrant. There was the sense of the silver tongued, charisma-filled charmer in there, which is required for prophets who want a following, but his charm seemed to fail for the people that he needed it to work for the most, but you'd think that they would have wanted to demonstrate how he could get his followers (give some true resistance to his charm). And who could resist the pick up line of: "We're made for each other. You killed my wives, I killed your husband"? (Or whatever it was that he said.) What woman could resist those lines? Match made in Heaven. Clearly. *rolls eyes*
Especially what he said afterwards.
"I did not see my daughter? If she's dead, so be it! If shes lives.. Well, you can teach her how to f**k! We all know how good you are at that." :lol Charming man, right?
ln419 wrote:ah, I forgot you like to argue these finer points. ok, but for Josiah, ALL of that is just having a 'bit of a fit' (and he's not muttering incoherently, he's reading the Bible really fast trying to find SOMETHING redeeming in what he's done) he didn't do it in front of anyone else (except the camera), he did it alone, at night...he wrestled HIS demons alone, as only a Prophet of G-d would do, because they're only hearing that voice alone and in their head, no one else is hearing the voice (or should I write Voice?), so all that is internal, and the struggle with mental illness is internal too and dark and secret, but in the light, when others are around, it all has to be very 'normal' looking, I think.
He is reading the Bible, but the words he's saying isn't from the Bible. He keeps on going: He shames me, why are you letting him shame me, I've never shamed you, He's shamed me twice, shame, shame... (not word by word, but that's the general idea).
It's not a nervous breakdown, because he's not having it in public? That scene changes his behavior completely. In the dinner scene, he's obviously very angry because the sheriff is ruining his table and are humiliating him. But he is able to stay calm, and to talk in his normal calm, and superior, "prophety" way. After the nervous breakdown, his movements get more rapid, and he starts swearing. He's not able to keep his controlled mask any more, even if he tries. The change is subtle, but I would say it's quite clear. Maybe it's all in my head... :mrgreen:

Josiah is losing it, and you can see a difference in the scenes before and after that scene, it's what turns him over. Of course it's not helping him that Sarah starts to kill all of his followers as well.

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by LadySekhmet » Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:07 am

Yeah, he stops reading from the Bible. The whole shame thing is him talking to God. That is not the Old or New Testament. I think the fact that -in his eyes- no one is listening to him (neither God nor humans) makes him go off the rails. I did like the touch of him apologizing to God. It's very appropriate. Yet, even though he does go off the rails a bit, aside from him moment of cross hugging and talking to himself, he does keep it together more than I thought he would based on your comments, thunder (since we never see how he interacted with his followers on a good day, who knows, maybe the poo/mud smearing is a regular punishment for his followers who displease him?). I thought that hanging the lawman up on the cross was entirely in keeping with his character.

Yeah, there were some great lines after the mid-point of the movie. Someone had way too much fun with his "poke" speech. lol.

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by thunder » Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:37 am

Well,maybe I'm reading too much into the little things. But that's my interpretation :D

ln419

Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by ln419 » Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:00 pm

ok, well, I'm gonna try this for the 5th time and see if what I write sticks here. Argue from today till next year what makes The Prophet crack, anger at humiliation, ruining his new table, no one- not G-d nor man listening to him; when and where and it makes no difference. As a man of G-d he done broke a fair few of His commandments, and those he broke most: murder and coveting are usually judged between man and man, and so they were; (it is said that the ones on the other side are judged between man and G-d, but that is probably in a different thread or movie).

It started out as a love story, and it ended as such-a new chapter in her life. I didn't like January Jones much, but I've never seen her in anything else either, so maybe it's not a fair assessment. Anyone who has such a flat affect and has the same expression on her face while murdering, trying on a dress, chatting with her mom, and having a miscarriage either has a past so horrible that ya have to feel sorry for her character; the ONLY time you see a crack in her veneer is the too few moments she has with her innocent as a babe husband who can't shoot for his life, and trusts everyone, she was far too jaded to have married him, (reminded me of AR as the Sheriff of N. "for once in my life I will have something pure", but she couldn't even have that). Or the actress has, if you'll excuse the expression "the emotional range of a teaspoon". Maybe the only reason Sarah came to life for me is b/c I have a friend who reminds me of the character (without the murder and mayhem, but who is really strong) and went through some similiar stuff, came out the other side, which is why I said purple won.
NM to me was as spectacularly beautiful as Edinburgh was for CH, and there were some absurdly wonderfully unique shots, like Ed Harris hanging upsiddown with the camera looking upsiddown at Jason with those crosses and the blue sky and the clouds, it was a weird shot, I loved it! And yes, Jason had too much fun pecking him with that gun while speechifying! I think the wives brooming him may have been overkill. The thing with the mud, I think this was all about subordination and the sex no one could have except Josie. With these religious things, isn't it ALWAYS about sex? And the thing was, Jojo was right, his wives WERE stupid! -really, ya throw your gun? and their command of the English language was pretty limited...(except for the daughter, who was spared). He should have known Sarah was smart enough not to kill a child, not even HIS (even "if she could teach her to fuck").
I think, when all is said and done, it won't get any awards, but is a mirror to our own society; all the scarier. And so we should remember to what? 'turn the other cheek?" no, not for this thread I think... 'Live and let Die', nope too Bond... "Live and let Live", there, that ought to do it... ln

**by writing this last line, I by no means mean this should be the end of the discussion, but the end of what I had to say (I think, or I HOPE). I apologize if anyone thought otherwise nuke.gif

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by laurielove » Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:55 pm

Whoa. I think I need to see this now just to chip in here. I'll reserve judgement until I've seen it but some of those lines you quoted are already making me grin broadly. Probably not the correct response. Glad to see the film is being so hotly debated here. :shock:

ln419

Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by ln419 » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:15 am

"G-d be with you my child" ;-) Prophet Josie

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by fruitbat » Sat Jun 15, 2013 3:37 pm

LadySekhmet wrote:
I think that Josiah is Irish but had emigrated to the US and made his way to Santa Fe via Utah.
I was confused by the Irish accent as well. I tried to find a pattern; did he use it more when preaching? But no, I found no pattern.
LadySekhmet wrote: . And who could resist the pick up line of: "We're made for each other. You killed my wives, I killed your husband"? (Or whatever it was that he said.) What woman could resist those lines? Match made in Heaven. Clearly. *rolls eyes*
How you doin'? Image

I watched this last night; here are my thoughts. Jason is, as always, compelling. In this case, he manages to be both compelling and repellent. January Jones wasn't as bad as I thought she'd be. (But then, I thought she'd be pretty bad. She is great as Betty Draper Francis, a cold, brittle, woman but, having seen her in the X Men movie, ( I don't recall which one), I'd have to say that, as an actress, she has limited range.) I think I might be in the minority here, but I really didn't like Ed Harris' character at all. He was so over the top, it just grated.

I didn't recognise Amy Madigan, (Ed Harris' real-life wife). I mean, I recognised her face, but I couldn't place her; not with the dark hair. Was she in the opening credits?

I found the story kind of depressing. Yes, Sarah got her vengeance, although I don't know how sweet it was. Are we to assume that she leaves the homestead? I found myself asking why they didn't try to settle somewhere else in the first place, somewhere she wasn't known. But I know questioning the motivations of characters gets me nowhere.

I agree, (with someone's post, above) that there seems to be something missing in the depiction of the Josiah/Jackson relationship. Did the Sheriff really already suspect him of the murders before he sat down to that dinner? If so, how? He didn't have the results of his CSI: New Mexico-type tests back yet. (Geez, did he?) However, I disagree that the movie could have focussed more on their relationship (see "Ed Harris' character grated" comment, above).

My "How-good-is-a-Jason-movie?-Really?-Test" is simple;
Would I recommend it to friends who don't have a clue who he is?
If my answer is "yes", then the movie is very good.

If the answer is "no" the next question is:
Would I recommend it to friends I know to be Jason fans? If the answer is "yes", then it's a decent movie.* In terms of recommendations to friends, other factors must come into play; the other actors, the plot, the type of movie, (i.e action, romance, story about a murderous, bigamous Preacher - I know, I know, it's not about him, but it really is, isn't it, on this board? Image) In this case, the additional factor of offering my friend Case Histories2 at the same time, will make me rethink my timing. Maybe after she had watched CH, I'll offer this movie. But, then, a good dose of Jackson Brodie taken after Sweet Vengeance might be the only thing the cleanse my mind of Josiah.

*If the answer is "no"? Let's just say that I've never offered "Hotel" to any of my friends. Image

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by a.p.k. » Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:33 am

A little behind the times, just saw it.

Hmm. Well, I would see it even if he wasn't in it just because Ed Harris and Amy Madigan in a movie together (even if they're not together in the movie) makes me happy. I love them both.



Am staying out of the did-he-have-a-breakdown-or-not thing. I think he was just mad as a hatter from the start and it manifested in all the ways it did. He was less and less able to control himself, but he clearly from the beginning was having those rather ?ecstatic ?rage-filled ?whatever the descriptor fits. Early on he has one, without the tearing apart the bible bit.



It's clear he enjoyed himself and it's even clearer that Ed enjoyed himself, but I could've lived without it. Not exactly time wasted, but neither uplifted nor impressed. And no, I didn't like the wig. Looked way too wiggish, without that perfect-for-his-head Tavvy-type look.

ln419

Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by ln419 » Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:40 am

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol oh, a.p.k, it's mighty hard to type when you're laughing! I never did say anything about that horrible wig! What a hoot! yes, it was terrible, and you could see, he tried SO hard with that one (and true story, the one in Single Shot was worse, WORSE I tell you!). But it was an indie film on a shoestring budget, and...I think on bigger budget films (like The Patriot, and HP, and Peter Pan), he might have the advantage of working with human hair wigs, and these...may have been bought at the local Wal-mart SuperStore, or someplace like that. (The truth is, if you see it more often, you unfortunately get used to it...I may have inadvertently seen it too many times-maybe it wasn't so inadvertent). Thanks for the daily dose of giggles...~ellen............(off to clean...SOMETHING)

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by thunder » Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:54 pm

I still think the Passionada wig is holding #1, but I've seen better wigs than this one...

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by ln419 » Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:42 pm

giggling even more...we MAY have to hold a "Worst Wig Contest", there HAVE been some doozies! :lol ~ellen :mrgreen:

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by thunder » Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:04 am

:mrgreen: When I get time...

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by Marie » Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:37 am

Jason story alert: While filming Field of Lost Shoes Jason told us that on the larger budget films (even on some of the smaller ones) they normally have a wig professionally fitted to the actor (as well as the costume). That process can take several days. However - if schedule does not allow for that then the actor must make due with an off the shelf wig and off the hanger clothes and all the ensuing hilarity of a really bad hair & costume day (week or month!) Yea poor Jason has had some doozies! However some of that has to come with the role. Single Shot and Sweetwater both had characters that did not necessarily put clean hair as a priority either due to the low life nature of the character or the fact that in the wild west one could not get a decent shampoo and style to save ones life! As for Charlie Beck - gee can't think of a good reason for the bad hair so - yes really bad wig. In Field of Lost Shoes I think Jason's character appears wearing a hat at most if not all times. So the hair is somewhat covered - but it was pretty bad (OK battlefield conditions can explain some of it but the rest ...... really bad wig!) Jason's uniform was also quite large for him as well and the coat looked bulky and ill fitting - whereas the man who played his attaché was able to come in early before the shoot and have a very nicely fitted uniform.

Sorry to get off topic but thought you might enjoy the story of Jason wigs and costumes.

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by thunder » Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:23 pm

You are forgiven. Thank you.

I think the wig in Sweetwater isn't misfitted, as we see in Passionada and Nouvelle France... But it looks slightly off. A little too straight and a little too black, but Josiah is "off" as well, so it works.

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Re: Watched it today (Spoilers) + Screen caps

Post by LadySekhmet » Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:34 pm

Well, I think that we're all in agreement that the page-boy cut does nothing for him, but it's still more attractive than the wig from Passionada. lol. Well played, black wig, well played.

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