Maybe if I'm laid up in a hospital, have a lot of time on my hands and need to raise my spirits I'll watch it.

My nephew actually read the book. His review: "meh"

It's one of the funniest things ever.

Echoes of "Wicker Man" in the way it addresses the role and purpose of belief, but a little more interesting (imo). Not a great film, but worth watching (as long as you're okay with various disgusting deaths/dismemberments/etc.)

Nice cinematography, also.

Sounds interesting.

Progressoid: If you are in a hosital, "Battlefield Earth" will cheer you up...however unintentionally. It's such a shambling, slobbering, horrendous wreck of a movie that you can't stop watching. And listening.

According to several accounts, the studios didn't want to touch this POS at all and predicted it would be a giant gobbler. But Travolta put up huge sums of his own money to get it made. And lost it all. Which sort of makes me happy.

Long as I'm ranting...I will never forgive Quentin Tarantino for yanking the stake from the cankered heart of Travolta's film career and re-animating that hammy bastard on our movie screens. We had Travolta safely in his coffin - he was making talking baby and dog movies, fer Crom's sake. Then along comes the grossly overrated Poop Fiction, and suddenly Revolta is popping up in every other movie made for the next 20 years.

e.g., I enjoyed the novel The General's Daughter and was looking forward to the movie. Casting Travolta took care of that for me. As a Southerner myself, Mr. Travolta, a bit of advice - putting on a Southern accent involves a little more than faking a s-l-o-w drawl. People from Louisiana have especially distinctive accents. You sounded like Joe Pesci on Xanax.

Thanks for the tip. I'll pass it along to a couple of friends I know will appreciate it.

And from the same director who made "Severance," which I also enjoyed.

Poor old Sean Bean. Compared to this one, what happened to him in "Game of Thrones" was a minor injury...

Went to IMDB and read the comments. Wow! Some of the Tender Souls in our Religion group would have coronaries at some of the posts in there.

This is what happened when an Xian complained that "Black Death" did not have any positivie Xian characters in it. A non-believer responded. Xian came back with one of those hypocritical "blessings:"

I don't know if you noticed the monks at the temple, praying. I'd say they're the most accurate portrayal of positive Christians you'll find in the tale. Guess what? They died from the plague. You can be as loyal as you want, but if you refuse to escape a highly contagious plague because of faith, then you die. Survival of the fittest, obviously they didn't have any wish to survive.

I'm not here for a dumb *beep* religious debate with your self-righteous, pretentious approach to your holier than thou mentality. *beep* your religion, it's the bane of humanity yet you perpetuate it with blind faith. I can't believe humans really think this *beep* is true, it just baffles me you people want to hold back humanity.

Jesus' teaching? Please know that his teachings were never original, in fact they're quite instinctual. Do you think the ancient cave man just needlessly killed one another for no reason, then POOF, Jesus? No, its called community. Humans work together for a better lifestyle, a better living. A better tribe, the more we work together, the more food we get, the more defense we have against the wilds and intruders, the more women we have to reproduce kin, with it the more companionship we have. Lest we want us to destroy each other from the inside out, ancient men knew the only way to survive was community. Its logic to be quite simply, evolution above primal instinct. It has Nothing to due with your mythological Jesus.

Shove that blessing up your ass you pretentious *beep* *beep* prick thinks he has an upper hand because he believes in 2000 year old fairy tales. Unbelievable the idiocy this country produces.

does it? I thought the Ulric character was a pretty positive portrayal of a Xian character. Angry, conflicted, bitter, judgmental - and ultimately vengeful. But he never sacrificed his faith . . . so isn't that a positive portrayal?

I put the film up as an option for review in one of my European History classes - they had to tie it to the discussion and readings, of course. One student took me up on it and wrote an absolutely fabulous critical review that nailed the underlying discourse of the film (lost on many who are just doing body count). I wish I could share it, but student privacy and all that . . . suffice to say that he has a bright future in front of him if he continues to think as thoughtfully and critically as he did in that review.

I like the flick. It requires thought and questions all manner of belief. It's certainly not just a diatribe against Christianity; more of a hard eyeball at the hazard of fantastical belief of any ilk, I think. And yeah - Sean Bean can't get a break . . . well, technically, I guess he got several, but . . .

Speaking of which; if you like the actor, keep your eyes open on Netflix for this season's opening episode of Jimmy MGovern's Accused series. They have bought the series (they have last year's up already) but I doubt it will show up until all of the episodes have aired in the UK.

It's entitled "Traci's Story". Bean plays a transvestite and no, he doesn't make a very good woman in looks - though he does have great legs - but his performance is Bafta quality. Amazingly good drama (the very end is a little over-the-top) and worth watching.