According to Deadline Arish, Steven Spielberg is close to signing on to make a film where a brave man helps save a lot of Jewish people from incredible persecution. Sadly, it’s the Schindler’s List: Electric Boogalo sequel we’d all hoped for. Unsadly, it’s Spielberg making a biblical epic on a massive scale with Warners. If the deal goes through, the goal is a shooting date in early 2013. Gods and Kings has been likened by their insider to Braveheart, and it tells the story of Moses from his birth down the river on down to Revelation probably. We’d previously reported that Spielberg was interested, but this news story almost assures that he’ll be taking this project on. And why not? It’s absolutely in his wheelhouse both in subject matter and scope. The question is whether this kind of story can still be a blockbuster moneymaker and a prestige film at the same time. It’s not the 1990s anymore. The other question is whether you want to see what essentially sounds like The Ten Commandments re-done by Spielberg.    

There have been hushed whispers going around the Internet for a while that Warner Bros. was interested in getting Steven Spielberg to direct a movie about Moses called Gods and Kings. It’s apparently an epic movie that spans the whole life of Moses, from the slave freeing, to the plagues, to the ten commandments, to all of the rest, and it comes from a script by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine. It makes sense that Warners would be looking to Spielberg for a project like this for a couple reasons. Primarily, a film of this scope is going to need a huge budget, and that’s something Spielberg has a history of handling well and getting a return on. Also, Spielberg is a filmmaker who has a history of making projects that explore his Jewish heritage, and when he dealing with that sort of subject matter he ends up making movies as awesome as Schindler’s List and Munich; so who better than him to explore the life of Moses, one of the most badass Jews ever? Probably no one, so it’s good news for Warners that they are reportedly now in official talks with the legend to sign on to direct. According to Twitch, the talks between the two parties are “formal,” so take that as you will. Is that the difference between sitting down face to face in a boardroom instead of just chatting on the phone? Or does it just mean everyone is in fancy dress and slapping each [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Every Sunday, Film School Rejects presents a movie that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents: The Ten Commandments (1956) On July 11th, 1920, the enigmatic Taidje Khan was born on a craggy island in Russia to Mongol parents. He would go on to become a radio announcer in occupied France, a nude model, and the pharaoh that refused to let Moses and his people go. That last job was in Cecil B. DeMille’s larger-than-epic epic about Charlton Heston’s beard and its theological powers to turn staffs into snakes and free a people from bondage by parting the waters of the Red Sea. With powerful eyes that held their own against the seasoned Heston, Khan made for an imposing young co-star as the evil, gold headdress-ed Rameses the Second.

With two leads that never mix well together using solid supporting talent as a crutch, this film hobbles along to become one of the more average comedies of all time.