300

[Nash13]

Anybody heard about this? It's one of Frank Miller's graphic novels. It comes out next March.


Plot:

Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, "300" concerns the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians; the battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy.

Trailer:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b-Nf8dj3s34

[Nemesis]

http://movies.go.com/trailer?cid=854153&vid=854162

Frank Miller's graphic novel about the 300 Spartan taking on the Persians. The movie seems to have the same skin tone as Sin City. I saw this trailor (in Austin) before The Departed and everyone was freaking out and getting all pumped about it around me. I guess there is some cult following since Sin City or I am missing something. Anyway, this movie is on my list for must see..

Ok, film experts on this site, give me your take on this and why Rodriguez didn't direct this one.

[Nash13]

I made a thread about this movie about a week or two ago.

I have a feeling this is going to be the best movie to come out next year. I read it's already the #1 most anticipated movie of next year according to comingsoon.net. I like the fact that 1, it's written by Frank Miller so no matter what it's going to be good and 2, there's noname actors in it. My personal take on why Robert Rodriguez isn't directing is his best work is centered around organized crime or crime of some sort. As far as my memory goes back (i'm a little drunk as i type this), he's never done war films.

[Nemesis]

Sorry if I copied your thread, I never saw it and I come on here at least once a day. Thanks for your take on the direction of the film, that makes sense. I think I am gonna start collecting some Frank Miller stuff. I have just thumbed through some of it at the bookstore but I might start making some purchases. Enjoy your buzz!

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Rodriguez has been working on "Grindhouse", a new movie he's codirecting with Tarantino.

As far as "300," I think that it will look pretty, have little storyline, two dimensional characters, and bad acting. A preview is supposed to have some of the film's best parts, right? How many times is the king going to yell about Sparta or Spartans?

I'll probably still end up seeing it at some point, because, that's what I do.

[Windmill360]

This movie looks bad ASS!

At first I thought it was going to be another one of those gladiator/alexander/troy crap films that tried to stick to history but this one kind of blew me away with the imagery. It's
based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

It's very surreal looking and visualy stunning which makes it interesting. It reminds me of some scnes in "The Cell" (Bad movie but very trippy).

Here's the trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300...r1/medium.html

[SaltwaterChaffy]

http://www.dallas-mavs.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26969

http://www.dallas-mavs.com/vb/showthread.php?t=27185

[Windmill360]

lol.... woops. Must be really good then haha.

[Windmill360]

hahaha here is a funny version of the trailer for those who have seen the real one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EedWk5zGBP0

[Big Boy Laroux]

this movie is going to visually stunning. hell, the previews already are.

as far as content, who knows. could be vapid action with bad acting. could be riveting. i haven't read the graphic novel, but it is based on historical events (although Miller altered them slightly).

all i know is that preview got me extremely hyped to see the movie, and I knew nothing about it (i have all the sin city graphic novels, and heard of 300, but never read it or knew they were making a movie).

[bernardos70]

I'm very wary about movies with so much in the way of visuals. In this sense, it's quite a bit like games. Developers, for the most part now, focus on graphics, because good graphics in a game sells. I imagine the movie industry is catching up to that.

[mqywaaah]

This movie looks tight... cant wait to watch it. Wont be out til 1st Qtr 07 here in the PI

Dang! Cant view the trailer, WB had it removed due to copyright issues.

[Usually Lurkin]

OH MAN! Am I geeked.

I usually like reviews on in the rotten-tomatoes, good/bad sense. I like this one for the perspective, though. I can't wait for the weekend

Last Night at the 300 [Victor Davis Hanson]

I went to the Hollywood Premier of the "300" last night, and talked a bit with Director Zack Snyder, screenwriter Kurt Johnstad, and graphic novelist Frank Miller. There will be lots of controversy about this film—well aside from erroneous allegations that it is pro- or anti-Bush, when the movie has nothing to do with Iraq or contemporary events, at least in the direct sense. (Miller's graphic novel was written well before the "war against terror" commenced under President Bush).

I wrote an introduction for the accompanying book about the film when Kurt Johnstad came down to Selma to show me a CD advanced unedited version last October, but some additional reflections follow from last night.

There are four key things to remember about the film: it is not intended to be Herodotus Book 7.209-236, but rather is an adaptation from Frank Miller's graphic novel, which itself is an adaptation from secondary work on Thermopylai. Purists should remember that when they see elephants and a rhinoceros or scant mention of the role of those wonderful Thespians who died in greater numbers than the Spartans at Thermopylai.

Second, in an eerie way, the film captures the spirit of Greek fictive arts themselves. Snyder and Johnstad and Miller are Hellenic in this sense: red-figure vase painting especially idealized Greek hoplites through "heroic nudity". Such iconographic stylization meant sometimes that armor was not included in order to emphasize the male physique.

So too the 300 fight in the film bare-chested. In that sense, their oversized torsos resemble not only comic heroes, but something of the way that Greeks themselves saw their own warriors in pictures. And even the loose adaptation of events reminds me of Greek tragedy, in which an Electra, Iphigeneia or Helen in the hands of a Euripides is portrayed sometimes almost surrealistically, or at least far differently from the main narrative of the Trojan War, followed by the more standard Aeschylus, Sophocles and others.

Third, Snyder, Johnstad, and Miller have created a strange convention of digital backlot and computer animation, reminiscent of the comic book mix of Sin City. That too is sort of like the conventions of Attic tragedy in which myths were presented only through elaborate protocols that came at the expense of realism (three male actors on the stage, masks, dialogue in iambs, with elaborate choral meters, violence off stage, 1000-1600 lines long, etc.).

There is irony here. Oliver Stone's mega-production Alexander spent tens of millions in an effort to recapture the actual career of Alexander the Great, with top actors like Collin Farrel, Anthony Hopkins, and Angelina Joilie. But because this was a realist endeavor, we immediately were bothered by the Transylvanian accent of Olympias, Stone's predictable brushing aside of facts, along with the distortions, and the inordinate attention given to Alexander's supposed proclivities. But the "300" dispenses with realism at the very beginning, and thus shoulders no such burdens. If characters sometimes sound black-and-white as cut-out superheroes, it is not because they are badly-scripted Greeks, as was true in Stone's film, but because they reflect the parameters of the convention of graphic novels, comic books, and surrealistic cinematography. Also I liked the idea that Snyder et al. were more outsiders than Stone, and pulled something off far better with far less resources and connections. The acting proved excellent—again, ironic when the players are not marquee stars.

Fourth, but what was not conventionalized was the martial spirit of Sparta that comes through the film. Many of the most famous lines in the film come directly either from Herodotus or Plutarch's Moralia, and they capture well, in the historical sense, the collective Spartan martial ethic, honor, glory, and ancestor reverence (I say that as an admirer of democratic Thebes and its destruction of Sparta's system of Messenian helotage in 369 BC).

Why—beside the blood-spattering violence and often one-dimensional characterizations—will some critics not like this, despite the above caveats?

Ultimately the film takes a moral stance, Herodotean in nature: there is a difference, an unapologetic difference between free citizens who fight for eleutheria and imperial subjects who give obeisance. We are not left with the usual postmodern quandary 'who are the good guys' in a battle in which the lust for violence plagues both sides. In the end, the defending Spartans are better, not perfect, just better than the invading Persians, and that proves good enough in the end. And to suggest that ambiguously these days has perhaps become a revolutionary thing in itself.

[Big Boy Laroux]

i forgot there was a thread on this! I ended up buying the graphic novel (which, apparently, a lot of people have done since seeing the previews, sales have shot up). anyway, it is gorgeous... great read and great art. and of course, a great story.

so now i am officially crazy excited for this movie. i picked up a free movie ticket at best buy. it came with a "making of" DVD that i got for free. i'll be seeing it in IMAX this weekend.

the "making of" dvd is cool. especially the part about their training. these guys went through some crazy workouts to end up looking the way they do. apparently, they never did the same exercise twice.

[Usually Lurkin]

I rented The 300 Spartans a few weeks ago.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055719/
That's the 1962 version.

We'll see if the special effects are any better 45 years later.



The only Imax in Austin is showing a film on Sharks, a film about hurrican Katrina, and 2 films about what it's like to live in Texas. I would go down there and spit on someone, but it's at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, and I got mad Respeck for museums.

[Big Boy Laroux]

ah, that's the good thing about the IMAX here. it's not an old one that's part of a museum or aquarium or something like that. It's actually part of one of the Regal Cinemas movie theaters here in Nashville.

Saw "Return of the King" and the 3rd Matrix there. This one should be sweet.

[Flacolaco]

From all the commercials I've seen, I'm supposed to see this movie because of the way that it looks, because of the unique cinematic "experience."

Im skeptical

Someone please let me know if the writing is any good, and if the acting is any good before I spend any money on it.

[Usually Lurkin]

It would be worth the drive to San Antonio if I had the extra 3 hours free this weekend. Small screen should be good enough. If the movie is that great, maybe I'll make the drive later.

Maybe you can videotape me a bootleg of the IMAX, BBL?

[Big Boy Laroux]

ha ha, i'm sure that will be great quality!

flaco, there's certain movies that i always make time to see in the theaters. And epics are always one of those movies (some comedies to a lesser extent). the battles in Lord of the Rings, and even Chronicles of Narnia, played out amazingly on the big screen. i can only imagine how this movie will be.

they are truly sticking to the graphic novel (much like sin city did), so the writing/storyline will be good.

there's not much talking in the graphic novel. it's mostly fighting, with about 4-5 actual dialogue pieces. the movie will probably have more, but i don't expect the acting to be amazing. probably better than harry potter, though.

[Big Boy Laroux]

man, how cool is this movie poster?





The Invincible Flying Wedge!

[Murphy3]

it's getting great reviews so far...

[Windmill360]

IMAX

[mqywaaah]

Would be great to see this movie on IMAX but tickets cost hella lot! 300 officially starts showing on theaters today in the PI. And me and my girl are planning to watch it tonight. Yeah!! Im excited to see this flick.

[Usually Lurkin]

for comparison

[mqywaaah]

This is a good director. IMO

[Big Boy Laroux]

zach snyder came off really well in the "making of" DVD i got. seems like a really cool guy, and very hands-on with the stunt work.

he's won some awards for directing commercials! that obviously means he's a great movie director.

[sike]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

he's won some awards for directing commercials! that obviously means he's a great movie director.

underrated line.

I'll be seeing this tonight.

[mqywaaah]

Same here. Me and the gang will be seeing this tonight! This is going to be one great night!

[FreakNasty]

I'm gonna miss work since I went to the midnight release, and it was worth it. Chills throughout the whole movie for me. I'm a big fan of big battle sequences and this one didnt disappoint me. I was blown away by the all the visuals( loved all the slow motion stuff). They didnt have too much dialogue throughout, but I thought the acting was pretty good. It was nice to see some humor thrown in a few times too. Bottom line, great movie, more of a guy flick though, all my gf found interesting was all the bicep flexing goin on.


BTW, the preview for Spider Man 3, not sure if im late on it, but got a glimpse of venom, I was just ....... speechless.

[Big Boy Laroux]

i read a review that said if they played the slow-mo in real-time, the movie would be about 45 minutes long.

but i'm still trying to see it tonight. i'm still pumped.

[Flacolaco]

http://www.slate.com/id/2161450?nav=ais

[Nemesis]

^reads like pure jealousy to me.. Movie snobs are overrated.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

http://www.slate.com/id/2161450?nav=ais

I don't get it, the guy seems to be upset with the legend itself, instead of the movie.

[Flacolaco]

I just thought you guys would get a kick out of it.

[Big Boy Laroux]

jthig, i agree completely.

The movie is based on the graphic novel, which admittedly takes liberties with the historical story. but it's a fact that the spartans battled the persians.

now, is the timing weird that we are in a war now (that's been going on for years)? maybe. but who cares? just watch the movie, dude!

[Windmill360]

for sparta!

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

jthig, i agree completely.

The movie is based on the graphic novel, which admittedly takes liberties with the historical story. but it's a fact that the spartans battled the persians.

now, is the timing weird that we are in a war now (that's been going on for years)? maybe. but who cares? just watch the movie, dude!

exactly..

[mqywaaah]

Originally Posted by Windmill360°

for sparta!

Tonight, we dine in hell!!!!

[Nash13]

Good good movie. It started kinda rough, but picked up the rest of the way.

[ocelot_ark]

Watched it tonight...for those of you who are on the bubble - GO SEE THIS MOVIE. I thought it was beautiful. And the fighting scenes are unbelievable. And there's boobies. Yay!