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bofarr
Reviews
300 (2006)
Beautifully crafted film but just too "hollywood"...
Yes, I know the fan boys (which I consider myself a member) will howl but I thought this film fell far short of what it could have been.
What I loved: Cinematography, fx, camera direction was incredible. This film was lovingly crafted and shot. I felt like I was not watching the actual battle but living someone's dream they had while listening to the narrator tell of these exploits. What I thought was very average: The dialog was groaningly bad at times but since it was comic book (excuuuuuuse me, graphic novel, ahem) dialog I could get around it. The ninja-like Persian Immortals were cheesy but I could understand since they were supposed to be from the east and this is a soldier's point of view we are hearing. What I thought was awful: David Wenham as Dilios (the narrator) was awful when on screen although not so bad when narrating, he used the "I'm a tough guy raspy voice" and just sounded like a skinny Australian using a tough guy raspy voice.
The historic inaccuracies are legion; Leonides tells his son the strength of the Spartans was the phalanx and then they spent all of 10 minutes actually using the tactic. The one edged swords were a Hollywood contrivance and the Spartans going into battle without their bronze cuirass' would just not have happened (and if a soldier was telling the story to an army he would have expounded on how the superior armor and technology made the Spartan's invincible but for being outnumbered 1000s to 1) Also the roughness of the workmanship of the helms and shields would not have been accepted in the militant society that Sparta was.
But by far the craziest and most grievous error was Leonides expounding on a "free Greece" and how all men should be free. The Spartans were some of the most vicious slavers in the history of man; they literally kept thousands of slaves! They used their slaves as assassination practice targets for their young soldiers among other practices. This is like making a movie about the American Civil War, having no black people in the plantation scenes and then Robert E Lee standing up and giving an abolitionist speech at Appomattox. This glossing over of history was just a terrible disservice to the thousands of innocent human beings who were killed and oppressed by the Spartans.
The Break-Up (2006)
Baby should have asked for a rewrite instead of lemons...
Very average comedy! I've seen some reviews defending this movie because it is "poignant" and "real". Shyeah, riiiggght! If I want to see a poignant relationship flick I don't expect the comedic talent that was in this film or the film to be advertised as a comedy. There are a few chuckle moments but over all the character interplay came off as more mean-spirited and vicious than funny. Vince plays the spoiled, self-centered man-child that some women think they can change and Jennifer is the woman that starts playing mind games to "save" the relationship as well as talking to, taking advice and listening to everyone but her significant other. I wish I could recommend anything about this but even the supporting cast (some of my favorites) only seem to float in and out for the occasionally break in the warfare. And also, as many other people have mentioned, the ending is a wishy-washy tacked on afterthought. Not worth admission, wait for cable...
Catwoman (2004)
Crapwoman!
I love it when a Hollywood studio makes a flick based on a comic/novel then hires writers who not only are completely void of talent but also completely ignorant of the character they are writing about. I can almost see how you could have a Catwoman movie w/o the Batman but to completely ignore 95% of the canon from the comics is just amazing. I can't believe Hollywood makes dreck like this and then blames people not paying $10 a head to see it on internet piracy. The only reason I watched it was because I heard what a train wreck it was and it was showing on HBO. The costumes, writing, and of course the acting are all horrendous. I could just see Sharon and Halle balancing their checkbook in the back of their minds as they reeled off some of the most banal dialog ever to grace celluloid. Not really even entertaining as "Mystery Science Theater" fodder because although it's terrible, there was not as much unintentional comedy as I expected. Save your time, save your brain cells. Skip it!