Curt’s
Corner is a periodic movie review written by Curt Burbach of Mesa, Arizona.
300
(Release
Date: Dec 9th, 2006)
Well, if you like action-packed war movies, you’ll like this one. It is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the actual Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Hence, it’s full of the ancient style of war-making. King Leonidas of the Greek city-state Sparta, led a small contingency of Spartan warriors while trying to quell a vast invasion force from Persia. The Spartans courage and determination in this difficult situation serve as a source of motivation and pride, as we continue to see even today from the glorious monument that was erected to commemorate the event.
The screenplay was adapted by Zach Snyder and Kurt Johnstad, and the film was directed Snyder. This is, yet again, another example of Hollywood employing a true and compelling story and adapting it into a premiere feature film. Although the battlefield maneuvering in the film were accurate, much of the events leading up to the conflict and the roles of supporting characters are fictional – namely the lame attempt of incorporating romance into the script with King Leonidas’ wife, Queen Gorgo.
The cinematographic processes are reminiscent of Sin City, whereas what you see appears with a slight darkened animated look – just enough to accent the actors, their costumes and the sets. The filming of combat scenes – and there were a lot of them – are a step above most of what we have seen before. In many respects this film was simply a means to showcase this wonderful cinematographic technique, while depicting the outstanding capabilities of a typical Spartan warrior. Good job.
Speaking of the Spartan warriors – an awful lot of choreography work must have gone into this. I’m afraid most people don’t appreciate just how much effort goes into orchestrating a battle scene; so I’m here to tell you – these guys put in a huge effort to stage the enormous amounts of hand-to-hand combat that this film offers. It came off beautifully. Again, good job.
This film was first released last December under limited circumstances, making it a 2006 film. It wouldn’t be fully released until March 9th, 2007.
It’s rating very high amongst early viewers, but I don’t think it’s quite that good. Be advised – this is a war movie with massive amounts of killing. There is no hidden meaning, no morale (thank goodness), no huge love story (thank goodness), and no complicated plot. Just good old fashion killing in large numbers as was accustomed in the war-making time of the ancients.
I give this good film three bones; mostly for the filming.
Zodiac
(Release
Date: March 2nd, 2007)
This is the true story of the most baffling serial murder case in our country’s history, as described by Robert Graysmith in his best-selling novel of the same name (1991). This was a very interesting story, and a well-made movie.
There were a series of murders in Southern and Central California between 1966 and 1972 that had several law enforcement organizations scrambling to cooperate, while struggling with the lack of forensic technology that we have available today. If that weren’t enough, the Zodiac killer embarks upon a cat-and-mouse game while he taunts the police.
James Vanderbilt adapted the screenplay from Graysmith’s book, whereas David Fincher directed it. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Robert Graysmith, along with Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downing Jr. and includes several other strong supporting contributions.
This is yet another example of Hollywood’s trend to produce films about true and compelling stories, while closely following the facts, and I like that. It’s also entertaining to find out precisely what happens to all the real-life characters, as this murder investigation changes the lives of many of those involved. I encourage viewers to read any one of the dozens of Zodiac websites.
I give it three bones for being good.