Aug
25
2008
Okay, can some one kindly tell me where this last year has gone? Cause look, it is time for this year’s RIP Challenge. Decisions decisions. But I think I’ll go with the first peril, reading any four books from any subgenre of scary-ness. I just got to go find them now. I think that The Host by Stephenie Meyer qualifies, so that’ll be one. And I’ll have to take a gander through the tbr pile to see if any of those fit. And then probably a trip to Chapters and book buying. But its all good, I haven’t been there in at least 2 months, I’ve been very good about not buying books. I think it is time for a splurge.
I haven’t quite managed to keep up with the two proper blogs a week that I mentioned a while back. But you know, intentions are worth just as much as deeds, right?
Yeah, okay, so thats a lie. But you just gotta deal.
Spent most of Sat. watching the telly. Well, I say telly, I mean dvds. And I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but I just love Rocky Balboa. It is just brilliant. Full of cliché and sentimental shots, but it just works. Rocky just works. Still have to watch the commentary, that’ll be fun.
I’ve been doing a fair bit of rewatching stuff lately. Over the past few weeks I’ve been rewatching Firefly. Its been a while. Don’t think I’ve seen any of those episodes since the film[1] came out. And that was years ago[2] It is so great. Every time we’re about to watch a new episode I say “oh this is a great one” or “I love this one”. We just got up to Out of Gas last week. Awww. Watching them all get together and seeing Mal fall in love with the ship.
Oh, and while I’m moaning about time flying, when did it get to be the end of August? For those of you not in Ireland, well, maybe you lot got a summer. Us, we got rain. Followed by more rain. Followed by some more.
So where was our summer? huh? Life is so unfair sometimes…
Tags:
awww,
brilliant,
Firefly,
rewatching,
RIP Challenge,
Rocky,
Rocky Balboa,
Serenity,
Stephenie Meyer,
telly,
The Host
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Mar
23
2007
Dir: Zack Snyder
Writ: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnston, Michael Gordon and based on the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller & Lynn Varley
- Gerard Butler - King Leonidas
- Lena Headey - Queen Gorgo
- Dominic West - Theron
- David Wenham - Dilios
- Vincent Regan - Captain
- Michael Fassbender - Stelios
- Tom Wisdom - Astinos
- Rodrigo Santoro - Xerxes
I have a feeling that how you feel at the end of seeing this film will be hugely coloured by your mindset before the film began. Personally I loved it. Wonderful visuals and a great story. Wasn’t overly impressed with the characterisation, but you can’t have everything.
The film begins with a voice-over, and this narrator pipes up throughout the film, sometimes describing the action that we are watching on screen. I have no doubt that some will find this redundant, but, given the ending and who the narrator is I think this device actually works really well. Plus he does add to the melodramatic, over the top atmosphere that make this such a good film.
Overblown and over the top, almost pompous in its grand vision. And yet it just works. Somehow they’ve managed to draw the viewer in, using dialogue and visuals that could so easily have done nothing but remind you that this is a highly stylised film. The visuals are often lacking in realism. The characters are larger than life, the action is brutal, the culture hugely strange. And it is great.
There were one or two instances when I did find myself thinking that the constant references to freedom and the evil tyrant were overdone and not a little incorrect given the fact that if you were a slave in Spartan society then life back then was pretty far from easy. But this isn’t really historical fiction, it is an action film, and as such it is almost perfect. I also loved the soundtrack. So much so that I did just try and buy it online, but the official website wants you to use iTunes, I don’t, so I was forced into borrowing it.
Top marks all around for a violent, visceral, blood-splattered film, and I can’t finish my review without saying, my god, did you see those abs?
IMDb | Wikipedia on the Battle of Thermopylae | Dark Horse | I am the Lizard Queen | Villagers with Torches | Stainless Steel Droppings
Tags:
10 Stars,
300,
action,
Ancient Greece - Sparta,
based on comic,
bloody,
brilliant,
David Wenham,
death,
Dominic West,
Frank Miller,
Gerard Butler,
great story,
historical fiction,
historical inaccuracies,
Kurt Johnston,
Lena Headey,
loved it,
Lynn Varley,
melodramatic,
Michael Fassbender,
Michael Gordon,
poor characterisation,
Rodrigo Santoro,
soldier,
Tom Wisdom,
Vincent Regan,
visually stunning,
War,
Zack Snyder
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