300

greenfairy · 300

Just got back from the cinema where Apricot and I caught the 11.50 showing of my mini-obsession. The cinema was packed!

All I can say is that it not only lived up to my expectations but exceeded them. Absolutely stunning.

Can't wait to see it again tomorrow and at the IMAX on Saturday

This is SPARTA!!!

Siegfried

Good to hear you enjoyed it. Explains your signature box...

Did you know the only Army to never have lost a Battle,in Ancient Greece,were the Spartans ? (I didn't..)

Of course Thermopylae was something else.

Look forward to seeing it - only criticism is,the actors all seem to have 'Hollywood Gnashers' that look like piano teeth !!

(just jealous as my six-pack has wandered,but thighs still have it..)

greenfairy

Well I've done a mini review of the film although I'm too tired to be able to type out all my thoughts. I'd like to do a proper one at some point but that'll probably be Sunday after I've seen it a couple more times....

Hornblower

Dum dum duum dum dum dum da da da da da da dum dum duum

dum dum duuuum dum dum dum da da da da da da da duuum

Cue Barely Normal...

"And why not?"

I loved your use of the word 'resonance' GF

Having read that, I may just give our new cinema (Uttoxeter) a crack.

Thanks.

greenfairy

Hehehe, half a degree in English comes in handy it seems!

And reading back, I sound almost reasonably intelligent when I'm not a drooling fangirl

Hornblower

greenfairy

Too bad the other half of my degree is in history then

And my speeling

isn't that bad for someone hiding a browser window in the corner of her screen and has had 5 hours sleep! Normally definitely comes out as defiantly when I'm typing so I'm getting closer!!

Hornblower

greenfairy

I say....do I go to the 17.40 or 18.40 showing of the film tonight? Don't want to go any later cos I'm tired and need to be up early in the morning.

And I can honestly say I've not used a swell-chequer in ages......

Hornblower

Me neither!!!!!

BTW - 17.40

Hornblower

I've just read a review of 300 and quote,

"...or maybe you just enjoy seeing men in leather bathing trunks impaling, mutilating and decapitating each other. If bulging man-breasts, genitalia so huge that they have to be transported in hammocks, and blood spurting from severed necks are your idea of a turn-on, 300 could be your film of the year."

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, think I'll be staying at home then.

Hey GF - you never mentioned hammock-supporting genitalia in YOUR report! I think I can see why you liked the film though...

Siegfried

Thanks for the 'write-up' GF - I'm a geek for those types of film - and as for books - I eat 'em...

Look forward to your official'critique on Beautiful Sunday,perhaps ...?

Agreed - 1740hrs is definitely the one...Enjoy !

Apricot

I thought it was a fab film too!

I am not a fangirl like GF, and the story-line and the dialogue construction was definitely on the simple side (what do you expect taken from a comic book), and yes there were many very tasty thighs on view. However, from a purely general perspective the music was good, the characters well portrayed and a lot of thought had obviously gone into the construction of the special effects, camera angles and in particular the lighting. I'm not really one for blood guts and gore, but even most of that was ok. All in all a well thought out and put together film.

Horray for 300.

greenfairy

Thank you for a more impartial view Apricot my fruity friend...and thank you for coming with me and not laughing too much when I cried at the end!

HB, I think that other review is a little harsh - yup there's quite a bit of manflesh on view but even I managed to "forget" that from being swept up in the story. The flipping nekkid women were far more gratuitous (but dear gods how I wish I had a body like Lena Headey

)

Hornblower

Me too!!!!!

Actually, there was a bit more to the review:

"Queen Gorgo seems to wear the metaphorical trousers, although her fashion tastes - and those of her female compatriots - mainly extend to see-through negligees that show off their breasts, all of them significantly smaller than their menfolk's."

Hmmmmmmm - maybe I COULD sit through the whole film then...

Now the serious bit, in the light of recent events:

"No film recently has done more to promote gang culture. Its only social purpose seems to be to encourage teenagers to believe that stabbing people is the surest way to demonstrate virility and earn respect. It is pro-war, pro-hatred and finds everything to commend in knifing anyone dissimilar to yourself."

Stay at home it is then...

greenfairy

Blimey, I'd best start going out on violent rampages then

I love codswallop like that, some people need to get a grip on reality more.

Still, it's definitely a film that people love or hate - no ambivalence about it!

Hornblower

Your point's well taken GF - but I'm assuming you're a well balanced and rational human being...

...unlike some of the more desperate members of society that see even computer games as a role model worth emulating.

I saw my wife's 12 year old God-son playing a PS2 game that was (in my eyes) truly horrific - it turned out to be a mainstream game called Grand Theft Auto. I couldn't believe the things he was having fun doing; knifing, squishing, blowing heads off cops and all that sort of stuff.

He said his Mum knew he had the game as she bought it for him! When I asked her if she knew what was in the 'game' she said she had an idea, but couldn't be arsed to try and influence him in any way shape or form (The game has an 18 certificate I believe.)

I'm pretty convinced that the rise in violence is being caused by an erosion of values, fueled by computer games and the gratuitous nature of violence portrayed graphically as 'normal' and acceptable. It's a short step from killing and maiming in a virtual world to doing it in the real world if there is not a value system in place, particularly in a disturbed mind that can't tell right from wrong. (Probably no fault of the individual)

Trouble is, no one knows someone has a disturbed mind until it's too late.

I'm no shrinking violet, but I am truly worried about the way our society is going - which is why I'm gonna get out of it as soon as reasonably possible. (By the less-than-radical method of leaving the Country!!)

BTW - I LOVE violent films as much as the next person, but I do know right from wrong and they don't influence my behaviour.

*Steps off soap box*

greenfairy

But surely it's up to the parents of kids to instill in them right and wrong and to ensure that they're getting more life lessons than just watching tv, films & playing computer games? Too often it's used as an excuse to cover up poor parenting.

Me, I own a lot of violent films on dvd. Heck I even thought Higlander was the coolest film ever when I was 12 cos of all the beheadings. I can't say I've even wanted to go around hurting people though because I was brought up by parents with a strict moral code and you just don't get that so much now (crikey I sound old)

GTA on Playstation though - most horrible and pointless game ever as it does glamourise criminality in a REAL WORLD setting and the rating is pointless as no one seems to give a sh!t when buying it for their kids.

We had a great debate about this over on the Gerry Butler forum, I just wish I could find the link to it....

Hornblower

Totally agree with you GF about parenting - if that's being neglected and there is no guidance for the kids (other than swearing, shagging, drinking, verbal abuse of others, i.e. neighbours etc) then the sort of game we both mention is more likely to have a detrimental effect.

What of course I mean is that moral values become more and more vague - there is no moral compass that can be relied upon by 'normal' people who DO have one. (i.e. you and me)

People laugh - but it's becoming a very real problem and the moral compass being provided by politicians is hardly reliable!!! OK, they don't go around shooting and stabbing others - yet - but they certainly don't appear to be making it harder for the criminally minded to be doing so either.

The worst thing in my mind is when those that are supposed to be leading us are so obviously corrupt themselves - and worse - do their very best to get away with it for as long as humanly possible. Disgusting and a shite role-model for the rest of us...

Now look what you've done - you've got me started!!!!!!

greenfairy

Sorry! Still, I do admit it's nice to have a serious conversation from time to time and blaming films for violent behavior in is something that really riles me. It's just systematic of a society that's embraced blame culture and so no one feels they need to play their part in a mutually responsable existance.

On the other hand, I'm gonna go immerse myself in blood and mutilation in less than 2 hours *yay*....if you hear of any psychotic rampages in Portsmouth then you know who to blame

Not the discussion I was looking for but an interesting view on the polar opinions the film has generated nonetheless

bootybandy

In the job I do, the majority of youngsters that offend come from single parent families, and it's mainly the Mother that ends up with the responsibility of bringing the child up. There is also so much peer pressure from school kids to have the latest trainers, jeans, coats etc..... I'm sure the single parent finds it much easier to give in to the child rather than say no you can't have it, or I can't afford it. They also expect respect from everyone, but will not give respect in return.......Aaaarrrrgggghhhhhh......String em up I say....

Hornblower

Yes Botty, that's what I was alluding to but didn't make very clear - the young lad I was talking about pestered his Mum half to death so that he could have the cool GTA, knowing his father would go ape if he knew he had it. Some of the stuff his mother does is designed to pi$$ off his dad - who doesn't live with his wife and kids.

Siegfried

Aye - & symptomatic of the times, is?...

...using children as a weapon against your ex...

akin to putting a gun in their hands,and teaching them how to use it - then
wailing - where did we go wrong? - I/we gave them everything..

you certainly did!

I'm off to the Pub again...

Michael Thompson

I agree with all the afore said, however, marketing guru's know exactly how to get the kids going.

I don't put as much blame on the parents as I do the various companies out there that target their products at the kids. Lets face it, where are the sweets in the supermarkets? By the cashier, at a level where kids in trollies can see and want them. That's where it begins, the rest is history from there on.

On the whole most parents would say NO, but once a child starts on you they will never give in until they reach the point of no return. In the shops it is embarasing for the parents so the child gets what they want to shut them up - better to do that than make it a spectater sport. If you were to chastise the child then there is also the DO-GOOODER GIT out there that is waithg for you so as they can report you to some , newly made up authority, just to p155 you right off.

Nowadays there is NOOOOOOOOO escape for the parents and if you were to tell the do-gooder where to go, they'll have you arested for verbal abuse.

One just hopes that the amount of perental control that we do have left, is enough to help our children to lead a good life in the future, well as best as possible.

Working in retail has seen me witness quite a few of these tantrams, I feel very sorry for the parents who are trying hard to cope.

On the otherside, there are quite a lot of parents out there that are addicted to themselves and don't give too hoots about the children.

I must stop now as this will get me writing for too long on this subject.

Siegfried

Hey GF - anxiously awaiting your critique of the film 300...

You haven't changed your mind have you?

greenfairy

Sorry, have seen it 4 times now and still have plenty of opinions - I'm just a tad under the weather with a stinking cold

Siegfried

Sorry to hear that GF - take lemsip after a bath - and straight to bed..

Hoping your recovered by Beautiful Sunday..

P.S.

Just LOVE that avatar......

A

Interesting discussion.

My brother was always fond of games such as Grand Theft Auto and the like, and films with lots of gratuitous violence.

He's also a complete tosser who is dropping out of uni without and career prospects or ambitions.

Me on the other hand? I love my computer but I'm to be found playing those city builder games, or Sid Meier games. I build up my civilisations and take great joy (probably too much joy) out of building the Hanging Gardens in Bognor Regis.

It is interesting how our childhood passions affect us later on.

Siegfried

HAHAHAHA! - that was a classic A.

To paraphrase someone else - 'Bugger Bognor...'

..oh dear - this could well start a landslide...HAHAHAHA!

greenfairy

I have to say that my favourtie computer games as a kid/teenager were Return To Castle Wolfenstein which I remember playing on the Acorn computers at school when the teacher wasn't looking (random fact, we didn't have computer lessons at school until Year 9 and then it wasn't til Year 11 that the school got Acorns) and then also I loved playing Marathon (the trilogy) on dad's Mac at home.

Hmmm.....maybe I am actually a bloodthirsty killer in disguise

Anyway, all this waffling is not helpng me a) catch up at work after 2 days in bed and b) come up with more reaction and analysis of the film

A

A

How comes Scun-thorpe gets turned into thatshitholeupnorth automatically?

Siegfried

Aye - and therein lies the Rub..

greenfairy

That's got to be one of the best forum swearword filters I've come across!

Siegfried

Thought that one had slipped past GF - should have known better in this Forum..

Hornblower

thatshitholeupnorth

I was thinking that someone was winding me up about that, so put the S word in (above) and previewed it.

Bugger me if it didn't change it to - well, you know that bit!

Strange thing that you can't write the word '$hit' (see?) but it will appear within the word thatshitholeupnorth - but the really bad C word won't appear within a harmless town name.

Actually, I've never been able to look at the town's name without smirking

ever since it was brought to my attention in the old joke:

If Ty-Phoo put the T in Britain, who put the (C word) in Scunt-horpe.

greenfairy

Another forum I post on changes all words beginning with f and ending in ck to "spud" - unfortunately it means that "freekick" and "fitzpatrick" get changed as well as the obvious which is a little annoying when it's a footie forum

Hornblower

greenfairy

Not as much as a hot toddy, lots of drugs and my duvet!

Hornblower

You've got a DUVET?!!!

Luxury...

Apricot

To return to the serious discussion going on earlier that I managed to miss due to enforced absence from a computer screen, surely 300 is not the first, and therefore only, film that has ever been filled with glorified violence, killing and death to hit our screens. Lets face it, violence has been on our screens (all-be-it not quite so graphically) almost as long as we've had screens, I'm thinking for example of all the old films I used to watch as a kid on BBC2 like the WWII epics where there was plenty of bombing/fighting which led to bodies appearing everywhere, or the westerns where the bad guys eventually got shot in the end.

Ok so it's much more visual now and has greater access to the masses, but the root of this particular film is about an episode in history, war is about real life and death and it wouldn't be true to life if they all got to live happily ever after at the end. Don't get me wrong, I think age certificates are there for a reason and should be adhered to, and that it should always be made clear what is real and what is fiction, but the past, just like today, is not all a bed of roses, it's just that we have more expose to information (due to mass media) than our ancestors. How we as individuals, and we as a society, chose to use that information is really the crux of the issue.

*rant over*

mrbassbone

bootybandy

I thought they always placed the "Over 18" books in brown bags on the top shelf Mick, and I do believe you still can't reach them.......

A

The book doesn't show the violence as much, I suppose it's 'implied.' You can get away with murder as long as it's 'implied' murder.

greenfairy

The book is a work of art (but then I'm biased) and certainly is no more violent than many "classic" works of art you'd see in a gallery or even pictures of the crucifixion that hang in churches sometimes.

I've been really bad and not gotten round to writing my proper review of the film - haven't had time to sit down and do it but will try to over the weekend (in between a couple more viewings I hope)

A

I saw it with Ed yesterday.

Loved the music, and the graphics are amazing.

Bit lacking in historical content but then I would say that as I read books on the battle of Salamis for light reading.

bootybandy

admin

A few more getting close to the 300 club

Keep your best gear ready...

bootybandy

I think you'll have to raise the bar Deli, there's a few unsavoury characters there me old mate.

Apricot

Hornblower

She's got a point Deli - that's pretty random, even for you!!!!!

Well - at least it's in the 300 thread I suppose.

Hurry back Apsx

RAB

Aaron Aardvark

wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

...........now that made I chuckle.

Deli is a random chap
Who posts when he's asleep
Sometimes its really funny guff
But mostly its all sheeeet.

300 smelly aardvarks sitting in a row
grabbing each others scrubby tails
and tying them in a bow
One discovered his tail had gone
and wondered how that was
'til Aaron stood up from his spot
and showed them what he'd done

He'd gnawed it off from the root
and shaved it 'til it was soft
He tied it round his oppos neck and squeezed until he boffed
Now this was rather stupid
So the others grabbed his balls
They pulled and pulled until they popped
He now plays bugle calls.

admin

Sorry, I went wibble!
Fnar fnar

RAB

OMG...!!! A poetic aardvark....Well done old boy.. You've been sticking in at the English Lit. classes in the retirement home....

ZedHorn

we should set up a thread for limericks and poetry... god knows we write so much other useless sh*te let's just stick it all somewhere else!!!

Siegfried

Siegfried

eastneyslapper

windypipes

'unsavoury' ?

ES I thought you were sweet and sour?

Baaaaaaaaaaass

My cd of the 300 score arrived this morning and it's tops!!!

greenfairy

You're probably not surprised to hear that I love the soundtrack immensely. Fever Dreams is just awesome

Baaaaaaaaaaass

Have you read the graphic novel?

A

Hehe, she's got it signed by two of the actors!!!!!!

Baaaaaaaaaaass

No way.

greenfairy

Yup.

I bought the GN a few years back, loved it. Mostly cos I'm a grade A geek like that sometimes. Lost it when we moved to Pompey but bought a new copy last year in the pre-film excitement and got it signed by Leonidas & Stelios at the London premiere of the film.

Also just managed to aquire myself some film cells on eBay too.

Happy Fairy Geek Girl

Baaaaaaaaaaass

Jammy so-and-so.

All I can show off with is my autographed Metallica and Queens of the Stone Age books.

Bah.

Apricot

There are even pictures of Fairy being very fan-girl-like at the premiere

Baaaaaaaaaaass

I have to say, I prefer the book to the film.

But then again, I've been a comic-book/action figure geek for about 25 years!

greenfairy

My love of the film is a tad biased though as the two actors who signed my book just happen to be my two favourite actors in general....

Baaaaaaaaaaass

But Hugh Grant isn't in it.

Apricot

Baaaaaaaaaaass how could you?

Baaaaaaaaaaass

What?!

I thought all chicks liked him?

*ducks then legs it*

RAB

Baaaaaaaaaaass

I'll trade you 3 diclophenac for more Tramadol. I'm almost out!!

bootybandy

Huw Grant ( The proper way of spelling Huw) has been nicked today for kicking a Paparazzi and lobbing some beans at him. Tut...Tut..

A

A pot of baked beans. Who keeps beans in a pot? Posh git.

Apricot

Lobbing baked beans? What a fab divisonary tactic, but hardly the scariest way to fend off photographers!!!