300

[HaemishM]

Well-played, nerds.

[Llava]

I actually had no idea where he was going with "THIS"

When I saw the "IS" though, I was thrilled to get to be the "SPARTA!!!"

[MrHat]

/win

[tazelbain]

Wait. I am confused. What just happened?

[Riggswolfe]

I must be the only nerd I know who isn't totally blown away by 300. It's a fun film but I don't think it will age well. /shrug

[shiznitz]

Wait. I am confused. What just happened?

3 nerds made 100 nerds go "Nice one!"

[Llava]

Wait. I am confused. What just happened?

3 nerds made 100 nerds go "Nice one!"

You mean 3 stood against many and left their mark upon history.

[Endie]

You mean 3 stood against many and left their mark upon history.

Go tell F13, passer-by...

[jpark]

I must be the only nerd I know who isn't totally blown away by 300. It's a fun film but I don't think it will age well. /shrug

Pussy

 :-D

[Endie]

I must be the only nerd I know who isn't totally blown away by 300. It's a fun film but I don't think it will age well. /shrug

This is madness!

[Lantyssa]

I must be the only nerd I know who isn't totally blown away by 300. It's a fun film but I don't think it will age well. /shrug

Today's Penny Arcade (Questionably NSFW in usual PA style)

[stray]

I'm with Riggs. Except, umm....I'm not a nerd. Heh. 

I said that already though. Decent film, but I don't understand the hype.

[Samwise]

This article linked from the PA newspost is pretty cool.

[stray]

I keep hearing that kind of talk when CG's movies are brought up, but the people who say it are talking out of their asses (or maybe I should just say they're projecting). There's no threat to actors here. All actors pretty much perform, audition, rehearse, and train in similar conditions as the ones they'd see in a green screen heavy production. More often than they do under "realistic" sets and locations. Just take a step into a acting class or rehearsal space and see. An actor could just as easily perform some kind of male/female dinner scene on a barebones stage with two chairs just as easily as they could in a real restaurant. Or even more to the point, they could just as easily perform it in a complete dark room, with only a microphone and a cold reader to work with. It's part of what anyone interested in acting has to do. Even the bad ones to an extent.

Sets can help provide mood and some immersiveness, but really, they're not for the actors so much as they're for the audiences and directors. Besides that, immersiveness isn't the key anyways. You're usually surrounded by people and lights and whatever else. Actors are there to pretend, not immerse themselves -- It's them that gets others immersed, if anything.

[Rasix]

Saw it on Monday. I liked it. Visuals were just amazing. Although, quite honestly, it didn't touch the hype for me.  My expectations were WAY too high going in. 

And I have to agree with a lot of the critics, some of the supporting actors were pretty crappy.  They kind of brought it down in spots.

Still... I'll be buying it first day on it's available on dvd.  :-D

[Riggswolfe]

I'm with Riggs. Except, umm....I'm not a nerd. Heh. 

I said that already though. Decent film, but I don't understand the hype.

Since I posted I talked to a friend who was ranting about how awesome it was. He saw it for the second time with our group of friends when we went. He admitted that the movie wasn't as good the second time around and he doesn't think it'll be good for repeat viewing.

Stray here voiced my thoughts almost exactly. I don't get the hype. To me Sin City was a far, far superior film. Hell there was another sword and sandals epic within the last decade I liked better but I won't name it here. 

[jpark]

I must be the only nerd I know who isn't totally blown away by 300. It's a fun film but I don't think it will age well. /shrug

Today's Penny Arcade (Questionably NSFW in usual PA style)

Now that was quite funny.

I have a few friends that did not like 300.  Then again - they don't date 

[Strazos]

You guys are either insane or incredible film snobs.  I'm not sure which.

[stray]

I'm just a drama junkie is all.... And it lacked that element for me. Lots of great choreography and cinematography, cool score (what little there was of it at least) and sound design, but it didn't have much else. The story was over the minute he pushed that messenger down the pit. The rest was just a rollercoaster ride. An extended finale scene.


That isn't to say it was bad. It was great at what it did -- It's just not usually my thing. You should be happy I liked it at all.  :-D

Like I said earlier, I think Rome is better. That show might not be flashy, but it's more up my alley.

[Samwise]

I've seen 300 twice in the theater (saw it on a normal screen opening night, saw it on IMAX last weekend).  I thought it held up well to a repeat viewing.  Action movies usually do IMO.  In fact, I was hunting around my shelf yesterday for a DVD to pop in, and after rifling through the whole collection looking for the "right" movie I realized I was looking for 300 and it wasn't there.  (I went with Transporter as a substitute.)  So it's definitely going into the collection once it's on DVD.

Comparing 300 to Rome is apples and avocados.  The only similarity is that they're both quasi-historical and they're both about guys in sandals.

[Riggswolfe]

You guys are either insane or incredible film snobs.  I'm not sure which.

I am the furthest from a film snob you can get. My dvd shelves are stocked with cheesy 80s movies and other guilty pleasures. I'm seriously considering buying the reissue of ReAnimator for instance, and I geeked out at the video cassette cover of my VideoDrome DvD.

Nah, 300 was missing something. Honestly, I think it was story. It had no story and I didn't connect with the characters so I was left with "Those are cool fight scenes."

ETA: Stray actually voiced it better. The whole movie felt like the epilogue to another story. It'd be like if Glory was nothing but the attack on Fort Wagoner. Cool to watch but you miss out on the rest of it.

ETA2: I should clarify. I didn't dislike the movie. I just wasn't blown away and a drooling fanboy when I left the theater.

[Strazos]

I think the story is great, though that might be partially because I know what came before and after the "events" in the film.

I guess for some people, it might be sort of akin to only seeing LotR The Twin Towers, having never really heard of or read The Fellowship or Return of the King.

[stray]

Comparing 300 to Rome is apples and avocados.  The only similarity is that they're both quasi-historical and they're both about guys in sandals.

I'm not trying to make a direct comparison or anything. I'm just saying what kind of approach I favor. Strazos questioned people's sanity for not jumping for joy at this movie. I said that I simply had different tastes, and tried to explain what would get me psyched up like that. I used a current work that was set in a similar historical period to illustrate.

[EDIT] It isn't because I don't know the story of Sparta either. I'm not a history major, but I wasn't born yesterday either. But in this case, I'm just taking Miller's story and the film at face value.

[Samwise]

Comparing 300 to Rome is apples and avocados.  The only similarity is that they're both quasi-historical and they're both about guys in sandals.

I'm not trying to make a direct comparison or anything. I'm just saying what kind of approach I favor.

I maintain that it's apples to avocados.  Saying that you favor one "approach" over the other suggests they're trying to do the same thing.  They're not.  It would be simpler for you to say "I like political dramas better than I like action movies".

[stray]

But I don't like political dramas more than action movies. It has nothing to do with that. Yojimbo and the Road Warrior are among my favorite movies, and they're Action. Action films can have plenty of drama and character development/study and at the very least, a multi-tiered plot to them. It's a genre capable of virtually anything. Fucking Diehard even qualifies here.

But hell, just a couple episodes ago in Rome, Pullo went all out like he did in that gladiator battle from last season. Chopping off legs, biting a dude's tongue out, throwing an axe into another guy's chest... It was pure cock and balls.

Which is to say, even Rome is capable of being very Action driven. It just has a lot more substance to it in general though -- That's the difference. It doesn't try to push your emotional buttons with just visceral imagery and heroic chest beating, or worse, references to "FREEEDOMM!!!" Instead, it'll push those buttons in more elaborate ways.


Besides all that, AGAIN: I was only explaining to Strazos what would get me hyped up like him. Nothing more. Stop arguing with me.

[WayAbvPar]

Instead, it'll push those buttons in more elaborate ways.

Like with liberal doses of Polly Walker. Preferably au naturale. 

[stray]

*Sigh*

She hasn't exactly pushed that button since the first episode, rear shot, walking out of tub scene though..

[Riggswolfe]

I guess for some people, it might be sort of akin to only seeing LotR The Twin Towers, having never really heard of or read The Fellowship or Return of the King.

I'd go further and say it would be like seeing only the Battle of Helm's Deep without seeing the other two movies nor any of the rest of the Two Towers. Cool imagery but no investment in the story.

[HaemishM]

Finally got to see it this weekend, and all I can say is it rocked as much ass as I thought it would. Beautiful, gorgeous movie, expertly directed, with fantastic acting. Just top-notch from soup to nuts.

It's the kind of movie that gets you so pumped you want to walk out of the theater and bash something's brains in because you are a man.

[bhodi]

[HaemishM]

Sparta is the new Matrix.

[Endie]

Sparta is the new Matrix.

That paints an ugly picture for Sparta:Online.

"The thousand members of the server uber-guild descend upon you: their macros will blot out the sun..."

[WayAbvPar]

Sparta is the new Matrix.

That paints an ugly picture for Sparta:Online.

"The thousand members of the server uber-guild descend upon you: their macros will blot out the sun..."

That sounds like Furiously and I defending Halaa the other night.

[Lantyssa]

Sparta is the new Matrix.

Didn't we like Sparta though?

[Endie]

Sparta is the new Matrix.

Didn't we like Sparta though?

Yeah but Sparta:Reputations and Sparta:Renovations will be crap.