A Fantastic Film

For those of you who know me well, I'm a pretty big fan of classic cinema. Show me a film noir with Lorre (and maybe Greenstreet, too) or the timeless Hollywood couple of Bogart and Bacall, a good silent film either featuring Chaplin or directed by Lubitsch, or even hilariously odd movies from the not-too-distant past like Network or How To Get Ahead In Advertising and I'll love it. I'm not usually that way with more recent releases; I tend to pick and choose the diamonds in the rough (a la Brick).

Meanwhile, I just checked out 300 today, and I really enjoyed it. I found it well-paced with fairly good acting, and the battle scenes were just fantastic. What surprised me the most, however, is how the story didn't rely primarily on the battle taking place (like another recent movie did). Instead, it was surprisingly deep, showing parts of the psychological battle between the Spartans and Lord Xerxes, the unspoken-yet-present love of the royal couple, and the slowly succesful attempt to modernize a society based on tradition.

Seriously, a really enjoyable film here. If you want the full effect of it, you may want to check it out on IMAX instead of the normal big-screen... Or even worse, a download.