300

[mrbasehart]

I saw 300 the other day, and while I enjoyed it's sense of spectacle, I felt (like Sin City before it) that it was a slightly soulless experience. 

[aneel]

Is it just me, or did the Persian prince look almost exactly like Dhalsim from Street Fighter?

[RandyMistie]

I saw 300 the other day, and while I enjoyed it's sense of spectacle, I felt (like Sin City before it) that it was a slightly soulless experience. 

Seriously?  Did you lose your penis in the war, or something?

I KEED!  I KEED mrbasehart!!!  It's all love, mrbasehart!!  It's just that I thought as a MAN, that the SOUL of the movie was, you know... being a man...  being a kind of strong protector type guy that would give his life for his countrymen/women... which I thought was a pretty good thing.

In fact, "Sin City" stripped of it's silly machismo posturing, was really about men giving their lives for women and children (gallantry), which, I believe, is the most noble thing that men can do with their external genitalia, (not the most FUN thing they can do with it... but... you know what I'm saying...)

[Variety of Cells]

I've heard people try and convince me that sin city is a good movie based on many different reasons, but I've never heard anyone say that it's a quality film because it has good morals and values. 

[RandyMistie]

I've heard people try and convince me that sin city is a good movie based on many different reasons, but I've never heard anyone say that it's a quality film because it has good morals and values. 

Oh, I would never try and "convince" you that it was a good movie.  That's all subjective.  Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's on that, of course, all's I'm saying is that it, and 300, and much of Frank Miller's work, is really based around a kind of--- well, almost medieval chivalry.  In fact, as his work is based in comic books, you could say that all superhero comics are based on that very ancient ideal of manhood.  The very archetypal "Hero Myth" which is really so important to being a man.  Women have their own heroic thing with the babies and the whatnot... men have this one thing where we can get all strong and hairy and beat up on other guys... CAN WE JUST HAVE THAT ONE THING?!?!?!  Gosh...

(which by the way, is much of what I was trying to portray in another thread about paganism, but we don't need to dredge up that crap...)

[RobtheBarbarian]

In fact, "Sin City" stripped of it's silly machismo posturing, was really about men giving their lives for women and children (gallantry), which, I believe, is the most noble thing that men can do with their external genitalia, (not the most FUN thing they can do with it... but... you know what I'm saying...)

I'll ignore the creepy suggestion that the only worthy thing a man can do with his life is sacrifice it and just give my to cents... (Wicca isn't female-dominated, huh?  No. Kidding.)

I'll assume that the movie's queer camera effects mean that it's meant to be in the spirit of the 1930s pulp fictions about gangsters and cops, barring the standard Frank Miller-Robert Rodriguez nonsense like women with bows flying through the air and grenades that send cars flying but don't kill the hero. If that's true, chivalric, self-sacrificing male heros are somewhat classic material and I take their presence in the film more of an homage to the source of the inspiration than a moral belief on the part of the creators. From what I can discern, there was more emphasis on defending the innocent and helpless because they're innocent and/or helpless, not because they're women or children.

On 300, I too thought it lacked the passionate violence it could and should have had. The sex scenes, as in all movies, were utterly pointless. I didn't come to the theater to beat off, damnit, I came for epic battle scenes (or whatever else I came for, depending on the movie). In that regard, I thought the orc-men kind of cheapened it. The spiteful traitor? Orc. The fearsome and elite Immortals? Goddamn orc men. Don't give me "they're deformed" crap, they were orc men. I kept waiting for Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas to run in just in time to save the Spartans. The big ogre-thing they had on the chains? Basically the cave troll the orcs had in Moria in the first LotR movie. You have no idea how much it cheapened the experience for me, and maybe that's a personal thing, but come on... it means so much more when the Spartans fight against other human beings, not rediculous ogres and goblins.

I thought there was a lot of missed potential with the elephants and rhinos too, and almost criminal amount of missed potential. Do we get a brutal, action-packed scene of the Spartans fighting massive creatures they've never seen before, or do we see the elephants freak out and stumble off the cliff like so many Three Stooges? 

[Sharktopus]

In fact, "Sin City" stripped of it's silly machismo posturing, was really about men giving their lives for women and children (gallantry), which, I believe, is the most noble thing that men can do with their external genitalia, (not the most FUN thing they can do with it... but... you know what I'm saying...)

That's an interesting interpretation, but you have to dig a bit beneath the surface to get it, and Sin City doesn't exactly ask you to dig.


shortpacked.com

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

lololololol nice sharky lol

[RandyMistie]

Well, that's cute, but you obviously aren't familiar with the bulk of Miller's work.  "Martha Washington" was not a whore.  Neither was that other woman character that he had which was not a whore.  So there.

Seriously, it's not a big deal.  I just see these mythic themes in stuff and especially in comic work and I think it's something we males need to get back in touch with.  It easy for a guy in the military, (Sarcasm, I'm lookin at you), because it's just something he lives and breathes everyday, but those guys don't often understand the really sacred duty they perform.

It's as old as human civilization, man!  Military service was like a holy priesthood.  The Male Spirit Cults, all that, man...!  Jesus, I sound like I'm from California...

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

lol no you dont, im FROM cali i would know.  with few exceptions (my family for one) very little REAL testosterone is left there.   

[Sharktopus]

Well, that's cute, but you obviously aren't familiar with the bulk of Miller's work.  "Martha Washington" was not a whore.  Neither was that other woman character that he had which was not a whore.  So there.

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Frank's work. (I call him Frank. We're that close.) I'll forever be thankful for what he's done for Daredevil and Batman, but it's just so fun to rag on him. Was it really necessary to make Selina Kyle a prostitute, Frank? whoreswhoreswhoreswhores

[PsypherPunk]

I saw this on Saturday with the girlfriend and well, I don't rate it too highly. While it's damned refreshing to see such a celebration of man-flesh (normally it's women who get objectified; it's good to see the male form being appreciated), the relentless silliness does detract from the film quite a bit. Also, getting your five year old to finger-paint abdominal muscles on the cast is a bad idea.

And what was with that goat? Seriously. Huge battle scene -> random goat -> lesbian erotica. "And now on drums, the Great God Pan..."

[BathTub]

I'll forever be thankful for what he's done for Daredevil and Batman

The goddamnbatman?

[msmpls]

Don't get me wrong, I love senseless violence and unrestrained machismo as much as the next girl, but 300 may have been the worst movie I have ever seen in a theatre. The only thing that could have saved it for me was the prospect of some full-frontal male but no, they didn't even give me that. I walked out after suffering through half of it (we didn't have enough beers to make it tolerable enough to stay for the end) and went to a bar to wait for my bf. He couldn't make it more than 15 minutes after I left. That movie was dumb with a capital D-U-M-B. Dammit Rodriguez, you wasted an hour of my life and I would like it back, please.

[torgosPizza]

Rodriguez?

Did you see the same movie as the rest of us?