Class shows when there is no class

[grinninfoole]

I worked late today, and after work I stopped by M's place to divvy up the farm share. Wound up having some dinner, and then joining her for a trip to Popcorn Noir for Zack Snyder's 300. I cannot recall having ever seen a worse movie.

The visual effects were OK in places (well composed, so stylized that they weren't interesting), some of the photography and cinematography were aesthetically striking, but otherwise it was just bad. I didn't hate the film, because that would have required it to evoke an emotional response beyond mild boredom and disdain, but it's an embarrassment that should never have been filmed (or, failing that, released).

Not to mention that it was obviously racist, sexist, and homophobic, filled with ridiculous decisions, a pretentious and unnecessary narrator, logical inconsistencies, question begging, and fundamental historical inaccuracies that completely subvert the crapulously earnest speeches all the Greeks make.

Mind you, the many slashy scenes were so incredibly over the top that it's the closest I've ever seen gay subtext come to being text without quite making it. It should have just been a gay porno.

Oh, and I couldn't but compare it Tarantino's Kill Bill, which I disliked intensely because it seemed to have little point beyond reveling in violence and bloodshed. Say whatever else you wish about Quentin Tarantino: he made a film I didn't like because it was basically an excuse to watch Uma Thurman flight and mutilate folks. 300 should have been the same, but mostly I just didn't care about anyone on screen. So, meh.

Oh, and tomorrow evening the store is celebrating it's tenth anniversary. I hope you'll all stop by and join us.

Comments

[millari.livejournal.com]

I remember thinking during the first 10 minutes: "Is anyone going to actually have dialogue in this movie, or is it all going to be stylized imagery with an ridiculous voiceover?

I think the voiceover actually helped set the tone to distance oneself from all the characters. (Not that the characterization and ridiculous plot decisions throughout didn't seal the deal. And not that what one wants usually in a film is to distance oneself from the protagonists...)

Lena Headey must have been laughing her ass off repeatedly on set. (Or possibly crying.) The only thing I actually worked up any enjoyment from in that movie was when she stabbed that traitorous guy, and I felt a little embarrassed for liking it even that much, it was so obviously telegraphed.

I'm weirdly glad I saw it (for free). It was like staring into the belly of the beast of every movie that I typically avoid and making it out alive with my brain parts intact. ;) I'm not sure why this pleases me, but it does. A little.

Thanks for covering my food at PN, btw. You went up there so fast to pay, I didn't really get a chance to negotiate. I owe you a food.

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think that she was repeating to herself "this will lead to something better" over and over. And, since she's now Cersei Lannister, I think it did.

I'm weirdly glad I saw it, too: now that I have done so, I can shit all over this terrible movie with impunity.

[anagramofbrat.livejournal.com]

The only point of 300, I think, is to be fodder for endless THIS IS SPARTA references and animated gifs. also to ensure that Gerard Butler and Lena Headey went on to bigger and better things.

Xerxes reminded me disturbingly of Ra in the Stargate movies.

It doesn't work as a movie. As a visually striking painting that happens to be animated? maybe. But then there is already the comic book so IDK.

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

Xerxes did seem a lot like a taller, buffer Jaye Davidson. It certainly made the film (and Frank Miller) seem even more offensively bigoted and insecure, not to mention irrational.