Friday, October 05, 2007

Cinema for he-men

The other night, there was nothing on the telly and I told the boy he could put on any DVD he wanted. He knows that whenever I say this, what I really mean is "anything except one of those god-awful Star Wars movies".

So he put on 300. He's actually had it for ages and already seen it many times; just never put it on for me because it is, as he puts it, a men's movie. He likes it so much it makes him all tingly with testosterone, which is what Gladiator also does for him.

Actually, it's not a bad a movie. As long as you treat it as a propoganda tale intended to rev the ancient Greeks into a frenzy of united warfare against a common enemy, it's really quite watchable.

Although I must say that the six-packs (of which there are many) are as obviously "enhanced" as Pamela Anderson's boobies. Something of a disappointment in this respect.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I liked the imagery and style which I understand is how the graphic novel it is based on is like. The story of the Battle of Thermopylae was told to me with lots of enthusiasm years ago by a chap that I'd probably be happy to watch 300 again.

Angela said...

My husband really liked this movie. I am not much for this kind of stuff, but I will eventually give it a try

Violet said...

emma: yeah it was like a graphic novel - like Sin City, which is similarly male.

angela: Definitely more aimed at the boys, but the boy made sure to tell me that the women of Sparta enjoyed much higher social status than say, Roman women. Obviously this was told to get me interested...

Anonymous said...

As a classical studies graduate (with dyslexia) I LOVED this film.

Forget being a man, forget being a woman.

Just imagine being a person with the odds (3/100) stacked against you and everyone telling you to give in and accept being trodden underfoot.

Imagine a doctor telling you, that the fact you researched, and were sure that your baby who cried for 12 hours a day had gastroenteritis, meant nothing. Imagine that doctor offering you gaviscon which wouldn’t cure an ant of wind. Imagine what you would have to do to get an appointment with a paediatric consultant.

Then you are ready to fight as one of 300…

Violet said...

elizaf: Well, okay then. So the fake six-packs were non-essential then?

glomgold said...

Exactly! CGI abs!
The movie was pretty fun if viewed with the proper mindset. The women I know seemed to like it a lot too.
And by "god-awful Star Wars movies" I hope you're only referring to the new 3 and not the original trilogy. :)

Violet said...

glomgold: I liked the very first one when I first saw it (I was probably 12), but I've never been into anyone of them. Though the last 3 (which I saw because the boy was keen) were definitely the worst.