300

If you haven't seen it yet, you really should go and see the movie "300." Visually, it's stunning. At this stage, in terms of CGI, it really appears that directors are limited only by their imaginations. The effects are seamless and the story (loosely based on a real event) is fairly tight. I was a little put off by the lead actor's slight Scottish accent, but it was a small flaw in an otherwise amazing film. There is very nice website on the film which you can see here. And if you search "300" on youtube.com, you can see various video clips about the making of the film, which are really fascinating. One thing that I did wonder about, however, was if the filmakers were trying to make an allegorical film about events in the middle east? The film concerns itself with the Spartan's heroic stand against the Xerxes and his Persian army. The now famous battle of Thermopylae can be read about in detail in "Herodotus: The Histories." I know there are liberties taken with the actual events (and even what we know, I'm sure has also been twisted and shaped over the millenia) but in some ways I don't think the filmmakers are taking themselves too seriously. And throughout, there is always the sense that the film is ultimately a brillant adaptation of a graphic novel, by Frank Miller.