Stuck on Title

One of the good things about seeing a movie that is based on a historical event, is that it is virtually impossible to spoil. After all, all who have some interest in the backstory of what they are watching will know what is supposed to happen, and if you don’t, why watch the movie?
A movie about John F. Kennedy will likely end with the death of the main character, a movie about Marilyn Monroe no less so. A second world war movie will have the German alliance losing after a land-war in Eurasia, and Napoleon will never be depicted as anything but a world-conquering emperor manqué.

That said, some movies don’t completely follow the exact turns of events, and add something to their storyline to be spoiled by honest reviewers for discerning moviegoers.

Good thing I have a remarkably small amount of readers, and as such can spoil to my little hearts content, as there is little chance of ruining things for a mass audience. I say “good thing” in a remarkably sarcastic way. For all the praise this blog garnishes for me, word of mouth is not doing it’s best for my blog, which I think is a shame, as I like people reading this. What else am I doing this for, after all.
Well, yes, I do this for me and my almost unending megalomania, but that’s another story.

Anyways, back to movies. Specifically “300” the movie based on the Frank Miller comic based on the film based on a desperate last stand of a small piece of the Spartan army.
And a good movie it is. Visually arresting and very recognizable as a translation of a Frank Miller comic, it must be said that some of it’s storyline has been sacrificed to create this movie. Not that there is much storyline, but hey, if I wanted only pretty pictures I’d have kept to the movie-stills, thank you very much.

The story, for those interested, is of Spartan king Leonidas who goes against the advice and will of his council to try to stop the Persian king Xerxes (the first, lest this be confusing) from invading Greece. The place he chooses to do this is; the pass of Thermopylae, a narrow pass on the coastline of Greece, and easily defendable by a small contingency of men.
Well, small…
Sure, there are about 300 of them, give or take a few hundred Phoenician and assorted Greek stragglers, but in no dictionary can these men be called small.
Perhaps as a result of the weather or the idea of Spartan functionality, almost nobody of any importance in this movie is more than 1/4th clothed. This clothing, if present, would consist mostly of red cloaks, leather briefs, the occasional bandage and in case of the GodKing Xerxes, about half a mile of chain.

Is this a problem? Not really, as bar one all these people have bodies that I, personally, would kill for. The abundance of pecs, thighs, biceps, abs, shoulders and assorted parts of the male anatomy on display in this movie makes one think of a casting bureau’s portfolio gone steroid. If it wasn’t for the fact of Boyfriend, and the small thing that I think he is far more than shite-good looking enough for me, I probably would’ve invested heavily in time travel and a ticket to Sparta.
Seriously, David Wenham, or “the man with the least typecasted portfolio in Hollywood” who played the wimpy friar in Van Helsing even manages to buff it up with the big boys, in a very interesting display of abs indeed. Which I liked, as I found him very attractive indeed in Lord of the Rings, and it never hurts to see ones moviecrushes disrobe to a good extent.

Storywise all is predictable. There is a last stand, it fails, but it rallies those left behind to an extent to overthrow the would be conqueror. There is a beautiful queen who guards the homestead in name of her king, there is a slimy grand vizier type person who troubles her. It is all rather standard, but even in it’s standardness I think it is very well done.

All in all, I am very happy to have seen this movie, and am hoping to see it again sometime soon. Seriously, go see it.

In other news, this Saturday is the 6 month anniversary of the first date with Boyfriend, and I am very happy to have him in my life. We are going towards our official six month anniversary in a month or so, and I am very much looking forward to the next 6 months, and all the time after that I am planning to spend with him.
Because there is little chance of me to say rightly what I want to say to you, I am going to copy something down here by ee cummings, who says these things better than I can.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it inmy heart)
i am never without it(anywherei go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)


Ok, sappyness over now, I apologize to my readers who are not Boyfriend.

Stripes at half open,

Kevin