The Oscars - The Pinnacle of the Zeitgeist

Posted by Dan as Uncategorized

The Academy Award of Merit

Every year like clockwork, the air grows thick with the cloying scent of hype. Actors start making the talk show rounds like mad dervishes, and movie studios power-shift their respective media machines into overdrive. Like a six-pack of ephedrine, washed down with a 24oz can of crack-laced Redbull, the Oscar race is everywhere, all invasive, and more than a little disturbing. Like Andy Williams crooned, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

You can always tell if a studio is pimping a movie for Oscar contention months before most of the Academy members have even seen the film. It’s the media’s equivalent of setting out the Christmas chotchkies the day after Thanksgiving. The media feeding frenzy continues until just when you’re ready to toss your television out a five story window, the nominees are announced, the Oscar’s host is set, the red carpet is rolled out, and the show begins. It’s not necessarily the most important awards ceremony on the planet, but it’s by far the most popular. Screw the Superbowl, the best television of the year is The Oscars.

That said, I wonder how many of you have actually seen the Movies that win the prestigeous “Academy Award of Merit”? I actually wondered how many I’d seen myself. Since Empire Online was gracious enough to put up its massive web archive of past Best picture Oscar winners, I figured a truncated list was in order with side notes. For those of you at home who want to play along, feel free to post a comment. You don’t even have to redirect to gsn online to do it.

1928 - Wings

- The first Academy Award winner for best picture. I’ve seen wings on TCM and it’s excellent.

1929 - The Broadway Melody

- I’ve seen this and though I love musicals, this film represents poorly. It’s awful. The songs are weak, and the plot is terribly cliche.

1930- All Quiet on the Western Front

-One of the greatest war films ever made. Seen and enjoyed.

1931 - Cimarron

-Based on the famous book by Edna Ferber, Cimarron translated well into film. I’ve seen this, but it’s racist undertone spoils the spectacle for me.

1932 - Grand Hotel

- I’ve seen this movie several times. It’s the template for the grand cavalcade of stars coming together to make a movie. Like the George Clooney Ocean’s 11, Grand Hotel was fun, but not really deserving of an Oscar.

1933 - Cavalcade

- I have never seen this one. Though it looks interesting.

1934 - It Happened One Night

- It’s a little known secret that I love Frank Capra movies, and this is one of the best. Well deserving of the Best Picture Award, and proof positive that Claudette Colbert was one of the sexiest women who ever lived.

1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty

- I’ve seen this movie, and I enjoyed it, but I much prefer the Marlon Brando version. Yes, I know the movie had plot holes you could drive a Semi Truck through, and they threw the historical facts of the story right out the window, but I still claim it’s a much more entertaining movie.

1936 - The Great Ziegfield

- I’ve seen this film and I enjoyed it. I am a sucker for a musical after all, however… Showboat, James Whale’s masterpiece was released the same year as this and it wasn’t even nominated. The first in a long series of shameful Academy snubs.

1937 - The Life of Emile Zola

- Paul Mune kicks out his acting chops portraying the French author Emile Zola. I’ve seen this film several times, and enjoyed it.
1938 - You Can’t Take It With You

- The second Capra film to win a well deserved Best Picture Oscar. It’s one of the best romantic comedies from a man who excelled at the genre.

1939 - Gone With The Wind

-If you haven’t seen this movie, you should stop reading right now, walk… no run to your nearest video store and rent it. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.

1940 - Rebecca

-Alfred Hitchcock sneaks one in under the Academy’s radar. One of the greatest film directors of all time, and he only won the best picture Oscar this once. More shameful Academy behavior.

1941 - How Green Was My Valley

- I love John Ford’s work as much as the next movie watcher. How could you not? I’ve seen this movie many, many times and I love it dearly. However, in no way was it a better film than either Citizen Kane or The Maltese Falcon, both of which it beat out for the Best Picture Oscar that year.

1942 - Mrs. Miniver

-I’ve seen this. It’s okay, but it’s really just a star vehicle for Greer Garson. She’s brilliant, the film, not so much.

1943 - Casablanca

- Please refer to my notes for the 1939 entry…moving on.

1944 - Going My Way

- This is a fun movie that ended up netting Bing Crosby his Best Actor Oscar. So for that I will always have a soft spot for it. I’m not really sure it was worthy of a Best Picture Oscar though.

1945 - The Lost Weekend

- This is a great movie, and notably, Billy Wilder’s first Best Picture win. The Lost weekend is classic film-noir and entertaining any way you look at it.

1946 - The Best Years Of Our Lives

- I haven’t yet seen this.

1947 - A Gentleman’s Agreement

- This was probably the catalyst that resulted in Elia Kazan testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Mr. Kazan subsequently proved that he was spineless and heartless when he decided to give the Congressmen the names of people who were members of the Communist Party with him. They were blacklisted, he was not. Yes, I’ve seen this movie. The man did a horrible thing, but the work he produced was brilliant.

1948 - Hamlet

I’ve seen this several times, and it holds up well with every viewing. A well deserved Best Picture Oscar.

1949 - All The King’s Men

- Based off the Robert Penn Warren novel, this actually translates well. It’s a solid movie, well worth a look.

1950 - All About Eve

- Few things in life are more satisfying than watching Bette Davis and Anne Baxter trade verbal punches in this masterpiece. Obviously the Academy agreed with me because it was nominated for an unprecedented 14 Academy Awards, winning Six.  This record would stand until 1997 when Titanic would win 11 of its 14 nominations.

1951 - An American in Paris

Again, I’m a sucker for musicals. When you combined Gene Kelly’s dancing with Vincinte Minnelli’s penchant for spending money, something wonderful always resulted.

1952 - The Greatest Show on Earth

- If you’re looking for massive grand spectacle, and no plot worth mentioning, this movie is for you. It’s seriously fun, and it definitely entertains, but it was a shoe in for the Oscars, considering everyone in movies worked on the damed thing. Classic DeMille.

1953 - From Here to Eternity

- One of the greatest love scenes ever filmed, and who knew Frank Sinatra could act. An excellent movie, well worth repeated watching.

1954 - On The Waterfront

- How terribly ironic that Elia Kazan won Best Picture for this tale of “naming names”. The director isn’t what sells this film though, it’s Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger’s performances.

1955 - Marty

- What happened to Ernest Borgnine from this to Airwolf? Talk about a long downward career spiral.

1956 - Around The World In 80 Days

- A great movie, brilliantly directed. I actually saw this long after I suffered through the original Casino Royale, and immediately forgave David Niven for his trespasses in the world of James Bond.

1957 - Bridge Over The River Kwai

- A brilliant film, and the most whistleable movie theme song ever.

1958 - Gigi

- More Minnelli madness, and one of the best musicals ever.

1959 - Ben Hur

Charleton Heston at his classic best, and a chariot race that was literally to die for.

1960 - The Apartment

- Billy Wilder finally gets another win under his belt. This dark and gorgeous comedy is one of the greatest films ever made.

1961 - West Side Story

- A classic musical, seen and enjoyed many times.

1962 - Lawrence of Arabia

Peter O’Toole was on the map before this movie, but his portrayal of  T.E. Lawrence, in this grand David Lean epic cemented his reputation as a national treasure for all time.

1963 - Tom Jones

Albert Finney turned down the T.E. Lawrence role for this, and it obviously worked. Tom Jones is lots of fun, and a great movie.

1964 - My Fair Lady

- Not really my favorite adaptation of this classic play, it was just okay. Interesting trivia bit, Julie Andrews was Rex Harrison’s Eliza Doolittle in the stage play, and she was ignored for the role in favor of Audrey Hepburn, who was considered a better box office draw at the time. Oddly enough Julie  beat out Audrey for the best actress award that same year for Mary Poppins, and look what happened in 1965. Anyone willing to take any bets that Dame Julie had a bit of a chip on her shoulder for that little snub?

1965 - The Sound of Music

- Due to its continual airplay on television, I doubt there are many people in the US who haven’t seen and enjoyed this brilliant musical.

1966 - A Man For All Seasons

- This film, loosely based on the life of Sir Thomas More, was a huge box office success. It’s also really excellent filmmaking.

1967 - In The Heat of the Night

-This film was groundbreaking, and resulted in Sidney Poitier uttering one of the most quotable quotes in cinematic history. Seen and enjoyed many times.

1968 - Oliver

- The last of the great Hollywood musicals to win the best picture oscar. It’s excellent, but you can tell the genre is dying. The musical would stay firmly planted in the cultural graveyard until Chicago brought it back for one last zombie shuffle in 2002.

1969 - Midnight Cowboy

- The only X Rated movie to win the best picture award, it was later changed to an R so that it could be released on more screens during its re-release. Interestingly enough, Midnight Cowboy also has one of the most notable quotes in movie history, uttered by Dustin Hoffman.

1970 - Patton

This is one of my favorite movies. It’s not terribly accurate historically, but there’s just something about the way George C. Scott chewed scenery that really makes the film. Rod Steiger was originally offered the title role and turned it down because he didn’t want to “glorify war.” Shortly after he saw the movie he was quoted as admitting, “It was one of the biggest mistakes of my career.”

1971 - The French Connection

The first “action movie” to win the best picture oscar, and one of my favorites.

1972 - The Godfather

- Francis Ford Coppola’s magnum opus, and the best role of Marlon Brando’s career. What’s not to love?

1973 - The Sting

-Putting Paul Newman and Robert Redford together in the same movie was always box office platinum. This time they took home the gold.

1974 - The Godfather Part 2

-Technically speaking, this movie was better than the original, and it absolutely deserved this Oscar win.

1975 - One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

-The movie that put Jack Nicholson on the map, and set the tone of his career for years to come.

1976 - Rocky

- The movie that put Sylvester Stallone on the map, and set the tone of his career for years to come.

1977 - Annie Hall

-I actually sat through a revival showing of this movie at gunpoint. I can’t stand Woody Allen. I don’t find him either charming or funny, and Diane Keaton is neither quirky nor charming. This movie was terrible. I would like to find the person who nominated this and bitch-slap him.

1978 - The Deer Hunter

-The Academy redeems itself with this masterwork. It’s a hard movie to watch, but it’s got brilliant acting, and incredible storytelling.

1979 - Kramer Vs. Kramer

-I didn’t really like this movie, but I cannot fault the wonderful acting by Meril Streep and Dustin Hoffman. It’s a good film, just not my thing I guess.

1980 - Ordinary People

- This movie was terrible, and had no business winning best picture over Raging Bull. Bad Academy, shame on you…PHOOEY!

1981 - Chariots of Fire

- This is one of the greatest sports movies ever made, and a definite best picture.

1982 - Gandhi

- Ben Kingsley gets the role of a lifetime, and the world gets yet another sanitized picture of the great leader.

1983 - Terms of Endearment

- I think this is another case of the movie just not being my cup of tea.

1984 - Amadeus

- A masterpiece of filmmaking, and acting. A work of genius about a genius working, brilliant.

1985 - Out of Africa

-Every so often you come across a movie that sucks about two hours out of your life that you will never get back. That’s how I felt after sitting through this terrible, lumbering brain-dead thing.

1986 - Platoon

- Oliver Stone won the Oscars that should have gone to his other movie released that same year, Salvador.

1987 - The Last Emperor

-A quiet and beautiful movie, it was a total shock that this won the award for best picture. It wasn’t that the movie didn’t deserve it, far from it, but that the Academy picked it.

1988 - Rain Man

-Barry Levinson created a solid film, and proved my theory that Tom Cruise can only act, when faced with excellent actors. These are definitely not my underwear.

1989 - Driving Miss Daisy

-This was a good movie, but not something that I would consider worthy of the Best Picture award.

1990 - Dances With Wolves

-An excellent movie from an unlikely director.

1991 - Silence of the Lambs

-Jonathan Demme created a masterpiece vehicle for his undeniably talented actors. No one will ever look at fava beans the same way ever again.

1992 - Unforgiven

-Clint Eastwood’s elegy to the great hollywood westerns, and a phenomenal movie in its own right.

1993 - Schindler’s List

-Steven Spielberg finally captures that elusive Oscar by caving in and making a Holocaust film. It worked.

1994 - Forrest Gump

-This movie was a triumph of special effects work, but I’m a little iffy about its message. Still, it was entertaining.

1995 - Braveheart

-See my note for the 1990 Best picture winner… moving on.

1996 - The English Patient

-I liked this movie well enough. It’s a solid representation of what you can do when you decide to film “an unfilmable” book.

1997 - Titanic

-Even though we all knew how the movie would end, we all still went to see this movie multiple times. It made more money than The Vatican, and allowed James Cameron to take a 12 year break from directing motion pictures.

1998 - Shakespeare in Love

-I really liked this movie. I’m not really sure what it’s doing here with all these great films, but I liked it well enough.

1999 - American Beauty

- A wierd and beautifully filmed movie with a classic wtf ending. I absolutely loved it.

2000 - Gladiator

-Ridley Scott finally scores a long deserved Oscar with his revival of the classic sword and sandals epic.

2001 - A Beautiful Mind

I haven’t seen this. I’m not sure why, I just kind of ignore it every time I see it.

2002 - Chicago

Rob Marshall’s revival of the big Hollywood musical for one last dance.

2003 - Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

-One Oscar for three movies, oh well, at least they recognized all the work Peter Jackson put in to this project.

2004 - Million Dollar Baby

-I haven’t seen this yet either.

2005 - Crash

-Crash was a wierd and violent film that was absolutely brilliant.

2006 - The Departed

-Scorsese finally gets his long delayed oscar.

2007 - No Country For Old Men

-I know, I’ve been slacking in the last couple years.

2008 - Slumdog Millionaire

-I haven’t seen this yet, but the DVD release is just around the corner.

…and that’s a wrap everybody. How many have you seen?

As we mourn the passing of another great scribe…

Posted by Dan as Movie Review, Uncategorized

Michael Crichton 1942-2008

Michael Crichton passed away today after a long and really clandestine bout with cancer. While he lived, Mr. Crichton was an excellent writer, a solid motion picture director, and one a select few voices that directly resulted in the wide acceptance of the Science Fiction Genre. His books read like tightly plotted, balls-out action movies on paper, and Hollywood ate his stories up like piranhas on a stray Gurnsey. It’s a great and tragic loss for the Science Fiction world, but instead of mourning his passing, let’s remember four decades of solid entertainment in movies, TV, and reads.

The Andromeda Strain 1972

One of the coolest and creepiest Science Fiction movies ever made, The Andromeda Strain is a good example of what happens when the writer of the source material also understands how to write a screenplay. Skip the 2008 remake, this film is one for the ages.

Westworld 1973

Crichton proves he knows how to direct a feature film, and Yul Brynner chews scenery in circles around James Brolin and Richard Benjamin. Westworld is a near future scenario set in an amusement park where the inhabitants are androids programmed to act like old west heroes and villains.

The Terminal Man 1974

I’ve seen this on TV and as far as I know it’s never been released on DVD, which is criminal because the movie is a great study on the whole man vs machine debate… and it stars the always awesome George Segal.

Coma 1978

Coma isn’t really science fiction, but it’s such a cool movie that it bears mention here. Based on Robin Cook’s novel, Crichton wrote the screenplay and Directed this sweetly paranoid medical drama. It’s sort of a precursor to E.R. only gone horribly, horribly awry.

Looker 1981

One of my favorite criminally underated Science Fiction films (which really needs to be a future post), Crichton wrote and directed this little seen gem. It’s got evil corporations, supermodels, James Coburn, Susan Dey, Albert Finney, and of course the L.O.O.K.E.R. gun. What’s not to love?

Runaway 1984

Runaway was a big budget movie, with big name stars and a high profile director, that got stomped into oblivion by a low budget, no stars flick directed by a little known graduate of Roger Corman’s grindhouse whose only real fame at the time was that he’d tried to take his name off the directing credits for Piranha II: The Spawning (you remember the one with the flying piranhas…. oh yeah.)
Really bad luck for Crichton, but Runaway still rocked.

Jurassic Park 1993

The Lost World Jurassic Park 1997

I’ll skip out on Jurassic Park III here because Crichton had little to do with it. The Jurassic Park pictures became a huge moneymaking juggernaut (as Spielberg movies are wont to do) and made us truly believe that dinosaurs could one day walk the Earth again.

Sphere 1998

Sphere was a competent if somewhat rushed Science Fiction thriller. It wasn’t nearly as richly detailed and suspenseful as Crichton’s book, but then what movie ever is. The triple threat of Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson couldn’t save Sphere at the box office, but it’s still a decent movie, well worth anyone’s time.

Timeline 2003

It’s too bad that this movie was devastated at the box office. It’s pretty good, probably not worth the $80mil they spent to make it, but it’s still a decent time travel story.

Michael Crichton told riveting stories that covered relevant issues from a completely humanist perspective. In addition to the above works, he also created Rising Sun and Disclosure, not to mention E.R. He was an auteur that did great things for the Science Fiction genre and he will be greatly missed.

Yes We Can!

Posted by Dan as Politics

Sometimes, the United States surprises me in a good way. Good job America.

My Top 5 List Is Starting To Look Like A Frikkin Necrology!

Posted by Dan as Uncategorized

So I came home from work tonight and Courtney tells me George Carlin died. Fuck!

The really depressing thing is that out of my top 5 favorite comedians, all but one of them are dead. Still, there’s quite a lot of great comics out there so I have hope that my list may one day mutate into something a bit less morbid.

With respect to George Carlin who I never met in real life, but who was always one of my favorite teachers, I prefer not to think of him as dead so much as simply no longer producing new material.

Here’s my Top 5 favorite stand-up comedians, bringin’ the funny as only they can.

Nobody out there is thinking Dennis is looking a little moribund lately are they?

New and Improved with cool stuff… like content!

Posted by Dan as Actual Blogging, Video Clips, music

Yeah, okay, I haven’t updated in a while. Probably just long enough to have to start over with a new reader base. That’s okay though, I never claimed I was a good blogger. I’ve got lots of new essays in the pipe and I’ll start posting them soon. In the meantime, anyone out there who’s still listening chime in and tell me what y’all think of the new digs.

So, Courtney has been obsessively watching and re-watching Kingdom Hospital (like she does). Anyway there’s this cool song called Red Dragon Tattoo that plays several times throughout the show. Never realized that it was by Fountains of Wayne. These are the guys that do Stacy’s Mom, Someone To Love, and Strapped For Cash, the latter two of which are all over alterna-radio right now. I liked this little confluence of epiphanies so much that I just had to go out and buy their newest album. It was a sign from the music gods, you see. Anyway, the new album is cool so far. I’ll post a proper review after I’ve listened through it 10 times. That way, if it’s bad I’ll have built up enough venom to be really entertaining. In the meantime, here’s a quickie acoustic set they did for Capital 106.3 which is the big rock station in Des Moines. Enjoy.

The Art of Juli Adams

Posted by Dan as Actual Blogging, Link Blogging, Promoting

Every year our local arts museum The Hockaday Museum of the Arts sponsors an arts festival in Depot Park. Depot is a small park on Main Street in Kalispell, but they cram it full of potters and statue makers, and crafts makers of all kinds, musicians, and artists… lots of artists. I usually don’t go because the artists, while good, mostly concentrate on the local landscape and the local flora and fauna. I grew up here. I got local flora and fauna coming out my wazoo. If I want to see the local landscape all I have to do is look out the window.

The wife, however, thinks differently. Being the smashingly brilliant lady that she is and coming here from Illinois, she has a whole different level of appreciation for the local artists (not to mention art in general) than I do. So this year she dragged me to the thing, and imagine my surprise when I ran across this brilliant young lady from the Seattle Washington area.

Her name is Juli Adams and she’s a brilliant painter. She also needs to be working in comics (which I gather she is currently not, too bad really.) Her stuff has a definite Slave Labor Graphics vibe to it, and it’s just amazing.

Check out her website at Juli Adams.com.

She also has a blog at The Art of Juli Adams.

And if you have a yen to show some love for this wonderful painter, you can get her prints online at Ladieninscollectibles.com.

As the owners of five cats, we couldn’t resist buying the print pictured at the top of the post. The print is called Showdown, and it captures perfectly that slow build to a hissy fit that all cats go through every so often.

Back from the dead, and ready to party!

Posted by Dan as Blogcritics, Comics, Graphic Novel Review, Link Blogging

So okay, I haven’t really updated this thing in eons, but I haven’t exactly been idle either. Case in point is the new review of the excellent new graphic novel from Big Head Press, The Architect. Written by the great Mike Baron and drawn by artist without peer, Andie Tong, it’s a stellar read and I highly recommend picking up a copy at your earliest convenience.

The review is located here and I think it turned out well. I really like the new magazine style layout of Blogcritics. The site is much easier to navigate than it was.

As a special note to anyone who cares about things like this, yes… I know that’s a picture of The Probability Broach that accompanies the article. I’m pretty sure what happened is that the dingbat BC editor who put the final touches on my review temporarily got all lost and confused when he couldn’t find a product picture of The Architect on Amazon.com, and instead of use an outside source for a picture or maybe… oh, I dunno… NO PICTURE AT ALL!!! He instead used something from the same company. Ah well, irritating to be sure, but not the end of the world I expect.

Because he hasn’t updated in a while!

Posted by Dan as Comics, Link Blogging, Promoting

Okay, I’m totally using this without his permission, but he hasn’t updated his blog in a while, so I’m hoping he’ll notice this and throw his ravenous fans (like me!) a bone, and update his damned blog. This is the one comics project for 2007 that I am most looking forward to. Check it out!

Spartans Versus Persians and Once Again, Gerard Butler’s Nekkid’ Ass!

Posted by Dan as Blogcritics, Movie Review, Movies

If you haven’t seen 300 yet, you should drop what you’re doing, call Mr. Moviephone, go get tickets, or whatever it is you do, and go see it. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. This movie kicks ass on so many levels, it’s hard to decide where to begin. First, a bit of back story I think.

In a nutshell, in 480 BC, Persia invaded Greece with what was at the time, the largest army ever assembled. What we know of the invasion, we get from several sources, but the most detailed account, and the one with the most interesting bits, is by the Greek Historian Herodotus. The great Persian God-King Xerxes made a play to conquer Greece by threat and bribery, and when the two great city-states of Athens and Sparta told him to get bent, he invaded. While Athens navy held off the bulk of the invading ships, Sparta, which was hamstrung by an outdated set of laws that required the King to get approval from their oracle before declaring war, did nothing.

In a desperate ploy, the Spartan King Leonidas hand picks 300 elite soldiers to accompany him to a mountain pass known as The Hot Gates near Thermopylae. The mountain pass acts as a natural funnel where the Greeks can make a stand against an army whose numbers suddenly count for little. The rest is history as 300 Spartans and about seven thousand other Greek soldiers hold off an army of at least 100,000 strong, for three days. On the third day, the Persians are told of an alternate route around The Hot Gates. About to be outflanked, Leonidas orders the remaining soldiers into a retreat. He stays behind with his remaining Spartans and about 1,000 Thespian soldiers to cover the withdrawal.

Later, Leonidas’ martyrdom galvanizes Sparta into action, and together with their Athenian counterparts, they hand Xerxes a defeat that begins a downward spiral that will end 150 years later when Alexander the Great ends the Persian empire on a more permanent basis. And you all thought history wasn’t fun!

In 1998 the great comics writer and artist Frank Miller created a masterful retelling of this historical account. Setting up the characters with fully fleshed personalities and rendering them in his highly stylized trademark drawing style, resulted in a modern classic of the comics art form.

Enter Zack Snyder, fresh off his success remaking George Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead, Zack dives into the 300 project headfirst.

The result is 117 minutes of fun, and one of the best movies ever made. Because the Grecian topography has changed radically in the 2,500 years since the battle, location shooting would prove impossible. Instead, Zack filmed the entire movie in front of a blue screen. The backgrounds and scenery were filled in later by CGI. While I’m not completely sold on this technique (previously used in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, as well as the Matrix movies,) in this case, as with the previous Miller adaptation Sin City, the CGI allows the cinematographers and the set designers the freedom to adapt the comic panel by panel. It’s a perfect fit. Not only do the characters look and act true to Miller’s work, but even the scenes that were added to pad the story for motion picture pacing, look and feel like they’re right out of Miller’s story.

Gerard Butler is absolutely perfect as King Leonidas. He looks the part as do all the actors playing the Spartans. There are more six packs in this movie than at a frat house on pledge night. Butler turns in an Oscar worthy performance that makes Russell Crowe’s Gladiator look like a little girl in a pink frilly dress. Leonidas opposite number Xerxes is played to absolute perfection by an almost unrecognizable Rodrigo Santoro. When these two fine actors are on scene together they bring every acting skill they’ve ever learned to bear, resulting in some of the most intensely brilliant scenes ever filmed. It’s like watching a precision practice run from the George C. Scott school of caffeine frenzied scenery chewing. You will believe these two actors are opposing battlefield generals.

The writing is dynamic and fluid, allowing plenty of breathing room for the battlefield action. Scriptwriters Kurt Johnstad and Michael B. Gordon, with an able assist from the director, should be commended for turning out an outstandingly tight script. It even has the requisite one-liners, several of which are right out of Herodotus. When the Persian field commander yelled, “Spartans, throw down your weapons and surrender.” and King Leonidas retorted, “Persians, come and get them.” The whole theater cheered. Of course, with source material this good, it’s hard to go wrong.

Larry Fong turns out a feast for the eyes, bringing his cinematography skills honed on several seasons of the TV show Lost. The combat is period specific, so there’s lots of spraying blood and flying heads, but Fong shoots it all so well, that it hardly matters. Every scene is altered to look like it came right out of the 300 graphic novel, so it has the effect of making the gore more tolerable.

300 is a violent story, so it’s not for younger kids. There’s a lot of on screen gore, but again, it’s stylized so the effect is muted, and I would have no problem taking a teen to see this. Just make sure you’re a good parent and you watch this with them in case you have to explain things. This movie earned its R rating so go see it with that in mind and you’ll be fine. It’s a terrific, grandiose spectacle of a movie, based on one of the most enduring stories ever told. It’s destined to become classic fare, and it’ll definitely be a must own when it finally comes out on DVD.

101 Things I Love About My Wife

Posted by Dan as Actual Blogging, Favorites List, Love Letter

So the other day my wife Courtney and I were driving in the car before work, coming back from getting an early dinner, breakfast for me because I work night shift. I was carping like I always do about what I was going to write about that night on my down time. Jokingly, she said something to the effect of “Write about how awesome your wife is.” A few days later, here’s what I wrote over two nights. All in all, it was one of the easier things I’ve ever written. I could have done 1000.

1. I love the way she smiles.

2. I love her sardonic, dry wit.

3. I love her black sense of humor.

4. I love the little noise she makes when she’s exasperated with me. I can’t really describe it but our bird mimics it perfectly.

5. I love the fact that I can’t take her to the animal shelter without an hour long discussion about why we can’t have just one more.

6. I love the fact that she loves animals.

7. I love the fact that she wants to go to college.

8. I love the fact that she has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up.

9. I love her sense of style.

10. I love her sense of color, design, and placement.

11. I love the color of her eyes.

12. I love the fact that she’s not afraid to dye her hair, or get a tattoo, or get pierced in odd places.

13. I love the fact that she can never decide what she wants to eat…

14. …and I love that every so often she knows exactly what she wants to eat.

15. I love the fact that she gets so frustrated with video games that she will throw the controller.

16. I love that she likes music…

17. …and that she likes different music than I do.

18. I also love the fact that she likes electronica, but doesn’t like Moby.

19. I love the fact that she seems genuinely interested in what I’m rambling on about, even when she’s not.

20. I love the fact that she’s patient with me.

21. I love the fact that she steals the covers…

22. …and cocoons herself in them so tightly that the only way to get them back is to wake her up.

23. I love that she’ll stay up all night with me watching re-runs of Roseanne.

24. I love the fact that she’s an obsessive compulsive collector.

25. I love the fact that she collects naughty nic-naks.

26. I love the fact that she’ll snuggle with me even though she’s not a “snuggler”.

27. …except with the cats, but everybody snuggles them.

28. I love the fact that she’ll trade movie quotes with me.

29. I love the fact that she’s a wizard with the computer.

30. I love the fact that she’s an impressive researcher.

31. I love the fact that she reads.

32. …and that her reading list is as large and as backlogged as mine.

33. I love the fact that she prefers to wear slip on tennis shoes with no backs and no laces.

34. I love the fact that she won’t make me give her long foot rubs when she knows my hands are sore and tired.

35. I love that she loves McDonald’s breakfasts.

36. I love that she has a favorite kind of pen.

37. I love that she’s a talented artist, but doesn’t think so.

38. I love that she’s stunningly beautiful but doesn’t think so.

39. I love that she will fall asleep with the TV on, but the computer monitor must be off.

40. I love the fact that she has Courtneyisms.

41. I love the fact that she always wants to drive over the river on the back road.

42. I love that she has pen pals.

43. I love that she tolerates my quirks, moods, and foibles well.

44. I love that it’s easy to tell when she’s upset…

45. …and easy to tell when she’s happy.

46. I love that I can talk to her about anything…

47. …and that she’ll even talk about stuff she doesn’t want to talk about given enough time.

48. I love the fact that she likes movies…

49. …and that she’s willing to try any movie I throw at her.

50. I love the fact that she’s found several comics she likes, even though she’s not particularly interested in comics in general.

51. I love that she hates Star Trek.

52. I love that she loves Dr. Who.

53. I love that she’s tiny but mighty.

54. I love that she can sleep through almost anything.

55. I love that she’ll game with my friends and I even though she’s not particularly interested in it.

56. I love the fact that she has a great butt, however she insists that some of her jeans make it look better than others.

57. I love the fact that she loves the ocean and marine life of all kinds.

58. I love the fact that she knows how to properly set up and maintain fishtanks of all kinds.

59. I love that she loves to take pictures of everything.

60. …and that she’s really good at it.

61. I love the fact that she loves a good horror movie.

62. I love that she’s generous, and loving, and kind.

63. I love the fact that she loves insects of all kinds.

64. I love the fact that she drinks Dr. Pepper like water.

65. I love the fact that she’s constantly tinkering with her blog.

66. I love the fact that she’s an atheist.

67. I love that sometimes I can introduce her to new music.

68. I love the fact that she can listen to a song twenty times in a row without blinking.

69. I love the fact that she’s a Libertarian.

70. …and that she calls me a Communist because I’m a bleeding heartliberal.

71. I love that she has no fear of offending anybody, ever.

72. I love the fact that I always learn something new about her every day I’m with her.

73. I love the fact that she’s extremely polite.

74. I love the fact that she can out belch any man…

75. …and that she says, “Excuse me.” after every one.

76. I love the fact that she can curse fluently in several languages, but usually doesn’t.

77. I love the fact that her sneezes almost always come in twos.

78. I love the fact that she almost always needs help to stop the hiccups.

79. I love that she’ll hit the snooze button twenty times before getting up, even when I have the clock across the room.

80. I love that she thinks that the bed must be made every day.

81. I love that she likes 80’s music.

82. …and cheezy 80’s cartoons.

83. I love the fact that she’s loyal.

84. I love that she will never answer the door when I’m there, not even for the pizza guy.

85. I love that she can spend twenty hours straight web surfing, then tell me that there’s nothing good on the internet.

86. I love that she loves to watch boxing.

87. I love that she’s a creative and talented cook.

88. I love the fact that her foods must never touch, unless they’re supposed to.

89. I love the fact that her favorite jet fighter is the SR71 Blackbird, even though she can never remember what it’s called.

90. I love the fact that plastic wrap is okay to seal refrigerated containers with, but aluminum foil is not.

91. I love that Beethoven’s Fur Elise will make her purr like a kitten.

92. I love that she ranks the cats in order of preference, and tells them this often.

93. I love that she’s an outstanding gardener.

94. I love that she stays in touch with current news.

95. I love that she’s addicted to Jeopardy.

96. …and that she hates Wheel of Fortune.

97. I love the fact that she reviles Microsoft.

98. I love that she’s the first person I want to see when I wake up…

99. …and the last person I want to talk to when I go to sleep.

100. I love the fact that she lets me spoil her rotten.

101. Most of all, I love the fact that she picked me to share her life with.