300

I went to see 300 on opening night. It is a testosterone fest to be sure. Lots of action; however, if you are looking for historical accuracy look elsewhere. I did not read the graphic novel by Frank Miller of the same title and I am sure it is just as exciting and visually thrilling as the movie, but a lot of liberties are taken with the story. To be sure, I do not think the greek phalanx functioned in the way depicted in the movie - that being line up defensively until you engage the enemy and then spin and trash in circles. The Spartans wore a good deal of bronze armor and were not the naked guys with cloaks depicted in the movie. Also, the combined force was somewhere in around 3 to 4 thousand (300 were spartans). It was visually stimulating but probably not the way it happened.

That is really my only real complaint. If there was no real battle at Thermoplae in 480 B.C.E., I would have no complaints at all. It was a fun movie, lots of interesting soldiers, a goat smoking a pipe, body piercing Xerxes who was a bit of giant, archers that did in fact blot out the sun (a nice visual). It is a great underdog story, they are all killed to a man but it was the price of duty and honor. I still say see it, just forgive the historical short comings.

At the theatre I went to some folks were upset that Leonidas did not kill Xerxes in the end. I think that would have stretched history a bit too far.

Save the Cheerleader, Save Cinderella?

Okay, I admit it...I have recently acquired a huge crush on Hayden Panettiere. I had seen her in a couple of movies, Raising Helen and Remember the Titans, but she never really jumped off the screen at me. This is probably because she was pretty much an infant, in my eyes, in these films. But ever since I saw her on Heroes, I have been watching a lot of movies that I would otherwise avoid just to see her cute and quirky smile. I am not alone in my willingness to pursue Panettiere movies, my wife is more than happy to watch these odd pieces of entertainment. She likes Hayden in Heroes as well.

A couple of the movies have been surprisingly entertaining. I found out that I actually liked Ice Princess, I mean I liked it a lot. It pulled my heart strings. It's right up there with The Cutting Edge as an "ice skating movie I am willing to watch." I won't watch ice skating with you, but if you are in the mood for either of these movies and I am in. I won't watch NASCAR either, but will watch The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Racing Stripes wasn't that bad, and I already love the Seven Samurai-esque A Bug's Life.

Not all of the films have been fun though. Bring It On: All or Nothing was hard to slog through. I don't even know what I was watching. It was like watching three movies at the same time, jumbled together at random. It just freaked me out.

That said, I cannot believe just how much this young almost-woman (she is still 17) works. Now I find a Cinderella III video where she is singing! What is a poor boy to do?

Steve Austin vs. Bigfoot

Ah...Sweet nostalgia.

John Lasseter, 2D, and Glendalienism

Anne Thompson at the Hollywood Reporter, until tomorrow when she takes over Variety.com, has a link to a very good New York Times story about the future of Disney animation. The Times story is simultaneously informative about the "business" while highlighting the narrow-sighted ignorance of East Coast bias. As Kate at Fishbowl LA points out, New Yorkers don't often have the familiarity one would expect. Sometimes I think New Yorkers shouldn't be allowed to write about Los Angeles.

Below is the comment I wrote about the article, which mentions that Disney Animation is going to have offices in Glendale.

Overall, this is a very good article, which gives me yet another reason to love living in Glendale. It's great being a Glendalien.

On a side note though, it continually amazes me how articles point to 2002's Treasure Planet and its failure as a symptom of how audiences lost interest in 2D animation. Rarely is it mentioned that 2002's Lilo and Stitch was a significant success for the studio. It cost less to make ($80 million to over $120 million) and made considerably more in the box office ($145 million domestic to $38.1 domestic). Lilo and Stitch was not only 2D, but it featured beautiful watercolor background paintings. It was a true 2D experience, where Treasure Planet was more 2-1/2D with more computer modeling etc.

What is often lost in analysis is how Treasure Planet suffers from what I call, Titan A.E. syndrome (a 2000 box office flop). This syndrome is a combination of two things. First, forgetting just who the audience is for a typical (i.e. non-ultra-vi film as Alex might say) American animated film. Second, is the lack of a well written/conveyed narrative. Pixar films work because they are well written. Treasure Planet may have been Treasure Island, but it made the protagonist a whiner and added "extreme" sports elements in an attempt to attract 12-14 year old boys.

Rule #1 in animation/comics/entertainment is "if you want 12-14 year old boys to desire your product, make it for 18 year olds." Atlantis, which featured awe-inspiring designs by Mike Mignola, was a flop for the same reason. 12-14 year old boys want to watch Full Metal Alchemist, Heavy Metal, and Samurai Champloo, they don't want Treasure Planet or its ilk.

Pixar's movies tried to appeal to all audiences, either through humor, nostalgia, or pathos. The nostalgia of the collector (and its dark side) are a wonderful part of Toy Story 2. The pathos of "Kitty!" at the end of Monsters Inc. is heartbreaking, and the humorous adaptation of The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai that is A Bug's Life is wonderful.

It is the writing and quality that bring people to the theater again and again. I can only think of one well written animated film that failed and that was released with almost no fanfare, Iron Giant.

A Quick Glance Around the Geek-o-Sphere

According to Board Game News, Twilight Creations' Zombie Town has cleared customs and is ready to ship.

Twilight Creations is a company with a seemingly singular obsession with Zombies. I own quite a few of their games and am especially fond of When Darkness Comes which combines Board game quickness with some Roleplaying elements.

Steve Meretzky has an article up on what we can learn from board games.

The article is reminiscent of some of the comments in Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You and John Derbyshire's surprised comments regarding Age of Empires. I love it when curmudgeons find value in "pop" things.

Variety's Tom McLean gets ready for New York Comic Con. He also points out that "Graphic Novels" are the most popular format in the medium.

I don't always like the use of the term "graphic novel" to describe collections of the periodicals. To me Blankets was a graphic novel, Identity Crisis (DC Comics) is a collection of periodicals (a "trade" if you will), so is Watchmen for that matter.

SciFiChick has a list of SciFI "One Hit Wonders."

I may not agree that all of these are wonders, but it is a good list of thirteen shows that never got past season one.

In Tanzania a Bat Demon is blamed for sexual assaults.

Can I really add anything to that? Go Zotzilaha!

Evil Dead: The Musical

How the hell did I miss this?!

Robocop vs. Terminator

Buck, over at No Blasters, has embedded an awesome Robocop vs. Terminator video and provided links to two follow up vids.