"300: Rise of an Empire” doesn't top or equal the original, but this companion piece to the 2007 blockbuster "300" still offers some deliciously sly camp filled with the franchise's signature speed-ramping fights and bloody CGI gore. This time, the story utilizes love and vengeance for its central theme, while consistently delivering a sense of duality to the story and character elements presented in the "300" movie canon. The film is primarily set in the Greek waters where epic naval
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‘300’ Film Review: Prepare for Glory!
"300" rips your heart with death, then redeems it after with glory. This warrior's film breathtakingly fires the soul with valor. Every warrior ready to die for glory would have some wild night. Every citizen advocating freedom would be engaged. For everyone else, it would be an uncompromising experience in the battlefield. More About 300: A Film Buff's Movie Memorabilia Collection Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, "300" is a fierce and ferocious screen adaptation. Director Zack
‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ Film Review: The entertaining fire-breathing excess
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" entertains with its fiery wave of action and adventure. However, it remains hamstrung by its own middle chapter narrative problems. Clearly forced into a trilogy stretch for the cash-cow potential of a single book, this second "Hobbit" film proves that one can have too much of a good thing when it comes to delivering a quota of thrills, but still end up as yet another ponderous placeholder for the grand finale. At the very least,
‘300: The Art of the Film’ Book: The best movie-related gift I’ve ever received to date
Being a film buff and a film professional, it's not surprising to get movie-related gifts every once in a while. By now, many of my friends already know that I have a collection of movie-branded items and memorabilia, all of which I got as gifts from friends, relatives, and companies. Of course, I treasure all items in my collection. Yet, there's that one gift I received that tops them all. My Favorite Movies It was in 2006 when I saw one
‘RKO 281’ Film Review: A film about a film about a man
"RKO 281" offers a vividly compelling presentation of the troubled history behind Orson Welles and his magnum opus "Citizen Kane." This historical drama about the so-called “boy wonder” helming a film inspired by the life of a powerful man highlights the ego clashes and politics surrounding Hollywood. As a cinematic offering, it frames itself as a dramatically sound genesis of what is often described as “The Greatest American Film of All Time” through its amalgam of fictional recreations and historical accounts partly based
‘The Legend of Zorro’ Film Review: The Dela Vega heroes
"The Legend of Zorro" tones down a bit by fronting the more human issues about family relationships in its storytelling, as compared to the visually purist, action-filled premise driving the storyline for such an action genre offering. Yet, this follow-up to “The Mask of Zorro” doesn't lose its own touch of valuable action and playful camera work. The pompous stunts, grand production design, and outstanding cinematography often keep the spectators' eyes nailed to what happens next. The film captures the audience right from
Blu-ray Review: ‘Schindler’s List’ 20th Anniversary Edition
The 1993 cinematic masterpiece "Schindler's List" arrives on a three-disc combo pack dubbed as its 20th Anniversary Edition. This DigiPack release contains one Blu-ray disc and two DVDs housing the film's Blu-Ray, DVD, UV digital, and iTunes digital copies, as well as a handful of extras. This Steven Spielberg opus stars Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Embeth Davidtz, Caroline Goodall, and Jonathan Sagall. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with 6 other wins out of 12
‘Star Trek’ (2009) Film Review: Warpspeed wow!
Something old reboots as a glorious new. Reinventing a classic sci-fi series is prone to becoming victimized by the blackhole of franchise re-openings, but what this new "Star Trek" presents is a flaring shine of a supernova from start to end. The plot may be preposterous, but the way the film is constructed provides a genuinely rollicking adventure - a fine escapist entertainment that has just validated the tagline, "Live long and prosper." From the first stunning visuals of a pre-Enterprise time
Blu-ray Review: ‘The Atomic Kid’
Releasing on a single-disc Blu-ray package, the 1954 sci-fi comedy "The Atomic Kid" features a frenetic slapstick farce based on the story of filmmaker Blake Edwards. This film directed by Leslie H. Martinson revolves around a young uranium prospector's fate after surviving the radiation exposure in an atomic bomb testing site. It stars Mickey Rooney, Robert Strauss, and Elaine Devry. The story begins with a uranium search in a remote part of Nevada. Coincidentally, when a man gets caught up in
‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ Film Review: The force of tragedies
“Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” serves as the final chapter to the culturally historical galactic empire saga from the real master behind the force George Lucas, along with his dedicated behind-the-scene heroes from the "Star Wars" of the 1970s and 1980s ("Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" in 1977, "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980, and "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" in 1983) to the prequels produced two decades after ("Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" in 1999 and