There’s no question that the epic 1959 Ben-Hur deserved its cavalcade of Oscars. People remember the chariot race scene for a reason: even all these years later it’s a breathtaking achievement in first person action cinematography and it’s hard to imagine how they managed to bring such realism to a scene without the benefit of computers, green screen and models. The story’s about more than a Gladiator-like tale of a rich person who falls to…Read More
Review: 300: Rise of an Empire
If you’ve seen the 2006 surprise hit 300, you’ve basically seen 300: Rise of an Empire. This time, however, it’s not Greek King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) who is sacrificing everything for Sparta against the evil Persian god-king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) but Greek battle commander Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) sacrificing everything against, yes, Xerxes and the invading Persians. 300: Rise of an Empire basically takes place concurrently with the original 300 movie, where early in the film…Read More