Prepare for glory

After a number of disappointing trips to the Cineplex--the latest being the shameful waste of time and money that is Ghost Rider--300 delivers on the promise of its enticing advertising and marketing.

I admit I went in with high hopes, despite myself. But, when the theatre brightened, after the end credits rolled, I sat in my seat thoroughly wowed. 300 paints a gorgeous canvas and conjures a thrilling and satisfying adventure. Most of all, it captures the exhilaration of reading Frank Miller’s graphic masterpiece on which it’s based. Not let that sway you from seeing this film. You don’t have to be a Miller fan or have read the source material (or looked at its cinematically drawn panels) to enjoy this celluloid excursion.

We’ve seen before filmmakers push the boundaries of actors-against-green/blue screen creations, manufacturing the hyper-reality pseudo-photo world of comics in CGI. 300 owes much to Tron, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and last year’s Sin City (Miller’s other triumph). Like those films, 300 foregoes settings on location with its actors in real environments, instead it digitally heightens performances for dramatic effect and inserts backgrounds, landscapes, and its blood and mayhem.

What 300 surpasses in accomplishing is not only to render Frank Miller’s artistry in motion effectively, but also to reinvent classical mythic storytelling as few films have achieved. It’s played with all the force and verbosity of a Greek tragedy, sumptuous and imaginative with both its digital and practice production design, cast with actor who not only look the part but also can act, and does not shy away from the blood and carnage a against-all-odds movie like this must have.

Curious about critics’ reviews, I checked out Yahoo! Movies’ 300 webpage. Needless to say, the number of negative and mixed critiques disappointed. Many critics acknowledge the visual mastery of 300 but condemn its characters as underdeveloped and its tone as over-the-top and stilted. They rail against the testosterone portrait of the Spartan ethos.

These critics miss the point that it’s a mythic story (actually, one of the great literary archetypes) of legendary larger-than-life heroes. Though based on actual events, at its core 300 is a morality play about loyalty, sacrifice and defiance when freedoms are threatened. It is not history. It is the stuff that inspires others to shape history. It’s the campfire story told on film—and if you see the movie, the filmmakers demonstrate this point literally.

Critics and their opinions aside, I believe generations to came will be watching 300 and filmmakers will be forever attempting to recreate it.

300
Directed by	Zack Snyder
Produced by	Gianni Nunnari Mark Canton Bernie Goldmann Jeffrey Silver
Written by	Screenplay: Zack Snyder Kurt Johnstad Comic Book: Frank Miller
Starring	Gerard Butler Lena Headey David Wenham Dominic West Rodrigo Santoro Andrew Tiernan
Music by	Tyler Bates
Cinematography	Larry Fong
Editing by	William Hoy
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 8, 2007 March 9, 2007 March 22, 2007 March 23, 2007
Running time	117 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65 million
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

iwNEWS: 'HEROES' at WIZARD WORLD LA

In Los Angeles? You don't want to miss Wizard World LA at the Los Angeles Convention Center, March 16-18.

Heroes Q&A – Learn the secrets behind creating NBC’s highest rated new series Heroes.

Join a Q&A with creator Tim Kring, comic book artist Tim Sale, and writers Jeph Loeb, Jesse Alexander, Natalie Chaidez, Michael Green, Bryan Fuller, Adam Armus, Kay Foster, Aron Coleite, Joe Pokaski and Chuck Kim. Heroes chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities.

Saturday, March 17th 11:00-11:45 AM Dave Cockrum Room - Room 515A

Other highlights:

• Randy Bowen to be guest at Wizard World LA, Bowen Designs to offer new Archangel mini-bust...


• KISS Creates Comicbook Company -Rock group rolls on shingle by Phil Gallo


• Wizard World Texas Film Festival winner shown in front of select group including cast and crew in downtown L.A.


• Randy Bowen, Greg Horn and more added to the WWLA guest page!


• WizKids releases images Fin Fang Foom, newest character to join the HeroClix stable, to go on sale at Wizard World LA this summer!


• Tyler Kirkham Darkness 2 Advance Ticket Exclusive added to the WWLA exclusives page!

Los Angeles Convention Center
March 16-18

• Friday: 12pm -7pm


• Saturday: 10am - 6pm


• Sunday: 11am - 5pm

iwNEWS: Who is Canada's Top Web Comic Creator?

The Joe Shuster Awards announced the creation of a new honor.

The inaugural Outstanding Canadian Web Comic Creator Award will be handed out during ceremonies on Saturday, June 9, 2007 in conjunction with the Paradise Toronto Comicon.

For the purpose of the 2006 Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards web comics are defined as follows: Web comics, also known as online comics and webcomics, are comics that are available on the Internet. They do not have to be exclusively published online, they may be published in print but must maintain a web archive for either commercial or artistic reasons and they need to have been published on the web first, before any other medium. Web comics encompass the stratum of traditional print comic book formats, tiered comic strip pages and longer form graphic novels. Also included are formats such as horizontal web comic pages, vertical layout formats, irregularly formatted pages with horizontal and/or vertical scrolling and infinite canvas' but does not include multi-media presentations, motion graphics or flash animations. Mediums used can be traditionally drawn art, photographs, 3D Art, digital images, pixel art, clip art, found art and other conceptual web comics.

ImagineFX Issue 15

Hoang Nguyen’s cover image is one of the magazine’s most beautiful yet. As this issue’s Master of Art, he offers insight on how he creates his stunning images. Nguyen paints a simple composition with stunning results

Also, there’s a free book all about Corel Painter X with this issue. Grab one now to find out all about Painter X’s latest features, follow the workshops of Andrew Jones, Jonny Duddle and Philip Straub and marvel at the Painter art of Ryan Church, Dan Milligan, Marta Dahlig and more.


Top Ten heavy metal album covers
ImagineFX’s pick of the best album covers from the world of rock!

Artist profile
Videogame artist Mikko Kinnunen reveals how he strikes a balance between work and play

Artist Q&A
The world’s leading digital artists answer your artistic and technical questions.

Workshops

• Tae Young Choi shows you how to bring your artwork to life


• Patrick Reilly dishes out 25 essential custom brush tips for Photoshop


• Paul Gerrard shows you how to enhance your images with textures.
• 
  
• Joao Ruas guides you through drawing a fantasy city landscape.

On the DVD

• Exclusive Painter X demo


• Structure of Man videos


• Virtual Pose QTVR


• JP Targete video


• ImagineFX issue 2


• The latest software demos