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Reviews
The Big Sleep (1978)
A Worthy Offering ... But ...
Rating this film is a tough go. As a long-time fan of Chandler's stories, I appreciate and watch every film based upon them. Some are stunning; some are not. This one is in-between.
First a word about Robert Mitchum. Watching him in 'Farewell My Lovely' (1975), I had to conclude that of all the portrayals of Philip Marlowe I have seen (by Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, Dick Powell, James Caan, Elliot Gould, Robert Montgomery, George Montgomery, Powers Boothe and several others), Robert Mitchum stands out as the most realistic Philip Marlowe of them all. Shop-worn, hard-bitten but with a kindly and chivalrous streak within; aging but still very vital and with a solid 'authority'(for want of a better term) in the role, Mitchum made as perfect a Philip Marlowe as has ever graced the screen - in 'Farewell My Lovely'.
Unfortunately, in this film he probably won't impress you in this way but that is not his fault; it's the screenwriter's. Sadly, it was decided, for whatever reason, to transplant the story to England; a transplant that doesn't work very well. The gritty world in which Marlowe lives is not a very good fit for the English countryside and the locales and characters lack the film-noir geist that Chandler's world evokes: the crazy mixture of glitz and sleaze, glamour and grittiness that was post-prohibition Los Angeles.
Nonetheless, this film has a number of redeeming qualities; the acting is quite good, the plot adheres to Chandler's story much more closely than the Bogart/Bacall version and the scenes, cinematography and direction are competent and entertaining.
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
A Pointless, Overdone Gore-fest
Seldom have I seen a film in which authenticity and storyline were so completely sacrificed for the sake of eye-candy. It's as if someone heavily into badly-written graphic novels and the goriest of video-games had decided to make a film using the same values and ethics.
It's a shame, as the Athenian struggle for individual freedom and democracy and the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis have served as the matter of legend (and military history) for over 2,000 years and are the stuff of which truly classic films could be made. Unfortunately, this film eschews all such values and relies on almost nothing except overdone computer graphics, overdone spurting blood, an almost pathological over-use of slo-mo and overblown, hackneyed dialogue to convey ... what?
If you're attracted to such video games as the 'God of War' series (or even 'Afro Samurai') and like CGI so obvious that you are never able to suspend disbelief, this film is totally for you.
If you're anyone else, stay away.