[b]A full-bore gore, total-immersion and visually thrilling battle experience that's not for the faint hearted[/b] All you sissies and pantywaists, out of the theatre. This means you, Skippy, cowering in the corner with your man purse and your granola bar. The Spartan...

Before leaving Friday evening for a particular movie theater in Orlando, I decided to read one last review of "300," which opens this weekend. It was from CNN, and they didn't like it. "It's not so much the body count or even the bloodlust that's disturbing," CNN's...

From the moments its trailer hit the Internet and theaters, "300" left people gaping at the beauty that could be found in 30 seconds of footage. Graphic novelist Frank Miller, also the mastermind behind "Sin City," divulges the epic tale of historical Battle of...

THREE OUT OF FOUR STARS Frank Miller has retained a modicum of control over how his graphic novels (don’t call them “comic books”) are brought to the screen, whether by holding out for the best offer and participating in the production. “Sin City” (2005) was a...

Go tell the Spartans that their sacrifice was not in vain; their long day's fight under the cooling shade of a million falling arrows safeguarded the West and guaranteed, all these years later, the right of idiots to make rotten movies about them. The story has been...

Film doesn’t have fully rounded characters, but it is a visual spectacle When Rudolph Mate’s epic about the Battle of Thermopylae, “The 300 Spartans,” was released in 1962, it arrived at the tail end of Hollywood’s longest sword-and-sandals cycle. Critics and...

Before there was an Alamo – or an Agincourt, or an Iwo Jima – there was the Battle of Thermopylae, ancient Greece's official entry in the "all-time great last stands" sweepstakes. From a numbers standpoint, it presents a nearly unbeatable scenario: 300 Spartans,...

Blood-spattered ancient Greek epic '300' is a cut above 300 Stylized adaptation of Frank Miller's violent graphic novel about the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae. With Gerard Butler, Lena Headey. Director: Zack Snyder (1:57). R: Graphic battle sequences, sexuality and...

... but I am tempted to bellow the headline just on general principle after seeing the film. It’s sort of infectious, that peculiar brand of hyper-volume bravado that Gerard Butler brings to his role as Leonidas, king of Sparta. This entire movie deserves the prefix...

Technically dazzling Spartan battle saga 300 a visceral feast for the senses Zack Snyder's 300 is an ultra-modern movie about an ancient battle, a vanished culture and a rigorous code of conduct that only an insane man would adopt in contemporary times. That violent...

With lots of gory effects, '300' is a faint-by-numbers tale (2 1/2 STARS) 300 (R). Digital effects, sweaty pectorals and cheesy grandiloquence are welded together for this delirious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which a small, doughty band of...

Mar. 9--Movies like "Letters From Iwo Jima" reflect the contemporary belief that any war movie worth its salt must capture the horror of armed combat. "300," on the other hand, believes it's enough to capture the fun of watching a war movie on Saturday afternoon. Some...

In the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta, boys are taken at age 7 from their families for years of, well, Spartan training, to become warriors of matchless strength and suicidal bravery. King Leonidas hails them as a breed apart from those wimpy "philosophers and boy...

{FACTBOX} Movie review "300" Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West Director: Zack Snyder Running time: 117 minutes Rating: R; graphic violence, nudity, sexuality *** 1/2 **** Excellent *** Good ** Average * Poor In the cinema, there have always been...

RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) 300: Action drama. Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey and Dominic West. Directed by Zack Snyder. (R. 117 minutes. At Bay Area theaters. See complete movie listings and show times, and buy tickets for select theaters, at sfgate.com/movies.)...

Neither history nor cinema is especially well served by "300," which is, nonetheless, a remarkable intersection of technology and imagination. The battle at Thermopylae in 480 B.C., a suicidal last stand by an army of Spartans and Thespians estimated at about 5,000,...

Zack Snyder raises Frank Miller's brutalist comic-book aesthetic to a bloody new level. Also: The attack of 'The Host.' Robert Rodriguez's "Sin City" was an eye-frying accomplishment — the movie lifted Frank Miller's stark noir fantasy world straight off the...