Reel to Reel

The new epic &#8220300” isn’t the most mentally challenging film ever, but boy is it a lot of fun.

This adaptation of a graphic novel by Frank Miller (the man behind &#8220Sin City”) is an orgy of blood, full of spectacular visuals that give the film a true comic book feel.

&#8220300” tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) is intent on leading his Spartans against the Persian empire, with hopes of thwarting the Persians’ plans to take control of his country.

The king is unable to get the approval of the high council, so he takes 300 of his finest soldiers into what is essentially a suicide mission, hoping to buy enough time to get his wife (Lena Headey) to persuade the council to join Leonidas in his fight against Persia.

The political story has drawn attention in some circles as being a masked form of pro-George W. Bush propaganda (which is utter hogwash). The fact of the matter is, the plot proves irrelevant – the main attraction is the stylized violence during the many battle sequences.

Director Zack Snyder, who did the entertaining remake of &#8220Dawn of the Dead,” stages one breathtaking sequence after another, and never lets silly obstacles like a plot get in the way.

The acting is pretty good for a film that could have probably gotten away with a completely computer-generated cast. Butler seems to be channeling Brian Blessed’s performance as Lord Vultan, the leader of the hawk men from &#8220Flash Gordon” – really sinking his teeth into a character that is so over the top, it practically leaps off the screen. Headey has the perfect balance of smarts and sexiness that makes her performance impressive as well.

&#8220300” isn’t up to the same level as &#8220Sin City,” but it is still quite entertaining. Fans of blood, gore and comic book violence won’t be disappointed.

DVD dandy of the week

This week’s dandy is &#8220Shortbus” (B), writer/director John Cameron Mitchell’s follow-up to his 2001 cult favorite &#8220Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

Like the previous film, &#8220Shortbus” is a rather frank, yet original look at sexuality – this time through the eyes of six New Yorkers.

The main focus of the story is Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee), a couples counselor who is having problems in her own marriage with Rob (Raphael Barker) – mainly due to the fact that Sofia feels guilty because she has never experienced an orgasm.

Sofia thinks she may have found the answer to her problems in two of her patients – Jamie (PJ DeBoy) and James (Paul Dawson), a gay couple who have been monogamous for five years and feel like the passion is gone.

Jamie and James introduce Sofia to an underground club named Shortbus, infamous for its blend of music, art, politics and sexuality. While at the club, Sofia meets several new people, including a dominatrix named Severin (Lindsay Beamish), who help Sofia discover that her marital problems may not be that bad after all.

I am a huge fan of &#8220Hedwig,” so I was eager to see what Mitchell would do for an encore. While this film isn’t at its predecessor’s level, it is still an original and challenging feature that proves Mitchell is a filmmaker capable of taking risks, yet rewarding his audiences.

Mitchell hired a cast of amateurs and unknowns, mainly due to the fact that the actors are required to do explicit sex scenes (I stress again, this is not a film you can watch with the family, it is VERY adult). But in making this decision, Mitchell actually added an authenticity to his material that really makes it a sweet postcard, full of surprisingly sharp humor, that shows a side of New York rarely seen on film.

&#8220Shortbus” is not rated – but would have definitely received an NC-17 due to graphic and explicit sex and strong language – and is now available on DVD.