Love or loathe the story of Beowulf, this incredibly beautiful version of the classic tale is going to knock your socks off. Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary and director Robert Zemeckis took quite a few liberties with the ancient story in order to make it accessible onscreen, but the basics are all there. Lush, gory, and action-packed, this Beowulf might not make reading the story in English Lit class obsolete, but as sort of a companion piece, it does make the classic tale infinitely more palatable.

Writer-director Zack Snyder set out to faithfully adapt Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 and his slavish devotion to the source material pays off with a visually stunning, innovative epic unlike anything we’ve seen. Aesthetically speaking, 300 is a remarkable piece of art.Snyder’s striking use of color helps to emphasize and enhance the mood of each scene, and the CGI work is fluid and flawless. With surprisingly fleshed out characters and a plot that’s both simple and deep, 300 blends bloody violence, sensuality, brutality, and moments of true beauty into an intoxicatingly unconventional film experience.

(more…)