FULL ARTICLE: www.chud.com
By Devin Faraci
Contributing sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Warner Bros

http://chud.com/nextraimages/Butler Santoro on Red Carpet.jpgI’ve been eagerly awaiting Zack Snyder’s take on Frank Miller’s 300 ever since I visited the set in December of 2005 and saw the concept video that he used to sell himself to Warner Bros. I had doubts that this would be as special as everyone was claiming, but that video - which was done fairly cheaply - blew me away. The footage I have seen since has been utterly fucking fantastic, and I curse the events that led me to miss the Los Angeles junket, where I would have seen the movie. People I know who attended came back raving, and Rotten Tomatoes is filling up with positive reviews – including fresh ones from Variety and Hollywood Reporter, not exactly the kinds of places that are going to be overly kind to geek properties.

Now the film has played the Berlin Film Festival, where it received a thunderous standing ovation from the sold out audience of 1700. Your European film festival crowd ain’t the easiest to win over, so I’m excited that Snyder’s visceral vision did just that.

I finally see 300 next week, and I’ll report back to you my own thoughts. I’m not expecting a life changing work of poetic beauty like The Fountain, but I am hoping for a rousing visual experience that’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before – and looking at the reviews pouring in, it looks like I’ll get it.

And our big 300 contest is still going on! Click here to enter!

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www.variety.com

Pic draws crowds at latenight premiere, party
By ED MEZA

The sword and sandal spectacle "300" managed to divide auds into two clearly defined camps following its premiere Wednesday. Enthusiastic fanboys cheered the film while irate detractors took issue with the pic's simplistic view of what they called the complex political relations between the ancient Greek kingdoms and the Persian empire.

"You can either start discussing the historical geo-political accuracies of the film or you can enjoy it purely on an entertainment level simply because it looks cool as all hell," said actor Gerard Butler, responding to critics of the film at Wednesday's press conference.

The comment drew applause and whoops from fans, who generally described the latest retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae as "kick ass."

Pic nevertheless drew packed crowds at its latenight premiere and aftershow party at the Bangaluu nightclub.

Ditching the lonely VIP section upstairs for the more egalitarian dance floor area, Butler and Brazilian co-star Rodrigo Santoro mingled with the crowd, happily chatting with partygoers and journos.