Spartacus: Blood and Sand

About two months ago I was surfing trough the web and found the show Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The trailer clearly gave the impression that it was a 300 rip-off but boy was I happy that it wasn't true. Don't get me wrong, 300 is a fun movie but I don't see it as a series where each episode is just "THIS IS *insert a random name* " and then bloodshed follows.
After watching the first episode I was really impressed.
The story centers around a warrior that is called by his Roman name Spartacus. He was imprisoned during a military campaign led by the Romans and was separated from his wife. Now he is a slave that was made into a gladiator and the only thing that keeps him fighting is that one day he gets to be reunited with his wife.

The characters have style making each of them unique. Spartacus as a fallen hero, Crixus as his arch-nemesis brother by slavery, Batiatus with his cruel and yet rewarding management of gladiators.
One actress that many of you will notice is Lucy Lawless and she plays the role of Lucretia, Batiatus's wife that has her fingers in the female side of politics. Not only is she a superb actor but is also great eye candy.
The scenery is beautiful. It is obvious that it's not real but it's made with a great blend of retro and modern art. Movies from the 60s and 70s usually had scenery that was skillfully painted but in Spartacus the scenery is modified with CGI.
The series is controversial for it's nude and sometimes soft core scenes. The producers state that they wanted to make a more authentic series however some viewers disagreed on the authentic part.
The effects of the series are superb and overdone, especially the fighting scenes, which usually involve unnatural streaks of blood gushing from severed limbs.

As a fan of Rome and Gladiator, I am fairly happy with the way the show is being made but also I am happy to not know the story of Spartacus so I can enjoy each episode with it's twists and surprises.

I would give the show a 8/10

If you like political dramas with lots of gore and nudity this show is for you!

Soft Review

Recently, I watched a short movie as part of my journalism studies - a class that focused on reviwing that week, interestingly enough. Unfortunately I couldn't just hand in one of my previous pieces of work, and so this review came about.

Soft is a short film, a medium that is surprisingly underrepresented when it comes to reviews. I haven't seen a lot of short films myself, true, but the few I have seen (such as Paths of Hate, or The Facts in the Case of Mr Hollow) tend to be finely made, with a certain visual flair to leave a lasting impression. Few such movies are over 15 minutes long, and so tend to be far more focused on grabbing the audiences attention. For many directors, a short film is their chance to garner attention and potential backing from financers for a ful length feature.

Soft is fairly typical in this respect - it is an urban drama exploring the issues of bullying and violence in youth. Some reviewers, like Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian Film Blog favourably compare it to A Clockwork Orange. The plot revolves around a father, his son, and the gang of teenagers who harass them. The course of events is almost entirely predictable, starting off with the son being assaulted and fleeing home, before the gang intimidates the father and then besieges the pair of them in their house. That's about it really - it's readily available on Youtube so feel free to check it out for yourselves.

There is a nice variety when it comes to techniques in this movie - camera phone footage is used in key sections, particularily when the gang is dealing out violence, whilst the rest of the film is presented in a typical fashion. To put it simply, there is nothing new or groundbreaking in this film, but it is a well crafted story told in a minimalistic way, and does a LOT with very little.

Made by Simon Ellis, this short movie has won the International Short Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008. Like many short movies, it's readily available on the internet, so do check it out.