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07 / 12 / 2008
Fantasy Rally: The final Fantasy Rally results are in - we have a winner! See how your team fared or see the Rally GB results.

05 / 11 / 2008
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23 / 10 / 2008
Review: Simon Pegg learns How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

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12 / 10 / 2008
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Pathology.

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31 / 07 / 2008
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09 / 07 / 2008
Review: A quick catchup of movies that don't get the full treatment:
Be Kind Rewind,
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Superhero Movie,
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Review: Bend that bullet Angelina! Wanted.

01 / 07 / 2008
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24 / 06 / 2008
Review: Don't make Ed Norton angry - The Incredible Hulk.

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11 / 06 / 2008
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04 / 06 / 2008
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04 / 06 / 2008
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18 / 05 / 2008
Review: CGI fantasy motor racing in Speed Racer.

18 / 05 / 2008
Review: Your creases will fly away with Iron Man.

18 / 08 / 2005
Sudoku! Have a go at the online Sudoku game.

Plenty more
See the rest of the reviews here.

300

Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro. Written and directed by Zack Snyder, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel. Story: 300 Spartans take on millions of Persians. Running Time: 1hr 57 minutes. UK Certificate 15.

Swords and sandals, blood and guts. Spartans are brave, but they're also nuts.

300 is the violent story of the Persian invasion of Greece, where 300 Spartan warriors stood against millions of Xerxes' finest. Unashamedly graphic and heavily aesthetic, it succeeds as a powerful movie despite being largely implausible.

300's trump card is its visuals. Filmed with a harsh shadowy lustre, its fraternity with Frank Miller's other adapted graphic novel Sin City is obvious. Computer graphics provide the freedom to show spears impaling soldiers, limb dismemberment and decapitations in full slo-mo detail, with impossibly big opponents, both man and beast, completing the comic-book feel.

It must be difficult to pitch an acting performance before seeing the final look, but these chaps do it splendidly. Gerard Butler plays a deliciously snarling (if mysteriously Scottish) King Leonidas, with quality support from his captain Vincent Regan. Lena Headey (The Parole Officer, Brothers Grimm) struggles to maintain the screen presence that the mighty warriors muster, but that's hardly surprising since the movie centres around them. Look beyond the wonderful cinematography and there's precious little behind it - and then you start to notice the little niggles: why does everyone have perfect teeth? Why did the Persians turn up at precisely the place the Spartans planned to fight them, and at that exact moment? But you have to ignore all that - it's all about the look and it gets that part spot on.

300 isn't really that good when you get down to it - however the visual character of the movie is so strong that it manages to pull it along on its own. Worth checking out if you're not interested in the historical accuracy.

I enjoyed this film: 4/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 3/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 5/5 - 300 has testosterone positively dripping from it, as well as two sets of boobs (one of which is Lena Headey's).

To enjoy this film you should be: impressed by looks and not a historian.