Four good movies and one overhyped surefire hit

Several good films have hit theaters over the past few weeks, but they're all getting trounced at the box office by garbage-y looking bigger product like Norbit, Ghost Rider and Wild Hogs.

The Astronaut Farmer is a quirky inspirational drama that deserved a wider audience, while Zodiac and Breach—two adult dramas based on true events—have performed a little better but are still posting only modest grosses.

Black Snake Moan faced the double dishonor of undeservedly harsh reviews and a poor opening weekend. I think audiences would be pleasantly surprised if only they'd give the woman-in-chains drama a chance. Samuel L. Jackson's performance is worthy of an Oscar nomination (not that it will ever come).

But this weekend's #1 movie will obviously be 300, which is at least a step up in quality from the rest of the year's box office chart toppers. The graphic novel adaptation has generated a lot of buzz, especially online, for the heavily CGI visuals used to tell the story of the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartan warriors held off considerably more Persian adversaries.

I originally saw 300 before any of the films mentioned above and at the time I was really hoping for the year's first good film. Director Zack Snyder previously did an unexpectedly great job with the Dawn of the Dead remake and advance footage looked promising.

But 300 is too flawed to even be called good, let alone great. Pitiful dialogue, underscored by obnoxious voiceover, and a horribly misguided politically driven subplot are just two of the problems. Even more troubling is how seriously this campy action spectacle ultimately takes itself. It aspires to the faux-heroic inspirational vibe of Gladiator and Braveheart, which adds an unwelcome pretentiousness that defeats the movie's guiltier pleasures.

There's definitely fun to be had in many of the battle scenes with their over-the-top visuals and Snyder clearly enjoys bringing some of comic book legend Frank Miller's more outlandish images to the screen—I still have no idea how that's actually Rodrigo Santoro (the new guy on Lost/Laura Linney's Love Actually love interest) as ten foot tall Persian king, and self made god, Xerxes.

Gerard Butler also makes for a great leading man as Spartan King Leonidas, bringing the right amounts of humor and charisma to the role. Unfortunately, he's alone in that.

I'm still cautiously optimistic about Zack Snyder's future, but hopefully next time he'll direct a better screenplay and only take the story as seriously as it deserves.