Warner Bros.’ 300, opening March 9, and it looks to be a solid earner. Apart from producer Mark Canton’s amusingly blunt introduction of the movie as “fucking awesome,” and the generally enthusiastic reception of the young, hoodie-sporting masses which rounded out the audience (apparently having redeemed some Mountain Dew bottlecap points or something for admittance), what was most notable about the movie was its mesmeric visual scheme. It’s a storybook come to life — the type of thing that exists in adolescent daydreams.

Comic book fans will go ga-ga over its faithfulness to Frank Miller’s source material, but the film is a straight-ahead butt-kicker through and through, and will likely ring up the sort of audience that 20th Century Fox wished it had pulled in with Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, an international hit to the tune of $164 million but a Stateside sputterer at $47 million. 300 skews young, in other words, but its rootedness in air-quote history — it’s based on the infamous story of Sparta’s 480 B.C. defense against an overwhelming Persian invasion — gives it inroads with hipper urban audiences for whom the History Channel represents consistently worthy edu-tainment. Between V for Vendetta and this, Warner Bros. is proving a most welcome and efficient home for artistically-toned graphic novel adaptations.

Also, a happy birthday shout-out to Amber Valletta, who turns 33 today. Amber, even as an ex-model, you were entirely credible as the object of Kevin James’ affection in Hitch, so much so that one is actually borderline-intrigued with regards to your participation in Saw helmer James Wan’s next picture, Dead Silence.