You know what's awesome? Artistic integrity. That's really awesome.

Would that we all had the guts to take as principled a stance as Zack Snyder. Sure you don't know who the hell he is, but I can assure you that he's someone who cares enough about their craft that they're willing to turn down butt-loads of money to avoid having to compromise their creative vision.

Let me wipe this tear from my eye, as I tell you about the great Zack Snyder — director of the latest comic-to-movie, likely-to-be-huge-box-office-draw 'Watchmen'.

Snyder says that no amount of cash will induce him to cheapen his work by agreeing to make any kind of follow-up movie. No 'Watchmen' franchise for this artiste.

"There's no way I would be involved in a sequel or prequel," asserts this upstanding director. "Will they make one? I have no idea how you would. The work is the work. This movie is about ideas." Ideas!

"Anything else you would do, if you did a sequel to it, misses the point entirely of what 'Watchmen' is." Destroys its very raison d'etre!

"To continue is to either rehash the same idea again or you're going to try to fix the characters, which goes against everything the book stands for, or you could pick up new characters. To me, philosophically, it just doesn't make sense." His movie has a philosophy!

It's enough to bring a tear to the eye of the hardest heart.

Until it dawns on you that Zack Snyder is the self-same man who directed... '300'. I mean, the historical accuracy; the total lack of painfully gratuitous soft-focus-ey shots of semi-naked women, and their otherwise total absence from the film; the incredible dedication to plot and substance over flashy post-production visual effects...

Well, I don't think I have to tell you — '300' is basically the 21st Century's 'Citizen Kane'.

One small hitch, though, for Zack's noble commitment not to compromise the spirit of that comicbook... As the flick's leading man points out — he, at least, is kind of legally obliged to get into costume again should the studio execs demand it.

"Contractually, we are obligated," notes 'Watchmen' star Billy Crudup. "I will do it. I just don't know what it is we would do."

But, me — I'm still stuck on '300'. They sure don't come much better than that moving picture. That, surely, is why I exited the cinema after watching it, remarking that I'd never pay to see another film again.

Oh, how my resolve will be tested, though! Yes, gang — it seems that they're going to be making yet another 'High School Music' movie.

Sad news, though — there'll be no Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens in this one, apparently. No, 'High School Musical 4' is reportedly set to star a new generation of clean-cut, wholesome, Disney-discovered teen actors. Though I'm guessing that, this time, the mouse-fronted studio plans not to cast anyone who promptly thrills the entire internet with nude picture of themselves.

And the quality just keeps on coming! Word is that 'The O.C.'s Misha Barton is in talks to star in the remake of 'Melrose Place'.

Clearly, the unmitigated horror that is the new '90210' wasn't enough. Now we get the resuscitation of 'Beverley Hills' D-grade cousin. And, unbelievably, the director lined up to helm what is — at this stage — blessedly a commission for only a single pilot episode, is Davis Guggenheim; the man responsible for Oscar-winning documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth'.