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Sin City

Slicksuit

One of the Regulars
Messages
239
Location
Suburban Detroit, Michigan
I haven't seen it myself, but I intend to. The unaminous opinion among all that I've asked who saw it is that it's great - good screenplay as well as stunning visuals. The reviews from the press have been positive too.
 

The_Edge

One of the Regulars
Messages
224
Location
WA USA
Yeah, I saw it Friday. Loved it! It is brilliantly composed. At first the design is distracting but after just a few minutes you're completely emersed in the film. And make no mistake, this is a violent and bloody film. No reputable characters what-so-ever. That doesn't keep me from appreciating it as art though.
 

MK

Founder
Staff member
Bartender
.

I am torn. I love the look . That is my main attraction to the film...which is very unusual for a CGI film. That is normally a turn-off....but this not only a comic book movie...it is a modern take on film noir. Like those made in the golden era, there is plenty of sex and violenc.....but this might be way over the line. The pulp in the classics drove the story. Also a movie that has no relatable character loses me. We will see.
 

IndianaGuybrush

One of the Regulars
Messages
232
OK, I've seen it as well and the one thing I know from both seeing it and being a member here is that some people are going to love this movie and some are going to really hate it. I'll explain.

The film borrows very heavily from our beloved film noir style. The composition and dialogue are especially heavy with noir influence, and the entire film is in black and white, with color thrown in for effect every once in awhile. Overall it's a stunning film visually, no matter what you think of the rest of it. Think Sky Captain but done in seedy black and white the whole time and set in the trashy depths of Basin (Sin) City.

The film is narrated throughout. Sometimes this means voice-overs, and sometimes this means characters just talking to themselves outright. Personally, I love this effect. I really hate it when I go to see a movie adaptation of a story largely narrated in the first person and the director/writer has come up with a number of ways to try to get the same information across without actually having to narrate the story: added dialoge, added characters, added scenes. In my mind they usually detract and confuse the story rather than clarify. There is none of that in Sin City. In fact, the dialogue, with very few exceptions, is cut-and-pasted directly from the text of the graphic novel.

The movie is incredibly faithful to the graphic novels it was spawned from. In fact, in addition to the dialogue being a direct copy, the scene composition is taken directly as well. There are movie stills that could be held up to the comic panels and appear almost identical. The casting is also excellent.

Now we come to what I believe to be the part that will separate the fans from the critics. The movie is incredibly violent. While the style may be borrowed from noir, the subject matter is all modern, and in some ways futuristic. Prostitution, murder, torture, cannabalism, and a good deal of sex thrown in for good measure. This film is GRITTY, sometimes outright dirty. It is set in a hellhole of a place, a city gone wrong, run in an uneasy truce by the mob, the cops, and the prostitutes. To borrow from the dialogue 'walk down the right back alley in Sin City, you can find about just anything'.

Above is my attempt an an impartial review. As for my opinion of the movie: I loved it. But then, I loved the graphic novels, and these movies, as I stated above, are as close as you can get to the graphic novels on film. In a few ways if falls just short of the mark, in MANY it hits the mark right on target, and in a few it surpasses the original. I've got a feeling that this a movie that will offend quite a few people here, particularly those who are senstive to graphic violence and sex. My advice to those of you who are not sure you want to see this movie: Go into a Barnes and Nobles and find a copy of the first Sin City graphic novel. It's called "The Hard Goodbye" (Marlowe fans will recognize quite a few references like that). Sit down and read the first 10 pages or so. it's a graphic novel, which means it reads quickly, and a graphic novel, which means that it contains a lot of nudity and violence. If you hate what you see, save your $10 and don't see the movie, as you'll be seeing nothing new, other than the stunning visual effects. If you like what you see, do yourself a favor and buy books 1,3, and 4, which are the books the movie is based on, and read them. They should take less than an hour each and they'll make the anticipation of seeing your favorite moments from the book brought to the screen that much sweeter.

Sin City: In my mind a triumph of a film in nearly all ways, but definitely not for everybody.

EDIT : MK was posting while I wrote this so I just saw his post. The characters, in my mind, are incredible. As for their being no characters you can relate to, obviously this changes from person to person, but there are definite "good guys" in the movie... well, one good guy for sure, and a few "pretty good guys" :p
 

Ken

A-List Customer
Messages
308
Location
Scotland, UK
All these reviews have me REALLY excited - I saw the trailer and instantly was desperate to see this film. Violence... I am ok with it if its justified and even if not I can overlook it. The Kill Bill films had a lot of violence but it kinda worked with the rest of the film and didnt spoil the genius.

Ken
 

PrettyBigGuy

A-List Customer
Messages
367
Location
Elgin, IL
I have to agree with Guybrush. I have been a fan of the Sin City books for years. The style of the writing and art is so unlike other comics that I was instantly hooked. I've been waiting for this film for a long time and I'm satisfied by the final result. This is by far the most accurate frame for frame adaptation of a comic book ever made into film and fans of the comics are going to LOVE it.
Definately check out the books @ the bookstore first. There is a lot of subject matter in the film that will offend and maybe outrage some of the folks around here with more delicate sensibilities. They did remove a lot of the nudity that was in the comics (both male and female) but some of the subjects like cannibalism, corrupt clergy, corrupt cops, pedafilia (sp), prostitution and torture are all present. It is also extremely violent, so if this not your style, I'd say stay away. It's done in a very stylized way, but still very graphic. This ain't no Bogart Noir film, that's for sure.
MK, I know you pretty well, and I can say with confidence that you probally won't like this film. This isn't any kind of noir you are used to.
PBG
 

android

One of the Regulars
Messages
255
We went to the Austin premiere on Thursday night. Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller were there.

One questions they got was about whether they had any trouble with the MPAA rating. Surprisingly, they got an R rating on the first submission which is what we are seeing. The violence is very stylized and in black and white. The *idea* of what you're seeing is far worse than what you actually see *on the screen* most of the time.

There's actually not that much actual sex other than a brief scene at the beginning. There are a lot of scantily clad and topless women, most of them heavily armed and very dangerous.

And the black and white is like none you've seen before It is quite literally black and white like the pen and ink drawings. The contrast is pushed to the edge. Very little soft or medium grays. The Paramount had a DLP projector for the night and the presentation was spectacular.

The CGI backgrounds ended up being far better than than the renderings they had shown in the previews. The best way I can describe it is obviously not real, but not digital or fake looking either.

Frank Miller said the guiding principle was "when it doubt, black it out." Apparently that's what he does in his drawing. He'll sketch it all in pencil with all kinds of detail and then when he inks it, he just keeps inking until he likes it.

If you're squeamish or overly moralistic, I wouldn't recommend it. If you liked stuff like Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction, it'll be right up your alley.
 

The Wingnut

One Too Many
Messages
1,711
Location
.
Saw it tonight.

I walked in blind. No reviews, just saw the poster on the wall and had heard some buzz here and there. Just happened to be wearing slacks, a satin-stripe collared shirt, one of my best ties, my MacLachlan fedora, my best wingtips and my newly acquired Christian Dior Bogie trenchcoat. I settled in for what I knew would be something that would push some wrong buttons, but I'd probably enjoy anyway. I figured I'd be seeing an action drama, another Die Hard, or Pulp Fiction...I didn't expect a full-blown modern take on noir, or a faithful screen adaptation of a graphic novel.

I'm the kind of guy that goes into an R-rated movie expecting a lot of filth. I wasn't disappointed by Sin City in that regard. Violence, I can handle. A lot of Sin City's violence is exactly what you'd expect in a comic book...the impossible, unlikely, campy, overdone. You look at it and laugh...I found myself reacting at the absurdity of the violence with laughter far more than I'd care to admit. Some of it was downright predictable, and I took great pleasure in miming exactly what I figured would happen next and seeing it played out immediately. People watching me (how could they miss a guy that looks like Sam Spade incarnate, slumping in his overcoat, fedora perched on his knee?) must have thought I'd seen the movie a few times and was some cosplaying fanboy.

The balance of the violence, however, scratches that itch to see the bad guys get what's coming to them. Marv's internal dialouge while giving a couple of wiseguy hitmen their just dessert is classic noir. While pumping them (with lead) for information, he is calmly thinking of what scum they are and how they deserve every punch, every bullet, every jaw-and-nose shattering smash of their faces into the brick walls of the alley they're in. And of course, the scene fades to black as Marv lets the guy he's just shot in the gut and chest know that now he's going to get really nasty. Of all the characters, you have to love Marv for his flippant, smooth-as-glass reaction to some hairy situations. Swat team pounding at the door? "Be right out." *SMASH...* Out he comes.

There's dialouge you thank Frank Miller for...Dwight feeling bad that he might have to take out what is just an honest cop doing his job, regretting even doing something that catches the eye of the law at all. Among all of the gratuitous filth, antiheros, underdogs, and tragic everymans, there's the admission that the 'good guys' are still there in traditional form, and they don't deserve a spraying of lead in a 'kill 'em all, they're wearing badges' angst-ridden fit of anti-establishment propagandic slayings.

The sex is...pointless. Gratuitous. Unnecessary...but tell Hollywood that and they'll laugh in your face, if not spit. For noir, sex is a staple. For Hollywood, if sex is a staple in a genre, they're weilding a pneumatic staple gun, and a script is a roof begging for shingles. I expected it, even asked how much there was...the reports shouldn't have been trusted, there was far more than I was comfortable with. Bare-breasted women do little for a film other than destroy its credibility, assuming it had any to begin with. In an age where punching 'boobs' into a search engine will turn up all the bare breasts you could possibly want(but never have), why throw it into movie theaters nationwide, where it's not specifically solicited? It sells...moths to a flame. Titillation attracts buyers.

There are three main stories, three characters to identify with:

The tragic everyman Hartigan played by Bruce Willis, a hard-boiled cop with scars pointing to a rough past. This is a man that's bent on protecting the innocent, even if it means getting mean, dirty, and even busted up. He'll let his entire life get flushed if it means the innocent remain unscathed. He gets shot to pieces, get up, and keeps driving. Here's a guy that anyone would be glad to have as their protector.

The underdog antihero played by Clive Owen, a man with a hidden bloody past who in vain is still trying to hide. Trouble likes him. It likes his girlfriend, it likes his ex-girlfriend, it follows him around, gives him fits of schizophrenia. He's cunning, cautious, and even fearful. It doesn't keep him from protecting those he cares about, however, and the fight against a corrupt cop explodes into an all-out war for a slum section of the city.

Mickey Rourke's Marv, a face that looks as if it was carved by Easter Island's architects, a body built like a tree trunk that seems to take every imaginable abuse and keep going, miraculously healing in short order with nothing more than the application of surgical tape. Marv is the sledgehammer driving upholstery tacks; a guy that seems to enjoy jumping through windows, open or not, the unstoppable force heading for the immovable object. Glib, flippant, strangley calm, Marv is full of one-liners, volatile reactions that are precluded with straight-shooting prophecies of the immediate future, often delivered with a masochistic smile. Marv connects.

Sin City is everything that people hate in modern movies, and it's everything we love about the golden era of film.

You've been warned.
 

MK

Founder
Staff member
Bartender
.

...hhhhhmmmm......my take is a bit different .

I think Sin City has an amazing cinematic look. Very new and different. It will be celebrated in the same way as The Matrix for it's stylistic approach. It is the best effort to date to bring a comic book to life.

Having said that, I have no desire to see it again. I walked away numb. No feeling for the characters. I winched (sp?) a few times.....you do that when someone's genitals get ripped off....but I didn't care about anybody. I felt the character development was extremely shallow.
 

android

One of the Regulars
Messages
255
Do you equate gratuitous nudity with sex?

Some of the comments on this board and others said this movie had a lot of sex.

In my opinion, the only "sex" scene is the one at the very beginning with Marv and Goldie which is very short.

All the rest is just gratuitious nudity. Sure, it's all sleazy, but I think there is a distinction.

So what do you consider to be "sex" in a movie?
 

MK

Founder
Staff member
Bartender
MK review part II

I am posting from my PDA and for some reason it won't let me post lengthy messages.

part II

Also trying to have Marv as a goodguy didn't work for me. He really wasn't very different than the evil bad guys. I think just hit. There is no contrast in the story. There are no up moments. Women are either hookers or strippers. They are all tramps. There is not a decent gal in the bunch. Bruce's character is a goodguy. He is burnt out cop who is putting his life on the line to stop a child molester and save the life of a little girl.....who grows up to be a stripper (of course)

Even though he is good cop....I don't feel much for him. I cared a lot more for John McCain.

I really hope they keep kids away from this movie. This adds gasoline to the fire in regards to kids, violence , video games and not associating those being killed as real, feeling people.
 

Matt Deckard

Man of Action
Messages
10,045
Location
A devout capitalist in Los Angeles CA.
What are you talking about, all the women had hearts of gold. I didn't see one bad girl in the bunch. Only the men were heavies.

I thought it was a bad transfer from a graphic novel to the big screen. It was no movie. If they were going to do what they did they should have aired it on TV. It was very empty.

Sort of like the Ned Beatty version of our town where it looked like a dismantled play with half sets put onto a screen. Why not go all the way and make it into a real movie.
 

ITG

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,483
Location
Dallas/Fort Worth (TEXAS)
MK said:
The problem is the DVD will come out and kids WILL see it. It makes me sad just thinking about that.

Then there is the total disrespect for God.....don't get me started on that........
For that, I can tell ya now, I don't wanna throw my money to the movie to see it. Thanks for heads up, MK.

Matt Deckard said:
What are you talking about, all the women had hearts of gold. I didn't see one bad girl in the bunch. Only the men were heavies.
Matt, not sure if you're being sarcastic or not (sometimes hard to tell on the internet), but if you're not kidding, I think someone mentioned all the women were either prostitutes or strippers. Does that mean they are good girls? Sorry, just trying to figure out your quote.
 

flat-top

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,772
Location
Palookaville, NY
I just saw it. Liked it alot........but I wanted to love it. I was exhillarated by it, but still unfulfilled. Sorta like "Sky Captain", (even though they are polar opposites), I felt there was something missing.
flat-top
 

android

One of the Regulars
Messages
255
You've got to realize the premise of the movie. In our daily lives we don't have much adversity. Well, not enough to make a movie about in most case. We have police, politicians and religious leaders that are mostly good people. Our society is capable of dealing with adversity and making the world a safe place for us to go about our daily lives.

In Sin City, it's the other way around. The vast majority of the leadership and the cops are corrupt. That means that if you want to be a "good guy", you've got to do it yourself and you've got to fight the system.

One of the question at the premiere was why is the film so anti-establishment?
Frank declined to answer that one and the picked another question.
 

SappySwami

Familiar Face
Messages
69
Location
San Francisco
I thought this was a great flick, though, I was wincing for about a quarter of it. I'm growing more sensitive to violence (go figure, usually works the other way) but like Wingnut said it was so over the top for the most part that it was like Evil Dead or something, where it's so unreal you can let it slide. And to quote Roger Ebert, the movie "uses nudity like the 70's survived."

I liked the prostitute women the most. :cool: They didn't want the mob, or the cops to be running them, so they run Old Town on their own. I thought they were empowered hookers. Or something.

And as for the disrespecting God, I don't think it was that, as much as supposed Holy Men were also bad guys, because of the massive amount of corruption in Sin City. What's funny is that almost every character wears a crucifix, and Becky, one of the hookers of Old Town, wheres like 30.

I think I enjoyed the movie because I didn't look for characters to relate to. I don't have a problem will all the characters being bad guys and not-as-bad guys, so I didn't feel like I was let down. In fact, I was surprised by Hartigan, Bruce Willis' character, even if he had his own problems. I think I'm going to see it again this weekend.
 

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