Sin City

[Myxo]

The car scenes were getting to me. When that one flips...fake, fake, fake. I couldn't buy a lot of it. It seems like a movie with so much atmosphere would benefit from being grounded, but it's too loose and digital. Dunno, as has been said, maybe this will benefit from style. I just want some damn atmosphere.

As long as the cinematography serves the story I'm fine with the entire movie shot on a green screen. Movies like "Sky Captain.." with average stories and great CGI end up on the "two for $20" DVD rack at your local video store a year from now. I'm sure Sin City will have both. It sounds like Rodriguez and Miller as a team are set to release something really special.

[metroshane]

I for one am chomping at the bit.  I mean after all, if I'm going to sit around and complain that there's nothing new or even good coming out of "hollywood"...then I'm not going to bury it before it's even born.  

I like the idea of these guys pushing the limits like this.

[modage]

HILARIOUSLY OVER THE TOP!  RIDICULOUSLY VIOLENT!  UNBELIEVABLY NOT BAD!

So i saw Sin City tonight.  Anyone expecting this to actually rule, drop those expectations right now.  It doesn't.  Going into the movie i had very mixed feelings because I wanted it to rule so badly even though my rational mind (and Rodriguez recent work) told me that it probably wouldn't.  The cast ruled.  The LOOK RULED.  The trailer ruled.  BUT Rodriguez last few films for me, (namely Spy Kids 2 and Once Upon A Time In Mexico), have been disastrous and near unwatchable.  (Or at least re-watchable.)  So I approached it with cautious excitement and optimism.  The movie started and very quickly was just SO over the top in the dialogue and the action and everything that i started to get a little bummed out that it clearly wasn't going to be very good.  But somewhere along the way, i had a reversal and just ended up enjoying the hell out of it.  I mean, its SO RIDICULOUS and SO OVER THE TOP.  And the violence, oh the violence you wouldn't believe.  

Though i have seen a lot of the artwork I'm not too familiar with the comic so, i had no idea what to expect.  Probably even if i had i still would've had no idea they would actually included all the stuff they actually put in this movie.  I can now see why they are throwing around Tarantino's guest credit as largely as they are.  Because those movies were still weird as hell but people still saw them.  This will require a similar patience from 'average moviegoers' in regards to their tolerance for certain things.  I mean it's comic-booky, i guess but it still gets pretty disgusting. And there is SO much of it.  Just sick depraved violence wall to wall. Kill bill was like a Saturday morning cartoon compared to this. SPOILERS there are more decapitations and decapitated heads in this movie i think than any movie I've ever seen. END SPOILERS  

Judging by this footage, it will be good and fanboys will eat it up, but it won't be great: a near perfect replication of the comics, but therein lies the problem. Oh well, I'm still excited as hell.

Exactly.  It is a comic book, and you can tell.  But that's why comic books are comic books and movies are movies.  They're different mediums and storytelling that can work for one does not necessarily work for the other.  I do however give them credit for trying, though.  On the one hand, after seeing the movie i can now envision a version of this movie done very conventionally in a new noir-ish way with things more grounded in reality and the structure being more traditional.  And that probably would've been a better film, but that wouldn't be the comic book.  And this, as Rodriguez has said himself is not an adaptation, it's a translation.  So you almost have to give them credit for doing things their own way without giving a fuck as to how movies are supposed to be.  Maybe the formulas is tired, and maybe this is what is new.  Rodriguez here is still in his hyperactive mode, though it's much better than his last few efforts (though admittedly i didn't see the 3rd Spy Kids).  Whereas FDTD and Desperado and The Faculty can function as 'real' (read: somewhat normal) movies, these last few have been clearly made by someone with ADD hopped up on soda pop.  But in this movies weird ass way, it ends up not being too bad a fit.  

There is a lot of voiceover, almost wall to wall, which is odd especially coming from 3 different characters.  It can be hilarious, possibly unintentionally due to the extreme hard-boiledness of many of the characters but when it works it works well and I cant imagine them having tried to tell these stories without it.  My only real complaint about the film other than its unwillingness to play by the rules and make something that actually resembles a 'movie', is that i expected them to interweave the plots of the stories, possibly cutting back and forth between them or at least having them intertwine more like pulp fiction.  But it's more like an anthology of 3 or 4 almost unrelated tales that sort of end and the next one begin.  Not to jump on the CO bandwagon, but i think Clive Owens voiceover and acting seemed the most natural though Rourke and Willis were also pretty good. Actually surprisingly everyone in the film was pretty good, with the unusual exception of Michael Madsen who seemed bored and Rosario Dawson who went even more over-the-top than most of the other actors.  

The movie, like the trailer LOOKS awesome.  Just gorgeously, unbelievably cool.  So if for nothing else, things like this and sky captain have opened up the doors to trying different things.  But unfortunately like sky captain, neither director has matched his storytelling ambition with that of the look of the film.  

It's the kind of movie Harry Knowles will rave about loving in a week or two but not end up anywhere on his Best of the Year list.  It's a guilty pleasure not a movie that is bona fide great that I can get behind recommending to everyone.  So on the one hand if someone said this movie was a piece of shit then i might not be able to argue with them, but that didn't stop me from really having a good time.   So, i think i will actually go see this again.  It's kind of ridiculously over the top, but maybe that's good.

[Weak2ndAct]

Mod, your review makes me equal parts troubled and excited (the gushes at AICN have boosted my anticipation too).  Question: have you read the comic(s), and if so, are you a fan?

[SiliasRuby]

Mod's review, even though it was critical makes me really revved up to see this.

[modage]

Mod, your review makes me equal parts troubled and excited (the gushes at AICN have boosted my anticipation too).  Question: have you read the comic(s), and if so, are you a fan?

i think i read an issue, years ago.  other than that i'm only familiar with the artwork which i've seen flipping through The Art of Sin City book many times.  basically, the review should steer you guys in the right direction.  it doesnt rule the earth so drop your expectations for it to do so, BUT its not a total disaster either so you'll probably still love it.

[bonanzataz]

i saw it yesterday at a free screening. they had a digital projector. it looked awesome. the movie itself was awesome. i won't go into much detail b/c mod already covered it and i'm the laziest poster ever. mod, i don't know what you're talking about when you say you didn't like rosario. she was one of my favorite people in the film. all in all, it's just an incredibly entertaining film.

[meatball]

Mod, about it being over-the-top. Were you expecting it to be deadly serious? Or is it truly like going to Circus Circus?

An 11 Minute Behind-The-Scenes Featurette:
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=mf_frame&id=1808560210&mspid=&mfurl=http://mediaframe.yahoo.com/launch?lid=wmv-700-p.1350400-145981,wmv-100-p.1350398-145981,wmv-300-p.1350399-145981,wmv-56-p.1350397-145981&p=movies&f=1808560210&.spid=1808663232&.dist=Dimension%20Films&type=m%22,737,503);

[Raikus]

Wowza. Learn some codes.

[modage]

the other night after i wrote my mini-review for here i sent it off to aicn as well. which i regretted almost instantly after sending it.  i thought #1: i dont want to be the dick that spoils everyones good time and #2 i didnt change anything when i copied and pasted it even stuck with gb's quote still in the middle.  rodriguez probably reads these damn things, the studio probably reads those damn things.  i dont want to make any trouble so i even sent a retraction email basically saying 'i sent you a sin city review last night but i dont want to ruin anyones expectations so just dont post it if you were planning on it'.  a few days go by, i figure i'm in the clear.  but OH NO, i'm the "ONE NEGATIVE REVIEW" amongst a batch of positives.  i wouldnt even consider my review negative.  if anything its mixed but positive.  i'm just saying dont go into it expecting it to be as good as it looks, that would almost be impossible.  its good, but not great.  i think my analysis in towards the end was perfect in summing up what type of film it is.  the type that harry knowles will rave about but will end up nowhere on his top 10 in favor of some foriegn/lesbian movie he's never mentioned before and not the films like this or Blade II, Hellboy, Sky Captain, Shaun of the Dead that he praises to death.  oh well.

http://aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=19683

whats worse is 'do you ever see a movie and know how you feel about it, but then the next day you start thinking about the movie and you cant remember anything wrong with it.  everytime you think about it, the movie seems awesome even though you're pretty sure when you were watching it, it wasnt?'  yeah, i'm having that for this movie. another reason i need to see it again just to make sure i wasnt wrong, and it does rule compeltely.

[metroshane]

I try and see a movie twice before I bash it or kiss it's ass.  Other than that, hey it's your first impression.  If you feel that you may be changing your mind, then write a follow up...not a retraction.  I think it's very important to have that kind of outlook where it's ok to change your mind.  I can't count how many movies I hated when they first came out and then some reason learned to love them.

[Just Withnail]

It's the kind of movie Harry Knowles will rave about loving in a week or two but not end up anywhere on his Best of the Year list.

Rave is too weak a word.

[modage]

haha, yep i called it.  you just wait till A. everyone can see the film for themselves and realize they've been overhyped AGAIN by aicn and B. he still wont acknowledge it at the end of the year for his top 10.

[bonanzataz]

haha, yep i called it.  you just wait till A. everyone can see the film for themselves and realize they've been overhyped AGAIN by aicn and B. he still wont acknowledge it at the end of the year for his top 10.

i don't know if you can overhype this movie. it's damn good. i think it's better than the kill bill series (as a whole). it's just incredibly entertaining, and when you see it, you won't be able to deny that. everybody leaving the screening had a great time at the movies, and there are so few movies that do that these days. i like that it's not trying to be anything more than really cool - it doesn't condescend to its audience. it's not a masterpiece, but it's really rawsome.

[Cecil]

i cant wait to see this fucking thing. im not reading any post, so this will be my only contribution to this thread.