Frank Miller's Sin City (the movie)
 

www.sincitythemovie.com

Is anyone else as geeked out as I am about this movie? My kids will be gone on opening night, so we plan to see it April 1st. As a comic-book/graphic novel reading, Rodriguez/Tarantino worshipping DORK, this movie has me really excited!!

Here's the full cast and crew:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/...dits#directors

Stylistically, it looks amazing and the casting is pretty good....a few too many "starlet" types, but the male leads satisfy me (I've missed you, Michael Madsen!). Heehee, Nick Stahl....perfect.

Will someone PLEASE geek out with me???

geek

I admit to being very excited about the film. I hope its good. Yet, something deep down inside me says -- notachance.

Has anybody read any reviews?

I cannot wait. I dig Frank Miller. And the director chosen to make this movie is a perfect choice. He respects the comic book medium and seems to have really captured the style of the artwork. Love that it's in black and white, with a flair of color here and there (Yellow Bastard!). Should be fast paced and depraved. And the casting seems really well thought out.

Man, I really hope this doesn't suck. The preview practically had me humping my comic book collection.

Geeker geeker geeker!

Well, the trailer looks really good ... but I've seen good trailers of trash movies.

Either way though, the film looks to be visually equisite, and so I'll put my peepers to it regardless and hope for the likely best.

Exactly. I'm really hoping it doesn't suck, basically. And if I'm able to watch it and not curse Rodriguez/Tarantino (OMGOMGOMG, how perfect is this combo?), I'll be happy. My husband thinks I'm a big ass flipping doorknob, but even he was blown away by the first trailer he saw.

I have a feeling opening night will be a big geek convention......sigh. Perhaps I can get my husband to stay home, so I can find a skinny guy in a faded t-shirt with astigmatism and perfect teeth, dirty shoes, floppy hair and who has memorized most of the dialogue in any given Tarantino flick (points for True Romance's alternate endings) who is willing to act out an Antonio Banderas/Salma Hayek scene in some seedy little cafe while we drink cold coffee and discuss about our mutual dreams to have down and dirty monkey love with Tarantino on the set of From Dusk to Dawn while Rodriguez films and Salma Hayek voice-overs. What. Of course my dream geek is GAY!! Hello?

I will most likely be seeing this opening night by myself, just as soon as I get out of work. Sometimes, when I want to see a movie this badly, I don't want to deal with the possibility of loving it while the people I'm with hate it, or hating it while my friends love it. I do love chatting about films, but sometimes when it's just a wee too close to my heart, I chose to see certain movies on my own. So I can just enjoy it or hate it...on my own.

I was on a date seeing Bubba-Ho-Tep (YES!), and Tarantino was in the audience, also on a date I presumed. My date was a huge Tarantino buff and shot a load off in his pants, whispering far too loudly about how he was sitting behind us and Oh His God, and look, look, look, which I refused to do. I do not gawk at celebrities. I look at them with sideways glances and slanted eyes, and pretend I don't care a fig about them. Because, usually, aside from seeing them, I don't care. I just want to ogle. I mean, I don't know Quentin Tarantino. So why should I care that he's sitting behind us. It was enough for me to, at the end of the film, turn around to leave and see him as I put on my jacket.

See him staring right at me. Ogling ME. A good long hard stare. It was unnerving.

I can only conclude that he fell madly in love with me because of my beauty and my evident lack of interest.

I bet he still thinks about that disinterested girl, so cool and collected, so adorable in her date clothes, who obviously has fantastic taste going to see Bubba-Ho-Tep and all. Le sigh. Where is she now, he wonders.

I'm here, Quentin! I'm right here! And I LOVED Kill Bill!!!!!! What a wonderful love story!

I prefer to think of him as visualizing a gruesomely sexual kung fu fight between you and his date, all done in anime, with a loungey 70's porn soundtrack.

The fact that Miller was involved from start to finish is promising. His style has always been filmic, so hopefully Rodriguez wasn't silly enough to try and pull a "I will reimagine the comic for the screen" attitude.
It's gonna be an interesting year - Watchmen, V For Vendetta...

(I still get sad when I think of Tank Girl)

I (drunkenly) met Lori Petty while she was filming Tank Girl and I begged her not to screw it up. Bah. Apparently, my drunken ramblings didn't make a difference, as that movie sucked so intensely that it could have gotten its own pimp and earned $100 a pop.

I was really excited about V for Vendetta until I remembered that people LOVE to murder his work on the screen. From Hell = crap. League of Extraordinary Gentleman = beyond crap.

Maybe filmmakers should just leave Alan Moore alone.

At least Natalie Portman is going to be in V, yes? I think she'd do quite well in that part.

Yes, that IS better. Heeee.

Damn comic book geeks.

As a poseur that hasn't read any of the aforementioned comic books (but enjoyed Tank Girl's on-screen crappiness) I'm up for this movie. I hope I understand it though.

Movie definitely looks visually stunning and fun from the trailers I saw.

Being a fan of the Gilmore Girls, for some bizarre reason I wanna see Alexis Bledel as a bad bad little girl.

Also I cant wait to see Elijah Wood, even though he's basically going to appear in silohette and in the dark. (Somehow, a lot of my dates end up that way, *yawn*) I wont be able to see his beautiful blue eyes and what in the world is sexy about Elijah sans SCARY BIG BLUE EYES? :D

AAAAAAA, I'm revelling in geek dom!!

Looking forward to seeing SinCity. Saw the preview when I saw Constantine and thought it looked AWESOME! I was by myself at the theatre and freaked out on how much of a geek I am! haha

I just came back from the big comic con going on in Long Beach and they had a bunch of Sin City stuff. Figures, posters and the such....

Elijah plays The Yellow Bastard BTW....

When I got home last night, Kelly was in bed reading A Dame to Kill For.....heehee.....I think he's getting excited to see all the half-nekkid chicks!!!

And when I'm online, I always have the Sin City website open in another window, so I can listen to the background noise....

I haven't been this excited for a movie for-ev-ah. It better not suck.

I went to Best Buy to pick up some DVDs yesterday (Orgazmo, anyone?) - and they were giving out a free Sin City preview DVD with every purchase. I took it home, but I'm not sure if I want to watch it before I see the movie. The "previews" tend to contain too many spoilers of late...

Hehe, don't think I'd actually buy it....but seeing it in the theaters is the closest I've gotten to the 70's porno theater experience.

The early reviews look pretty good for Sin City.

Dwight is dreamy!!

Oooh, I just read the review blurbs.....dismemberments, sexuality and cannibalism!! Can't wait!!!

BTW, I got two copies of the Sin City preview DVD - if anyone wants my extra copy, gimme a PM.

Lick the pic. Lick the blurb. I cannot *wait*. I'm so super duper excited about this movie. Come to me, Sin City. Come. To. Me.

looks interesting, i havent read a comic book in YEARS.... so well see if we actually see it or enjoy it....

Sin Friggin' City! Just got back from the theater. Wow. Won't post a review or spoiler here yet. After some more of us have seen it, let's revive this thread...

I just watched Sin City - AWESOME!!!! I can't say enough good things about it. I loved it. Great action, superb stories, wonderful acting, I left wanting more. It rocked!!

Maybe I saw a different film... oh well

Hmm -- I have high expectations from this movie. I loved The Yellow Bastard...

Hmmm...

So freaking good. I squealed with joy on SO many occasions and just sat there with the biggest dumbest smile on my face.....so many heads--yeesh!.....Benicio as a Pez dispenser.....Elijah Wood as Kevin was most excellent (those white glasses--I got chills everytime I saw them).....sexy ass Nancy.....Mickey Roarke as Marv--awesome.....and Josh Hartnett to start it off and finish it off....perfection.

I'm not going to discuss certain scenes yet.....but I wanna! This movie was so exciting to me personally....I was pumped the entire time. My husband who had little to no knowledge of what was happening or what was going to happen really loved it, too!!

Memo to Michael Madsen: Dude, please tell me that you're not that huge and bloated in real life. You have the potential to be the hottest man on the planet....please live up to it. Love, Me

We saw it tonight. Not really they type of film I usually see and LOTS of violence that had me covering my eyes (I'm a wuss with violence). There were things I likes, things I could appreciate but didn't like and other things than just made me roll my eyes. I was really bored the whole first Bruce Willis part, Marv kept me a bit more captivated, and Clive Owen is HOT! I like the way it ended - by that time, I was at least engrossed.

Anyone know which part Tarrentino directed? I put my money on the car scene with Clive and Benecio talking. That was the best part of the film, IMHO. But, I'm not going to be specific yet about anything.

I am a comic book virgin. Having not seen Sin City yet (Monday's my "alone at the movies" day) and not reading or listening to too many reviews, I am very excited to see this movie. I'm loving what everyone has to say about the film.

Though, I must admit... I heard a review / behind the scenes interview on Sin City on NPR. The interview.. .done by my View Askew Master, Kevin Smith. You can hear the interview in both it's short (14 minute) form and the extended (58 minute) form here.

I can't wait to go tomorrow!!

Also being a comicbook virgin and hearing the NPR interview (short version) I think helped me appreciate the film more. It was a lot of fun, made more fun by the swanky company. It's Noir, and sometimes ridiculously Cliche, but the film really seemed to succeed and keeping it like a comic book. It also didn't hurt that all the female character's wardrobe seemed to stop at lingerie - but YMMV with that one ;)

OK. The Vahala monologue was just cracking me up. So ridiculous.

Aw, my little Valkyrie didn't you think it romantic?

I found this great Clive/Dwight quote on IMDB:

There ARE parts that are sticking with me. Some great lines. But, oh so SILLY at times!

I thought all the women looked incredibly gorgeously hot. Alexis Bledel's character and I have the same jeans. My husband pointed it out, and I was like, "Hey, quit looking at her ass!!!" But when they're all nekkid with their tits ahoy, I didn't care. :snap: It was right on. Anything else would not have been cool or true to the books.

I could have done without the "yeesh." Everyone was giggling at the three yeeshes.....but I didn't really dig it. To me, it just didn't play. But, jeez, that's all I have to complain about, so I'm thinking I must really love the movie. ;)

I loved the "noir" feel of the voice-overs. They pulled it off. Could have been horrible, but they made it work. I think it would be fun to spoof this movie....so many possibilities.

Huh, I don't recall any scenes where a woman character wore jeans?

I remember the Zoro hat & mask, that was cool

Nancy wore jeans at her home, and Alexis Bledel wore jeans at the end of the movie....before getting on the elevator.

Not that I notice clothes or anything.......:rolleyes: ;)

Claire, Michael Madsen is even more bloated in real life. Just check him out on the fugging it up website. Sad. I almost cried into my computer keys.

I LOVED Sin City. So much fun was had watching it in good company. Elijah Wood was *perfect* as Kevin. Those Converse just abuot kill me. Ah, Marv. Ah, Dwight.

Rosario Dawson, I wonder how many punk rock teens will show up with your haircut at school on Monday. Alos, Rosario, you were really, really, really, really hot.

One of the best on-screen kisses I have ever seen. Yummy. Yummy. Again, yummy.

Nick Stahl, I recognized your voice, you little yellow bastard. I love Nick Stahl's voice.

"She grew up, she filled out." Yeah, girlie, I even liked you. And I don't usually like you. But you, too, were hot.

The movie was hot.

And very well done. I love punk rock comic book noir. Thank, Frank Miller. Thanks, Rodriguez. Thanks, Q.T., whatever parts you directed. Thanks hot actors and awesome make-up people. That WAS Marv.

Claire, Michael Madsen is even more bloated in real life. Just check him out on the fugging it up website. Sad. I almost cried into my computer keys.

I LOVED Sin City. So much fun was had watching it in good company. Elijah Wood was *perfect* as Kevin. Those Converse just abuot kill me. Ah, Marv. Ah, Dwight.

Rosario Dawson, I wonder how many punk rock teens will show up with your haircut at school on Monday. Alos, Rosario, you were really, really, really, really hot.

One of the best on-screen kisses I have ever seen. Yummy. Yummy. Again, yummy.

Nick Stahl, I recognized your voice, you little yellow bastard. I love Nick Stahl's voice.

"She grew up, she filled out." Yeah, girlie, I even liked you. And I don't usually like you. But you, too, were hot.

The movie was hot.

And very well done. I love punk rock comic book noir. Thanks, Frank Miller. Thanks, Rodriguez. Thanks, Q.T., whatever parts you directed. Thanks hot actors and awesome make-up people. That WAS Marv.

I love it that Yellow Bastard reminds me of you, Audra. I hope you're flattered. It's high praise!

Rosario finally proved that she's good for something other than posing at movie (and envelope?) openings for InStyle. Her legs looked insanely long and shapely and her attitude kicked major bootie. She was a good Gail. I'd been skeptical of the starlets, but they did all right (eh, except maybe Brittany Murphy, she was just okay). Jessica Alba was so freaking hot.....amazing.

BTW, the Best Buy bonus DVD has some nice "behind-the-scenes" stuff. Nobody has PM'ed me for my extra copy, so I assume you all have Best Buy stores nearby. You really shouldn't miss this freebie.

I *really* liked this movie.

I'll write more about it later.

-e

I forgot to mention Devon Aoki as Miho was scary good. :snap:

Dallas was the other extremely hot chick....and she's played by Robert Rodriguez's sister.

And Portland geek alert: When Frank Miller was onscreen as the priest, everyone in our audience was atwitter....including me. :rolleyes:

Not offended at all. Oddly flattered. Awwww, poor Murphy. Give the girl a break! Heh. Mmm, Gail. I heart Gail.

Perhaps this post belongs in the LoT confessional.

I love film noir.

I thought Sin City was tacky and bloated. And not a credit to noir.

I went directly home to watch "Out of the Past" to cleanse my palate.

On another note, did Rodriguez really have to list himself as camera op and art director and effects advisor? Isn't a director supposed to have his fingers in every bowl, anyway?

We finally saw this Saturday night. I really liked it. It dragged a tiny bit near the end but all in all, it was great, lots of fun.

I do love me some gratuitous violence.

I'm going to see it again this weekend with a Frank Miller fan. Can't wait!

You can't think of it as just film noir. It's a comic book done in a film noir style. Of course it's tacky and bloated...it's a comic book.

I was surprised at how well I enjoyed this. I generally have little tolerance for cheese, but when it's done in SUCH a stylized manner, I am much more forgiving. Like Tank Girl. Cheesy as all hell, but the whole think looked and felt like a comic book, so totally expected. I contrast those with Spiderman 2 which probably had fewer corny lines than Sin City, but they stuck out so much more to me because it seemed to be trying so hard to NOT be corny in so many other aspects of the movie.

Like CP, I thought it started to drag a little. Once they went back to the other story line, it just seemed to go on forever. And I kept expecting the story lines to tie in a little more than they did. For example, when Marv showed up at Nancy's apartment, he mentioned that she was endebted to him for saving her from some thug. So when they went back in time and we see nancy again, I was totally expecting Marv to get involved somehow. In the end, I understood that there was no attempt to really tie the stories together, that the whole point was that they were just tangentially related by all taking place in the same city, but in the midst of it, it really felt like they were going to tie together much more cohesively, so I felt a bit let down when they didn't.

But beyond that, I thought it was great.

Fair enough. Perhaps my problem is, instead, that I don't like the comic book medium. Though I've read comic books that didn't seem so terribly pleased with their own coolness. That didn't seem so "by fanboys, for fanboys." Such things, like fanfiction, sometimes seem puzzling to outsiders.

I prefer that one idea or concept or story is adapted from one medium to another, I want it to be using that medium for a reason. If it's a play adapted to a film, I want it to use what film has to offer; I don't want it to seem too much like a play. I guess the same goes for Graphic Novels. This didn't do it for me. But, hey, strokes/folks.

Comic books are created by artists and writers who are well aware that they are working within a medium that is considered to be outsider art and marginal. I suppose that there is an aura of coolness one might effect as a result of being left of center, or even an aura of superiority that may come from feeling like you *get* something that other people just don’t *get*, and maybe you label those people *uncool* and yourself *cool*. I don’t know. I don’t get that from the majority of the books, I read. They’re just people wanting to tell a story with words and pictures. There are certainly contain cool elements, and some are even about being cool, I think it’s an element of the subject matter, and not just a bunch of “fanboys” getting each other off. Many of the writers and artists are actually intellectuals. Some are in it just to entertain. Not so different from the average painter, writer, and so forth, I’d imagine. Without doubt, some of the most daring fiction comes out of this medium, as a result of being marginalized, particularly the writing. There are certainly comic books I'm not a huge fan of, and certain genres within the medium I prefer over others, but to say "I've read comic books that didn't seem to terribly pleased with their own coolness" is to imply that most do, and that's just not the case. Frankly, I don't think you've read enough of them to make such a generalization. I realize I sound defensive, but I think comic books are an exceptional art form, and with all works of art, there's some good, some bad. You’re also approaching them with an air of condescension in this post that’s been absent during in person conversations we’ve had, so I’m a bit thrown.

Your opinion of the movie is completely valid. Or finding it puzzling because you're not familiar with the source material is also a very valid criticism. I don't know how I would have felt about the movie if I wasn't familiar with the source material, though I'm guessing I would still have liked it for a variety of reasons. The movie’s not for you. The movie’s for me. Whaddeva.

Well, being entirely unfamiliar with the source material, I suppose I can shed some light on that subject. I certainly enjoyed it, with no prior knowledge. And I think I even garnered some idea of what the source material IS like. It seems like it is a series of mostly self contained stories of tragic but heroic individuals, linked only by their common residence and therefore occasional shared acquaintances. These individuals often (always? I hesitate to say that, 'cause Dwight survives the movie...) die for their troubles.

Do I have the right idea?

I think one of the problems comics have in the "world" is that everyone seems to think they're geeky little stories that are for novice readers who sit in their parents basement memorizing panel after panel. Granted that was me, but it made me understand that its more than what people generally think and made me want to be part of it, which I have been for a while now. But, that's another rant.

I think the problem with "Comic book" movies, for the most part, is that they are created by folks who believe that stereotype and believe that they can't find solid stories in comics. So failures like Elektra, Catwoman, X-Men or The Hulk can't be laid on the grounds of being a comic book but being on the grounds of creators (Directors, producers, etc.) who don't respect the original work and 90% of comic book films are treated as such. Rarely we get films that translate from book to film and from Comic to film. How many times have we read books, then saw the film and were dissapointed? The same thing happens with comics adaptations. Then sometimes you're pleased: look at Lord of the Rings. For comic adaptations: look at "The Road to Perdition", "Superman I & II", Spider Man", "THe Crow" just to name a few that actually were close to their source material. The one previously mentioned, X-Men, Hulk, Catwoman, etc. don't come close to their source material. There are many, many comics or Graphic Novels that would make AMAZING films and are story wise, better than many films and novels of considerable note. The medium of of film and books separately can not do what they can do together and that's called a comic book or Graphic Novel.

Oh, and add whatever Eliza said... ;)

I didn't mean to condescend, especially because I don't feel condescension towards comic book as genre. I wasn't trying to imply that I don't think the genre is an art form or valid fiction. It certainly is.

What I was trying to say is that if I'm supposed to accept that a Noir-inspired film is bloated and tacky *because* it's derived from a comic book, then I don't like what that says about comic books. But I went on to say (in what seems to have been a garbled way) that I'd read comic books that didn't seem bloated or tacky at all. And just to clarify, I haven't come across a one that seemed very intent on its coolness. If it was cool, it just was. That part of my statement wasn't a slam against all comic books, but an attempted acknowledgement that, in fact, circlejerkery *isn't* the kind of thing I note in the comic books I've read.

But something about Rodriguez's film rubbed me the wrong way. It *did* seem intent on its coolness. It came across as very self-admiring-- it's Rodriguez and Miller's fanboy-on-fanboy action that bothers me, not the wrighting of graphic art and novels in general. If I participated in Sin City geekery, I may not have noted it within this film.

But I am not a part of that geekery. I don't enjoy gratuitous violence. What I like about the aged cheddar you get in a Noir all comes from cleverness-- of the characters, of the dialogue, of the way it is filmed. What I saw in Sin City didn't seem like cleverness. Rather, a depiction of brute and sex-as-commodity. Which is well and good if that kind of thing interests you.

But that's not the kind of thing that interests me... so watching that brand of geekery celebrated left me cold.

I *so* did not mean to belittle the comic book genre. I just didn't enjoy this particular sector of it.

Sin City (the comic and the movie) is certainly not for all people. Personally, I would have preferred an adaptation of Frank Miller's 'Hard-Boiled', but I was happy with what I got.

I'm glad that a parallel conversation has sprouted here about the nature of comics. For people like LSPE and other non-fans who dip into the world of comics from time to time, I'd like to recommend these two books:



They're both fascinating reads and go a hell of a long way in "explaining" what comics are all about.

Glad I misunderstood your inital post then. Thanks for clarifying.

As for the books this movie is based on, they're less bloated because they're serial, and not forced into a 2 hour film. I enjoyed the frenzied energy, which is what made the transition from panel to film work for me, as it allows the movie to be its own thing. They used the books as the movie's storyboard, but the film still managed to move beyond the panels to become its own thing. I understand why others would find it to be more is more, and more ain't better. But I've found myself a fan of this filmmaking style, loving both parts of Kill Bill as well.

I stand by <i>Sin City</i> as being Noir, though certainly a different brand of. It's punk rock, for sure. And though the violence and sexualization of the characters were more pornographic than, let's say, <i>The Big Sleep</i>, older noir films certainly were violent and the type of woman Bacall played certainly was classy, but she was also a man's idea of what classy and sexy are. Not that I'm complaining. But I like Bacall's dames *and* the brand of mad bitch dame realized by Rosario Dawson. That, and I also think Miller's dialogue is very clever pulp fiction writing.

Yah do.

Ah, I love and own the McCloud book. But haven't read the other.

You know, I'm not sure I could stomach Hard Boiled as a film. Might be too Legend of the Overfiend for me, in some ways. Then again, ROBOTS!

Wait, I liked Legend of the Overfiend...

Well, maybe liked isn't the right word. I remember watching it for the first time with my then boyfriend. We watched it with our mouths agape, and sometimes with uncomfortable giggles and wide-eyed stares at each other. After the movie was over, we were quiet for about 30 seconds before we both looked at each other and I said, "Yeah. Totally fvcked up. Disgusting. And yet..."

"Yeah, and yet..."

"Are you aroused? Cause I'm kind of aroused."

"Yeah. Should we be? That's disturbing."

"Yeah, disturbing. But."

"But."

At least, that's pretty much how I remember that conversation going.

I think we've hit upon our basic difference in taste in this realm. Remember how I walked out of Kill Bill the First kind of nauseated? It's not violence that bothers me, it's graphic violence, even if it's cartoonish. I dig a subtler shade of shadows-and-light-theatre, forties pictures are delicious to me, while the yanking of testicles? Not so much.

And I didn't mean to imply that all comic books are bloated and tacky. It's a matter of perspective. It'd be like a horror fan going to see Evil Dead 2. If you're expecting classic horror, it's going to seem like the cheesiest, lamest thing on the planet. But if you know going in that what it really is is a slapstick movie done in the style of a classic horror flick, then you know it succeeded greatly.

When I saw Sin City, I wasn't at all prepared for what I was about to see. I am not familiar with the novels - and probably will never read them due sheer lack of interest; I don't like violence and covered my eyes a lot; and I dislike Bruce Willis as an actor. But, after the first 1/2 hour of over-the-top, cheesy lines I stopped taking it seriolusly and had a good time watching and enjoying. It wasn't Noir for me. The look was vaguely noir, but the noir stopped there. It was comical, silly, excessive, and visually beautiful and raw. I won't be buying a copy, nor seeing it again, but I liked it a lot more than I expected.

I don't understand the love of comics just as many people don't understand my love of contemporary dance. Oh well......

I enjoyed the film, like the "look" - but also was dissappointed that the stories didn't all tie together. As for Noir, I was fine seeing this as "comic-book noir." There was lots of cliche and gratuitous sex and violence, but I think that kept it true to it's genre and enabled me to laugh out loud to situations of partial decapitation and emasculation.

But as I left, I wanted to see the Coen Brother's "Man who Wasn't There" - that to me is a great contemporary Noir tale in the classic tradition.

Ignore that man. I saw Sin City. Anditwasgood.