Wednesday, March 12, 2014

F This Movie! - Sin City

Patrick and Alex give Sin City the hard goodbye.



Download this episode here. (61.2 MB)

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Also discussed this episode: Non-Stop (2014), Kindergarten Cop (1990), The King's Speech (2010), Cottage Country (2013), Sweetwater (2013), Dead Kids (1981)

17 comments:

  1. I always look at the "also discussed" before I download and listen. Excited to hear the Kindergarten Cop connection.

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  2. I've always quite enjoyed Sin City. When I first saw it, I would have probably placed it on my top 10 favorite movies of all time list. I have cooled on that and no longer think that (I believe Scott Pilgrim has taken it over on my list, in terms of a movie with gobs of style that I like even more), but I still like it a lot. Maybe this isn't the best reason to like this movie, but I can't deny just how much I love the style that they used, even if it's just to literally recreate the comic book shot for shot. At least they were trying to do something in this movie, visually speaking, that I don't think I'd ever seen done in this way before (again, since then, I think Scott Pilgrim also did a lot of cool things with its visuals to approximate a comic book, and I like that movie a better).

    I agree that the casting is hit or miss in some cases, and Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke are my favorites of the bunch, too, but I'd say it succedes more than it fails.

    I haven't sat down to watch Sin City in a couple years now, and I absolutely plan to do so in anticipation for Sin City 2. Again, I REALLY hope that the sequel signals the redeeming of Robert Rodriguez's career, and that those involved are able to do interesting things with it. Or at the very least, I hope the majority of the cast succeeds.

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  3. John! I am really glad you mentioned Scott Pilgrim, as I forgot to do so when we were having our talk about the stylistic faithfulness of certain adaptations. SP strikes such a great balance there by keeping a lot of the same lines in place but making a very clear decision to depart from the strictures of the black and white illustrations.

    A similar decision would have stripped Sin City of the hard-boiled noirish ambiance, but it is at least an example of another way to go about that stuff like we were saying.

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  4. You're welcome, Alex! I thought that, at least stylistically speaking, the two would make for an interesting comparison. I think, as you said, a large part of what allows Scott Pilgrim to succeed beyond just a stylistic exercise is Edgar Wright's decision to go beyond recreating exactly what's on the page. But I feel that Wright is a far better, more skilled and more creative director than Rodriguez, so that probably has a lot to do with why Scott Pilgrim is so much more able to rise above being just about style and avoid the pitfall of excessive faithfulness to its source material. What makes Wright awesome is that his movies have both style AND substance that make them work as great movies.

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  5. I glad to see this covered. I listed this among others I wanted F!ed. I saw it againnot too long ago, and like Alex, really still love it. I agree the style had a lot to do with and also my love of noir.

    Performance-wise I agree with most of what you guys said. I''ll just add some other insights. Nick Stahl is pretty good as The Yellow Basterd, especially under that gross make-up. Also, Michael Madsen is kind of wooden in his role, he really seems to have a hard time with his dialogue or maybe it's more that his character is there just for exposition. Also, I''ve always loved the bit with the henchman with the arrow in his chest is having his own conversation while Michael Clarke Duncan and everyone else ignores him.

    The switch to James Brolin from Clive Owen makes more since when you consider that "The Dame to Kill For" storyline takes place before "The Big Fat Kill". I miss Clive Owen too, Alex.

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  6. Looking forward to this one! Not sure I need to see the sequel on any plot or performance level, but a mostly-grayscale 3D theater experience could be one heck of a trip...

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  7. I've always liked Sin City, but I have felt like that is the minority opinion. Every time I see it, I forget that Bruce Willis is in it.

    I loved the bad theater experience story about King's Speech. When my British history class gets to Chamberlain in a few weeks I may break out laughing thinking about "the appeaser."

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  8. I first became aware of Clive Owen through a series of BMW short films called The Hire. They transcended the underlying premise of product placement and showcased cinematic storytelling in the hands of different filmmakers. My favorites were "Powder Keg" by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (featuring Stellan Skarsgard), "Chosen" by Ang Lee, and "The Follow" by WKW (featuring Forest Whitaker, Adriana Lima, and Mickey Rourke). Others worthy of mention were John Frankenheimer's "Ambush," Joe Carnahan's "Ticker," and John Woo's "Hostage." The other two shorts were a bit over-the-top for my taste: Tony Scott's "Beat the Devil" and Guy Ritchie's "Star."

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    1. I really like the Guy Richie advert. Throwing Madonna around like a rag doll in the back. Then the perfectly executed hand brake turn throwing Madge in front of the Paparazzi to its really funny climax. Brilliant

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  9. I think I have to go with Alex on the ending bit with Hartnett and Bledel; I like it as a coda where no one gets away.

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  10. As for Elijah Wood and Maniac, I think anyone who hadn't seen the creepy part of Wood had also missed his work on Wilfred; there's a certain level of possible insanity that wood brings to his Ryan character in that that can be a little off-putting and creepy.

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  11. Does anyone else think the casting for the sequel is sort of uninspired? I like Eva Green, and she'll probably bring something new to the movie playing Ava Lord. Then we know what to probably expect from the returning cast, but aside from that they've lost a lot of what made the first one great.

    Gone are Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Elijah Wood, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Brittany Murphy, Nick Stahl, Devon Aoki; all who I thought were pretty great in the first movie and each gave up pretty compelling characters regardless of how large their role was.

    Willis and Alba are still around, but they weren't necessarily part of what made the movie so good (the first and second sections).

    Now obviously due to various reasons most of them weren't going to be returning anyway, but they haven't done a great job in filling their shoes. Joseph Gordon-Levitt should be fine, but I preferred some of the other names that were in talks for the role of Johnny. Then after him we get Juno Temple, Jamie Chung, Lady Gaga, and Jeremy Piven, I am sure Christopher Meloni and Ray Liotta will do just fine as well, but A Dame to Kill For seems to be missing the massive amount of screen presence the first one had.

    Now I am sure the movie will still be good, as like Patrick says all Rodriguez really needs to do is translate the comics almost verbatim. But I think the movie won't live up to the quality of first one if the actors turn in performances that are not nearly as good.

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  12. One thing that hasn't been brought up in the podcast or comments is how much Rodriguez admires Tarantino. On the special edition DVD/Blu ray of Sin City, one can watch the stories solo (and longer) but watching how Rodriguez decided to cut the theatrical version, it's obvious he patterned the structure after Pulp Fiction.

    There's the prologue, three short stories (with the third one taking place between the first and second) and then the wrap-around.

    I love Rodriguez and his energy and some of his films are really quite awesome, but I have to say that I am less interested in the films now than I am in the special features on his dvds.

    His cooking school episodes, for instance, are amazing. Here's my favorite dish to make:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBEjA

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  13. Hola guys, I really dig the podcasts, but if I could make a suggestion, it'd be to discuss/mention specific scenes and moments a bit more. You're all really into looking at the big picture and overall tonal aspects of movies, and philosophically analyzing both the authorial intents and what they mean to you, and that's great, but over the course of an hour or so's discussion, this can sometimes get a just a wee bit dry. I think that if each participant had a list of a few moments or beats on hand to organically weave into the course of the discussion where appropriate, that could help keep the discussion hopping. Not saying you don't do this at all, of course you do, and I'm not suggesting podcasts that just run down a grocery list of things to check either, I just think a bit more specificity could only help what are already great talks. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the great listening! :)

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  14. Patrick/Doug, what is this movie riot story Patrick references in this ep? Did you actually tell it later in another ep? I've been listening to y'all non-stop (see what I did there) for 6 months and this is my first comment. I've decided to make it a habit after listening to f this movie turns 5 yesterday. Talk about emotional.

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    1. Great to hear from you, Luke. Thanks for listening/commenting. I honestly don't know if we've ever told that story on the show! I'll make sure we do sometime soon. It might not be worth the buildup.

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  15. Well consider my expectations low then. But I'd still love to hear!

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