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[Mary]

Actually thorn, I didn't mean to suggest you only ever loved movies - only that your reactions inevitably seemed really extreme - either a movie was a world-historical masterpiece or an abomination of the highest order! So it was mostly just the middle category - movies that are just "ok" or "pretty good" - that I was wondering about...

..and very well, seems like there are a few of those!! And I guess you'd also be less inclined to post a lengthy review of a movie that you thought was just so-so - why bother expending a lot of words about it?

...still, I can't help but point out that your enthusiasm - both positive and negatve - tends to be, erm, overflowing at times but it's endearing....never intended as a criticism!

As for Sin City - I'll probably rent it eventually. Truth is, I have a really close and dear friend who writes a comic book and is really involved in the comics subculture, knows a ton about the history of comics and all the major players and all the indie stuff today and such... (if you want to read a fucking AMAZING comic book, the one he made me read was called Black Hole and it totally blew me away - check out the issues at the bottom of www.fantagraphics.com/artist/burns/burns.html) .... and I asked him about Sin City when it came out, and he launched into a tirade about how the comic was perfectly competent but woefully overrated, and then listed like 30 other comics that mine a similar sensiblity which he thought were infinitely superior, and I guess that left me with a bad taste... obviously there's no reason to take his opinion as gospel, but when someone you know and respect knows a ton about something that you're pretty clueless about, you inevitably end up putting tons of weight on their opinions. So my interest in Sin City really just kinda flattened after that - but between your raves and PC's raves, I promise to check it out when it hits DVD!

Cheers,
M

[PC]

Interesting. A lot of comic book geeks loved Sin City, partly because of its faithfulness to the graphic novels it was based on. I would love to hear your opinion on it once you watch it (it comes out on DVD August 16), it seems like the kind of movie you would either love or hate.

I bought this today:

[Thorngrub]

SIN CITY:

I'm so glad you brought that up, Mary. See, here's the interesting, ironic part:

*HATED THE COMIC!!!*

Seriously . . .I . . . couldn't .. .STAND . . . the comic SIN CITY. heheh. Why? *sheeesh* (Make sure to tell your friend this): Huge, boring, black & white panels. MInimalist depictions, usually of the interplay between shadows and light falling on someone's face. Huge wrinkled lips. Cigarette tips lit with smoke curling away from them. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. . .there's RED every once in a while! But only on some dame's set of pursed lips. Then it's back to simple black and white line drawings for 20 more pages, with word balloons containing (counts on Mickey Mouse fingers) 2, maybe 3 words in them.

B*O*R*I*N*G*!!

But the movie, er, I mean film-!

*revels at the memory of it* . . .ah; THERE is a true work of art.
Classy. Beautifully shot. Minimalism as it was intended to be shown.

Dare I say it -?

The film adaptation of SIN CITY is that rare beast which wholly eclipses, and elevates to a higher realm, the original source material.

There, I said it.

[Thorngrub]

i.e, the comic "Sin City" sure ain't no "Dark Knight Returns", I'll say that much . . .

~

As for your noticing my reactions to films being 'extreme' . . .well, I'm an extreme person. Extremely nice. Extremely smart. Extremely good looking. And I'm also a total freak

~


When you said "I guess you'd also be less inclined to post a lengthy review of a movie that you thought was just so-so - why bother expending a lot of words about it?", I thought to myself "BINGO". Ya nailed it Blaney

~

I'm glad you find my enthusiasm overflowing & endearing, that is really sweet to hear. & I assure you I never thought of your comments as critical. Shall we dance? j/k ... I'm in a real fine (& goofy) mood right now. So you probably missed the intended context of that comment. . . (it was meant to refer to our potential for incessant apologizing to each other as to how our posting was meant to be taken; but I wouldn't mind actually dancing with you either ; )

[Thorngrub]

To recap on the Sin City comic-to-movie phenom, I truly am of the opinion that the film version lent the comic just the degree of fleshing out (quite literally) it needed to elevate it to a much more interesting & engaging status. The actors in this adaptation really gave it their all: Benicio del Toro as Jacky Boy freakin' nailed it; Bruce Willis has never been cast so appropriately before; freakin RUTGER HAUER was in the damn thing I won't even give it away (I've already said too much with that tidbit of info); POWERS BOOTH lives up to his first name once again by portraying a corrupt senator with such subtle panache you will be riveted to your seat; Clive Owen puts in one of the most favorable performances as Dwight; even Michael Madsen is in this thing (albeit not much); Rosario Dawson plays one of the leaders of the gang of call girls to pitch perfect & raving sexiness; even Brittany Murphy does herself proud as the mascara-smeared waitress in distress Clive Owen's Dwight sets out to rescue from the demented Jacky Boy; Elijah Wood turns in an impeccably creepy performance as the ninja-silent serial sicko Kevin; Nick Stahl is even creepier as the corrupt senator's pedophile son; you've got quick cameos by Michael Clark Duncan and then Frank Miller himself in a crucial scene as a priest in a confessional booth; and then of course there's MICKEY fuckin ROARKE who steals the entire show in his relentless portrayal of Marv, the movie's moral center and most outrageous performance.

Words like "STUNNING", "beautiful", "extreme", "poetic", "morally focused", "brilliant" all fall into the bulls-eye range of describing this unforgettable wild ride into the underworld of crime noir drama. It manages to reference & pay homage to not only Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in particular, but more to the point, the entire genre which spawned such fare in the first place.

You just don't know what you're getting into, Mary.

[Adam]

thorny said:

SIN CITY:

I'm so glad you brought that up, Mary. See, here's the interesting, ironic part:

*HATED THE COMIC!!!*

Seriously . . .I . . . couldn't .. .STAND . . . the comic SIN CITY. heheh. Why? *sheeesh* (Make sure to tell your friend this): Huge, boring, black & white panels. MInimalist depictions, usually of the interplay between shadows and light falling on someone's face. Huge wrinkled lips. Cigarette tips lit with smoke curling away from them. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. . .there's RED every once in a while! But only on some dame's set of pursed lips. Then it's back to simple black and white line drawings for 20 more pages, with word balloons containing (counts on Mickey Mouse fingers) 2, maybe 3 words in them.

B*O*R*I*N*G*!!

But the movie, er, I mean film-!

*revels at the memory of it* . . .ah; THERE is a true work of art.
Classy. Beautifully shot. Minimalism as it was intended to be shown.

Dare I say it -?

The film adaptation of SIN CITY is that rare beast which wholly eclipses, and elevates to a higher realm, the original source material.

There, I said it.

Thorn, I respect your opinions but seriously: did we read the same comic book?

The abstract, b&w panels are fantastic to my eyes. This is a larger-than-life world that Miller depicted, very dark and manga-inspired (like his artwork tends to be) and I think b&w compliments the action, giving it a noirish quality.
And it also affects the appearance of several characters: think how the Yellow Bastard's appearance would change in full-color panels. The colors are used sparingly for a reason.

Miller's a gifted visualist but where he really shines is in his writing and there is a lot of dialogue, epecially in the voice-over-like narratives.

Buddy, it may read as if I'm tearing you a new orrifice but don't come to that conclusion. I honestly didn't know you hated the comic (you've said on the movie board some pages back that you're a Miller fan and so I made an assumption) so this came as quite a shock and I had to say something.

Someone has to stand up for these fucking books.

[Thorngrub]

"Thorn, I respect your opinions but seriously: did we read the same comic book?"

Here's the whole truth. YOu might wanna sit down for it.

I never read past one issue of the comic "Sin City" . . . .despite being a Frank Miller fan.
Guess I'm not that much of a fan, eh. So I can't quite say I "hated" the comic . .. I should've been more accurate in saying that it just didn't draw my eye & interest enough to get me into the whole series, that's all. However, now that the movie has really done it for me, I would seriously consider catching up on all those bound volumes, no doubt.

In essence, I haven't put enough effort into reading them all to the point I should even espouse an opinion on whether it's actually good or bad.

I do love Frank Miller, though. Daredevil. Wolverine. Dark Knight. He even wrote the introduction (and drew the cover illustration) for Harlan Ellison's classic (and overlooked) novella MEFISTO IN ONYX. So I'm down with the Miller man.

I'll take your word that once you dig into and read through several volumes of the comic SIN CITY, that its spell will begin to take hold. I never even really gave it a chance in the first place.

Does that clarify my take on it for you better? I promise to check em out . . . eventually. I owe Miller that much.

[Thorngrub]

...& I'm willing to bet, after having read them all, that I'll come around to where you are.
I'll get around to it eventually...

[Adam]

See, when you omit certain truths, you scare the fanboys. ;p

[Thorngrub]

And its a good thing you called me on it, kept me in line.
I think our local library has em all in stock -- I'll probably check em out from there.

[Thorngrub]

oops . . . did I flirt too hard...?

[Thorngrub]

Well, I picked up this sick little puppy yesterday:



Someone mentioned it's like a Taco Bell commercial directed by David Lynch. That's not far from the truth . . . but it does kinda gloss over the facts. It's about a mutant quadra-(or "septa-"; "octa-"; "who knows-a")-plegic trapped in the basement breakdancing through various impossible dimensions while his freaky curious chihuahua looks on with glowing eyes (set to the music of Aphex Twin).

It is 6 minutes long. Some have complained that it's "not enuff" for their money's worth.

Me: I think it's totally worth it. It comes in this little hardbound book with 42-pages of illustrations and seamlessly melded bodypart photos. Freakish & disturbing. A postmodern Eraserhead baby all grown up & spazzin in the basement.

[Thorngrub]

The cool part is, the entirety of the dvd contents, the 6 minute aphex video in essence,
are delivered in that 'X'-mode, where you cannot access your remote control functions

It is, essentially, an untouchable work of art; you cannot freeze-frame it or slow it down,
it just happens and you sit and watch the whole thing unfold. i thought that was a nice touch, to preserve its artistic integrity like that.

[Mary]

For once, I'm speechless. All I can say is....

ewwwwwwwww, that's gross

[Thorngrub]

oh, it's a trip