Sin City DVD Reviews

[so sorry]

It came out here in the U.S. yesterday.
anyone else get it and watch it?
Bare bones DVD, to say the least... just the movie and a 7 minute featurette. I know Harry et al. reported this and the impending Extended Edition late this year, but I didn't want to wait. When i saw this in the theater, i was blown away. Months later, i couldn't remember WHY i was blown away... maybe i was just in a good mood that day.
watched the movie last night and i'm still blown away, although Michael Madsen's performance was atrocious.
And, yes, i will buy the EE when it comes out, thus becoming one of those suckers who buys a movie twice.
(PS- freeze framing on Carla's tit scene is a MUST!)

[Pacino86845]

I haven't seen it yet... it comes out this week in Switzerland. People in the "destroy this film" thread seemed to hate this film, though. There's something unsettlingly conventional about Rodriguez's films (I haven't seen Mariachi)... I hope this one's good!

[so sorry]

Just remember this one thing when you watch it:
its a comic book come to life.

[Bean]

I pre-ordered it to get the free giant poster, and there's also a 7 dollar rebate, exscuses enough for me to by the DVD, which just contained the movie. I still loved it as much as I did when I saw it in the theater, but there could've been more features! >_<

[so sorry]

a free poster!
fuck, all i got was a free comic book at Best Buy

[DennisMM]

I wasn't aware an EE was coming. I'll wait for that rather than buy twice; "X-Men 1.5" taught me that lesson.

I plan to own the DVD specifically to watch features, especially technical features, because the movie bothered me. I've been reading "Sin City" stories since Dark Horse Presents #50, back in 1991 (?) and am a fan of the comics.

The movie, on the other hand, made me feel cheap and dirty. I found it to be so misogynistic (and some of us have had this discussion, so let's not continue, burl) that it was disturbing, and not in the way some good films are. I would have walked out had I not wanted to see the end. My wife only stayed because of me.

So, the EE is the way for me.

FYI, burl, I saw "Million Dollar Baby" last week. I didn't think it was in the same park as "Sin City" when it comes to misogyny. I did, however, think it was a pretty bad movie, full of cliches and mediocre acting and writing. Julia was very surprised that Clint Eastwood had anything to do with it. We'd seen "Mystic River" recently, and the contrast in quality was astounding. "Baby" strikes me as another Oscar winner that, in a few years, voters will be ashamed of having selected.

[MasterWhedon]

I have this at home from Netflix, will watch it tonight (saw it in theaters once). I too am waiting for the Special Edition to buy.

If Doc is out there, can you tell us where you are in the Nancy bar scene? I'd like to look for you.

[Lord Voldemoo]

I saw it in the theater and really enjoyed it (Madsen's performance aside, agreed that it was pretty horrible). I haven't read word 1 of the comic, so I have no mode of comparison. As a standalone feature I liked the movie. It certainly is misogynistic in many respects, but no so much that it repelled me (maybe that says more about me than about the film).

That said, I'm pissed that they are releasing a bare bones dvd, and following up with an "Extended Edition". This money-making trend is getting truly annoying. They will undoubtedly follow up 6 months later with a "Platinum Extended Edition" and then an "Ultimate Extended Edition", it just seems insulting to the fans.

[Brocktune]

man, everybody's performance in that movie is atrocious. with the sole exception of mickey rourke, everybody sucks. its not just madsen. clive owen, rosario dawson, alexis bledel, brittany murphy, michael clark duncan, they are all terrible. it really sidelines my enjoyment of the movie.

[DennisMM]

man, everybody's performance in that movie is atrocious. with the sole exception of mickey rourke, everybody sucks. its not just madsen. clive owen, rosario dawson, alexis bledel, brittany murphy, michael clark duncan, they are all terrible. it really sidelines my enjoyment of the movie.

No matter my fondness for the source, if I thought almost everyone in a movie gave a lousy performance, I don't think I could enjoy the movie. Just my view.

[so sorry]

I couldn't disagree more brocktune.
i think the delivery of the dialogue could be compared to any pulp movie acting of the 30s and 40s, and i'm sure that's what they intended it to be. and how can you seperate Mickey's performance from the rest? Just because he killed more people, he was OK?
I'm not saying this movie was the Godfather or anything, but it completely threw me for a loop when i saw it, and for taht, i'm glad. I'm no big comic book fan (anymore), but i think its the best comic book adaptation out there.

[Brocktune]

no, no, no. im totally aware of the intended 30's and 40's pulpiness. what im saying is mickey rourke is the only one who delivers it convincingly. everyone else sounds like a bad actor at a bad audition. take for example the part where clive owen talks about how they must have some kind of stoolie. or the trunk of the car bit. he sounds fucking ridiculous. in fact every time ive watched it, ive tried to ignore it by thinking its supposed do be like that, but the people involved just cant pull it off. except mickey rourke. for some reason, when he delivers the dialog, its totally convincing, but everybody else sounds like a fucking ham. believe me, i wanted to love this movie so bad. visually, its one hell of an achievment. i never read sin city, but im sure especially considering the lengths R. Rodriguez went to give frank miller directing credit, that it is an amazingly accurate adaptation of the comic on screen. its just too bad the actors cant pull it off.

[so sorry]

kay.
on a slightly seperate topic, when i watched the little featureette i was shocked to see what frank miller and robert Rodriguez looked like. first off, i got my latinos confused... i was expecting RR to look like Guillermo del Toro. second, i just figured Frank miller was older, and grizzlier looking.

[Brocktune]

frank miller kind of looks like a bald unburned freddy krueger

[Lord Voldemoo]

I missed Harry's story about the impending EE DVD, has anyone said what's supposed to be on it?

[DennisMM]

kay.
on a slightly seperate topic, when i watched the little featureette i was shocked to see what frank miller and robert Rodriguez looked like. first off, i got my latinos confused... i was expecting RR to look like Guillermo del Toro. second, i just figured Frank miller was older, and grizzlier looking.

Miller gave up facial hair back in the early '90s, I think, and since his hair became thin he's worn it very short, sometimes almost shaved. He still looks rather odd. Nice guy, though, from my limited contact.

[so sorry]

If you look in Harry or Mroiarty's DVD columns, they refer to the EE, which apparently has deleted scenes spliced back into the feature, as well as a shitload of storyboard/making of crap.

[Lord Voldemoo]

must eliminate side scroll...driving...me...mad.

[MasterWhedon]

I actually liked Brittany Murphy in the movie and I can't say that about anything else she's been in. She had a really interesting cadence in her speech, in the same vein as Cillian's in Batman Begins. The lines were there on the page, but something in her reading gave it a little more attitude. It felt a little theatrical and staged, but God did I dig Shelly in this movie.

[TonyWilson]

Ha, never read the comics. I really liked this film but the more I think about it, Clive Owen was pretty fucking bad. I've been noticing that a lot recently. Owen is terribly one note. I know it might be a dead pan or minimal approach, but we are still supposed to be able to glean his emotions.

Aside from that though I loved. Yeh Dennis I remember the converstation, it was interesting. Just wondered why the comic isn't misogynystic and the film is?

[DennisMM]

Ha, never read the comics. I really liked this film but the more I think about it, Clive Owen was pretty fucking bad. I've been noticing that a lot recently. Owen is terribly one note. I know it might be a dead pan or minimal approach, but we are still supposed to be able to glean his emotions.

Aside from that though I loved. Yeh Dennis I remember the converstation, it was interesting. Just wondered why the comic isn't misogynystic and the film is?

I said both are, man. The misogyny is part of both, and to the same degree, I would say, because of Rodriguez's slavish devotion to Miller's storytelling. But the closer you bring it to "real life," the more obvious it is.

Mickey Spillane's misogyny was just words, harder to translate to a view of reality and easier to isolate and so ignore amongst the prose of his novels. Frank Miller's words and pictures come through a "hotter" medium, closer to reality because the human form is being portrayed, even if heavily stylized.

On the movie screeen, even in black and white (and yellow and red and blue), these are actual people speaking the words and performing the actions and appearing as they do. In a viewer's possible imagination -- especially I would say in some "geek's'" possible imagination -- it's not far from a half-naked stripper with a big knife walking up to you in a real bar and asking you to protect her, because she's helpless in spite of her big knife, her mean stripper friends, and the kickass female bartender.

They all are unlikely, but video and film are the "hottest," closest to life, media and given the same message, reported in the same manner, they hit hardest in the psyche. It's why on local television news (here in the USA, at least), "if it bleeds, it leads." Violence, nudity and harsh language have more power in a moving picture.

Can ya tell I was a journalism student with heavy loads of film and speech communication?

As always, your mileage may vary.

As for Clive Owen, yeah, he gave no more than a mediocre performance. I think part of it was the lengthy voice-over narration. It's tough to read that kind of copy, even in parody, and make it sound human. Rourke probably had it easier because Marv obviously wasn't normal, and a nutcase is expected to sound nutty.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Thanks to JOHSUA and Twitch for the intel.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58475

Seems a bit pricey, but you get both the theatrical cut and the 147 minute cut with new scenes.

[DennisMM]

Thanks to JOHSUA and Twitch for the intel.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58475

Seems a bit pricey, but you get both the theatrical cut and the 147 minute cut with new scenes.

It's nice, but why is the book required? I own the original Dark Horse Comics TP of Marv's story, back when it was called just "Sin City," collected in 1992.

"The Hard Goodbye" wasn't even a title then; Frank announced it in "The Big F@t Kill," I believe, and it was to be a completely different story.

I'm growing very weary of the "f@t" letter string changing. F@talism should not become studly. A more intelligent filter is needed.

[cinephile2000]

I thought that Clive Owens performance was great. I also liked that the making of was released at Best Buy before the opening of the movie in America, so the only reason to buy the DVD was to get the movie.

[cinephile2000]

That made no real sense I just wanted to not be glib anymore