Frank Miller's "Sin City"

[Anonymous]

I loved it. Marv was stunning.

Wasn't he? That performance overturned a lifetime's hatred of Mickey Rourke for Conners.

 

[Jerry_B]

Beautifully written dialog, sterling performances, completely engrossing and so original, even as it invoked the spirit of old-school "noir". I haven't enjoyed a film at the cinema that much in years. And there are two more films en route - who hoo! Rodriguez is in for the first of them.

Were we watching the same film? The dialogue was bloody awful - like someone trying to do film noir/gumshoe stuff but failing to do so. In fact, I thought for a while that Tarantino had a hand in it. IMHO it's cod noire, not film noire

Munoz and Sampayo do a much better job of doing film noir comics - and I think Miller has to a certain extent copied their style and content.

 

[fquake]

Wasn't he? That performance overturned a lifetime's hatred of Mickey Rourke for Conners.

Haha! And for me too!

I loved it. Though I'm a big comic fan, I haven't read Sin City, but by god it rocked.

 

[Anonymous]

Were we watching the same film?

yes, it just wasn't your cup of tea. A bit too 'milk and two sugars' for your liking if Munoz and Sampayo are your bag. Though I'd say to no extent Miller copied their style and content, I'd say it's just the same broad brush strokes of the genre for pennies worth.

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

I haven't read the books myself but I have read a couple of graphic novels - I find them entertaining but not particularly my literature of choice - I do however like film noir.

Sin City was great. It was strange, I could see the white border around the film, I could sense the pages turning, it was pure entertainment with a look and gloss that was incredible. The use of color and camera to create menace and grit was excellent.

I know its not much of a storyline, but I didn't enter the film looking for a complex and high-brow plot - Sin City, take it as it comes.

 

[Jerry_B]

yes, it just wasn't your cup of tea. A bit too 'milk and two sugars' for your liking if Munoz and Sampayo are your bag. Though I'd say to no extent Miller copied their style and content, I'd say it's just the same broad brush strokes of the genre for pennies worth.

Oh, I dunno - Miller's style is quite alot similar, but he mixes in a somewhat less developed technique and/or style. Quite alot of more contemporary comics artists tend to do the same sort of thing (i.e. manga influences are most obvious with some artists) - seems more than just lip service IMHO.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

As well as H2G2 being available for preordering the Play.com newsletter also offers Sin City to preorder:

www.play.com/play247.asp?source=2005060 ... tle=677195

Even though the release is months away it seems awfully soon after the theatrical run - you'd think they'd want to wring as much as possible from cinemas before bringing out the DVD - I suppose it will pos. reduce piracy and it comes out while it is still fresh in people's minds.

[edit: Although H2G2 isn't yet up on Amazon Sin City is:

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005J ... enantmc-20 ]

 

[StoryofE]

The studios make more money on dvd sales now than box office receipts. The window between theatrical run and dvd release is becoming shorter and shorter with 3 months being close to the norm now. There was a recent Time/AOL poll that showed that most people would rather watch a film at home than at theaters.

 

[Jerry_B]

The preference for watching films at home rather than at a cinema also occured when VCRs became widespread, so I guess the same thing will be repeated WRT DVDs...

 

[OneWingedBird]

:shock: :shock: :shock: at amputations a-go-go!

I really enjoyed this film. It's certainly the best bit of creative film making I've seen in a long time.

I also can't think of a film I've seen since maybe Brain Dead that was quite so sanguine.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

The studios make more money on dvd sales now than box office receipts. The window between theatrical run and dvd release is becoming shorter and shorter with 3 months being close to the norm now. There was a recent Time/AOL poll that showed that most people would rather watch a film at home than at theaters.

Also they release a bare bones one quickly and then a feature rich one later - here is an interview with Robert Rodriguez about the fancy pants release (out for Xmas?) and a sequel:

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/641/641160p1.html

He has some cool stuff up his sleeve for it too:

I told Frank [Miller], let's do three stories. I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but we'll cram three stories together. We'll shoot the full books, but in editing I'll just figure out what stuff we need to cut to make it flow as a feature for the theatrical release so people can sit there and in under two hours see sort of a resemblance what the movie is. But when it goes to DVD, we can do a special edition where the second disc can have the stories separated out in the full cuts so that you can see it the way you would read the books. You just watch "The Yellow Bastard," the full cut, or see "The Big Fat Kill," and that's the way you're supposed to read the books.

.......

The real DVD should come out fairly quick, [and] it's the one that will be obviously the double-disc set with all of the goodies on it. I mean, it has all kinds of stuff on there - I have a 20-minute Film School, a new Cooking School, Sin City Breakfast Tacos, and my favorite feature: when people watch DVDs, they complain 'oh, the only thing about home entertainment is you miss that audience experience.' Well, the best audience is in Austin, especially for a movie that was made there. We showed the premiere with the actors there in a 1500-seat theater, and they would go crazy and Sin City got a big reaction. I recorded the audience in 5.1 so if you're watching the DVD and you want to see it with an Austin audience on premiere night, you just click a button and they're all there going 'aaaah!' so it's really cool.

and on the sequel:

IGN: Will you have the same kind of working relationship with Frank Miller on the sequel?
Rodriguez: Yes. He wants to [direct]; he loves it now. He says, 'oh, I can see why you want to do this all of the time.' He can't wait to get back on the set.

IGN: What stories are you planning to adapt for the sequel?
Rodriguez: A Dame to Kill For is probably the basis of the second one.

IGN: Which characters would be returning?
Rodriguez: I think Marv comes back, because that's before he dies. I think Dwight's in that one, Gail is in that one. Both Goldie and Wendy are together; she's still alive, so we see the twins together - one blonde, one black and white. Miho's in that one, and then there's a bunch of new characters. We're still writing the script to see if there's enough for a third one, or if we're just going to do a second one.

IGN: Do you have all of the actors already signed for the film?
Rodriguez: No, but they would come do it. It was like two days of their life. They're like 'yeah, I'll do that again- I have a free weekend.'

IGN: Is there a timeline for the sequel(s)?
Rodriguez: We're supposed to shoot in January, but we might do it earlier if we continue working at this pace.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

And the details of the fancy pants release - I do hope you didn't bu the bare bones one now

Sin City Recut & Extended (R1) in December - Menus added

Buena Vista Home Entertainment have revealed early specs for the Region 1 DVD release of Sin City Recut & Extended due to arrive 13th December 2005. The much vaunted special edition DVD release of Frank Miller's Sin City will arrive in December as a two-disc set housed in premium packaging, boasting the complete and expanded unrated version of the film with never-before-seen footage integrated directly into the feature by director Robert Rodriguez, plus the the complete first issue of Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novel. Retail is $39.99 SRP.

Robert Rodriguez and original graphic novelist Frank Miller direct this thrilling piece of cinema that boasts the following features in this Premium Special Edition...

Disc One:

* Original Feature Film Presentation
* Feature Commentary with Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller
* Feature Commentary with Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
* Feature Commentary of Austin Premiere Audience Reaction
* Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
o A Hard Top With A Decent Engine: The Cars of Sin City
o Making the Monsters: Special Effects & Make-Up
o Trench Coats and Fishnets: The Costumes of Sin City
o Booze, Broads & Guns: The Props of Sin City
o How It Went Down: Convincing Frank Miller to Make The Film
o Giving The Characters Life: Casting the Film
o Special Guest Director, Quentin Tarantino
* Sin-Chroni-City Interactive: As the viewer watches Sin City, it becomes apparent that the characters and their stories are not isolated, but intertwined. It is also revealed that the timelines for these stories are not in synch—and yet not entirely independent. This interactive feature allows the user to get a timeline view of the happenings of Sin City. The user can see the overview schematic of the scenes in chronological order and then zoom in for more detail on any of the events.
* Teaser and Theatrical Trailers


Disc Two:

* Sin City Recut Extended Unrated Feature Film Presentation (with 23 added minutes)
Full-length expanded cuts of each individual episode (“Customer Is Always Right,” “The Hard Goodbye,” “Big Fat Kill” and “That Yellow Bastard”) split out into short films – each with their own title cards and in their own complete form; viewers can watch separately and in any order desired.
* 15 Minute Flick School – Showing how everything was done, including the development of the look of the movie before there was financing, plus early screen tests, rehearsal tapes, final effects. Narrated and cut by Robert Rodriguez.
* All Green Version – A high speed look at the entire movie with only its green screen elements.
* The Long Take – A full uninterrupted 17 minute take during the filming of Quentin's segment.
Audience gets to see what it's like to sit in the middle of a whirlwind of creativity while the camera is rolling. They never call cut, so everyone is concentrating, working, experimenting and being creative for 17 minutes straight. Very interesting to watch, and hear everyone brainstorming and improvising. Clive, Nicotero, Rodriguez, Tarantino, and Del Toro, Stevie J, all doing their thing at one point or another.
* Sin City: Live in Concert – Sin City filmmakers, cast and crew head over to Antone’s restaurant one night after shooting “That Yellow Bastard” so Bruce Willis' and Robert's band Chingon could play a benefit show. Shows the full version of Bruce and his band playing the song "Devil Woman" and Rodriguez and his band playing the “Theme from Sin City.”
* 10 Minute Cooking School: Sin City Breakfast Tacos – Rodriguez’s meal of choice during the lnog night hours of making Sin City. Shows how to make Rodriguez’s grandma’s secret homemade flour tortilla recipe as well.


Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with optional English subtitles, the Original Theatrical Cut will feature both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 Surround audio, while the Recut version will feature Dolby Digital 5.1 only.

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

----
You can pre-order it here:

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BCK ... enantmc-20

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

12:00 AM, 22-DECEMBER-05


Miller Returns To Sin City

Frank Miller, who co-directed Sin City with Robert Rodriguez, told Empire Online that his upcoming sequel will be one of five such movies he envisions, based on his Sin City graphic novels.

"I'm finishing the script right now for Sin City 2," Miller told the site. "I can't wait to get back behind the camera. If I have my way, there's going to be five [films]. But that's if I have my way! Five would take care of all the graphic novels. But there's new material that I'm writing for the second one. There'll probably also be a separate graphic novel that I'll do. It's a Nancy Callahan story that I've been wanting to do."

Sin City 2 is slated for an Aug. 18, 2006, release. Miller is currently directing 300, based on his other graphic novel, about the ancient Battle of Thermopylae.

http://scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=33842

 

[MaxMolyneux]

That movie rocked!

Pyshco Marv reminds me of myself. 8)

Plus it had Alba in it. Couldn't believe she was into Bruce in it though! :shock:

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

And the details of the fancy pants release - I do hope you didn't bu the bare bones one now

Sin City Recut & Extended (R1) in December - Menus added

Buena Vista Home Entertainment have revealed early specs for the Region 1 DVD release of Sin City Recut & Extended due to arrive 13th December 2005. The much vaunted special edition DVD release of Frank Miller's Sin City will arrive in December as a two-disc set housed in premium packaging, boasting the complete and expanded unrated version of the film with never-before-seen footage integrated directly into the feature by director Robert Rodriguez, plus the the complete first issue of Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novel. Retail is $39.99 SRP.

Robert Rodriguez and original graphic novelist Frank Miller direct this thrilling piece of cinema that boasts the following features in this Premium Special Edition...

Disc One:

* Original Feature Film Presentation
* Feature Commentary with Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller
* Feature Commentary with Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
* Feature Commentary of Austin Premiere Audience Reaction
* Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
o A Hard Top With A Decent Engine: The Cars of Sin City
o Making the Monsters: Special Effects & Make-Up
o Trench Coats and Fishnets: The Costumes of Sin City
o Booze, Broads & Guns: The Props of Sin City
o How It Went Down: Convincing Frank Miller to Make The Film
o Giving The Characters Life: Casting the Film
o Special Guest Director, Quentin Tarantino
* Sin-Chroni-City Interactive: As the viewer watches Sin City, it becomes apparent that the characters and their stories are not isolated, but intertwined. It is also revealed that the timelines for these stories are not in synch—and yet not entirely independent. This interactive feature allows the user to get a timeline view of the happenings of Sin City. The user can see the overview schematic of the scenes in chronological order and then zoom in for more detail on any of the events.
* Teaser and Theatrical Trailers


Disc Two:

* Sin City Recut Extended Unrated Feature Film Presentation (with 23 added minutes)
Full-length expanded cuts of each individual episode (“Customer Is Always Right,” “The Hard Goodbye,” “Big Fat Kill” and “That Yellow Bastard”) split out into short films – each with their own title cards and in their own complete form; viewers can watch separately and in any order desired.
* 15 Minute Flick School – Showing how everything was done, including the development of the look of the movie before there was financing, plus early screen tests, rehearsal tapes, final effects. Narrated and cut by Robert Rodriguez.
* All Green Version – A high speed look at the entire movie with only its green screen elements.
* The Long Take – A full uninterrupted 17 minute take during the filming of Quentin's segment.
Audience gets to see what it's like to sit in the middle of a whirlwind of creativity while the camera is rolling. They never call cut, so everyone is concentrating, working, experimenting and being creative for 17 minutes straight. Very interesting to watch, and hear everyone brainstorming and improvising. Clive, Nicotero, Rodriguez, Tarantino, and Del Toro, Stevie J, all doing their thing at one point or another.
* Sin City: Live in Concert – Sin City filmmakers, cast and crew head over to Antone’s restaurant one night after shooting “That Yellow Bastard” so Bruce Willis' and Robert's band Chingon could play a benefit show. Shows the full version of Bruce and his band playing the song "Devil Woman" and Rodriguez and his band playing the “Theme from Sin City.”
* 10 Minute Cooking School: Sin City Breakfast Tacos – Rodriguez’s meal of choice during the lnog night hours of making Sin City. Shows how to make Rodriguez’s grandma’s secret homemade flour tortilla recipe as well.


Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with optional English subtitles, the Original Theatrical Cut will feature both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 Surround audio, while the Recut version will feature Dolby Digital 5.1 only.

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

----
You can pre-order it here:

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BCK ... enantmc-20

Its now available through Amazon.co.uk:

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000B ... ntmagaz-21

There is also an Amazon exclusive boxset:

DVD Description

This globally exclusive gift pack contains the Sin City DVD and the three books that inspired the film - The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard. This boxset has been personally approved by Frank Miller!

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000A ... ntmagaz-21

but I'm unsure if this is a good bet. Get the US one and then buy the books if you want them

 

[Creamstick1]

A word of warning on the Extended & Re-cut edition - if you pruchase it through certain online stores (Play for example), you'll get the Canadian edition which has English 5.1 DD and French 5.1 DD tracks instead of English 5.1 DD and DTS tracks. It also has both English and French writing on the cover. Amazon US should be okay though.

I got the Canadian one.

 

[Quake42]

Hmm, well I saw this tonight for the first time.

I feel like Mary Whitehouse for saying it, but I found some of the scenes so sickeningly violent that I was actually physcially repulsed. The scene with the guy being eaten alive by a wild dog was just - well, disgusting.

Apart from which, the story didn't grip me and the cast just seemed to be hamming it up throughout.

2/10.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Hmm, well I saw this tonight for the first time.

I feel like Mary Whitehouse for saying it, but I found some of the scenes so sickeningly violent that I was actually physcially repulsed. The scene with the guy being eaten alive by a wild dog was just - well, disgusting.

Apart from which, the story didn't grip me and the cast just seemed to be hamming it up throughout.

2/10.

I don't know about Mary Whitehouse, but there were points where the film sank to the very lowest forms of sado-masochistic sexual wish fulfilment and compensatory self justificatory revenge fantasy. Unpleasant. I can only imagine that's down, in large part, to Frank Miller's creative input.

Stylistically, it maintains the comic strip illusion, quite satisfactorily and some of the acting fills the boxes, livening up the dire contents of the speech bubbles pretty well, given the quality of the material.

I'd still only give it a 4/10, considering the nasty taste it left in my mouth.

 

[James_H]

I don't know what I'd give it out of ten, but it was a pretty awful film.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, well I saw this tonight for the first time.

I feel like Mary Whitehouse for saying it, but I found some of the scenes so sickeningly violent that I was actually physcially repulsed. The scene with the guy being eaten alive by a wild dog was just - well, disgusting.

Apart from which, the story didn't grip me and the cast just seemed to be hamming it up throughout.

2/10.

I don't know about Mary Whitehouse, but there were points where the film sank to the very lowest forms of sado-masochistic sexual wish fulfilment and compensatory self justificatory revenge fantasy. Unpleasant. I can only imagine that's down, in large part, to Frank Miller's creative input.

Stylistically, it maintains the comic strip illusion, quite satisfactorily and some of the acting fills the boxes, livening up the dire contents of the speech bubbles pretty well, given the quality of the material.

I'd still only give it a 4/10, considering the nasty taste it left in my mouth.

i give it 10/10 and it just its comic book violence.

 

[OneWingedBird]

I don't know what I'd give it out of ten, but it was a pretty awful film.

i quite liked the segment with marv, but most of the film after that seemed a bit redundant, and the same ideas got recycled an awful lot too... is he losing his mind? is he dead? no he's alive again? oops he's dead again...

by the yellow basterd bit i was really losing interest

 

[Heckler]

i give it 10/10 and it just its comic book violence.

I disagree, comic book violence is the kind of Tom and Jerry stuff that super heros do when they punch each other through buildings and such, it has a level of, I don't know, silly unrealism about it, where as Sin City had very real violence presented in the style of a comic book.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

i give it 10/10 and it just its comic book violence.

I disagree, comic book violence is the kind of Tom and Jerry stuff that super heros do when they punch each other through buildings and such, it has a level of, I don't know, silly unrealism about it, where as Sin City had very real violence presented in the style of a comic book.

Yep! There's a pornography of violence, every bit as real as sexual pornography. Writing it off as harmless, just because it's been stylised in to comic strip form, or as a sort of animation, doesn't really disguise the intent behind this sort of stuff, or the message it conveys.

 

[Dr_Baltar]

Yep! There's a pornography of violence, every bit as real as sexual pornography. Writing it off as harmless, just because it's been stylised in to comic strip form, or as a sort of animation, doesn't really disguise the intent behind this sort of stuff, or the message it conveys.

Can you clarify what was harmful, what was the disguised intent and what message it was conveying?

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

...

Can you clarify what was harmful, what was the disguised intent and what message it was conveying?

Try reading a few more Posts, before you start begging to be enlightened, Dr_Baltar.

...

I don't know about Mary Whitehouse, but there were points where the film sank to the very lowest forms of sado-masochistic sexual wish fulfilment and compensatory self justificatory revenge fantasy. Unpleasant. I can only imagine that's down, in large part, to Frank Miller's creative input.

...

Feel free to disagree, of course.

 

[Peripart]

And the prize for the least surprising comment of the week goes to:

i give it 10/10 and it just its comic book violence.

 

[Dr_Baltar]

Try reading a few more Posts, before you start begging to be enlightened, Dr_Baltar.

Sage advice, I'll try and bear it in mind

I don't know about Mary Whitehouse, but there were points where the film sank to the very lowest forms of sado-masochistic sexual wish fulfilment and compensatory self justificatory revenge fantasy. Unpleasant. I can only imagine that's down, in large part, to Frank Miller's creative input.

I guess I'm peculiarly stupid because all this says to me is that you don't like Frank Miller or the subject matter of the film. It doesn't tell me what was harmful about it, what the disguised intent was or what message it was supposedly conveying.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

...

I guess I'm peculiarly stupid because all this says to me is that you don't like Frank Miller or the subject matter of the film. It doesn't tell me what was harmful about it, what the disguised intent was or what message it was supposedly conveying.

That's alright. Nobody's perfect.

 

[Dr_Baltar]

That's alright. Nobody's perfect.

Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

That's alright. Nobody's perfect.

Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the insight.

You're welcome.