74 - Sin City

Connection To THE FACULTY - director Robert Rodriguez (also actors Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett) but the director is the one I'm going with.

I thought since this was the year the long awaited Sin City - A Dame To Kill For is released I thought it was worth revisiting a film I really dug when I first saw it back in 2005, I think I've seen it once again in the extended form in 2006 but this is a revisit to the original cinematic cut.

I didn't really talk about the director Robert Rodriguez (co-directing with the comic creator Frank Miller here) on the entry for The Faculty and I mean't too say something on my opinion of him. My opinion on him is that a lot of his films there is something holding them back from being truly great - From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado, Machete films like that on paper sound a touch better then the execution, these are not bad films, though he's made them as well, I think my genuine opinion is Sin City is the only film that as reached it's potential as far as I am concerned, and that's why I'm excited for it's belated sequel.

I don't read many comic books (or graphic novels) really, but I do enjoy films based on them, from the superhero to stuff like Ghost World I've loved numerous films that have started life there, so I never know how closely something follows to the comic, but Sin City moreso then many more I am under the impression is the closest you'll get to a shot by shot remake of a comic, Rodriguez purposely co-directed with the creator Miller to get this and he stuck to using the comic panels as storyboards.

I enjoy films with multiple stories (though the previous film that Robert Rodriguez did with 3 other directors including Quentin Tarantino who guest directed here - Four Rooms - was a film I didn't think too highly of) because I think said it in the write up to Nightmares that stories don't necessary out stay there welcome, there's really 3 stories here plus bookends featuring Josh Hartnett (who I said I wasn't a big fan of as an actor but this the 4th film I've watched this month with him in).

Firstly, we get the makings of the final story with Bruce Willis, a good cop saving a little girl from a vile rapist who he shoots both the weapons of (his hand with a gun in and his genitals), but he ends up getting framed and put in prison while the girl grows up to be Jessica Alba and the guy he shot - The Big Yellow Bastard (Nick Stahl) though she's a little old for him wants to put a notch on the bad post. In the first full story Mickey Rourke is Marv who wakes up next to a dead hooker (Jaime King) and vows to get revenge for her since she showed him love when nobody else would because of looks (even other hookers) and in the second story Clive Owen faces of with Brittany Murphy's psycho ex-Benicio Del Toro which could end up causing a war between the hookers, the gangsters and the cops.

The all star cast is pretty darn great, the stand outs including Mickey Rourke, who it's weird they said The Wrestler was his big comeback because he was so awesome here, also stands out are creepy as hell we have Elijah Wood and of the female cast - Brittany Murphy... I miss you so much, I had such a soft spot for you starting with Clueless (rollin' with my homies) I just love how she plays her role the way she speaks it, and among others Rosario Dawson also shines and Jessica Alba is pretty darn good as Nancy.

It's probably been said multiple times by people before but it's such a benefit to the movie that it literally looks like a live action comic-book, I loved the colour scheme of the movie, mostly black and white except for flashes of colour including blood, clothing and The BYB. Going back to the actors there was some fun minor roles in there as well.

Overall, while it features an lot of violence that might turn people off but I really liked it, I am really looking forward to the sequel. I was glad to revisit after so long.

5 - The Rich Man's Wife

Connection To PERMANENT MIDNIGHT - Peter Greene.

Halle Berry - it seems to me many, many years from now she still will go down as an Oscar Winner - the first black woman to win Best Actress - that will never get took away from her, I just think her whole career will go down as a bit meh, I'm not saying she's had a bad career, it's just it's a career more Gothika, B*A*P*S, Catwoman, Perfect Stranger etc. and I'm not saying somebody should be completely blamed on their worst movies it's just whenever she's, besides an odd few the films are far from classic.

That above paragraph is not me saying I dislike Halle Berry and I was trying to be polite about it, that's me saying, hey if a film says it stars Halle Berry and it's on the shelf in a shop I'll think twice (or thrice) about picking it up to watch.

The Rich Man's Wife is from 1996 and is from before she started being considered an A-List actress, she was known there just wasn't a bonafide hit or critically acclaimed film with her name on it and it would be 4-5 years before that really changed in my opinion.

The Rich Man's Wife is something I've never seen before, I recall it being on the satellite movie channels but I just never settled on it and to be honest I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing it, the best possible thing I can say about it that's a run-of-the-mill thriller.

Halle Berry stupidly mentions that she is sometimes fantasizes about her husband's death to Peter Greene, who she doesn't really know which is pretty stupid since it's evident Greene is a bit on the crazy side, he "shockingly" ends up becoming aggressive when she spurns his advances, the passage of time happens and Berry and her husband (whose played by Shooter McGavin, I should have mentioned earlier) start to mend the relationship, but Greene ends up killing him and demands $30,000 off Berry for the silence.

For a thriller it's certainly... thrill-less, you can't really critique Greene's performance, he is decent as the psychopath, it's just not a great film with weak-ass motivations, Clea Lewis who has a couple of scenes should also be signaled out for how enjoyable she is. I should also say Clive Owen is in this, I had no idea he was making a film in America this early - for most of the movie he really doesn't have much to work with though.

I can't really hate on Halle Berry's performance because it's not fair to call it bad - it's a film of obvious twists and turns (I knew a character would be involved from their first scene) and the police that it keeps cutting back to just sort of seem ineffectual and they don't really have much bearing on anything related to the main plot.

Overall, I just don't think there is not enough to recommend of this movie, it feels like a been there, done it, seen it all before sort of thriller, this is the sort of thing that will end up becoming a distant memory even in weeks to come.