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.

17 - Camp Nowhere

Connection To THE EYE - Jessica Alba

I don't recall ever seeing this before, I mean it could have been on in the school holidays and watched it, but I doubt it because I tend to have a pretty good memory of what I have actually watched, and honestly I think if I would have seen it I would have liked and possibly held even if minor some sort of affection for it.

Yeah, I liked this, the Rotten Tomatoes fresh rating of only 10% just honestly seems a tad unfair, I talked about bad child actors a little bit in the write up for Leave It To Beaver, even mentioning the 1994 Little Rascals (which just this week as had a new Direct To DVD film called Save The Day), but there is none of that problem here, all the kids are likable and none deliver bad performances.

The films plot sees the kids lead by Mud (Jonathan Jackson) realizing they are all facing the same thing - a boring summer camp this year (all of them different) and trick their parents into sending them to the same summer camp (with no counsellers or rules or etc.) with the help of Christopher Lloyd, who they've paid a $1000 too, they end up blackmailing him to run he camp when they soon get bored with the lack of rules.

While it's lightweight stuff - it is a kid's movie after all - it was very enjoyable to watch, Jessica Alba appears as originally an extra but gets bumped up to have a few lines and Smallville's Allison Mack is also among the cast. It dawned on me while watching as well that the red headed girl right at the front on the picture was my the show Hang Time.

I can see while the film as built a loving following. Back To The Future fans should take in that Lloyd shares screen time with Biff Tannen himself, speaking of Lloyd he's great as the "adult" lead role.

Overall fun, funny with an enjoyable cast of child actors. The only problems I really saw is the feeling at the end how the really situation would go down to how it was in this movie.

16 - The Eye

Connection To KICK-ASS 2 - Chloé Grace Moretz

Remakes of Asian horror, the whole thing started The Ring didn't it back in 2002? Maybe there was ones before that but without The Ring we probably wouldn't have got The Grudge, Dark Water or Pulse, or the sequels to any of these. I don't think I'd be out of line if I called most of them poo and to be honest The Eye never did anything to stand out from the pack.

The original version was released in 2002 and was from Hong Kong (I love Hong Kong cinema and it's never really had the US remakes like other Asian countries have), I have had the original on my shelf to watch for a while but never got around to it, so there is nothing holding me back going into viewing this movie.

I might as well start with my overall opinion and if I had to choose one word about how I felt about that movie it would be - indifferent...

Perhaps one of the words I fear most in watching films, a great film I can get excited by while a bad film I can pinpoint what's wrong but when I feel indifferent it puts me in a tricky position in what to say about it. I certainly don't think Jessica Alba deserved a Razzie nomination for this and the ending is adequately built up too, there is just not enough to keep interest - I think this will be a film I'll forget about even in the next months. I think the plot as clearly a lot of potential blind women gets eye transplant can see but is seeing terrifying visions.

The supporting cast, really don't leave much of an impression, Parker Posey don't get much too do and the male lead Alessandro Nivola is merely okay, another familiar in Chloé Grace Moretz pops up as the littlest cancer patient (and makes me assume that Moretz started acting when she was a fetus).

Overall, bad doesn't seem a fair word to describe if it becomes the end of the year and I ranked all the films it would be difficult to know where to put it, worse films are more memorable, I would probably just say don't watch it in the end, there's 90 minutes you could devote to something more memorable.