Sin City

[schild]

How many US theaters did Alive play in again?

Sonatine never hit wide release either. Thanks for playing.

[schild]

Maybe I'm missing the obvious here...

You are. It's right there in the Fangoria article. They'd release it uncut if Tarantino would slap his name on it. Basically, if it flopped, they could be rid of the little weasel.

The general public doesn't know a lick about asian cinema. They might possibly recognize Kitano from Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, but maybe, just maybe, they might grab a "Tarantino Presents" DVD and have their eyes opened to something new.

I'm sorry, when did anyone here start caring about the general public? The "General Public" has probably never heard of the Criterion Collection either. What's your point?

[Margalis]

How many US theaters did Alive play in again?

Sonatine never hit wide release either. Thanks for playing.

Hero did. Back at you.

This is seriously what you would call "art faggery." The guy releases a movie and your complaint is about the fucking DVD cover. Give me a break. Of all the things that could go wrong, the DVD cover having a sidebar on it is pretty inconsequential.

OMG my cinema is forever ruined by a sidebar on the DVD cover! Oh noos!

[schild]

Hero did. Back at you.

Hero did, because once again, it was Buena Vista. And because of Crouching Tiger. Not because of Tarantino.

This is seriously what you would call "art faggery." The guy releases a movie and your complaint is about the fucking DVD cover. Give me a break. Of all the things that could go wrong, the DVD cover having a sidebar on it is pretty inconsequential.

It isn't about the fucking sidebar. Way to miss the forest for the trees. It's about taking credit for something he had nothing to do with.

OMG my cinema is forever ruined by a sidebar on the DVD cover! Oh noos!

Yes, that's what I was saying. And here, I didn't think anyone would get it.

[Riggswolfe]

See, I think the dialog was one of the only things that saved Resevoir Dogs. That entire movie was shot for shot Hard Boiled + The Killer. But then, Tim Roth can save any ship from sinking.

About the only thing they had in common was there was an undercover cop and a bunch of crooks. Oh, and lots of deaths.

Woo-fu. Nope. No Woo-fu in Reservoir dogs. (Woo-fu being the dual pistol routine)
Highly stylized action. Umm..nope. Reservoir Dogs had so little action it could almost be redone as a play.
Doves. Slow motion. Nope. Nope.
Hospital filled with a weapons stash. Nope.
Hitman with honor. Nope.
Heist? Yes. Reservoir Dogs had one. The others didn't. So Nope again.
Lots of Dialogue. Yes in Reservoir Dogs. No more than the movie needed in the Woo films.

Come on Schild, if there is a director he doesn't steal from it's Woo. Partly because Woo's style is so damn His that it'd be blatantly obvious if you stole it. Except the dual pistol thing. Everyone does that one now.

[qupte]
Pulp Fiction isn't my bag. I can see why people like it, I happen to despise Travolta.

Pulp Fiction is a movie that I like and would be hard pressed to explain why. I think Travolta and Samuel L Jackson's bits are the best parts of the movie though.

Tarantino does a number of things that piss me off immensely. One is buying the rights to foreign movies and putting a big nasty "Tarantino Presents" on them. Sontine and Zatoichi are two examples that come to mind. Both are Takeshi Kitano movies - arguably one of the best writer/directors working in Japan today. Disney does this same shit with Studio Ghibli, and it angers me to no end.

Oh and he sucks donkey balls. Seriously. There's video of it.

Well, you can look at it two ways. It's all ego. Or he means it when he says he loves this stuff and wants to get it out to the public. I happen to think it's a little of both. Personally, I like Tarantino cause he's a geeky fanboy who made it into movies.

[Abagadro]

See, I think the dialog was one of the only things that saved Resevoir Dogs. That entire movie was shot for shot Hard Boiled + The Killer

Jesus Christ. If you are going to act like you know everything, at least get the damn source material right.

Resevoir Dogs is an Americanization of City on Fire .  A damn good one too (although City on Fire is great). Who says you can't redo something and bring something to the table.

Can't we just talk about how much Sin City kicked ass instead of this retread garbage.

Sin City summary:

Mickey Roarke is amazing. His best work ever.

Del Toro is great.

The Willis segment dragged a bit, should have been reversed with the Marv segment as it would have been better ordered with weakest to best segment.

Rodriguez finally showed some of the genius that has been missing since El Mariachi.

Many, many beautiful asses.

[Riggswolfe]

Abragado, at the risk of restarting the argument over Tarantino, I found myself thinking that Sin City could do for Rourke what Pulp Fiction did for Travolta. Give him a second chance. Hopefully, he'd do a better job at picking movies with that second chance though...

My only complaint about Sin City is that I wish I could have seen Jessica Alba naked. Also, as far as dragging, I liked the segment with Clive Owen and Del Toro the least probably.

I could have watched the movie had it been nothing but Marv though.

[Abagadro]

The lack of Alba nekkidity was more than made up for by Jamie King, Carla Gugino and and Rosario Dawson

[Riggswolfe]

The lack of Alba nekkidity was more than made up for by Jamie King, Carla Gugino and and Rosario Dawson

The only problem is now I'll get a hardon everytime I watch spy kids as I think of Carla's body. *sighs* Damn you Rodriquez!

[Abagadro]

Ya, who knew?

[schild]

I liked the Clive bit the best. The "Marv Section" as it was, felt a little....out of place. This is coming from someone who has Not read the comics. It seemed more fantastical than noir would allow it to be. Yes, I've studied noir film. Yes, I think this is the best noir film ever made. And yes, I can point out which scenes were the result of Tarantino's limited involvement. Luckily he didn't drag the film down. It will likely be the best picture of the year, if people can get over the fact it came from a comic book. Which they won't. It will probably take the Watchman movie for comics to really jump into the critics lovebasket (Spiderman 1 & 2 aside).

Riggs, by the way, it's not Woo-Fu. It's called a bullet ballet. He invented the fucking bullet ballet.

Ab, as far as City on Fire goes. Resevoir was shot for shot stolen from Woo's other stuff. I didn't once touch on the premise or story. Which you did, and in the very least managed to be mostly correct.

[Evil Elvis]

Loved the Rourke segment.  It's no overstatement to say he steals the movie.  The Willis one was solid, too.  The Owen one didn't do much for me though.  Rosario Dawson and Del Toro were pretty good.  So was Owen, for that matter, but he just doesn't have the grit and presence that Rourke and Willis had.  Britney Murphey and Michael Duncan sucking didn't help either.

And nobody likes Tim Roth.

[gimpyone]

I don't think America is ready for movies like Ichi or Vistor Q etc etc.

[schild]

I don't think America is ready for movies like Ichi or Vistor Q etc etc.

That's the smartest reply I've seen in this thread.

We're still a horde of people willing to swallow shit like Kill Bill. And it's depressing.

[stray]

I liked the Clive bit the best. The "Marv Section" as it was, felt a little....out of place. This is coming from someone who has Not read the comics. It seemed more fantastical than noir would allow it to be. Yes, I've studied noir film. Yes, I think this is the best noir film ever made.

Yeah, Marv and the Cardinal Roark stuff isn't Noir. You don't have to read the comics to get more out of it though. It was never meant to be Noir there either. Frank Miller wrote Sin City to simply get away from all the contracted work he was assigned at the time (Superheroes and the like). Just to let loose and write something "he" wanted to write. He romanticizes a lot of different things. Noir was a big part of that, of course, but it didn't encompass it.

On a sidenote: Batman Begins will suck hard compared to this....Now that we can see just how well Miller translates to film.

[Furiously]

Took the wife to see it today. She wasn't that thrilled with it. She put it up there with City Hall.

I liked the Rourke section a lot. Thought it was the strongest by far, acting wise. I also liked the Owen section but not as much, but it could also be I find Devon Aoki a bit sexy.

Was funny - I think I was sitting in front of Schild's evil/good more anal twin. I laughed at some point because the dialog was so poor (along with 20% of the audience). And they went into a whisper with the person next to them about how that scene wasn't funny and how the unwashed masses just didn't get it.

I think people going in expecting anything other then a comic book are in for a disappointment.

[stray]

I think people going in expecting anything other then a comic book are in for a disappointment.

Yeah, as great as I think it is, I don't think it will appeal to just anybody. I don't agree with what some critics are referring to it as ("feral" and "adolescent" seem to be the popular designations), but I can see how certain types of people won't see the elegance in it. Squares beware.

[angry.bob]

Devon Aoki = Worst Miho evar.

It baffles me why they would go to the trouble of Marving up Marv, but then cast the one tart in Hollywood who is everything that Miho is/was not. Fuck, Heather Graham would have been as logical and she's already been on rollerskates so she's got that going for her.

[Riggswolfe]

Riggs, by the way, it's not Woo-Fu. It's called a bullet ballet. He invented the fucking bullet ballet.

Ab, as far as City on Fire goes. Resevoir was shot for shot stolen from Woo's other stuff. I didn't once touch on the premise or story. Which you did, and in the very least managed to be mostly correct.

Yeah, I know it's called bullet ballet but my friends and I have this running joke where we call things some form of fu or jitsu. Like Kirk-jitsu is that silly move Captain Kirk always did where he'd hit someone on the shoulders with his stiffened hands.

Anyway, still gotta disagree. I'm a huge Woo fan and I saw no similiarities in shots or style to Reservoir Dogs at all. Other than the fact that alot of Hong Kong Woo movies were violent and had some criminal element involved in them. That's about it.

As for the segment discussion, IE, which ones we all liked best, I'm looking forward to the DvD assuming Rodriquez keeps his word. In addition to putting all 3 segments as their own little mini-movie on Disc 2 he said he'll have a 20 minute film school segment and of course, his usual cooking segment. Here's the article it was in:

Here

[schild]

Anyway, still gotta disagree. I'm a huge Woo fan and I saw no similiarities in shots or style to Reservoir Dogs at all. Other than the fact that alot of Hong Kong Woo movies were violent and had some criminal element involved in them. That's about it.

Edit: If I were a real jackass, I would have gone into my boxes, gotten out Resevoir Dogs and the Woo stuff and had a field day with the "P" button on my keyboard (what I have screen cap attached too). But I don't think that's necessary.

[Riggswolfe]

Damn you're fast. Yeah, gotta admit, Woo is famous for his Mexican standoff scenes.

[SurfD]

Bulllet Ballet, Woo-fu, every one knows what you are talking about in the end anyhow (and besides, its not like there is a "big-book-of-movie-terms" out there somewhere with a deffinition of Bullet Ballet enscribed in stone or anything)

Hell, I played a PnP RPG that had a combat skill called Woo-Factor.  In any hand gun, on a roll of 1d6, a roll of 1 ment the bullet fired didnt count as being subtracted from the magazine. Typical Woo style "How many fucking bullets does that fucking gun HAVE" shootuts ensued.

[schild]

Damn you're fast. Yeah, gotta admit, Woo is famous for his Mexican standoff scenes.

Thing is, I couldn't find the cap from Hard-Boiled I wanted. I did, however, find that Resevoir dogs cap in my search for "The Killer John Woo." Heh.

[Paelos]

I warms my cold black heart that movie threads are always on the brink of turning into a Tarantino hate-fest. That guy molests collies.

[schild]

It warms my cold black heart that movie threads are always on the brink of turning into a Tarantino hate-fest. That guy molests collies.

I'd been wondering why you'd removed the word "Lukewarm" from your sig for a while now. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Paelos]

Mornings make me angry. Coffee makes me better.

[Margalis]

The shots aren't even the same, in the Woo shots the arms cross and are much more intimate.

I really think it's stretching to say that 2 guys pointing guns at each other is a Woo rip-off. I hear in Woo movies people also run and drive cars.

[schild]

I really think it's stretching to say that 2 guys pointing guns at each other is a Woo rip-off.

As I said, I wanted a certain shot from The Killer or Hard-Boiled. I forget which. One guy was backed up against a door frame point his gun up while the other guy was pointing his gun down. I'm far to lazy to dig them out of a box.

[Riggswolfe]

I Don't think one similiar scene qualifies for a shot by shot remake. By that logic Star Wars is a total ripoff of various World War 2 Air combat movies.

[schild]

I Don't think one similiar scene qualifies for a shot by shot remake. By that logic Star Wars is a total ripoff of various World War 2 Air combat movies.

I was *just* using the most famous shot (s - in the case of Woo) from those movies. Apologies for having to spell it out.

I'm ready to drop the Tarantino thing. It's apparent to me that no matter how hard I try most of the people here will still like him. And while that goes against standards of good taste, I've seen worse. One of my guilty pleasures is "A Knight's Tale." But you'll never hear my stand up for it in a fight.

[Bunk]

Its good to know that Schild's hatred of Quentin knows no bounds. In a thread about Sin City he manages to use one post to call the movie the best Noir Film made, and then uses 27 posts to bash Tarrentino. Oh well.

Back on topic - fucking amazing, absolutely disturbing movie. Deffinately not for everybody's girlfirends. I am glad that I wasn't the only one that thought the third story dragged a little, but I'll forgive that.

I was worried that a movie with Rourke and Willis might not work, since at times they seem to have been seperated at birth. No such issue here. Why the hell is the last movie I can remember with Rourke -  Wild Orchid? Crap, he owned this movie, even if he morphed in to Hellboy when he put that glove on...

One of the quotes from a critic at RT went something like this (don't feel like looking it up) - "This movie did two impossible things, made me admire Mickey Rourke as an actor, and made Elijah Wood scare the crap out of me."

Warning to those that haven't seen it - at least two full out grap your nuts and make sure they are still there moments in this movie.

Oh, and all those beautiful bums and breasts. Rodriguez knows how to shoot beautiful women. I'll agree with everyone, best work he has done since El Mariachi.

[schild]

After seeing the movie, I thought Elijah Wood was the best cast role. I think I'm going to stick by that.

[Bunk]

Its weird how really little details can blow you away in a movie, but the shots with the light reflecting off of Kevin's glasses so you couldn't see he eyes did just that for me.

[Murgos]

One of my guilty pleasures is "A Knight's Tale." But you'll never hear my stand up for it in a fight.

OMG!!! That Heath Ledger is soooo hot!!!

[Strazos]

And here I was thinking that movies were just fucking movies. Let me out of this fucking film art deco thread, waaaaah!!