Returning To Sin City With A Dame To Kill For

Not gonna lie, I was waaay excited to return to the world of Sin City for another go around. The first movie was such a fun trip. Robert Rodriguez was back, Frank Miller was back... what could possibly go wrong?

Well, it's really not all that simple. I did essentially get a similar kind of joy out of this sequel. The original was such an interesting movie... completely shot in Rodriguez's studio, all covered in green screens and the entirety of the film was just CGed over to create this scoping world. And everything seemed to flow together even though it was a series of stories all taken from very different books in the opus of Sin City history. They made that initial movie work so well because they could choose whatever piece they wanted and tie it all up in a pretty little bow to the point that a revisit probably wasn't necessary.

And that's exactly where Sin City: A Dame To Kill For's fate gets murky. Since the creators had initially made the first film out of order, they left a lot of stories untold in varying spots in the timeline. So what this sequel becomes... is more like a bunch of pretty cool deleted scenes... both sequel and prequel and in fact... stuff that was going on at the same time as the other things from the first flick. In that regard, it becomes very confusing trying to realign your perspective in the overall arc of the film.

Regardless, the filmmakers did manage to tell a number of entertaining stories. But the end result feels like it could eventually be combined with the original to make a massive, all encompassing mega-movie.

Mickey Rourke still kills it with his performance as the utterly horrific, but somehow totally lovable Marv... OLD SPOILER one of the myriad of returning characters that actually died in the original. END OLD SPOILER He reminded me of all the things I really enjoyed from the first film. And that's pretty powerful for one actor to bring us back like that. Jessica Alba, however takes a very different position, showing a much darker side to the once peaceful Nancy. Her scenes are likely the most important in reference to the first film, but somehow feel like they cheapen those things that made me so completely enjoy her before.

Josh Brolin does his best Clive Owen impression and gets away with it a few times, but ultimately Dwight's story loses some steam because of the prequel nature of this segment... that and he really doesn't get any help from Eva Green who apparently becomes a worse actress the more she drops trow. This is unfortunate because, after Casino Royal, I really did think she was going to prove to be a very solid actress. This has not seemed to pan out in her last several showings... 300: Rise of an Empire (ugh) and Dark Shadows included. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a very entertaining new element to this sequel, but his part felt waaay too short in the grand scheme of things. The same can be said for Juno Temple's wonderful cameo.

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For is a welcome supplement to the original feature. If you liked that movie at all this is certainly worth a visit and it definitely looks good on the big screen, though I really felt the 3D was useless and unfortunately distracted me from the things I did like about the flick. In any event, I say give it a shot, though it may not have the same quality arc of the original, it's still got its moments.

The Don Of Ladies, The Jon Of Habit

After a rather long week I finally got around to seeing Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's first feature-length directorial attempt.

And I was impressed. Now it's not a perfect movie, but there are enough of the right things to inspire confidence in future endeavors.

First, let's consider, the budget was only $6 million. For that price, JGL got a bargain from a practically all-star cast. Himself, Scarlett Jo, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza (whom I haven't seen in anything since my childhood), Glenne Headly, and Brie Larson... with cameos from Anne Hathaway, Channing Tatum, Meagan Good, and Cuba Gooding Jr? That sounds like at least a $24 million affair to me.

The limited sets and shots certainly went a long way in contributing to the cheapness of that budget, though what's nice about this film is the repetitive view of Jon's world is pretty much a necessity in getting the point across. For any human being stuck in habit, it can become difficult to realize your surroundings have been the same each and every day. So many times, people don't step out of their security blankets... their home, their car, their gym, their church, their club... sound familiar?

What Don Jon manages to explore so well is that belief that in our lives everything has purpose, so we fill meaningless locations and activities (porn, romance movies, looks, one night stands, football) with memories and focus and more focus. But we continually miss out on the bigger picture. We miss out on the connection. We work so hard to fill these things, that we sometimes forget we ourselves must be filled... and the only way we can hope to receive that same satisfaction is from another. Someone else must be allowed to see us and be with us. Jon seemingly searches all movie long for this and watches as others around him miss the same cues he does.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt shows a lot of promise with his first outing. He came up with a concept that was easily shootable but managed to pack it with a very solid and surprisingly intriguing message. And clearly everyone wanted to work with him. For those and a few other reasons I would probably recommend this movie. At the very least, give it a chance when it comes to netflix or whatever service you're using by then.