JR's Movie of the Week -- "Sin City" (2005)

[Betsy]

Let me just get this out of the way. Just because someone misquotes a line from a film doesn't make them a "noob". If we, none of us, were permitted to speak without fear of misquoting, we'd all have our mouths taped shut.

Casablanca is a good movie. For its time. It starts off with some "racial profiling" of sorts which is amusing, to say the least. And there are a few scenes of violence that, like every other movie of that era, are dramatically over-acted.

It's a love story. A man (Rick) and a woman (Ilsa) meet in Paris and fall in love. But they cannot be together because the husband she thought was dead turns out to be alive and an underground hero. Ilsa must be with her husband and help him get to America. Years later, we don't know how many, Ilsa and her husband turn up in the "joint" that Rick owns, their last stop before boarding a plane to the States.

Humphrey Bogart is exceptional in this movie. He's the one with all the one-liners. Rick is a bitter, jaded man when we first meet him, but underneath the crustiness is a man who is willing to sacrifice his personal happiness for the greater good. I particularly liked this little bit of dialogue:
Random girl: Where were you last night?
Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember.
Random girl: Will I see you tonight?
Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

By the end of the movie, we know that Rick is going to do just fine. He's no longer cynical and can see possibilities in his future.

As for Ilsa, portrayed by Ingrid Bergman....well. I know Ms. Bergman won several awards (though not for this movie) and is a fine actress, but I just happen to take issue with the way women, in general, were portrayed in movies of this era.
Ilsa is too dewy-eyed, too ambiguous. She is not a courageous woman and just goes along with whatever she is told. I'm assuming Ilsa spent her remaining years regretting most of the decisions she made in her younger years. Or not. I don't think the character had enough substance to realize regret.

Ingrid Bergman, herself, was a courageous woman. A little tidbit picked up from Wiki: While married to one man, she became pregnant with another man's child. "The pregnancy caused a huge scandal in the United States. It even led to Bergman being denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate by a Democratic senator, who referred to her as "a horrible example of womanhood and a powerful influence for evil.""

All in all, a good movie. I'm glad I watched it. Now if I could just get my hands on a copy of Citizen Kane.

[John Rose]

Citizen Kane, shuldn't be too hard to come by.
Another good movie that.

Hmm let's see, which movie shall we have this week?

Let's do
Sin City (2005)

I like this movie, I really do, and for several reasons as that.
It is a very interrseting movie when seen in regards of character alignment theories.

[David Schofield]

Sin City was violent, in black and white, and overall filled with sexy killings and brutal crushing. Perfect choice as Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Michael Madson and many more had done their parts in the movie to create an Atmosphere unimaginable on todays moral standards.

One other thing that I am impressed with is the usage of Black and White, that is a very euphoric and very hypnotic effect that will leave you begging for more.

Of course, The film had a little help in direction from my favorite, Quentin Tarantino. Sure Robert Rodriguez did fine for a majority but I see him more for his work in creating very memorable, beyond physical boundaries, violent films, such as Planet Terror.

[Wild Jase Hiccup]

I saw Sin City when it was released, on the big screen. It is forgettable in that I have nearly forgotten everything about it.

Cinematograpy was very good, in comic book style, reflective of the stories origins as a graphic novel.

Generally a good looking movie with a standard Bruce Willis storyline and some kind of twist at the end is how I remember it.

Your life will still be complete if you don't see it.

[George Hurst]

I enjoyed it much more than that, and found it far more absorbing and confronting than any other Bruce Willis movie I've ever seen. The "comic book style" cinematography really impressed me too, this is the only movie I have ever seen that depicts a graphic novel so true to the way it was written, I think the narration helps with that too. Rodriguez and Tarantino are masters of making films based around modern pop-culture.

[Senokai]

Very acceptive and a fan of comic-book style in anything that is and isn't a comic book, this is a great movie, and a great QT (Tarantino) movie nontheless.. Very true to the comic (yes, I refuse to call it anything else) The narraration was very helpful in adding to the comic-book feel. QT, in my opinion, is a great director and his legacy lives on in this movie.