Today's Double News: dinosaur robots and neo-noir strip routines

I got some more stuff up on MovieScene yesterday and managed to post it here today, as ought to be the natural routine I have increasingly less time to adhere to, alas.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154236/nieuwe_fotos_sin_city_a_dame_to_kill_for

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154235/eerste_trailer_transformers_age_of_extinction

This is so typical. I loathed the previous threesome of Transformers flicks, yet I still keep looking forward to the next installment even though I know it's gonna suck robots balls (and that these robots even have genitals is something unfortunately established in the second movie). I should know better by now. Maybe it's because this time there's dinosaurs involved too? Yeah, like that makes a difference for the overall (lack of) quality as long as Michael Bay is still directing! If I didn't care for supposedly paleontologically correct dinosaurs in the recent Walking with Dinosaurs 3D flick, robot dinosaurs also doesn't exactly sound like stuff right up my alley. I guess I've become too picky as I've grown old and sour. Trading in Shia LaBeouf for Mark Wahlberg is also less than a stellar improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. As was the case with the previous Tranny films, there's some good actors around, but this is not the type of films that revolves around acting. These are eye candy movies for immature audiences, where half the movie consists of overly loud, endless action scenes with explosions every other minute and the rest of the time is filled with hot chicks bending over socially sexualized vehicles while utterly cringe worthy poop jokes are produced. Inbetween there is something of a story line to discern but it makes little sense and is otherwise completely forgotten when the credits end rolling. There are visual FX driven movies that provide a singularly memorable, thoroughly absorbing viewing experience, like Gravity, and there is its exact opposite: Transformers 1 through 3. Fourth time is the charm? I don't think so. Yet I will still end up torturing myself as I go and see it (for free, obviously: torturing yourself and paying for it is just too much pain). It will probably be another bad film, but at the very least robots morphing into dinosaurs can't be worse than robots shapeshifting into cars. It just can't, I refuse to believe it...

And then there's the type of VFX movie where the effects form the setting, dominating the visual style but not driving the story per se, as that is still up to the actors. Like Sin City. And its sequel, A Dame to Kill For. In the case of such films, acting is a quintessential ingredient, and the actors find their capabilities tested to their absolute limits acting against nothing but blue (or green, it varies) all around them. Some actors don't do so well in this scenario, as Rosario Dawson and Jessica Alba showed in the previous adventure taking place in the City of Sins. Hopefully they've grown and prove more up to the task in the sequel, as both of them are back for more. As are characters like Hartigan (Bruce Willis) and Marv (Mickey Rourke), despite both of them kicking the bucket before. As this movie takes place before the events of the first film, that ought not be an issue. In fact, this film will answer questions raised by its predecessor. For one thing, why did Dwight have to change his facial appearance (from Sin 2's Josh Brolin to Sin's Clive Owen)? With exactly the same people both in front and behind of the camera, I have full faith in this project, though I agree it doesn't score points in terms of originality. If the quality of the movie gets anywhere near the level of the first installment - still a much appreciated entry in my personal Top-29 of 10/10 rated movies - you won't hear me complaining. Even if Alba once again takes out her no-nudity clause and keeps her clothes on while playing the stripper, despite the graphic novel the movie so faithfully reproduces for the big screen revealing quite a lot more black&white skin.

Today's News: a dame to kill for teases us

Another poster I posted on MS the other day:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152398/eerste_poster_sin_city_a_dame_to_kill_for

This is about as teasery as a teaser poster can get. You got all the basics you need to titillate the audience about your movie, but next to nothing on what the film itself is about except for those few clues the title provides. There's a captivating visual image to raise the spectator's curiosity, in this case a stylized pair of red lips with cigarette smoke emanating from them against a bleak, dark rainy background. Then there's a title, a long list of cast names (both big shot names and some of less established actors, as well as returning actors and new additions in this sequel's case), a director's credit, or two in this movie's case, and a release date so audiences know when to expect this film to arrive in theaters (subject to change of course: as this movie saw its fair share of pre-production delays, this current release date may also not be wholly safe just yet). What will this movie be about, a viewer not familiar with the previous installment may wonder? Though an ominous lady will be present in a shady town where hardboiled men will fall under her dangrous spell, there's nothing more to go on except for the mental imagery of sin, lust, passion, death and betrayal this particular picture evokes. And since those were more or less the exact ingredients of the first film, this teaser poster seems to have gotten it all right.

Today's News: City of Sins on the small screen too?

Totally hot off MovieScene (really, just a matter of minutes!):

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152046/weinstein_company_wil_sin_city_tv-serie

A Sin City TV-show? Seems like the comic book craze moving from the silver screen to the small screen is already getting overdone, now "more prestigious" comics (or graphic novels, depending on your definition of the latter) are also under consideration for TV projects, after the news of more Marvel shows and a Gotham TV series broke. A Sin City TV show doesn't actually sound like a bad idea, considering the episodic nature of the original works, loosely linked to one another. However, there's only so many of them, and I definitely can't see this as a running show. A miniseries, yes, 10 to 13 episodes max. That could work. But beyond that, the visual film noir gimmick that drives it would feel exhausted and what remains would be mostly gratuitous sex and violence (HBO maybe?). Plus, what about the movies? Producing a TV-show on the heels of a movie implies a connection between the two. Will there be, other than Rodriguez and Miller also being involved somehow? It's too soon to tell. However, considering the success of the first film - already eight years ago, can you believe it... - and the anticipation for the upcoming A Dame to Kill/Die For (title depending on what territory you live in), it's hard to believe audiences will swallow a second Sin Cityverse so soon. This whole notion of Weinstein's to further exploit films that need not be exploited (The Mist, which is excellent) or that have already been fully exploited (Scream, milked dry after four movies) reeks of rampant sucking money out of past glory. Though any or all of these proposed projects might result in good television, there's no need for them other than studio execs wanting more money. Which is how the movie/TV business works anyway, so in that regard this news comes as no surprise. If we look at Dimension's repertoire, there's no doubt the possibility of series based on the likes of Piranha, Mimic, Equilibrium and Spy Kids too.

Today's Mini-Review: Machete Kills

Machete Kills: ***/*****, or 6/10

Robert Rodriguez continues telling the strange and ever over-the-top chronicles of his delightfully violent character Machete (Danny Trejo), who once starred in a fake trailer attached to his original Grindhouse segment Planet Terror and suddenly embarked on a life of his own. Though no faux trailer for this second installment was ever attached to other similar themed films (maybe there just were none), Machete Kills itself opens with a trailer for the alleged third movie, the dubiously titled Machete Kills Again... In Space! It's both a stroke of genius – as this 'prevue' perfectly sets the tone for what's to come, as well as pokes fun to the whole B-movie style Rodriguez embraces so vigorously more aptly in two minutes than the following film does in two hours – but also rather frustrating, as we know exactly how the movie we're about to see ends and what characters survive to fight another day (in space, yes). As such, Machete Kills is largely rendered devoid of any large narrative surprises. As we'll find out soon enough, the film doesn't rely on story structure at all, as in this regard it's kind of a mess, bloated with characters and motivations, many which change over the course of the movie. We're just supposed to roll with it as we did in the case of the first film, but it's obvious the paying-hommage-to-grindhouse-cinema is getting stale. This time, Machete is hired by the President of the USA (Charlie Sheen, humorously billed under his birth name Carlos Estevez and given an 'introducing' credit accordingly) to stop an arms dealer with a bad case of schizophrenia (Demian Bichir) from launching a nuclear assault upon Washington D.C. Why Machete cares about America at all, being an exploited Mexican alien and so forth, is only briefly addressed as we're not supposed to care to much for it is his simple duty to 'go kick some ass', and we like to see him do just that (we do!). Of course the situation is not nearly as simple as it seems and the bad guy's trail leads to an even bigger villain, a big shot industrialist named Voz (Mel Gibson) who harbors even deadlier threats to mankind's health. Along the road, Machete must dodge various well armed, colourful hitmen and legions of mindless minions, survive plots by double agents and also make love to beautiful women from time to time. A lot to do in only two hours, and what's more, a lot of characters to introduce and successively kill off in new and interesting ways.

Even more star studded than Machete's previous venture, this movie features appearances by an overly large score of popular actors including the likes of Jessica Alba, Amber Heard, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Vanessa Hudgens. With so many celebrities present, it's obvious a lot of them don't get the screen time they deserve. Another, more serious result is that Trejo himself feels somewhat overwhelmed by it all (or maybe it's just his age, as he's pushing 70) and delivers a less than stellar performance than we're used to, not nearly exuberating the same type of invincibility and 'badassery' as he did before. Fortunately we still have the scantily clad tough girl Michelle Rodriguez (no relation), reprising her role as secret revolutionary Luz, to make up for Trejo's lack of bravura. In all other respects, Machete Kills is equally enjoyable as its predecessor, containing the maximum amount of scenes of idiotic ultraviolence, sweaty sensuality (though surprisingly no actual nudity this time) and a plethora of insanely funny genre self-referencing that have proven hallmarks of Rodriguez' grindhouse flicks. My favorite, apart from the opening trailer for Part 3, is the sex scene which out of the blue has the film stock distorted and blurred just when it got saucy, with an overlaying text asking us to put on our 3D-glasses. At least in terms of sheer simple fun Machete once again gives us what we expect, which does still make you want to see him kill again in space: like the trailer says, because 'it's all galactic and shit'.

Today's News: Machete Kills some more in second trailer

Hot off MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/149073/nieuwe_trailer_machete_kills

Looks good, exactly what one can hope for in one's Machete movie: over the top characters (including tough dames in skimpy outfits), over the top action and over the top guns and knifes (and the occasional machete no doubt). Judging from this trailer, the plot has me confused a bit though, in terms of continuity with the previous film. How come Machete is suddenly working for the US government? After all, he's a Mexican ex-federale who previously got caught up in an assassination attempt - a set-up, sure, but still - on a US senator and afterwards rallied illegal Mexican immigrants to stage a revolt of sorts against democratically elected government officials. That's not the sort of person you're likely to see on the side of the American president. However, if I was the American president, I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of any conflict Machete is involved in... I'm sure director Robert Rodriguez will come up with a logical narrative string of events explaining this situation adequately. Say what you will about the wacky contents of many of his films, in terms of story structure they're pretty solid. Except for that intentionally omitted reel in Planet Terror, but that's another story entirely.

Machete doesn't text, Machete doesn't tweet: Machete kills! Personally I can't wait for this flick to arrive in theatres. Hopefully the Dutch distributor will have his release date sorted out pretty soon, as we're still unsure when this sequel is supposed to be available for viewing in the Netherlands. If not Machete, the suspense kills.

Today's News: Charlie Sheen for president

I presented this to MovieScene the other day:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/148363/nieuwe_poster_charlie_sheen_voor_machete_kills


It's not the first Machete Kills poster I reported about (they tend to be released one at a time) and it's not the most good looking either (no scantily clad women here), but it's still a fascinating piece of advertising. And that's not so much because of Charlie Sheen's involvement, it's because of Carlos Estevez', which is Charlie's real name. But why did they use it on this poster? After all, the point of a character poster like this is to lure audiences to the movie in question by showcasing the popular actor(s) involved (if any). Granted, Charlie Sheen isn't exactly an audience draw the likes of Will Smith, Brad Pitt or Robert Downey Jr., but he's still fairly well known and has the potential to intrigue prospective viewers, if only because they're surprised to see him in this type of movie (the same way people were surprised to see Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan and Robert De Niro in the previous Machete film). But if you market your star actor with a name few people will know to be his in your advertising campaign, you risk shooting yourself in the foot.

I bet it's a latino thing. After all director Robert Rodriguez is a proud latino as is half the cast. Plus, these films deal with latino issues and tend to shake things upside down a bit (or at least, the first movie did, but I reckon its successor will do likewise), making the latinos the heroes and the average white Americans the ruthless villains. Bringing Sheen's latino background to the fore could be a matter of acknowledging aspects of latino cultural identity for Rodriguez. What's more, Sheen/Estevez plays the role of the American president, suggesting a desire for full latino equality in terms of political office. If a black guy can do it, why not a latino, eh? The question as yet is whether this particular president is a good guy or not, which is still a bit vague. If he is not, we have a clear latino bad guy this time around, instead of only racist white trash villainy. That could make for an interesting debate, but it's simply too soon to start it now based on this poster alone. Beter wait until the movie is out, which for a Dutch audience might take a while longer since we still don't have a set release date, unfortunately. But hey, it's never too early to speculate. Or to look forward to exploitation based action flicks like this. I liked its predecessor and I have complete faith in Rodriguez, so I have no reason not to look forward to seeing Machete kill some more. Now the proposed third installment, titled Machete Kills Again... In Space! has me kind of worried though...

Today's News: dames kill too in Machete Kills

Here's a bit of really fresh news for a change. Posted this only a proverbial minute ago on MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/145212/eerste_poster_machete_kills

What can I say, but that it intrigues the shit out of me? It's not a wholly original concept of course, having been done before in the Austin Powers films (to great effect), but it hasn't gotten old yet and it seems to fit right in Robert Rodriguez' Grindhousian style for the Machete films. If anything, Machete Kills is gonna be fun and that's enough for me.

Sin City

Rating: *****/*****, or 10/10

Stad der Zonde blijkt geslaagd kunstwerk

Wat is de beste manier om een graphic novel succesvol naar het witte doek te vertalen? Waar sommige regisseurs een geheel eigen draai aan het bronmateriaal geven en het eindproduct vervolgens geenszins meer lijkt op het originele werk, ondanks de behouden kwaliteit, is er ook de compleet tegenovergestelde methode: het beeld-voor-beeld omzetten van plaatje naar shot. Robert Rodriguez gebruikte deze drastische methode bij zijn bewerking van Frank Millers klassieke 'Sin City'. En verdomd, het werkt! En dat is nog een understatement...

Nadat hij in de jaren tachtig het respect voor doorsnee comics terugbracht met zijn werk in de 'Daredevil'-reeks en het magistrale 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns' begaf Miller zich begin jaren negentig definitief op het terrein van de 'graphic novel', getekend literair hoogstaand werk dat absoluut verschilt van de laatdunkende term 'strips' waarmee het nog te vaak in associatie gebracht wordt. Millers Sin City vormt een hommage aan de 'film noir' Hollywoodfilms van de dertiger jaren, en handelt over de stad Basin City, een verdorven Sodom en Gomorra vol met hardhandige vigilantes, 'femme fatales' en moordlustige psychopaten. De diverse verhalen vertellen over enkele stoere rouwdouwers die op hun eigen (gewelddadige) wijze nog een beetje orde en gerechtigheid in het door God verlaten oord handhaven, getoond in een grotendeels zwart/witte tekenstijl met hier en daar een mopje kleur.

Regisseur Rodriguez, die furore maakte met zowel hardcore actiefilms (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn) als films voor de hele familie (Spy Kids) toont zich in zijn bewerking een devote liefhebber van Millers magnum opus te zijn, door elke pagina, ieder plaatje, volledig te respecteren en liefdevol naar het grote scherm te verplaatsen, en daarbij zelden af te wijken van hoe Miller het voor ogen had. Dit is niet merkwaardig, aangezien hij Miller zelf als co-regisseur inschakelde om Sin City zoveel mogelijk recht te doen. Alsof twee regisseurs nog niet genoeg is draaft ook Quentin Tarantino, wiens eigen films geheel in het straatje van Sin City passen, op als gastregisseur van een enkele scène. Met dergelijk talent achter de camera is het niet vreemd dat Sin City een op alle fronten geslaagde bioscoop-ervaring is geworden.

Het eindresultaat bestaat uit vier afzonderlijke verhalen die elkaar slechts sporadisch kruisen. De geharde anti-held Marv (een uitstekende comeback van Mickey Rourke die de laatste jaren nauwelijks nog serieus te nemen viel) jaagt op de moordenaar van het hoertje Goldie (Jaime King) dat hem de beste nacht van zijn leven gunde. Een opgejaagde vrouw schakelt een huurmoordenaar (een zwoele Josh Hartnett) in voor haar zelfdoding. De sluwe Dwight (Clive Owen) schiet de prostituees van de Stad der Zonde te hulp als zij uit zelfverdediging een politieagent (een bijzonder hufterige Benicio del Toro) hebben gedood. En de laatste eerlijke agent Hartigan (de altijd betrouwbare actieheld Bruce Willis) verlaat na acht jaar de gevangenis om zijn laatste onopgeloste zaak af te ronden en een jongedame (een wulpse Jessica Alba) uit de klauwen van een gestoorde verkrachter (glansrol voor Nick Stahl) te houden. Vier verhalen die samen één film vormen, een geheel dat nooit saai wordt dankzij het grote aantal markante personages (inclusief het overschot aan bekende namen in de cast), de zinderende actiescènes en vooral de schitterende en ongeëvenaarde stijl die de film een compleet eigen karakter geeft.

Want hoewel de verhaallijnen zelf absoluut niet teleurstellen, maakt Sin City er geen geheim voor presentatie boven inhoud te verkiezen. Zoals de artiest Frank Miller elke bladzijde van de graphic novel tot een stilistisch meesterwerk tekende, zo transformeert diens discipel Rodriguez letterlijk Millers visie trouw naar bewegend beeld. Het ene na het andere fantastisch gecomponeerde shot volgt elkaar in dynamisch tempo op, alsof de camera het bronmateriaal zelf registreert. Het gehalte zwart/wit voelt sterk aan als een typische 'film noir' klassieker, ondanks het steeds terugkerende minimalistisch kleurenspel. De kunst van de graphic novel blijft zodanig intact en zelfs verbeterd in Rodriguez' liefdevolle adaptatie: een blauwe auto in een grauwe stroom verkeer, een rode das in een donker steegje, een gele engerd die zijn zoveelste hulpeloze slachtoffer naar het leven staat... Het kleurenpalet van Sin City leidt een geheel eigen leven, en blijft niet alleen van begin tot eind de sfeer bepalen, maar ook de hele film door fascineren. De filmversie van Sin City blijkt evenzeer geslaagde kunst als Millers originele werk dat destijds was (en nog steeds is).

En laten we vooral de vele liters bloed, nu wit, dan weer rood op de kleurloze achtergrond niet vergeten. Want de zondige stad en haar sinistere inwoners bieden ook een keur aan excessief geweld, wat volledig in de sfeer van de film past. Tijdens Marv's wraakactie snijdt hij de ledematen van een man af en voert hem vervolgens aan zijn hond. Hartigan slaat een maniak letterlijk tot pulp na hem met blote handen ontmand te hebben. Het klinkt allemaal extreem gruwelijk, maar is zo stilistisch, soms zelfs cartoonesk, in beeld gebracht dat het de pret niet kan drukken en een geaccepteerd onderdeel van de film vormt. Immers, in de Stad der Zonde zijn zulke praktijken aan de orde van de dag.

Sin City is zonder twijfel één van de meest geslaagde graphic novel verfilmingen tot nu toe, zowel in haar vertaling van boek naar film als in de kwaliteit van de film an sich. Het predicaat 'visuele kunst' misstaat absoluut niet, terwijl de film bovendien een zeer onderhoudende actiefilm is met een dynamisch tempo, een cast van louter grote namen in topvorm en de nodige toepasselijke zwarte humor. Waar collegae als Alan Moore hun werk verminkt zagen worden door de harteloze filmindustrie mag Frank Miller zich gelukkig prijzen met een talentvolle regisseur als Robert Rodriguez die bewijst diens originele werk de volledige eer te bewijzen door dit om te zetten in een film die meer Millers stempel drukt dan zijn eigen. Of een dergelijke situatie zich in de toekomst voor zal doen bij vergelijkbare graphic novel adaptaties valt nog te bezien, maar naar het al aangekondigde Sin City 2 kan, ook door Miller zelf, terecht reikhalzend uitgekeken worden.