Sin City

Sigh. It gets lonely here. But I am pleased to report that, after 5 months delay, Sin City has been released, uncut, in Singapore. We used to be Sin City in the 50's. Time for a comeback. Went to see it. Good, clean fun.

Comments

[woof]

I saw it and wished I hadn't. Too gross.

[Jim Henley]

Which sequence did you like best, the Dark Knight Returns story, the Wolverine story or the Elektra story? For me it was the Elektra story.

[jholbo]

I liked the Wolverine story.

Oh, man, woof. I remember talking to you about how much you didn't like Reservoir Dogs, back in the day.

[woof]

Splooshy guts everywhere, severed limbs... That's not what I like to see. Otherwise it was a decent mood flick.

[Carlos]

It's rather low on the splooshy guts content. I can't remember any cables of intestines lying on the ground at all.

(And there were opportunities for that in Sin City. Oh yes.)

[Jacob T. Levy]

Finally got to see it for the second time last night. I had been afraid that I had missed my chance to see it twice on the big screen; but it just got released in Paris, and happens to be showing at the movie theater that (bizarrely) sits on the grounds of the Bibliothèque Nationale. So, come closing time at the library, went over and bought a ticket.

Not quite as good the second time around, sorry to say; the amazing sheer visual newness of it wore off. (And I was better braced for some of the splooshy bits, which diminished their effect.) But still, damn. Quite a thing, ain't it?

Definitely never gonna look at Elijah Wood's wide-eyed stare in LotR the same way again...

(I count two Dark Knight stories. I suppose Elektra must be Nancy and Hartigan, leaving DK as Marv; but the most Dark Knighty moments seemed to me Hartigan's chest-clutching and self-berating as a useless old man, no?)

[Jim Henley]

Hartigan = Dark Knight ("Come on, Old Man!")

Marv = Wolverine (mad regeneration, ugly)

Miko = Elektra

The last is, weirdly, the most tenuous identity. All leather babes with swords are not the same. Still, as a libertarian, the Old Town story was the one I responded most strongly to emotionally.

[Jacob T. Levy]

Ah, got it. No, all leather babes with swords are certainly not the same.

And since I associate Miller primarily with Samauri Wolverine (new from Kenner, fully poseable with Clan Sword!), the Marv comparison didn't really strike me. Dwight (and I think of it as Dwight's story, not Miho's) seemed much more like that Wolverine-- the careful planner with lots o' weapons who has to take out an army, enjoying some bloodlust at the end but basically smart and in control.

[jholbo]

I correctly interpreted Jim's scheme right from the start. I'm not sure it's really a good idea responding to ANY of the stories emotionally, however. That might lead to confusion. I mean: except with the lizard part of your brain that understands how to ride rollercoasters. That level of response is acceptable.

[Raffi Melkonian]

Having said all that, Proof. Levy, what do you think of the bizarre bibliotheque/jungle that is the French national library? I did research there one summer, and found it odder than the movie theatre. Especially with all the smokers inside.

[Jacob T. Levy]

"what do you think of the bizarre bibliotheque/jungle that is the French national library"

Loathe it. Never been here before, and won't come back if the documents I'm looking for exist anywhere else; I've never disliked a library so much. Nor, for that matter, have I ever disliked anything in the city of Paris so much.

The smokers are the least of it; that's just France. The fact that I've been shut out for a third of my time here, because you can't reserve seats until you have a library card and you absolutely can't get a library card until you're here in person-- very irksome and bureaucratic. But the physical fact of this space, these buildings, the way they're set in the neighborhood-- appalling.

[Raffi Melkonian]

I agree entirely. Whether it's the fact that you have to buy a ticket to get in, or that I had to endure an inexplicable interview with an officious bureaucrat to even get access, it's by far the worst of the great libraries. Both the British Library and our own LOC beat its pants off.

However, the new metro built to get there *is* admittedly snazzy.