Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Dirs. Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller (2014)

"Sin City is where you go in with your eyes open or you don't come out at all."

You have to hand it to Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller for their dogged determination in sequelizing Sin City. Nine years later, the much-anticipated Sin City: A Dame to Kill For finally arrived in theaters to a tepid response. The movie came just shy of pulling in $40 million worldwide, a fraction of the $158 million earned by its predecessor. Perhaps, too much time has passed.

The original Sin City stood head and shoulders above other Hollywood releases with its hyper-stylized representation of film noir, stark black and white accentuated by splashes of color. Rodriguez also changed the way we thought of adapting comic books by slavishly remaining faithful to Miller's artwork. Pages from the comics were kept on set to utilize as storyboards. Now the look of Sin City isn't as fresh with perfume commercials appropriating the visuals. Miller certainly didn't help matters with his abysmal attempt at a feature film version of Will Eisner's Spirit. As for Rodriguez, Grindhouse was a fun experiment that deserved a larger audience, but Shorts, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, and Machete Kills didn't set the world on fire.

A Dame to Kill For begins with "Just Another Saturday Night," in which the nigh-invulnerable bruiser Marv (Mickey Rourke) tries to piece together a hazy evening that involved frat boys lighting hobos on fire.

The best and most substantial story is "A Dame to Kill For" starring Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin), a man trying to put his violent past behind him. Everything falls apart when he is reunited with former lover Ava Lord (Eva Green). Against his better judgment, Dwight agrees to save Ava from an abusive marriage with the wealthy Damian Lord (Marton Csokas). Of course, Dwight should have known better than to believe anything coming from those luscious lips.

The second Sin City also features two original stories. In "The Long Bad Night," a cocky gambler named Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) enters into a high stakes poker game against the powerful Senator Roark (Powers Boothe) and might lose more than just his money. Finally, there's "Nancy's Last Dance," which continues the story from "The Yellow Bastard." Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) is still haunted by the death of her protector John Hartigan (Bruce Willis), who sacrificed his life to protect her from the grasp of Sen. Roark. Now, Nancy is a little unhinged and prepares nearly every waking moment to seek revenge against the untouchable politico.

If you enjoyed the style over substance approach of the first movie, then you'll probably dig A Dame to Kill For since you get more of the same. Rodriguez and Miller seamlessly blend live-action with computer animation in a dynamic fashion to craft the world of Sin City. There's some great imagery here, such as deadly little Miho firing a bow & arrow against a full moon or Roark surrounded by stacks of poker chips that resemble skyscrapers. After a while, it gets tiring, especially when the stories are so repetitive. We get decapitations galore and an endless stream of hard boiled narration. And the women of Sin City wind up being strippers, prostitutes or chopped into pieces by sadistic killers.

The filmmakers try harder this time around to integrate the various stories in the sequel and use the strip club, Kadie's Saloon, as a hub. It doesn't really work nor does it enhance the experience. It can be confusing as well since time means nothing. "Long Bad Night" and "Nancy's Last Dance" take place after the events of the previous picture, but "Dame to Kill For" is a prequel. Keep in mind; these new stories aren't by the Frank Miller who gave us acclaimed runs on Batman and Daredevil. This is the new Frank Miller behind the laughable All-Star Batman & Robin and the atrocious Holy Terror. This is a Frank Miller who thought it would be a fantastic idea for Nancy to disfigure her own face for the sole purpose of getting Marv to help her on a mission of vengeance. Heaven forbid a female character do something on her own.

Marv is a constant in each segment and the big bruiser brought a lot of dark humor in "The Hard Goodbye." However, he's now become a glorified attack dog that they sic on any henchmen in sight. So it makes absolutely no sense why Nancy doesn't just ask him to kill a bunch of dudes for her.

Rosario Dawson as the machine gun toting dominatrix Gail is back along with Jaime King as twin sexpots Goldie and Wendy, and Bruce Willis as the world's most laconic ghost. Dennis Haysbert takes over the role of Manute from the late-Michael Clarke Duncan while Jamie Chung replaces Devon Aoki as the silent assassin Miho. Among the newcomers are Juno Temple, Christopher Lloyd, Ray Liotta, Lady Gaga, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, and Stacy Keach underneath grotesque make-up that makes him look like a rejected Dick Tracy villain.

None of them hold a candle to Eva Green, who relishes in the role of the femme fatale to end all femme fatales. This is the very definition of sultry and seductive. Green deserves a special award for Best Performances in Unnecessary Frank Miller sequels. She was also the highlight of 300: Rise of an Empire as warrior woman Artemisia. Josh Brolin equates himself well with the gruff and lurid prose as Dwight when he had his old face. It does hurt the tale that Clive Owen was unable to return as Dwight after the reconstructive surgery.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For feels like a quick cash grab that was slapped together, except it came nine years later when the irons have long been cold. It's gratuitously crude and violent without any creative spark.

Rating: ** (*****)

Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows - Dir. Tim Burton (2012)

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are almost synonymous with each other. Their partnership as actor and director have resulted in great films like Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood. Recently, Depp and Burton's efforts have been hit and miss. While I enjoyed Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd, their version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory left much to be desired and lacked the charms of the Gene Wilder film. Alice in Wonderland was a soulless exercise in stylized CGI, despite the fact that it made over a billion dollars at the box office. For their eighth film together, Depp and Burton have chosen to remake Dark Shadows, an ABC soap opera that aired between 1966 and 1971. It's been a passion project for the two as both were huge fans of the series. The original Dark Shadows was a low-rated daytime program until it introduced the character of Barnabas Collins, an ageless vampire played by Jonathan Frid. Afterwards, the show became a cult classic and a staple of the early Sci-Fi Channel.

Frid recently passed away in April, but not before filming a cameo in the picture alongside several former cast members.

Succeeding him in the role is Johnny Depp, who recounts his tale of woe in the opening prologue. Beginning in the late-1700's, the Collins family emigrates from Liverpool, England to Maine where they found the seaside city of Collinsport and a successful fishing business. All is well for Barnabas until he spurns the love of servant girl, Angelique (Eva Green), for chaste Josette (Bella Heathcote). Angelique places a curse on them, causing Josette to jump off a cliff and turn Barnabas into a vampire. The townspeople lock him into a casket and bury him alive for nearly two hundred years when some unsuspecting construction workers release him.

Awakening in 1972, Barnabas is confounded by fashion, automobiles, and the Carpenters. His beloved Collinwood manor has fallen into disrepair as have his descendents. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) struggles to keep the family business afloat and control her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz). Elizabeth's shiftless brother, Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), spends most his days stealing from his relatives and womanizing. Roger's son, David (Gulliver McGrath), has been withdrawn ever since his mother's death years ago. The family has a live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help him cope though she's made no progress at all. The Collins family has also hired a new governess for the boy in Victoria Winters (also Heathcote), who is the spitting image of Barnabas's lost paramour. Rounding out the Collins household is Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis, a drunken caretaker who looks like he previously worked at the Overlook Hotel.

Barnabas is shocked to discover that Angelique is still alive, having transformed herself into a pillar of the community having founded a rival fishing cannery. She has vowed to win Barnabas's love or destroy him.

As one would expect from a Tim Burton film, Dark Shadows features visually stunning costumes and production design. It's all captured handsomely by cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, who previously shot Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie and A Very Long Engagement. The gothic atmosphere makes Dark Shadows seem like Beetlejuice with a budget, except it lacks any of the allure or originality of Burton's classic comedy. The fault lies within the scattershot screenplay by John August, which was rewritten by Seth Grahame-Smith, the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It's as if Grahame-Smith and Burton decided to cram several seasons' worth of storylines into a single movie.

Following the prologue, the film opens with Victoria's narration as she arrives in Collinsport by train. Logically, she should a main character and serve as the audience's point-of-view, instead she disappears for nearly forty minutes. She pops in and out of the third act with the love story addressed at the last minute. The same goes for Barnabas's relationship with David. It's said that David looks up to the immortal one, but none of that comes out because they only share one or two scenes together. The writers focus more time on how silly the 70's were with lazy gags about lava lamps and dirty hippies though there is a funny joke involving a McDonald's sign. The score by the great Danny Elfman lacks any memorable hooks while being drowned out by a soundtrack that includes Barry White, the Moody Blues, and Alice Cooper, who cameos as himself.

The weak story means the actors have to work that much harder. Michelle Pfeiffer, who hasn't worked with Burton since Batman Returns, gives a strong performance as do Jonny Lee Miller and Helena Bonham Carter, but none of their characters are fleshed out enough. Chloe Moretz is good as the sullen teenager with a deadpan delivery reminiscent of Christina Ricci in The Addams Family. Johnny Depp gives another quirky performance as the immortal vampire with the chalk white face and elongated fingers ala Max Schreck in Nosferatu. Eva Green is perfectly cast as the sultry witch Angelique and she's easily the highlight of Dark Shadows. Green plays it big in a sexy, over-the-top manner befitting the film's soap opera roots.

It may be time for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to call a break, or, at least, devote their time to an original concept rather than an adaptation or remake. Dark Shadows pales in comparison to their past work. Dark Shadows has a hard time deciding if it wants to be a gothic romance, a dark drama, or a slapstick comedy and it fails at every instance.

Rating: ** (*****)