AND SOMETIMES IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE... WELCOME TO "SIN CITY"

Ooh, ooh ooh! Look, another historic moment. I HAVE FINALLY WATCHED SIN CITY. I have been banging on about this for years. How I  didn’t get round to it before is virtually incomprehensible – even to me, and I’m usually quite good at figuring out why I haven’t done things. This was the last film remaining that Quentin Tarantino (yes him again, if you’re not a fan, deal with it) is vaguely associated with from a directoral (is this a word? Mom?) stance that I hadn’t seen yet. Now I have. The world can rest in peace – as it were. The film is of course technically a film by Robert Rodriguez who is apparently a great friend of Quentin Tarantino’s. Quentin Tarantino is a guest director here along with Frank Miller (the writer of the comics the film was adapted from) who is cited as director. Now, fair warning. You know Rodriguez. You know Tarantino. Yes there is violence. Yes there are classic “old school” movie genres running through a very, very strange terrain. Yes, the films are very much “boys toys” as it were, what with the imagery and that. Now, as you also know, I lap this stuff up by the bucketful and ask for seconds. Incomprehensibly to me, some people do not. If you are one of those people I fail to comprehend, you can easily pass on Sin City. I won’t blame you. I’ll just be sad you’re missing a brilliant film.

Welcome to Sin City. The name alone holds a clue. I said to look out for “old school” ladies and gents, and the “school” we’re in this round is film noir. A world where the dames are beautiful and deadly, the guys are either hardened good guys with one foot in the underworld or dastardly villains. It is night time, it is cold and we roam the even colder streets, trying to get to know the inhabitants of the city. We have a scary giant who is looking to avenge the only woman who ever showed him affection. We have a cop who puts his entire reputation on the line to save a little girl from a paedophile. We have a hit man after his next buck. And of course, we have a vigilante cop. All these characters come together in the “sewage pit” known as Sin City in a tale as dark as the night itself…

Before you say anything, trust me, there are more reasons than one for this film to have become so popular. I am at a tiny bit of a loss as to interpreting them in conjunction with their original “manuscripts” i.e. the comics. Of course I won’t even get started on the actual images themselves as Sin City’s images have become pretty iconic in their own right. Suffice it to say that the mood of the film very much matches the style of the images. It is very, very much like a comic book “come to life” as it were. So there you go. If you like comic books, that alone should spur you on. That and the rather marvellous way all the seemingly disparate stories come together. I promise you, you will NOT see that one coming.

But then of course there is the film noir side of things. Now, I’m not quite sure what the general opinion is of film noir. I have a sneaking suspicion it is regarded as rather passé. And it is true that simple binaries of black and white, good and bad are rather outdated these days. Understandably so, we have come to terms with the fact that the world is more of a “grey” place then black and white and this is reflected in everything, be it our entertainment or our politics. But I don’t know. There is – go on, admit it – a part in all of us which, when left unchecked, paints the world in those two colours. Really “evil” baddies that can be destroyed by the “good guy”. A good guy with some token “black” in him – this is Sin City after all, you can never completely escape the evil in the air – but whose heart is basically set on doing the right thing. Go on. You like it. Admit it to yourself if not to me. And go and watch the darned movie already. You have half a hundred reasons at least by now… 

AN LASTLY, A MODERN TWIST : "HAPPY FEET"

Ok, we’ve had the classics, we’ve had the off-the-wall versions, how about musicals today? I had a couple in my selection. And until I watched this one, for a completely different reason, I had a completely different film in mind to make up this trilogy. However, the more I watched Happy Feet, the more “right” putting it here seemed. I mean, it is an all-singing, all dancing extravaganza with a star cast this one… I mean, so what if the ones doing the singing and dancing are animated penguins?
Mumble Happyfeet (who borrows the voice of Elijah Wood) is a seemingly perfectly normal penguin. I mean, his father Memphis (Hugh Jackman – or the voice thereof) did drop the egg for a few seconds when he was incubating but still… His mother Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) loves him all the same. But as Mumble grows, a problem emerges. A little-known fact about penguins is that they can sing. Indeed, they must sing. This is how they find their one true love; singing is what their society is constructed around. And Mumble cannot sing to save his socks. He can do something else, it’s this funny jigging around with his feet, but the older penguins do NOT approve of it. Besides, what with the great fish shortage, times are tough, there is no time or energy to be wasted on such frivolity. However, Mumble is determined. He knows in the roots of his claws that what he is doing is right. And that there is a way for him to somehow fit in and belong. Oh, and that he can figure out what is happening to the fish. Mumble is about to go on a voyage of discovery beyond his wildest dreams…
Even the most hard-hearted anti – animation – and - musicalist among you will not be able to resist this one. The songs are so skillfully chosen and so well performed that you simply cannot help toe-tapping and heck, even singing along. And the range of songs is just soo great that you are bound to come across at least one of your old favorites – I did! (Somebody to Love by Queen – I startled the entire household by spontaneously breaking into song; since I was actually watching the film on a laptop with earphones, it took some explaining afterwards not least because my level of singing is round about the same as that of Mumble, as anyone who was karaoked with me can testify). The themes are well-known ones. Society, change, being a late developer, not fitting in at high school (yes, penguins have a high school), finding your feet (ho ho) and, last but not least, (and rather unavoidably) the evil things mankind is doing to the planet and how we have to do something about it. So, Ok, you will not discover new worlds with this one. But it will sure as heck rock your world. I mean, pollution is an important issue, and as we are NOT doing anything about we should be reminded from time to time. As for the rest, well… We can all relate to each and every one of those themes on some level so we may complain that they’re classics but they are classics for a reason… In short, watching this film was some of the best fun I have had in a very, VERY long time. If you have somehow missed it, this is definitely one to catch up on…

SHORT - BUT VERY SWEET : "9"

Now, one thing you guys may not be aware of is the fact that I am a MASSIVE animation fan. Of any sort. From Pixar to Miyazaki – I’m your gal. That is why I have been chomping at the bit to watch the Oscar ® nominated animation 9 for a VERY long time. Especially with Tim Burton’s name as producer on the credit block. (Guess what, massive fan of Tim Burton aswell!) I have finally achieved this goal and believe me it was everything I expected of it and more…

As is usual, first the plot: It is the aftermath of the classic sci-fi plot “man against machines”. Only the machines have won and the human race has been wiped out. All that remain that are vaguely human are 9 rag dolls that have somehow come alive. Unfortunately none of them know where they came from or how the came alive, they just know of the world they are born into. It is important to add that the rag dolls didn’t all appear at once and 9 is the last one to appear. He is by far the most inquisitive and adventurous of all the dolls and starts a chain reaction of events that will change the world…

I know, that sounds like a cliché. And I am the first to admit, there is a lot in the film that is cliché: the “sassy chick” the “jaded leader” and “his goon” the “wise old scientist” and many more… As for the storyline it is an imaginative dystopia set in an alternative reality with some rather obvious allusions to Nazi Germany and Somewhere Over The Rainbow figuring in it. And I have to admit that I could see where the story was going from the middle onwards. That seems like rather a lot wrong with the movie if you think about it. The point, however, is that I seriously doubt you are meant to think about it for any length of time. Not in that much detail. I mean, “men against machines” themed horror / sci-fi flicks have been prominent since the 70’s for God’s sake, if you go down that route just don’t watch it. If you do that, you will be missing alot. ALOT. The film for one thing, is an absolute visual feast. You could randomly pick a frame and hang it on your wall as an art piece, it’s that good. The “holes” in the story are very easy to complete with basic imagination (and I assume anyone into watching animations has at least a basic imagination!). The characters are in a word lovable. I have heard people say “they aren’t developed” but really, they are just your good old staple animation / Hollywood film characters we watch in every film of this sort. Plus, with talented actors like Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau and Jennifer Connolly lending them their voices the rag dolls do a much better job “coming alive” on screen than some “live” actors do!

So it will not change your life. I have always said that all movies are not meant to. I will go as far as saying this though: Director Shane Aker has done an excellent jop and if you watch 9 and fail to enjoy it on some level, there is very probably something seriously wrong with you…