Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

2 out of 5 Stars

The sequel to the innovative Sin City film from Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller follows three primary storylines: Nancy Callahan's (Jessica Alba) plot to get revenge for Hartigan,  Johnny's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) plot to beat Senator Roark in gambling, and Dwight's (Josh Brolin) love affair with the deceptive dame (Eva Green). Much like the original film, the style is similar, saturated in a stylistic film noir world with a graphic novel feel and specific colors highlighted against the black and white shading scheme.

Outside of that element and closing the story on a few of the characters from the first film (namely Nancy, Hartigan, and Senator Roark), much of what made the first film unique and enjoyable is missing in the sequel. The interwoven plot structure of the first film that brought characters together is separate sequences is completely missing and traded for a simple through line that feels like it's trying to hold onto what the first film captured but failing. The characters fall flat in the new structure despite solid acting from most of the cast. But despite any of the performances, the characters just aren't as engaging as they were in the first film. Even Marv, who was a character that shined in the first film, only feels mediocre in this Sin City re-hash.

We are taken to many of the familiar locations of the first film, such as Old Town, and many of the characters from before are brought back into the sequel. Really, Eva Lord (Eva Green) and Johnny are the only major knew characters. It's still a fun romp with the enjoyable entertainment style that the first film brought. Yet, this time around the style isn't quite as fun and the simpler color scheme that the first film used is heightened with far more color in the sequel, detracting from some of the enjoyment. Rodriguez and Miller this time around should have stuck with the simplicity that made the first film work so well instead of trading it for heightened color schemes and 3D gimmicks.

RED

3 out of 5 Stars



RED. Retired Extremely Dangerous. But then the retired agents come out of retirement because the government is trying to cover their tracks for a mishap in Guatemala that the agents knew about. Know these agents must find a way to survive. On top of this one of the agents has met a girl so now they must protect her as well. Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Morgan Freeman star in this action thriller.

For the most part this movie is fun. There is a lot of over the top (and completely unrealistic) explosions, super fun fight scenes, and some good wit. But only about the first half of the film really moves well. Then it just starts to really drag. But what really makes this movie worth watching is John Malkovich. Without his character there really isn't much to be saved from this movie other than the fun of fights and explosions. Bruce Willis definitely gives far from his best performance and Morgan Freeman just isn't in the movie enough. Overall it was enjoyable but only an alright film.

Cop Out

1 1/2 Stars out of 5




Jimmy Monroe and Paul Hodges are an odd-ball cop duo that have been working together for nine years. After Jimmy has his rare baseball card stolen, which he was going to use to pay for his daughter's wedding, these two cops head out on an investigation to get the card back only to get caught up in the middle of a gang fued.

Cop Out is the newest film by Keven Smith, most notably acclaimed for Clerks. This is one comedy that seems to follow in those footsteps with crude humor and lots of foul mouthed jokes that work on less of an occasion than we would expect. The plot is simple, nothing special, and feels contrived at time, which wouldn't be a problem if the film made us laugh more. I've enjoyed a crude or raunchy comedy here and there, but this film has little to offer. The laugh moments are too few and the rest of the film is a shoot em' up action film. It's a buddy cop movie that succeeds to fail.

This is a film that feels like it is wasting the talent of great actors. Tracy Morgan is an up and coming actor but he seems to have a knack for comedy he just doesn't seem to have been handed the right material and Bruce Willis is just one of those legendary actors. The acting is good but with better material it could be better. It's also evident that the film is written by a lover of at least dramatic cop and gangster films, which cause perhaps some of the only truly comedic scenes in the film.
To truly appreciate this film you'll need to turn off your brain and return to junior high for this crude buddy romp comedy.