Review: 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' Starring Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Eva Green

Just how good of a year was 2005 for comic book movies? You basically had two groundbreaking films that turned the entire genre on its side opening within two months of each other: Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Robert Rodriguez's Sin City. Nobody disputes the impact of Nolan's trilogy but it can be argued Sin City, with its sleazy cast of hard-edged film noir archetypes and visuals literally popping from the pages of Frank Miller's graphic novel, was more immediately impressive. Copycats followed and Rodriguez's use of CGI technology became the new standard for by which all such films were measured. There just weren't any more Sin City flicks, at least not right away. Nine years later, after much teasing by Rodriguez, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is finally here and it offers sexier femme fatales, more angry antiheroes, more blood and nudity. And while that may be enough to satisfy the most hardcore fans others may feel like the long wait was barely worth it.

The genius of Sin City and its pair of adaptations, co-directed by Rodriguez and Miller, is that it resembles the nasty criminal underworld of Batman comics with the hyper-stylization of superheroes. It's a place where a crazed behemoth like Marv (Mickey Rourke) can get shot a dozen times and come back to pluck a guy's eye out, grumbling one-liners the whole way. Rodriguez doesn't so much as recreate the familiar film noir elements; dark shadows, cigarette smoke, vigilantes and manipulative vixens; he glorifies them while indulging in the comical violence he's always been such a fan of. In this case, the maddeningly over-the-top violence more closely resembles that of Rodriguez's Machete Kills, which couldn't be less of a film noir than Spy Kids was.

Rodriguez's computer generated backgrounds, which blew our minds nine years ago, no longer have that element of surprise but they are still breathtaking to behold. Shattered glass and spraying blood glisten in the eye-popping starkness of this black and white world, occasionally lit up by flashes of color. Usually these brief moments of vibrancy are reserved for the ladies, who are either arm candy or scheming she-devils. Like the first film, a series of loosely-connected short stories ripped from the comics comprise the bulk of the material, with a couple of new tales that introduce a new character and expand on another. The crisscrossing chronology allows for some dead characters to be seen once again, like Marv and his demented search for answers in "Just Another Saturday Night". In that one, Marv, whose head has never been screwed on too tight, cracks heads while trying to figure out why he killed a bunch of guys. A thread from the first film is followed-up on in "Nancy's Last Dance", in which the saintly (for Sin City anyway) strip club dancer Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) goes nuts after the death of her savior, John Hartigan (Bruce Willis), and seeks revenge on the politically-connected Roark clan of psychos.

Because so much of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For remains unchanged from before, both in terms of tone and visual flourish, it's the new additions to the cast who are the greatest blast to spend time with. The centerpiece story “A Dame to Kill For" features the dangerously gorgeous Eva Green in various states of undress. No other actress so perfectly embodies the classic femme fatale as Green, who plays Ava Lord in a twisted tale that explains how street hero Dwight (now played by Josh Brolin) came to need that new face he had in the first film. Dwight's always had a soft spot for the ladies and Lord exploits that by calling on him for help against the torturous Manute (Dennis Haysbert) and her abusive billionaire husband. She and Dwight share a troubled romantic past and he can't resist her cries for help or her sexual advances. Of course she's not being totally honest about her situation, and when Dwight enlists Marv (who appears in practically every story) to take down Lord once and for all its bloody and kinky in all the ways we love about Sin City. Green slinks and slithers like a snake with her piercing eyes and Rodriguez lavishes us with every gratuitous shot of her shimmering body. He's as smitten with her as the many men who fall under Lord's spell, which includes Christopher Meloni as a married cop who haplessly carries out her orders. She's everything the title suggests and more.

The best of the fresh material is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's "The Long Bad Night", in which the perfectly-suited actor plays Johnny, a cardsharp riding a hot streak and decides to see how far he can take it. With a hot dame (Julia Garner) by his side he decides to take on Sin City's most heinous villain, Senator Roarke (Powers Boothe) in a poker match and wins handily. Winning may have its privileges but not in Sin City, and Roarke makes Johnny's life a gruesome waking nightmare.

Sadly we don't get to see nearly enough of Rosario Dawson as Gale, leader of the Old Town prostitutes, while brief cameos by Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, and Stacy Keach mostly serve as "ah ha" moments rather than anything memorable. With all the CGI violence and sexy babes this is Rodriguez right in his element, but there's never any attempt to improve on what came before. Sin City was such a game-changer that it's disappointing Rodriguez doesn't try to break new ground with Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. He gives fans all the blood and guts they can handle and absolutely nothing more.

 Rating: 3 out of 5

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Outlaws Become Heroes in New 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' Trailer

A lot has changed in the nine years since Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's Sin City delivered a pulpy and bloody twist on the comic book movie genre. The films are bigger, look better, and with the big two of Marvel and DC running the show there's little room for much else to gain traction. And with Sin City: A Dame to Kill For debuting in just a couple of months with basically the same look and cast, will there be the same excitement for it as before?

A new, expanded trailer makes a solid case that fans of the original will be pleased, but what about everybody else? Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Powers Boothe, Bruce Willis, and Rosario Dawson are back as the criminals and antiheroes of Sin City, joined by newcomers Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Juno Temple, Eva Green, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert, Jamie Chung, and more. While most of the stories are adapted from Miller's graphic novels, a pair of original stories penned by Miller and William Monahan will keep things fresh. The centerpiece tale, and the one which gives the film its title, will center on Ava Lord (Green) and her double-cross of the heroic Dwight, now played by Brolin.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd.


Sin City : A Dame To Kill For (2014) - Official Trailer #3 [VO-HD] by Eklecty-City.fr

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Eight New Images from 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

On the heels of five character posters featuring the denizens of Robert Rodriguez's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, EW has released eight new images from the anticipated sequel. Jessica Alba is back as Nancy, the sexy and resilient stripper who befriends Mickey Rourke's hulking brute, Marv. Both feature in these new photos, along with Eva Green as the titular dame, Ava Lord; Josh Brolin bloodied up as Dwight; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny, a new character.

Co-directed by comics legend Frank Miller, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd.

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Five New Character Posters for 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

There are plenty of old faces returning for Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, also some new ones, and old ones looking like new ones. We get a bit of each in a series of new character posters featuring Joseph Gordon Levitt as Johnny, Jessica Alba as Nancy, Rosario Dawson back as Gail, Mickey Rourke as Marv, and Josh Brolin taking over the role of Dwight. It's Dwight's story that will serve as the connecting bridge between multiple tales, with Eva Green as his scorned former lover out for revenge.

Not much new to see here as these images look similar to the promo material from the first film with a few minor changes. Basically, Rodriguez isn't trying to fix what he already knows will work. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd.

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Nat Wolff, Emma Roberts, Mickey Rourke, and Sarah Silverman to Star in 'Ashby'

There has been a lot of strong buzz surrounding the performances of Nat Wolff and Emma Roberts in Palo Alto, the teen drama directed by Gia Coppola and based on James Franco's collection of short stories. That film opens this weekend and takes an extremely dark look at the usual gamut of teen troubles. Now Wolff and Roberts are set to re-team on another film that takes a much deadlier glimpse at the high school years.

Mickey Rourke and Sarah Silverman will join Wolff and Roberts for Ashby, a dramedy that "charts the relationship between a high school student (Wolff) and a retired CIA assassin (Rourke) who only has months to live." Tony McNamara will write and direct with filming set to begin next month. No wor

I can watch Emma Roberts and Sarah Silverman in anything and am curious to know what parts they'll play in a film like this. [ScreenDaily]

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First Look at Jessica Alba and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 'Frank Millers' Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

Nine years after Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller made a splash with the pulpy Sin City, the sequel is finally arriving with Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Yep, that's the official title now, as a reminder that this is based on Miller's noirish graphic novels. Miller, who is already looking ahead to Sin City 3, was also responsible for authoring the 300 graphic novel, so this is a busy year for fans of his work.

The first photos from the Sin City sequel have been released, and they show returning stars Jessica Alba and Mickey Rourke in all their black & white glory. Alba returns as the sexy pole dancer Nancy Callahan, who is out for revenge after the death of Bruce Willis' character in the first film. Rourke get uglified as the brutish Marv, and we also get a glimpse at Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a new character in a totally original story titled "The Long Bad Night".

Unfortunately there's no sign of Eva Green as the titular dame, but hopefully that's not too far away. Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd, starring  Josh Brolin, Juno Temple, Jaime King, Rosario Dawson, Jaime Chung, Powers Boothe, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert, and Stacy Keach. [EW]

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Sylvester Stallone confirms Wesley Snipes, Jackie Chan, and Mickey Rourke for 'The Expendables 3'

For Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables franchise has become a safe haven where he can hang out with his old action hero buddies, keep their careers alive, and secure a hefty box office along the way. Certainly the solo careers for most of the cast have gone down the tubes, even for legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. But throw them all together, strap some oversized weapons into their arms and it's like 1989 all over again. The conceit of it at this point is that each film packs more stars aching for a big screen comeback, and Stallone has hit Twitter to reveal a few who are coming along to do just that.

Jackie Chan has pretty much already confirmed his appearance in The Expendables 3, but Stallone has again mentioned him, along with Wesley Snipes and a returning Mickey Rourke as part of the cast. Fans have been clamoring to see Snipes get in on the action for awhile, and now that his legal woes are behind him, it looks like a done deal. Rourke dropped out of the sequel after playing the team's mission coordinator Tool in the first film, but now it looks like whatever beef he had has been settled.

The most surprising tweet suggests that Stallone may try to bring on some of the cast of hit martial arts flick, The Raid: Redemption, claiming his film will be "raise the bar" by comparison. I have to call bullsh*t on that one, Sly. But we'll see! Patrick Hughes will direct The Expendables 3 when production begins this fall. [GeekyTyrant]

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Jamie Chung and Jamie King set for 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

 
Now that Robert Rodriguez is all finished up with Machete Kills, he's moving from that right into the long-awaited Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.  Fans of 2005's Sin City have been craving the follow-up for years, and after enduring tons of delays and Rodriguez's constantly putting it on the backburner, production has now officially gotten underway today.

As expected, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, and Jessica Alba are expected to return, with Clive Owen presumed to be reprising his role as Dwight. As hinted at the in the first film, Dwight has undergone some radical facial surgery, so it's expected that someone else will play another version of Dwight. THR also notes the return of Jaime King as Goldie, the blond prostitute that Marve was obsessed with. She'll now play Goldie's twin sister, Wendy. Jamie Chung is the first official new cast member announced, replacing Devon Aoki as the sword-wielding assassin Miho.

There's still a lot of major casting yet to be completed, including for the all-important role of the sexy seductress Ava, which at one time they had hoped Angelina Jolie would take. There's also a newly created character named Johnny, a smooth gambler.

Rodriguez is again co-directing with Sin City creator Frank Miller, and while a number of storylines will again be incorporated, we do know that Just Another Saturday Night is one of the stories that will play a major part. Last we'd heard, the plan was for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was being targeted for an October 4th 2013 release. 

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Nic Cage will blow sh*t up in 'The Expendables 3'; Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes wanted

Wow, it's already been a busy day talking about The Expendables, which only makes sense considering the sequel opens this weekend. The first film may have been a little disappointing, but it earned over $270M and chances are the sequel will do just as good, if not better. Let down or not, it was undeniably cool seeing all those legends in one place, and Stallone has only upped the ante for The Expendables 2, bringing in Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris. So what can they do to possibly top it?

Producer Avi Lerner sure has the announcer, and while talking to Total Film, he revealed that not only has he already locked up one wild card to join the cast, but he's got his sights set on three action movie legends....

Lerner: “We’ve approached Clint Eastwood to be one of the guys, we’ve got a character in mind for him. We’re talking to Harrison Ford. [And we want] Wesley Snipes when he comes back from prison. I’ll give you one more name, we’ve got Nicolas Cage to play [one of the characters]."

Say what? Are you telling me we might be able to see Rambo, The Terminator, John McClane, The Transporter, Han Solo, Dirty Harry, Frank Dux, Ivan Drago, Walker Texas Ranger and....the guy from Passenger 57 all in one movie? Excuse me while I hit the fainting couch....

Of course, the chances of him actually getting Ford and Eastwood are probably extremely thin, although I could maybe see Ford agreeing if the role is perfect. Snipes doesn't get out of jail until next July, but when he does you know he'll be looking to jump right back into the game, and The Expendables 3 would be a good way to do it. I don't think anyone is surprised that Cage jumped at the chance considering some of the crap he's agreed to lately.  My only question is: Where the heck is Carl Weathers????? How can you not have Action Jackson in the mix??

Lerner also revealed that he wants to bring Mickey Rourke back, assuming he straightens up that attitude which got him booted from the sequel. Seriously, they may need to start killing some of the more boring characters off in order to make room. Looking at you, Randy Couture. Watch out, Liam Hemsworth! We'll see if The Expendables 2 does well enough to warrant another flick when it opens on August 17th.

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Mickey Rourke set to join Gerard Butler in 'Motor City'

Hey, remember Motor City? That's the vengeance thriller from Black List scribe Chad St. John that somehow managed to piss off the casting gods? We've seen everybody from Dominic Cooper to Jake Gyllenhaal to Jeremy Renner and Clive Owen attached to the lead role, and all have come and gone. Gerard Butler moved into the spot back in March, immediately killing any of the high hopes any of us had for the film. And to add insult to injury, Gary Oldman and Amber Heard, who might have given the cast some real gravitas, left back in June. Well now there's a little bit of reason to get excited again.

Mickey Rourke has joined the film in what will likely be the villain role Oldman vacated. Deadline doesn't say the role he'll be playing one way or another, but it seems like a natural fit. Directed by Albert Hughes, the story centers on a petty crook who is framed and sent to prison, only to get out and start seeking a little revenge. In the meantime, his girl has hooked up with the crime boss who put him behind bars, and he has to try and get her back, too.  The cool part, and perhaps the one thing that may make Butler a solid choice, is that the lead character only has one line of dialogue for the entire movie.

I feel bad for Hughes, who has done nothing but face casting woes for the last two years(remember Akira?). Maybe the combination of Butler and Rourke will help set Motor City back on the right course.

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'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' gets October 2013 release date

After seven years of hand wringing and false promises, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is finally happening, and ever since Robert Rodriguez confirmed the summer start date the pieces have been falling into place seamlessly. Rosario Dawson is slated to return, and we'd been hearing since last year that Mickey Rourke and Jessica Alba would be reprising their integral roles as well. Now we also know when the film will hit theaters, with Dimension Films confirming an October 4th 2013 release date.

The release also has Rourke and Alba locked in as Marv and Nancy Callahan, probably the two most important characters in the Sin City stories. Rodriguez and Frank Miller will share directing credits, with the script put together by Miller and William Monahan(The Departed). Other huge names are being promised, and I'm assuming some of those will be returning cast members like Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, and Elijah Wood.

Similar to the previous film, there will be a number of stories told throughout, with A Dame to Kill For as the central, connecting piece. Miller's limited release tale, Just Another Saturday Night, would also figure prominently. Monahan and Miller also came up with two stories special for the sequel, one of which is titled The Long, Bad Night. A Dame to Kill For revolves around a seductress named Ava Lord, and it had been rumored that Rodriguez and Miller really wanted Angelina Jolie for the part. If she were to join it would be one heck of a coup. While she'd be great, whenever I've read the comic it's Rachel Weisz that strikes me as a perfect for it. Fingers crossed.

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Mickey Rourke and Rosario Dawson will return for 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

True to his word, Robert Rodriguez has begun casting on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For this week, and the first shots out of the gate are two people that were expected to return from the very beginning. Talking to MTV, Rodriguez revealed that Mickey Rourke and Rosario Dawson would reprise their roles as Marv and Gail for the long awaited pulp sequel....

Rodriguez:  "We still have to cast. I'm shooting 'Machete' next month, and we go right into 'Sin City.' It might overlap, but we haven't done any casting yet, except for the people who we know are already in it and returning. 'A Dame to Kill For,' all those people come back," Rodriguez revealed. "I just had lunch with Mickey [Rourke] this weekend. He's all excited to come back, but he's probably the first one. I saw Rosario [Dawson] too. I ran into her for something else, and she's pumped. They've always been excited about doing another one, so that will be fun."

The Marv and Gail roles are crucial to the film, as both feature prominently in Frank Miller's Just Another Saturday Night, one of the major stories the sequel will include.  Rourke had been rumored to return as far back as last October, along with Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan, the stripper who features prominently in both Just Another Saturday Night and A Dame to Kill For. Since she's now signed up for Rodriguez's Machete Kills, she's all but a lock for Sin City as well.

Others who figure in are Clive Owen's Dwight character, along with Michael Clarke Duncan and Bruce Willis. I expect we'll hear more about them and the numerous other roles that need to be filled soon.

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Sure Shots: Danny Trejo; Halle Berry; Brad Pitt

* We can never get enough Danny Trejo, so fortunately he never seems to sit still very long without adding another film to look bad ass in. He'll next star in Dead in Tombstone, an action flick(of course!) from Death Race 2 director, Roel Reine. Trejo will play an outlaw who is killed while attempting to free his half brother(Anthony Michael Hall!?) from prison. Striking a deal with the Devil(Mickey Rourke), he is allowed to come back and seek revenge. Trejo is set to reprise his role as Machete in Robert Rodriguez's upcoming sequel, which should begin filming shortly.  [Deadline]

* Halle Berry had been attached since last as the lead character in The Hive, a thriller involving an emergency line worker who faces an enemy from her past while trying to help a young girl. Originally set to be directed by Joel Schumacher, he left the film only to have Brad Anderson(Transsiberian) step in back in January. Berry's involvement was in doubt by that time, but now Variety confirms she is on board. Berry has a lot coming up this year. She can be seen next in Dark Tide, a deep sea thriller co-starring her fiance, Olivier Martinez. October should see her as part of Cloud Atlas, from The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer.

* Contrary to previous reports, Brad Pitt is still circling one of the highly sought after roles in The Couneslor. When Jeremy Renner and Javier Bardem were named as the favorites for the role of Reiner, the primary "villain" in the story developed by Cormac McCarthy, it looked as if Pitt was out of the picture. Now Twitch says Pitt is in talks for the role of Westray, a smaller part as an adviser to the main character played by Michael Fassbender, an attorney who gets into the drug trade and has a hard time getting back out. Pitt and Fassbender will work together later this year in Twelve Years A Slave, so this would be a good way to get acquainted, don't you think?

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Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba to return for Sin City 2?

The six year long tease that has been Sin City 2 finally appears to be coming to an end, with the addition of William Monahan(The Departed) doing some fine tuning on Frank Miller's script. Robert Rodriguez recently stated that shooting could begin as soon as the end of the year, which always seemed a little optimistic to me, considering the number of actors that needed to have their schedules synced up. For one, Mickey Rourke has been a little reluctant to come back to play the hulking brute, Marv, an integral character in a number of Sin City's multiple arcs. Speaking recently to MTV, Miller provided a brief update that would appear to hint at Rourke's potential return, as well as that of Jessica Alba...

Miller: 'Sin City' number two is primarily an adaptation of the book 'A Dame to Kill For'," Miller reiterated, then adding: "It also features the short story, 'Just Another Saturday Night' and two new stories. One involving Jessica Alba's character, Nancy Callahan, that I came up with for the movie in order to tie things together and make it be more united with the first."
 
Just Another Saturday Night was a special story Miller wrote and made available on a limited basis. It tells the story of what Marv was doing the night Nancy(Alba) and John Hartigan(Bruce Willis) dealt with the events detailed in That Yellow Bastard, one of the last film's main storylines. Nancy and Marv are also featured characters in A Dame to Kill For, so it's assumed Alba will return, and the possibility exists for Rourke as well. Although considering the heavy make-up needed for the Marv character, he could always be recast.

So basically this sequel will encompass four stories. A Dame to Kill For is the main storyline. Just another Saturday Night is another, and then there are two new stories, one which we already know is titled The Long, Bad Night. Miller added that shooting may not actually begin until spring of 2012, which sounds more realistic.

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Trailer Time: Passion Play, starring Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox

Mitch Glazer's been a part of some movies I really like a lot. He was a producer on Lost in Translation, and wrote the screenplay for Scrooged and Great Expectations. But his directorial debut, Passion Play, has looked and sounded like a disaster since the beginning. Even with a cast that features Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke(mistakenly referred to in the trailer as an Oscar winner), Megan Fox, and Bill Murray, the film was absolutely crushed when it premiered in Toronto last year.It'll get a very brief theatrical run on May 6th before filling up store shelves on DVD just three weeks later. You'll probably need a fire hose to get all the copies off the shelf.  Looks like a worse version of Angel Heart to me, and what the frig is up with Murray's hair in this trailer??



Nate (Mickey Rourke), a small-time jazz musician, is clearly a hard-luck case. Caught trying to break into a car, he is taken off into the desert where his assailant puts a gun to his head. Game over? Not quite. Stumbling into a circus pitched amidst the vast expanses of the southwest desert, Nate finds himself drawn to the exotic beauty of Lily (Megan Fox), the Bird Woman. Lily is cold and dismissive; socializing with customers is not her scene. But it dawns on her that this gentle giant may well be her way out of a life of eccentric exposition. Nate is protective and understanding, and to him her aquiline beauty is a magic part of her uniqueness. As their bond deepens, Nate finds that his dreams of bliss are about to be thwarted by Happy Shannon (Bill Murray), a cucumber-cool businessman with deep pockets and an eye for the bizarre.

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Trailer Time: 13, starring Sam Riley, Jason Statham, 50 Cent, and Mickey Rourke

The cast alone probably has you intrigued, doesn't it? Me too. 13 is a remake of the Russian gangster flick, 13 Tzameti, about a guy who assumes a dead man's identity then finds himself swept up in a world of crime and a high stakes game of roulette where men gamble on eachother's lives.  I can't really get a read on the trailer. I'm digging the stylized look, and it's always good to see Sam Riley(Control) mixed in amongst more well known stars. But this is kindof a boring trailer, don't you think? You'd think with the likes of Jason Statham, Rourke, 50 Cent(and that's just the half of it), this would be brimming with tough guy energy. But everybody's acting as if they just had a really big Thanksgiving meal and ready for a nap.

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