movieguy1021

I wasn't really cognizant of the release of Pulp Fiction, as I was at the age of six. But I can see how it could have changed the history of cinema and how it effected the times. And when fanboys all over the USA heard about Sin City, based on three of Frank Miller's cult graphic novel series, they all clamored that it would be the next Pulp Fiction. Why would these people say that? Maybe it's how the ads plastered "Guest Director Quentin Tarantino" all over the place. Or maybe it's because it has a similar "neo-noir" style. Or maybe even the three-intersecting-storyline aspect. Whatever the case may be, Sin City turned out to not be the next Pulp Fiction. But it's just about as cool.

Sin City's comprised of three stories which all take place in Basin City, or Sin City, where prostitutes and hit men are rampant all over the streets. In "The Hard Goodbye," Marv (Mickey Rourke), after sleeping with Goldie (Jaime King), finds her dead and goes on a rampage to avenge her death. In "The Big Fat Kill", Dwight (Clive Owen) helps out a bunch of prostitutes reclaim the streets from the cops. And in "That Yellow Bastard", Hartigan (Bruce Willis) goes to find Nancy (Jessica Alba), whom he saved years earlier from a man who's been colored yellow (Nick Stahl) after Hartigan...rendered him useless. Actually, there's a short fourth story as the bookends to the movie from "The Customer is Always Right" with Josh Hartnett.

If there could be one cliché phrase to describe Sin City, it would be "style over substance." Shot almost entirely in black and white (save for some well-placed color images), and with computer generated backgrounds (like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, except people saw Sin City), it looks great. It looks almost exactly like Miller's graphic novels, including some segments with pen-and-ink graphics to completely replicate Miller's novels. Anyone who dislikes Sin City says that it didn't have enough story. But when you see the trailers, you know that this is what you're getting. You're getting the best-looking movie of the past few years. It's better than all of these so-called "advancements" in CGI. It does for visual film-making what Peter Jackson's Braindead did for blood.

Of course, there's also no denying the absolute...coolness of the plot. It's a complete guy's movie: every female character is either a prostitute, stripper, has a nude scene, or a combination of all three. All of the guys have guns and kill and torture people. It's almost like an old-time Western, or something like that, except with more blood and female nudity. The way that the plot is connected is done in a very cool way, with a little connection between them all. And we can't forget about director Robert Rodriguez's ultra cool direction. With Rodriguez, there's never a dull moment in the film. It's a non-stop ride, which is already getting me excited for Sin City 2 and 3.

All of the actors were great in portraying their tough-as-nails characters. The standouts, though, were Owen and Benecio Del Toro (who was also in "The Big Fat Kill"). They're just the coolest characters, played by two of the best modern actors. Their standout scene is the scene that Tarantino directed, with the two of them in a car. That scene can basically sum up the whole movie. It's absurd, violent, weird, and absolutely bloody fantastic.

My rating: 9/10 Rated R for sustained strong stylized violence, nudity and sexual content including dialogue.

Although it was a moderate success, no one really remembers Ice Age (although there is a sequel to it coming out). The studio combination who did that movie now have done Robots. They obviously must have read my Ice Age review, with my criticism of the humans in that movie, because there are none here in Robots. Instead, Blue Sky creates characters that basically look like whatever they want. And I have to say, it's a big improvement.

Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) is a lower-class robot who is made from hand-me-down parts. He, along with most of the other robots, look up to and idolize Bigweld (Mel Brooks), the friendly, helpful leader of the corporation that makes all of the robot parts. Rodney decides to invent something and show it to Bigweld, so he goes to Robot City to try and meet him. However, Bigweld has become reclusive and the company's been taken over by Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), an evil robot. Rodney's taken under the wing of Fender (Robin Williams), a bum of a robot, and his friends, who include a smattering of pseudo-celebrity voices. Rodney has to go find Bigweld, stop Ratchet and his evil plans, and go deeper into an amazingly animated world.

Animation's basically staying the same these days. Ever since Toy Story, studios have gone with the "if it ain't CGI, don't make it" strategy, and it's seemed to hold up well box office-wise. Robots is a CGI animated film. And it's not as groundbreaking animation-wise as, say, Shrek was. But the sheer complexity of the film completely overwhelmed me. There are a few sequences that are just breathtaking, such as the public transportation in Robot City and Bigweld's dominoes. During those scenes, you just think to yourself, "Why aren't other movies this fun?" And that's all Robots is-fun. It's a simple movie that can be enjoyed by kids and adults. Not only can everyone enjoy the visuals, but the script (by those bad boys of comedy Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) has both adult and child humor (such as "making a baby" and the onslaught of fart noises, respectively).

People have also said that Robin Williams adds a lot to the comedy, which is a total lie. Williams has been going downhill ever since his magnum opus Mrs. Doubtfire, and Robots is here to prove it. Williams seems to just keep on talking and talking without really knowing what he's saying, and most of it isn't funny. Luckily, there's an amazing supporting cast to pick up his pieces. Although McGregor's accent comes and goes, there's Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent (playing a woman), Brooks, Amanda Bynes (although I'm not sure if that's an asset to the movie...her lines just seemed embarrassing), Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge, Paul Giamatti, Kinnear, Stanley Tucci, Dianne Wiest, Harland Williams...the list goes on. The superb cast really adds a lot to the movie. They play off of the animation, and the combination works really well.

Have I any complaints, you ask? I would have liked to have seen more, but it's an animated movie, not Apocalypse Now. Also, at the end, there's the obligatory huge dance scene at the end. If there's a more blatant rip off of Shrek's unnecessary dance scene, I haven't seen it. Still, though, Robots is a true family movie, something we haven't seen for a long time.

My rating: 8/10 Rated PG for some brief language and suggestive humor.

Did you see Exorcist: The Beginning? Neither did most people, but I found it to be a creepy drama with great acting and terrible direction. Francis Lawrence's Constantine is the opposite: there's terrible acting and good direction. Both are similar to each other in plots: they're both supernatural thrillers about demon-fighters. They both also star actors who are pretty cool, and both movies are pretty creepy. That's why I liked both about the same.

John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) tried to kill himself when he was younger and was literally seconds away from death and going to Hell. As an adult, he wants to get into heaven, and tries to do that by sending as many demons back to Hell as possible. He meets Angela (Rachel Weisz), whose twin sister committed suicide, and Constantine has to go and figure out what happened. Things get hairier, and there's Pruitt Taylor Vince. Need I say more? Constantine had a budget of about $100 million, and it shows. There's a lot of great images here, and about half the budget obviously went to Venetian blinds. The movie looked great, mainly thanks to Lawrence, who debuted with this movie. The opening scene, in particular, sticks with me. It's a typical scene that seems to be in all heaven/Hell dramas (an exorcism), but Lawrence's spin on it is truly unique, and makes it quite exciting. The movie is enthralling through its typical runtime (any comedy is 90 minutes and any drama/thriller is 120 minutes, no questions asked), and oftentimes quite exciting.

No one will doubt that Keanu Reeves was amazing in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. However, ever since that, everyone's realized that he can't really act. Stellan Skarsgaard in Exorcist was a lot better. Still, Reeves is pretty cool as Constantine, and you need to be a certain cool for this movie. He may not be the best actor, but he's cool nonetheless. Weisz does a pretty good job, too. Djimon Hounsou, the breakout star from that mediocre movie that everyone thought would win a bunch of Oscars but ended up flailing In America, shows up as a paranormal...guy...thing. His role's not really explained, but it's pretty cool (as is the guy's who lives in the back of the bowling alley). And Pruitt Taylor Vince.

People will dismiss Constantine as just a simple February release, trying to ride the coattails of Exorcist: The Beginning or something like that. Don't believe them. Although hardly original, Constantine is an enthralling, entertaining two hour thrill ride. And there's Vince.

My rating: 7/10 Rated R for violence and demonic images.