I Know That Fear, Bro

In my previous post, I mentioned that Dwight McCarthy – who has been portrayed in film by both Clive Owen and now Josh Brolin – is my favorite character from Frank Miller’s Sin City.

I’m sure most people would rank Marv as their favorite, and I can’t say that I blame them; Marv is cool.

Dwight, like Marv, is a violent maniac, but there is a bit more to him than that, or at least, Dwight himself hopes that there’s more to him than that, and he tries – and pretty much always fails – to be something more than that.

Marv, on the other hand, knows exactly what he is, and doesn’t try to pretend to be anything else.  He’s made a certain amount of peace with himself, and that’s part of what makes him cool, in a Popeye “I am what I am” sort of way.  Plus he’s just a badass.

Of course, Dwight is also a badass, which is par for the course in Basin City, but he’s a different kind of badass than Marv.  He’d have to be; after all, he’s not a seven-foot tall mass of unstoppable muscle.

To put it in terms of a different genre, Marv is a barbarian marauder, while Dwight is something more akin to a White Knight or paladin.

At least, that’s how Dwight views himself.  To the extent that Dwight is just as crazy as Marv, he’s crazy in a very different way.  In one of Dwight’s stories he’s captured by a couple of thugs who confiscate his twin Magnums, and one the thugs says something along the lines of, “This guy thinks he’s Lamont Cranston.”    (For those who don’t know, “Lamont Cranston” was the secret identity of pulp and radio hero The Shadow.)

The thing is, he was right.  Dwight does think he’s Lamont Cranston.

Not quite literally, of course, but that’s a pretty apt description of how Dwight thinks of himself.

Much has been said – much of it negative – about the slavish devotion to the source material that was on display in the first Sin City movie.  However, there were a couple of minor tweaks that were made that helped put the character of Dwight into even more stark relief than the bold black and white artwork of the comics.

In the adaptation of “The Hard Goodbye,” which is a Marv story, we first meet Dwight when Marv walks into Kadie’s Club Pecos.  Marv’s actions are accompanied by his voiceover right from the start, but as soon as he enters Kadie’s, the camera shifts over to Dwight and Dwight actually steals Marv’s voiceover.

Granted, in voiceover mode, Dwight is talking about Marv, but the manner in which he steals focus tells you just as much about Dwight as it tells you about Marv, if not more.

That particular monologue about Marv is lifted from another story – in which it’s just part of Dwight’s overall narration.

The other change also involves a voiceover.  All of the Sin City stories rely heavily on the protagonist’s voiceover narration – which was  function of Miller using captions in the comics rather than thought balloons, which was part of the overall application of the crime noir approach to storytelling – but there’s a scene in Dwight’s story “The Big Fat Kill” – a scene directed by Quentin Tarantino – in which we find that rather than using a voiceover that clues us in on Dwight’s innermost thoughts, Dwight is actually narrating his actions, to no one, out loud.

Coupled with the fact that he’s having an imaginary conversation with a dead man, that little detail speaks volumes about his mental state.

So what is it about Dwight that makes him stand out for me?  I find that I can relate to him in a way that I can’t with most of the other Sin City characters.  Like Dwight, I’ll never be a seven-foot tall mass of unstoppable muscle, and like Dwight, I have a particular view of myself that, at times, is at odds with reality.  Even if I don’t necessarily think of myself as being Lamont Cranston, or a White Knight, there are times when I’d at least like to do so.

And certainly I’m at least as self-centered – I would be just as inclined to steal someone’s voiceover.  I’m not as violent or homicidal, of course, and I don’t go to anywhere near the extremes that Dwight does, but there are times when I would question my mental stability, and I am more than a little inclined towards obsessive behavior.

But there’s a bit more to it than that.  In “That Yellow Bastard,” Dwight appears in the background in at Kadie’s, sitting at a table, whining about a woman (Ava from “A Dame to Kill For”), and trying to drown himself in a bottle.

*Cough*

The Dwight we see in “Dame,” which takes place after the events in “Bastard,” despite the publication order, Dwight is a very different person from the one we see whining about the sorry state of affairs his life is in, a state of affairs which is largely the result of his own actions.

*Cough*

In any case, this Dwight lives something of a monkish existence, having given up the sauce, quit smoking, and mostly spending quiet evenings at home when he isn’t working.

Admittedly, Dwight, who does work as some sort of PI, has a job that is a bit more exciting than mine, but when I first read the comics, my life was very much like Dwight’s – it still is, with the exception being that I started smoking again – and it was like that for very similar reasons.

This self-imposed monastic existence as all about control, about never again becoming what he had once been, and at the heart of it was a fear of any loss of control, because the slightest amount of wavering, the tiniest loss of control, any microfracture in the façade of self-control would let the monster out.

There’s a scene in which Dwight is driving home, refusing to give in to the demands his Mustang seems to be placing on him to let it cut loose and show him what it can do.

I think about all the ways I’ve screwed up and what I’d give for one clear chance to wipe the slate clean.  To dig my way out of the numb grey hell I’ve made of my life. 

Just to cut loose.  Just to feel the fire.  One more time. 

I’d give anything.

He hits the accelerator, then immediately slams on the brakes, and jumps out of the car.

No! 

No.  Damn it.  No.  Never.  Never. 

Never lose control.  Not for one second.  Never. 

Never let the monster out.

I know that desire to give up control, and I know that fear.  I lived with it for a long time, and it was probably at its strongest at the time I first met Dwight.

That fear has largely left me now, but it will never go away completely, and even though the “monster” I’ve kept contained is quite different – I’m not resisting violent, homicidal tendencies, after all – there is a need to keep it where it is.

So…yeah.  Dwight.  He’s a twisted, funhouse mirror kind of reflection, but I do see him as a reflection, and that’s why he stands out for me.

I should also point out, however, that while I like Dwight because I find him relatable, he is decidedly not a good person, and I wouldn’t want to emulate his behavior.  Beyond being a murderer and generally a homicidal maniac, he has a propensity for smacking women around.  Part of that, of course, is just Miller’s problematic misogyny, and there’s usually some narrative “justification” – sometimes it’s just a matter of being “justified” because Dwight said he’d do it and he meant it – but we don’t always get the exact details from Dwight as to what kind of "monster” he was keeping at bay.  However, I do think we get a glimpse from Ava.  While she’s a terrible person, and not in any way shape or form a reliable source of information, and she’s using her wiles to manipulate someone, when she’s laying it on thick and playing the damsel in distress, I don’t think she’s lying when she tells a cop that Dwight was abusive when they were together, particularly given that we see that Dwight has no qualms about hitting women.  That, of course, is metatextual analysis, and I don’t think Miller’s intent was for Dwight to have been abusive, but that’s where the signs point.  (I also suspect that Miller might argue that Dwight wasn’t abusive because Ava deserved it, which, ick.)

So, despite my fondness for the character, I do see problematic elements, but that’s hardly surprising given the author and the setting.

For my part, I don’t gloss over those elements, or ignore them, but, on balance, I still find reasons to like Dwight as a character, even though I don’t necessarily like him as a person.  After all, in the revival of Battlestar Galactica, my favorite character was Gaius Baltar, and he was pretty much the worst person ever.  He was, however, a fully-realized character with depth and understandable – if horribly twisted – motivations, hopes, dreams, and fears.  (Plus he had that whole “character you love to hate” thing going for him.)

Anyway, BSG, and the nerdiness of it, provides a good segue to this slightly less serious bit.

I mentioned that there were only three other people in the audience at the movie the other day.

To be more specific, they were three neckbeards.

As I said in a text exchange with the (former) Boss Lady, “Audience consisted of me and three neckbeards.  So in other words, four dorks.  Me and *sigh* my people.”

Because speaking of trying to maintain control to prevent yourself from being what you truly are, more than I struggle with my more Dwight-like tendencies, I also have to contend with keeping some of the worst aspects of being a geek from coming to the fore. 

Granted, a good 90% of that is just bathing regularly, but even so, I don’t always manage to achieve the level of control that Dwight did in containing his inner monster. 

During the movie version of the Dwight scene mentioned above, I found myself thinking, “Never let the neckbeard out.”

For fuck’s sake, one of them was even wearing a fedora.  *Shudders*

What A Difference 9 Years Make

In 2005, I eagerly anticipated* the release of the movie based on Frank Miller's Sin City.
If you were reading this blog back then, you no doubt saw my many posts on the subject.  When it was released in theaters, I actually took the day off just so that I could be there for the day's first showing.  I was by no means the only one - the theater ended up being pretty-well packed for a Friday morning in April.
When the movie ended, I was tempted to buy another ticket and taken in a second showing.
Somewhat later, when the bare-bones, no frills DVD hit the market, I picked it up.  Some months later, when the considerably more deluxe version was released, I bought that, too.
Years later I replaced that DVD with the Blu-ray edition.
Cut to nine years later and the release of the sequel.
...
We're in "summer hours" at work, which means being able to leave a bit earlier on Fridays.  I decided, almost reluctantly, that if I was going to see the sequel I might as well do it on the way home from work, which would be during something of a lull at the theater.
I was already preemptively disappointed in the movie due to the casting.  Of all of the Sin City "yarns" in the original comics, "A Dame to Kill For," which is the central story in the sequel as well as the movie's title, is my favorite.**
The protagonist of that story is Dwight McCarthy, who is also my favorite character in the Sin City "yarns."  In the first movie, the role of Dwight was ably portrayed by Clive Owen.  In the sequel, the role was filled by Josh Brolin.  I like Josh Brolin, and he was fine as Dwight, but - and I have no idea why Owen didn't return - he just didn't click for me the way Owen did.  I'll have more on Dwight - and Brolin/Owen - in a bit, but the real issue I had with casting in this particular story is that of the titular "Dame."
Though I'm puzzled by this fact, I know that I'm definitely in the minority when it comes to not being a fan - to put it as mildly and politely as possible - of actress Eva Green.  I find her...off-putting.
Certainly, when I imagine Ava Lord (the "Dame" in question), the manipulative seductress, the woman of such impossible beauty that men would kill - and die - for her, Eva Green is not the person who springs to mind.
And yet, there she was, as Ava.
She was - as in accordance with the source material - naked for pretty much 80% of the time that she was on screen, and honestly, for most of that I was thinking, "Just put some damn clothes on."
That casting - along with the ridiculous gap in time between movies - had dampened my enthusiasm for the sequel considerably, and the fact that I just didn't want to be looking at her and hearing Ava's words coming out of her mouth soured the whole experience for me, and made it impossible for me to overlook the many other flaws in the movie that I might have otherwise been able to forgive.
Further, the movie wasn't merely an adaptation of the comics this time around, as Miller wrote some new material specifically for the movie.  Said new material wasn't good, and having Jessica Alba attempt to carry that material only made matters worse.
As with the first movie, Alba portrayed that character who doesn't exist anywhere other than in movies:  the stripper who doesn't strip and yet still manages to keep her job.
I can certainly understand an actress not wanting to do nude scenes.  Even if it's sometimes disappointing, it's a perfectly reasonable choice to make, and I respect that.
That said, if you don't want to do nude scenes, maybe consider not portraying a stripper.  (And if you're making a movie, maybe consider not casting someone who doesn't do nude scenes as a stripper.  It doesn't exactly seem like rocket science to me.)
That she remained fully-clothed the whole time she was on stage - which is decidedly not the case in the source material - caused a disconnect with what was being seen with what was being said.  At one point, Dwight (in a voiceover) makes a comment about how Nancy (Alba) is showing off everything she has.
Later, in her own voiceover, Nancy talks about "giving them what they want."  Except, no, she's not giving them that, because what they want is to see her naked.  Because she's a stripper.  As I've said many times, there's a word for strippers who don't strip, and that word is "fired."
In any case, as a continuity-minded nerd, the new story was especially disappointing because it featured a character who could not possibly be involved in the events taking place, as the timeline just would not work.
Speaking of nerds, to contrast to how things were in that relatively full theater back in 2005, the audience today consisted of myself and three other people.
So...yeah.  I don't foresee this movie making enough money to justify a sequel, particularly if we wouldn't see that sequel until 2023.
Which is something of a shame, given that one of the complaints many critics have about this movie is that the high-contrast black and white with splashes of color look of the movie that was so groundbreaking in 2005 is old hat now, and looks rather tired and dated.  The markedly different, more colorful style that Miller utilized in "To Hell and Back," the last Sin City comic he did, would be just as groundbreaking, if brought to life on film, as the original movie proved to be, and could very well kick off a new trend that soon gets overdone.
As for the Dwight/Brolin/Owen thing, to get a bit spoilery, there was an opportunity to really mess with the audience that Miller and Rodriguez completely squandered.
Chronologically, "Dame" takes place before "The Big Fat Kill," the yarn featuring Dwight that was adapted in the first movie.
As the result of the events of "Dame," Dwight undergoes major plastic surgery - something that was alluded to a couple of times in "Kill" - resulting in him looking like a completely different person.  Again, I don't know why Owen didn't reprise the role, but it would have been awesome if we went from seeing Brolin all bandaged up after his surgery, to seeing Owen return to the role once the bandages are removed.  Hell, if they could have done it and kept the fact that Owen had returned to play the post-op Dwight a secret, it might have been the movie's saving grace for me, at least.
But no; instead they merely added some weird prosthetic effects to Brolin's face and gave him a different hairdo, and then had - in another disconnect between what was said and what was seen - someone make a comment about the remarkable transformation.
So...yeah.  I was disappointed, as I was certain I would be.  I just didn't realize how disappointed I would be.
Which isn't to say it didn't have its moments - it's always fun to watch Miho (played by Jamie Chung this time around) beheading people, and Mickey Rourke was great as Marv once again.  It was also kind of fun to see Jaime King*** reprise her roles as twin sisters Goldie and Wendy, especially with her appearing on-screen in both roles at the same time.
And, of course, Rosario Dawson.****
Because Rosario Dawson.
But overall...well, nine years is a long time to wait, and even if it had been better than it was, I don't think it could have ever been worth it.
To paraphrase Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, I went into Sin City:  A Dame to Kill For with my eyes open, but my enthusiasm for the franchise didn't come out at all.

In closing, here's CinemaSins taking a look at everything wrong with the first movie.




*I will admit that there was a great extent to which this was a choice I made.  At the time, I felt like I really needed something to look forward to in life.  Given that I enjoyed the comics, and the movie looked to be the most faithful comic book adaptation ever, it seemed like a good choice.

**I recognize the...flaws of Miller's work, and much of what he's done recently has eroded the good will he built up with his earlier groundbreaking work in comics.  You can tell me that Sin City is horribly sexist and misogynistic, and problematic in at least another dozen ways, and I will agree with you.  But though I recognize this, I still love the comics - and the first movie - unapologetically.

***After working with him in the first movie, and again when he directed The Spirit, Jaime King was a pretty vocal defender of Miller in response to complaints about his misogyny.  That doesn't prove anything, obviously  - I think it's clear that yes, Miller is positively drowning in misogyny, but I always found that interesting.

****While the sequel gained points for retaining Rosario Dawson (and once again dressing her up in dominatrix gear), to borrow from the CinemaSins guys, I called out some sins for the movie, as they might, because, "Rosario Dawson isn't my girlfriend in this scene."  Of course, to be fair, I call out Rosario Dawson not being my girlfriend as one of the sins of life itself.

It’s A Sin

Earlier today on Facebook I shared a link to this Comics Alliance post about a goddamn* Frank Miller Gucci commercial.
Setting aside the totally bizarre notion of Frank Miller directing a Gucci commercial in the first place, it’s actually not a bad commercial, as far as commercials go.  It’s sleek, stylish, and sexy, and is, naturally, reminiscent of the movie adaptation of Miller’s Sin City.
Longtime readers (AKA Scott) may recall that several years ago that movie was one of the things I was looking forward to most in life, and that I was not disappointed.
Since then I’ve been waiting for the sequels, which seemed inevitable at the time, but which have failed to materialize in nearly a decade.
All of that will be changing in October when Miller and Rodriguez finally reunite to make a new Sin City movie, one which will feature adaptations of two of the stories from the comics, and will feature one entirely new story written specifically for the movie.
One of the adapted stories, which will serve as the sort of centerpiece of the movie, is A Dame to Kill For, which is probably my favorite of all of the stories set in Basin City.
Seeing that story adapted is the thing I’ve most wanted to have happen in a sequel.
For much of the time that I’ve been waiting for that to be adapted it’s been my fervent hope that  Scarlett Johansson would be cast for the role of Ava Lake, the story’s titular – Settle down, Beavis; it just means she’s mentioned in the title – dame.
I had hoped that even if it meant that she proved to be unwilling – which seemed likely – to appear sans clothes in the story’s many, many (many) nude scenes, though I had also hoped that she would be willing to do so because, well, because Scarlett Johansson.  Duh.
Given that she worked with Miller in The Spirit, a movie I refuse to dislike regardless of what anyone says about it – so seriously, don’t bother saying anything about it – I had hoped that my hopes were hopefully more hopeful.
More recently, I had come around to thinking that Christina Hendricks would also be a good choice (all of my comments above about the nude scenes, naturally, are just as applicable).
Back when the first movie was in the planning stages, they had considered adapting Dame, and had talked about casting actress Maria Bello in the role.  That was kind of a head-scratcher for me.  Don’t get me wrong; she’s a perfectly attractive woman and a fine actress, but she was, in my less-than humble opinion, not exactly right for the part of Ava.
The same goes for Rachel Weisz, whose name was thrown around a lot after the first movie was made.
Angelina Jolie was also considered a viable option for a time, and while I think she’s more suited for the part of Ava than Bello or Weisz, it just seemed kind of…obvious.
Unfortunately, recent casting announcements have not only dashed my hopes, they’ve taken them out back and shot them in the head, execution-style, as the role of Ava is being played by Eva Green.
…
So I hate to be shallow here, and I don’t want to be mean, but…I just don’t find her to be especially attractive.  Certainly not Ava Lord levels of attractive.  And given that I’ve seen The Dreamers, even if I did find her attractive, the potential for her to be nude onscreen as often as Ava was in the pages of the comic wouldn’t hold that much appeal.
I’m still looking forward to the movie, of course, but I have to admit that it seems pretty likely that I’ll be sitting there thinking, “Really, Dwight?  This is the woman you spent so much time mooning over, and are now willing to throw your life away for?  This is the woman that can completely manipulate every man she meets?”
You can argue that James Bond seemed to be rather fond of her, but I don't know if that's a ringing endorsement, given his obvious sex addiction.
So, yeah.
Still, I will at least be able to see if the new story serves as an example of Miller’s frenzied descent further and further into batshit insane self-parody continuing unabated, because that’s always kind of entertaining to watch, or at least it proves fascinating in a train wreck sort of way.

*Speaking of Miller’s descent into self-parody, this classic (“classic”) panel, from All Star Batman and Robin, serves as the reason I refer to the commercial as a goddamn Frank Miller Gucci commercial:

And this is the goddamn Batmobile and I'm taking you to the goddamn Batcave.

Scarlett Sin

There was a recent announcement that the sequel to Sin City has a release date of October, 2013.
This is good news for me, as I've been eagerly anticipating the sequel for years now.
It's even better news for me, because it's titled A Dame To Kill For, as the centerpiece of the movie - which, like the original, will consist of adaptations of several Sin City stories - is based on the "yarn" of that same name, and Dame is my absolute favorite tale of that rough little town officially known as Basin City.
I've long maintained that in any adaptation of that particular yarn, the part of Ava Lord - the titular* Dame - should be played by Scarlett Johansson.
This is, to me, such an obvious fact that it requires no evidence, but even so, here is a Sin Citified image of Scarlett, and while it's immediately apparent that I'm no Frank Miller, it should be noted that, these days, neither is Frank Miller:

"What, are you dense?  Are you retarded or something?  Who the hell do you think I am?  I'm the goddamn Dame to Kill For."

*I said "titular."

Now I Don't Like You Anymore

I left work a couple of minutes early in order to get to the dentist on time.
When I went in for my check-up on Friday my regular dentist wasn't there, so another dentist was filling in for him. She was the one who decided that I needed to get a crown, but apparently nobody made any note of which tooth it was supposed to be for. When I got there today my regular dentist was back, and his assistant took an an x-ray of the tooth that they thought was the one.
After looking at the x-ray, the dentist asked if I knew which one it was supposed to be, as the one that was x-rayed apparently was not it. I said which one I thought it was, he checked it out, and another x-ray later my mouth was numbed (mostly; more on that in a bit), some impressions were taken, and he was hard at work grinding down the tooth I suggested.
My mouth was mostly numbed because after having had so much dental work done over the years I've built up something of a tolerance for/immunity to novacaine. I get all of the unpleasant aspects, like losing feeling in my face and lips, but the tooth being worked on never gets fully numb. Fortunately I've also got a pretty high threshold of pain, so while the experience was unpleasant it wasn't unbearably agonizing.
After getting the temporary crown put on I made the appointment to get the permanent one put in, and was on my not-so merry way.
On the way home I stopped at Best Buy to pick up Sin City on Blu-ray. The cute-ish and altogether too young girl who rang me up was totally on auto-pilot as she went through the motions of being pleasant and asked all of the required questions (Do you have a Rewards Zone card, credit or debit, etc.). It reminded me a little of working in the call center when I would just shut off my brain and unthinkingly repeat my opening script (Thank you for choosing America Online, high-speed technical support. My name is Jon. Before we get started I'm going to ask you a few questions. Let's start with your screen name. Will you spell it for me please? Thank you. And may I have your first and last name please?) over and over again.
After finishing things up she explained about the online survey listed at the bottom of the receipt and how filling it out could win me a $5,000 shopping spree, and circled the information with a marker.
When I got home I glanced at the receipt on the table and noticed that she'd circled the information with a little heart. I said, "Aww, how cute." Then I looked at it again and saw that it wasn't a heart, it had just looked like one from an angle, so I said, "Okay, fine; don't circle it with a heart. Now I don't like you anymore."
Then I laughed.
Then I laughted some more.
Then I questioned my sanity.
Then I concluded that there's really no need to question my sanity, as at this point I already know the answer.

I Don't Care What Other People Think

...unless they agree with me.
Recently, Popoholic had a poll asking who should play the part of Ava Lord, the titular (in more ways than one) dame in the movie adaptation of the Sin City story A Dame To Kill For.
It was originally rumored that Angelina Jolie was going to fill the role. I thought it was perfect casting, but then she was rumored to have moved on to other projects, such as the adaptation of another comic book property, Wanted, which she is currently filming.
(BTW, Wanted was a great comic. I have my problems with Mark Millar *cough*CivilWar*cough* excuse me *cough*Ultimatesisneveron-time *cough* but Wanted was one of the best, most bad-ass stories I've encountered in a long, long time. The movie, based on what I've read about it, promises to be not so much in the way of good. On a side note, Angelina plays a character who was black in the comic. When people complained about white characters being played by black actors in the movie versions, they were accused of being racist. Will the same apply to anyone who complains about the color change here?)
Anyway, with Angelina possibly out of the picture, a replacement Ava had to be found, and the next actress rumored to be up for the part was Rachel Weisz.
A fine and lovely actress, but as I contended in another post, not quite right for the part.
I suggested that, in lieu of Angelina, Scarlett Johansson would be ideal for the part.
And people argued with me.
But lo and behold, the results of the Popoholic poll, which placed Angelina as the frontrunner, as she should be, were thus:

Scarlett Johansson came in second with twenty-eight percent of the voters thinking a raven-haired Johansson should get the role. Rose McGowan came in third place, and Rachel Weisz, who was recently rumoured to be the front-runner for the role, came in fourth with the fewest number of votes. Personally, I don’t see her in the role at all.

So in your face, people who disagreed with me!
I would put Ms. Weisz ahead of Rose McGowan, though, but now that McGowan is allegedly sleeping with director Robert Rodriguez, that might improve her odds.
Of course, if the poll had gone differently, that wouldn't have proven anything, but since it (mostly) went the way I thought it should, it proves that I was right.
You can see the full results of the poll here.
Oh, and for the record, I want to reiterate that in movie adaptations of Sin City stories featuring the character of Delia, the part should be played by Monica Keena (whose cup size, impressive though it may be, I don't know).

Okay, That Size I CAN Give You

For all of you weirdoes film memorabilia collectors out there, it is possible to purchase the bra that Jessica Alba wore in the movie Sin City.
Despite the fact that I love Sin City and the fact that Jessica Alba is undeniably hot, I will not be bidding.
Why? Well, I have no interest in owning used women's clothing* for one thing (especially when the current bid is over $300), and for another, to be true to the comics, she shouldn't have been wearing a bra anyway.
But for you size-seekers out there, according to the article, her bra sizes is 34B, so that's one celebrity bra size I can provide. Don't come around looking for others, and don't blame me if that's not the correct size.

*I'm not big on owning new women's clothing either. Just thought I should point that out.