March 04, 2004

Robert Rodriguez slated to direct the Sin City Movie
Sorry to geek out here, but the idea of Robert Rodriguez directing Frank Miller's Sin City makes my inner dork all giddy. He'll get it DONE, too; expect to see this within a year. WOOT WOOT!
  • While I have hopes for this movie, given that it has been endorsed by Sin City creator Frank Miller, I am also cautious. Rodriguez 'Once upon a time in Mexico' was simply a mess, and a somewhat crude mess at that, and Frank Miller's most recent work throws some question on his judgement.
  • Details on Miller's decrepitude, Nal? My last Miller was Sin City, and I dug it.
  • Yeah and 400 was pretty cool too.
  • Miller's most recent work includes DK2 and the Sin City work 'Hell and Back'. While I disagree with most and feel that the artwork in DK2 was bold and interesting, I also think it was self-indulgent and perhaps lazy. More obvious is the decline in the quality of Miller's writing in both works. While there were some clever points to the story-telling and the plot of DK2, it was in general quite a sparse work IMHO, and suffered for it. The writing in 'Hell and Back' showed an even more marked decline, in particular with his self-indulgent use of the same writing techniques over and over, and a tendency to allow scenes with a slight note of 'cool' that nonetheless failed the greater test of being silly. In particular, his use of repetition was so over-done that it approached ridiculousness. IMHO, Miller hasn't lost his skills - as evidenced in the much better, but slightly older, Sin City book 'Family Values' - but he has become a bit too caught up in himself.
  • Sin City broke my heart. I cried at the end of it. Couldn't really pick up another Frank Miller after that. But then I'm a wimp; I cried over these as well. forksclovetofu: For your sake, I hope the movie doesn't turn out to be a total wanker. Good luck!
  • Nal, I agree with you about Once Upon A Time In Mexico. BUt the reason it was a mess was the lack of a solid story. Rodriguez's direction was as brilliant as it ever was, but he's got an unfortunate habit of leaving too much of the writing up to the camera, if that makes sense. I hope that having a solid story already in place, in the form of the graphic novels, will shore up his writing weaknesses, and let his directing brilliance shine through. Knock on wood, and all that.
  • They are both gifted creators currently going through some of their weakest moments. Although those moments still exhibit their gifts. Hopefully this will be an opportunity for them both to bounce back.
  • Even more exciting for me is the news over at Aint It Cool News that Rodriguez is going to do a Princess of Mars after Sin City!
  • I'm still waiting for Darren Aronofsky's Dark Knight Returns film. I'm going to start crying again soon...
  • In other breaking geek news, Charlize Theron is set to play Aeon Flux in the new movie. And yeah, where IS that DK/Aronofsky flick? I just hope they don't make the chick Robin and Catwoman reinact the infamous "ass to ass" Req.4aDream sequence...
  • it's always neat when you catch people dinking with live systems. forksy's link first gave me : Server Error in '/' Application. Line 1: Incorrect syntax near '='. then Server Error in '/' Application. Failed to connect to SQL Server. then it came up ok. Anyway. An Aeon Flux movie is possibly the worst idea for the series. While he is a brilliant artist, Chun's seemingly drug addled mind can't keep things together to present a single detailed plot thread for more than fifteen minutes at a time. I dug the inital run -- the silent shorts where Aion met gruesome ends repeatedly -- but even the expanded format of 30 minute episodes seemed too much time to put anything coherent for a show that valued style over, well, anything and everything. Ninety minutes (god forbid two hours) of aeon flux would be a nightmare. Besides, nobody's 9 feet tall with an 19 inch waist to accurately fill the pointy shiny shoes. But yeah, man. Sin City. Dig it. Every once in a while, I'll be talking with someone irritating, and the image of Marv's graphic thought balloon of the atomic explosion-fist-meeting-face will pop into my head. Just punching them, and having a tiny little Trinity appear -- *poof* -- as knuckles connect to nose. The movie will need to have the best lighting director in the world, though, to capture Sin City's feel. Maybe whoever did tPotC can be called.
  • I can't really get excited over this though - it'll probably be another From Hell. Or, dear god, another League of Extraordinary Gentleman.
  • dng : no! you lie! you lie! you... luh.. you... *runs off sobbing*
  • If you are a Miller die-hard, I recently read The Comics Journal Library: Frank Miller, which is a collection of interviews with him. A very interesting read. Also, the upcoming book Eisner/Miller looks interesting as well.
  • Hey KREINSCH! Come back with those links!
  • Glad to know I wasn't missing something when I tried to make sense of the only two Aeon Flux episodes I've seen.
  • Here's a blog post from a pal that met Frank Miller at a comic con. He thought Dark Knight 2 was shit.
  • Supposedly, Aronofsky has bought the rights to Lone Wolf and Cub, too. Although I can't remember where I heard that.
  • Nal and respected Simian Councilpeople, How the heck do you follow up what a lot of people, frankly almost everyone in the comics community, consider to be the greatest comic ever: "Dark Knight Returns"? (BTW- Not my Favorite) I have had more comic sellers tell me not to buy DK2. That I'll hate it. That it's bad. That they hate it. I've had more words thrown at me over this than frankly most of these dorks have graced me with in years. (I bought it twice) Frankly, I think this comic slapped the dorks a little too hard upside the head. AND THEY NEEDED IT. The superhero meta-narrative almost came loose. Why is Miller damned for it? Because he screwed with the canon. Because he didn't deliver more of the same. Frankly I thought it was pretty good. And it sits on the shelf next to my DK1. Some objected to the art. Big Deal! Some objected to the story. Fine. (Don't pick up the brilliant Electra Assassin 'cause it makes this move SLOW) Has Miller lost it? Well I haven't read 'Hell and Back' so I'll stay out of that argument. But I think that anyone reading the recent '300' will find maybe his best work ever. Old Frank works a lot for a writer and artist, and not all of his stuff is pitch perfect. I'd be much more worried about Rodriquez on this one.
  • CRY HAVOC AND LET LOOSE THE GEEKS OF WAR!!!!
  • More comic movie news: Masamune Shirow's Appleseed movie due out in Japan soon, in America in two years if the general schedule is kept to.
  • I still haven't seen Ghost in the Shell yet. I really need to get watching.