SIN CITY
Review by Gokhra
Sin City is a hyperstylized adaptation of Frank Miller's cult comic book series. The film is a proudly incorrect but stunning piece of work. It is also the most faithfully realized comic book adaptation to hit the screen to date.
Collecting roughly 3½ stories from the comic played by an engagingly motley cast the movie is a film noir metropolis filmed in luscious black and white.
There are random splashes of color brought in stark contrast to the noir style. A beautiful womans blond hair, another womans blue eyes, blood that is red and the diseased yellow skin of a
very bad guy.
The cast consists of A-list action stars and sexy sirens in a city where the streets are always wet, the cars are convertibles and everybody smokes.
It is less of a comic book adaptation and more of a comic book brought to life. Its less about narrative and all about style.
The movie is based on three of the "Sin City" stories, each more or less self-contained. This helped to keep the narrative fast paced and exciting where one two hour story would have been a bit on the yawn side.
One story involves Bruce Willis as a battered old cop at war with a pedophile (Nick Stahl). Willis plays Hartigan, the grizzled police detective who in the movie's opening sequence protects a young girl named Nancy (Makenzie Vega) from a rich-kid serial killer (Nick Stahl). Later in the film he discovers she has grown up into an angelic pole dancer played by Jessica Alba.
Another story has Mickey Rourke as Marv, an ex-con loser. He has no one on his side except a parole officer named Lucille (Carla Gugino), walking around in nothing but a thong for no apparent reason. Then a goodhearted whore (Jaime King) is murdered in his bed and Marv goes on a rampage to find the responsible parties.
The third story has good guy hunk Dwight (Clive Owen) and a wacko cop Dawson (Benicio Del Toro). The cop dies disturbing the delicate balance of power negotiated between the police and the leader of the city's hookers (Rosario Dawson), who, despite her profession, moonlights as Owen's lover.
Underneath everything is a deeper layer of corruption, involving a senator (Powers Boothe) whose son is not only the pedophile but also the Yellow Bastard.
Maybe it sounds a bit disjointed but weirdly it all fits. It's a comic readers fantasies coming to life. Cool cars, gritty streets and hot women all around.
The action in ''Sin City" adheres thrillingly to the laws of comic-book physics: cars soar high into the air around every corner and heroes take hundreds of bullets and keep coming.
Many viewers especially a lot of women, will be put off by ''Sin City". It's violent and so sexist that the good girl's a stripper. At the same time, the movie plays fair by the rules of its down and dirty genre. You know what you're getting into.
''Sin City" is completely sealed off from reality. Don't go watching it without suspending all your beliefs. You love comic books you will definitely love this movie.
Skylines suggest the movie is set today. The cars range from the late 1930s through the 1950s to a recent Ferrari. The costumes mainly include trench coats and G-strings. "Sin City" doesn't really tell a story set in time and space. It's a visualization of the pulp noir imagination, uncompromising, extreme and definitely brilliant.
Lindsay Morgan Lohan was born in New York City, New York, on 2nd July 1986, to Dina and Michael Lohan. She began her career at age three as a Ford model, and also made appearances in over sixty television commercials, including spots for The Gap, Jello, Pizza Hut, and Wendy's. Lohan made her acting debut in 1996 as Ali Fowler in the television drama "Another World" (1964) . Shortly after, she signed a three-movie contract with Walt Disney Pictures, and was subsequently cast as the estranged twin sisters Hallie Parker and Annie James in the remake of Parent Trap, The (1961) . Despite being her first feature film, Parent Trap, The (1998) was a huge success, earning Lohan a Young Artist award for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film, as well as Blockbuster Entertainment and YoungStar award nominations. After turning down the role of Penny in Inspector Gadget (1999) , she returned to the small screen to star in the made-for-TV movies Life-Size (2000) (TV) and Get a Clue (2002) (TV) , as well as appearing as Rose in the pilot episode of the short-lived comedy series "Bette" (2000) . Lohan then took a brief hiatus from acting.
Her music career was launched during this time, when Estefan Enterprises made a five-album production deal with her in September 2002. At the same time, she was cast opposite Jamie Lee Curtis for another Disney remake, this time of the fantasy comedy Freaky Friday (1976) , as disgruntled teenage daughter Anna Coleman. Freaky Friday (2003) was a huge hit, and critics were spellbound by delightful performances from both Lohan and Curtis (who went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for her work), as well as their hilarious on-screen chemistry as mother and daughter. You can get an earful of Lindsay Lohan, the singer, on the Freaky Friday soundtrack, the Confessions' soundtrack and the Mean Girls' soundtrack! In July 2004, record exec Tommy Mottola signed Lindsay to a multi-year record deal. Lindsay's first CD hit shelves in late 2004. In 2004, Lindsay starred in two flicks - Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Means Girls. Drama Queen is about a self-absorbed girl named Lola (played by Lindsay Lohan) who gets a dose of reality when her family moves from NYC to the suburbs and Lola realizes the world doesn't actually revolve around her. In Mean Girls Lindsay is the new kid in town who is tortured by the mean girls at school. But she quickly gives them a taste of their own medicine. If that's not enough Lindsay Lohan for you, she's in the process of working on three new flicks for 2005 - Herbie: Fully Loaded, Dramarama and Gossip Girl. Lohan relocated permanently to Los Angeles between projects, and moved into an apartment with fellow actress Raven , after they met and became friends at a photo shoot for "Vanity Fair" magazine.
Did U Know?
o Lindsay is a 'straight A' student at school, she excels at math and science. She also enjoys gymnastics, swimming, ice skating, roller blading, singing, biking, reading, writing and playing with her siblings.
o Lindsay Lohan was hospitalized in late-October 2004 for over exhaustion. Lindsay had a temperature of 103 and was extremely run down. Lindsay remained in hospital for a few days and has since completely recovered.
o Lohan and fellow teenage heart-throb Hillary Duff have a very volatile relationship that goes back to them both dating That 70's show actor Wilmer Valderrama.
o Lindsay is very good friends with actress Tara Reid and the Simple Life star Paris Hilton.
o At age 7 Lindsay got to dress as a garbage can for a Halloween skit on The Late Night with David Letterman.
Lindsay Lohan Says...
"Life is full of risks anyway, why not take them?"
When you like car games and only own a computer it is really annoying tat the best car games are only for PS2 or Xbox. So whenever something new comes along you hope fervently that it is good. The original Driver was made based on the cult 70's movie of the same name. Basically you had missions where drove from place to place. The sequel allowed you to step out of the cars and steal cars but the story line was rather dull. The latest Driver allows you to do a lot more than simply driving and car jacking.
The good:
You play the lead role of Tanner, an undercover cop who is trying to infiltrate a gang of high profile car thieves. The storyline takes you through several cities across the globe as you pursue the gang member one of whom looks hot enough to rival Lara Croft.
The game is a lot like GTA and Mafia. You get to drive all kinds of vehicles including bikes and boats except planes. Unlike GTA if you fall in the water you can swim and jump into a boat to save your life. Cars include look-alikes of Mustangs, Barracudas, Ferraris, Corvette as well as regular buses, and garbage truck. The handling is different for each vehicle adding to a touch of reality. Old cars slide a lot while the sports cars can take a tight turn flat out.
The game was designed like a major Hollywood production with a lot of the voices given by big name stars like Michael Madsen and Mickey Rourke. The missions are different each time so you do not get bored. Inspiration is taken from Hollywood flicks such as Gone in 60 Seconds (you need to steal 40 cars), Bullit (chasing other bad guys who shoot at you), Torque (chasing bad girl on a bike trough crowded city) and of course Speed (there's a bomb on the car that will explode if you slow down). There are other cool missions where you have to swim through an underground sewage pipe, pilot a crane, drive an 18 wheeler semi truck and smash through countless police roadblocks. The truck is a terrible thing to drive though.
At times you go on foot in search of other bad guys while you try your level best to spatter some blood. The story is relatively good considering it is just a game. All the missions are interspersed with beautifully rendered cut scenes. Near the end there is one where they show a commuter-generated version of Istanbul and it is magnificent.
What is really cool is that every time you replay a particular mission it starts a little different making your opponents move unpredictable. There might be a mission where you start off with a chase most times the bad guy will take a different route.
The bad:
This game is rather short. It will take a you a good couple of days to finish it off is you can manage some of the infuriatingly difficult missions. There are plenty of other things to do once you finish the missions such as a multitude of timed races as well as chases. But heck, car games like these are bought mainly for the storyline.
The game is very resource hungry. It requires a lot of graphics juice to show you all the details. Rendering is nice as well as the detailed modeling. You get tire smoke, debris and explosions as cars break into bits. All this looks good but anything lower than a 128 MB card will leave you wanting more. I played it on a 32MB Ati Radeon that rendered decent frame rates albeit at the lowest graphics settings. That means you do not get the desired skid marks, tire smoke and flying debris.
The ugly:
Mafia was a brilliantly realistic game where broken glass remained broken on the ground and dead bodies as well as bullet shells did not disappear after you passed them once. In Drivers 3 sometimes you are faced with large gangs you need to shoot down. Problem is that you might be running out of bullets and the only way to procure new rounds is to pick up the ones dropped by the bad guys. But before you can reach them the bodies disappear.
Worse still is that the shooting is not very accurate. Sometimes you aim at the head but the guy still remains standing. Mafia was brilliant in this sense that when you shot the head the guy simply went down. Legs and other body parts would require a few more bullet. Also in Driver3 sometimes you need to shoot out tires but it is extremely difficult to blow them out even if you shoot directly.
The biggest gripe is that during some chases the computer ends the chase saying you have lost your target while you can still see their feeling car on the screen. Probably the game thinks you are short sighted.
Lastly it takes up a huge amount of space (a whopping 5.5 GB) and can only be played on a DVD drive.
Verdict: The game is interesting despite its many flaws. It is short but has refreshing missions. The driving part is generally good though at times erratic but the shooting is easy to the point of being too easy. The on foot AI is completely incompetent providing the gams biggest flaw. It looks downright awesome if you have the right configuration. It has a decent storyline so at the end of the day you will think it was good but it could have been way better. A wimpy 7 out of 10.
Anime review
Full Metal Alchemist
By Lancer
Wow.
Is probably the only way someone can begin to describe an anime that begins to approach the magnificence of Studio Bones' Full Metal Alchemist. There's been a lot of hype about it, and by word-of-mouth this was a show that was eagerly anticipated by anime fans everywhere and while hype generally tends to let you down, with Full Metal Alchemist you're better off believing the hype. It'll keep you from being beaten into a drooling senseless heap at the sheer brilliance of what was definitely the must-see of 2004.
Where do we start? The characters, every single one of them, are integral to the plot; they are all genuinely intriguing and whether one loves them or hates them (given the range of characters you're likely to do both) you're not likely to regret their presence in the cast. Take the Elric brothers, for starters: they have a sad past, are extremely cool throughout the show as hero-type characters, and are often hilariously funny (given how the elder Edward is a good three feet shorter than the younger Alphonse). The supporting cast, from the people at Resembool to the final villain, are all believable people of depth and character. Couple this with an intricate plot that ties everyone together, is perfectly paced till the end, and has an absolutely poetic ending; and you're already leagues ahead of most of what you've seen.
This is backed by superb animation from Studio Bones, of Rahxephon and Cowboy Bebop fame, with fluid action, detailed, smooth character designs, and the style to go with all of that substance. The character designs of the later Chimaeras, and the Homonculi in particular, are extremely original; and alchemists doing what they do, transforming stuff has never looked quite so good as it does here. The music fits to a glove; the opening themes are all very catchy, and proceed (as the series gets darker and deeper) towards the very cool.
Flaws border on the non-existent; the sole one being instances of misplaced humour, in moments that are as tense can be. But these are rare indeed, and Full Metal Alchemist belies its appearance as being a merely-for-kids anime to emerge, indeed, as the one thing that should not be missed in the 2004 anime season. Believe the hype.
