8 Women, The Big Heat, & Sin City

8 Women was goofy, way too long, and bizarre. The only thing that kept me awake (just barely, and I don't really remember most of the middle) was the knowledge that I just had to wait a few seconds for one of the most beautiful women in French film to come on screen. But the movie just seemed like some ridiculous coincidence after another interspersed with an incongruous song and dance number. Strange movie. Some of the songs were actually good though. And the transitions from talking to song and back were so jerky I have to imagine that it was intentional.

The Big Heat had the famous coffee scene. Even knowing what was coming it was still pretty shocking. Too bad the makeup afterwards was obviously fake. You could clearly see the edges. One of the few hints that it was as low budget as it was. Otherwise Fritz Lang and whoever was production designer created a film noir based strongly in Lang's early German work. Yeah, the family scenes were so darn hokey they could have been in a sitcom from the era, but the beauty of the film is that it was completely intentional. It's also very anti-vengeance, with Glenn Ford's Dan Bannion destroying almost everyone who helps him, not caring about what happens to them. His single-minded pursuit of the "thieves" almost ruins his life, and he has to pull himself back from the brink of going too far. Lee Marvin is fantastic as the heavy, as he almost always is.

Sin City. If there ever was a movie that was all style and no substance, then this is the movie. But what style! I'd complain about how every woman is either a whore or a virgin or that it's really sadistic to every character. Or that it's completely unbelievable as anything other than a filmed male teenager's wet dream. The problem with the complaints is that the movie revels in the excess so much that you ignore the many, many problems and grimness and just accept them. I don't really care for Alexis Bledel in the movie. Everyone else seemed to fit in the film, except for her and her blue eyes. It's unfortunate. At least everyone else really seemed like they fit in, and Devon Aoki was given a perfect role for her: silent but deadly. Yep, she's a fart. I'm so immature.