Sin City

Wow. What a complete fuck-you Hollywood trip down psycho-noir lane! Beautiful, well paced, quirky and totally the accursed child of Frank Miller. Incredible work on a scale that had me on the edge of my seat despite knowing the comics well enough. Balletic, indulgent, and absborging, this is how movies should be made. It made me feel that most comic book films had become merely non-interactive games at best, and at their worst drivelly formulaic grab-bags of crap best left on the cutting floor. Come to think of it, most movies these days fall apart when tested against the cool, slick steel of Sin City. The technology and style could easily have begged you to forgive a weak plot, but Miller's impeccable writing sensibility shone through, too, putting to shame the bilge pumped out today. And I don't just mean genre films, either.

Five out of five delicious, dark, bitter cups of black coffee in bone-white china.