Movie: Sin City (2005)

What a Movie! Roger Ebert called it a comic book on steroids. I wish I could put it in a better way. This is epic movie making, movie making at its finest. Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller present us with a macarbe universe of black-and white where color is only usead to emphasize a point. It is a world where single bullets or sharp objects cannot kill, where only extremes in human nature exist, like the evil, the brave and the unethical with no inbetween.

The opening tale features Bruce Willis, as a retiring cop who must do one last act before he can retire. Sure enough, no good deed goes unpunished. The second tale is one of the most sadist tales ever told on screen. Sure enough, Rodriguez seeks the help of his pal, Quentin Tarantino to tell it. This tale features Micky Rorke and has resurrected Rorke's career. The third part of the trilogy is one where a group of hookers must protect their part of the town from corrupt officials. In this segment comes an unforgettable role of Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro. This movie is one of a kind and certainly not for the faint hearted.

Dont miss the interviews with Rodriguez, Tarantino and the stars of the movie. " I wanted it to be Frank Miller's Sin city, not mine", says Rodriguez. Has he succeeded! This one stays so faithful to the graphic novels.

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Movie: El Mariachi (1993)

Genre: Foreign,Spanish, action

Director Robert Rodrigues made this one with $10,000 in 1993. You will be challenged with reading subtitles and dealing with almost amateur picturization but it is a price worth paying. This movie is a masterpiece.

El Mariachi, a free spirited, guitar case touting musician wanders the streets of Mexico. A simple soul, he steps into a bar, meets a maiden, Domino and falls in love. Azul, a killer, also patrols the streets, playing a deadly game of game of Vendetta with a deadly druglord. He too, touts a guitar case and has the same dress sense of Mariachi, namely a black outfit. His guitar case, unlike Marichi's does not contain a guitar. It is loaded with guns and crude weapons.

Under orders from the druglord, his goons are looking for Azul and in a case of mistaken identity come after Mariachi. His lady-love is a victim of their wrath. Now Mariachi begins to transform. He now becomes less and less the innocent musician he used to be and more and more like the killer he was mistaken for.

This is an excellent movie and earned Rodrigues all the accolades he deserved. He later met another director named Quinten Tarantino who would give him great career advice and advice on how he should continue the saga of Mariachi.

The result was that 'El Mariachi' would become the first in a trilogy of movies. The second movie, Desparado was more expensive to make than EL Maricahi, but still inexpensive by Hollywood standards. The third, 'Once upon a time in Mexico' is a mega production and much more grandiose.

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