Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Review by Bob Ignizio

To quote the Ramones, “Second verse, same as the first.” That about sums up Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez' SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR. Arguably, it may even be a better overall film than its predecessor, 2005's SIN CITY, but now that the novelty has worn off the film's hyper stylized black and white blend of live action performances and digital sets, it loses some of the impact it might otherwise have had. That means DAME has to rely more on its stories, which as is the case in the comics these films are derived from, tend to be less interesting than the way in which they're presented.

Machete Kills (now on home video)

*Note: to the best of our knowledge, MACHETE KILLS was not screened for critics. Normally Bob, an unrepentant fan of trash cinema, would have gone to see it on opening weekend anyway, but for whatever reason that didn't happen, either. Now that the movie is out on home video, however, there's no excuse for not giving it a look and a review.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Danny Trejo returns as the titular former Mexican Federale turned mercenary with a conscience in MACHETE KILLS. And indeed, the film lives up to its name as Trejo leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. The plot driving the carnage is that Machete has been charged by the United States President (Carlos Estevez aka Charlie Sheen) to take out Mexican bad guy Marcos Mendez ((Demián Bichir). The problem is, Machete can't just kill the schizophrenic villain as his heart is wired to the detonator for a nuclear missile. If he dies, the bomb flies. It also soon becomes apparent that Mendez isn't the real evil mastermind; that would be Luther Voz (Mel Gibson), a corrupt businessman and inventor who apparently has enough money to play MOONRAKER for real.