Saturday, June 28, 2014

Guest Review: Musings on the Upcoming Sin City: A Dame To Kill For


Every once in awhile I like to let someone else take the driver's seat (especially when I hit writer's block). So when Libby Cudmore, published author and mastermind behind Geek Girl Goes Glam, a year-long experiment in vintage beauty, wanted to write about the new Sin City film coming out August 22, I said girl, bring it. Read on and when you're done, check out her new project, Glam Geek Writes: Deep Thoughts on Writing Music, Movies and TV for more thoughtful insights on our pop media culture.  

So without further ado...Libby Cudmore everyone!

I wish I could be more excited for Sin City: A Dame To Kill For.  Throw it in a blender with Tom Waits and Raymond Chandler and some crappy jobs and a few intense but unorthodox relationships, and Sin City was part of what defined a decent portion of my early 20s. It was the theme of my legendary 22nd birthday party and the inspiration for more than one unpublished novel.  Even as I write this, a Gail action figure stares me down from the shelf above my desk.   But I had given up hope that A Dame to Kill For would ever get made.  Robert Rodriguez has been promising that the sequel was due out “this year” since 2007.  Sin City 2 was another broken cinematic promise, a relic of a bygone era and a bygone girl, a faded photograph left over from happier days.

So when the trailer surprised me on a Friday afternoon in late March, I thought three things: 1) This film looks terrible, 2) Where the fuck is Clive Owen?  After all these years, all the Comic-Con promises and Machete sequels, there was proof that, oh bollocks, this might actually happen and it might actually be terrible.  It was like finally reuniting with an old lover, only to realize that he didn’t remember any of your in-jokes and was kind of boring and not as cute as you remember.  

But to this day, I can still quote significant portions of Sin City, which remains one of my less annoying talents.  So, joined by my friend and fellow Sin City junkie Jason and Something Awful’s resident film critic Joseph Wade, we tried to see if we could review A Dame to Kill For – which none of us have seen yet – using only quotes from the original.  Here’s some of what we came up with:


The Critic with Libby at her Sin City Party
--“I can only express puzzlement which borders on alarm.”
--“Everybody knows what’s coming next, but they go through the motions anyways.”
--“Everything is under control.  Enjoy the show.”
--“Don’t scream.Whatever he does, don’t scream.”
--“And everything seemed to be going so well."'

I’d like to see these on the poster.  It might give me more hope for this movie not being an absolute heartbreak, because I can’t imagine A Dame to Kill For not living up to the fairly grim expectations we’ve set before it.  For starters, it’s not based on a particularly good comic.  Whereas The Hard Goodbye is still a heartbreakingly brutal little piece of crime fiction (made even better by Mickey Rourke’s gut-wrenchingly powerful performance as Marv, who could have just been played as another dumb, gravel-voiced lug like Bruce Willis’ Hartigan), A Dame to Kill For is and always has been a misogynistic, fedora-sporting piece of faux-noir garbage.  It’s got all the elements of noir – the femme fatale, the guns and the booze and the bodies piling up – but with none of the heart that makes The Hard Goodbye really tick.  It’s all window-dressing, and ugly curtains at that.  The Big Fat Kill is saved by Clive Owen’s sheer handsomeness and brooding intensity, but what does Josh Brolin have but a bald head and a sneer?  The Dwight in the comic doesn’t give Brolin a lot to work with.  Brittany Murphy and Michael Clark Duncan are both gone, plus we have to put up with a “never-before-seen” Nancy Callihan story where she’s an “avenging angel,” which is possibly my least favorite noir trope in the hands of my least favorite Sin City character played by an incompetent hack of an act-tor-ress who, at her most drah-mah-tic, only ever manages to look mildly irritated, like she just discovered that Ghost-Hartigan left the toilet seat up again. 

“I’m sorry, Wendy,” Marv says in one of the last exchanges of The Hard Goodbye, hours before he’s set to go to the electric chair for killing Cardinal Rourke and feeding Kevin to the wolves. “I got confused, seeing you like this.” To this, she replies, “You can call me Goldie, if you want.”  It’s a scene that always makes me tear up despite the fact that it’s a little weird to cry at Sin City; a small, precious moment of generosity and humanity in an over-stylized story that has been, up until that moment, almost wall-to-wall brutality.  It’s these kind of moments that are completely lacking from A Dame to Kill For, the kind of moments that make real characters out of cardboard cut-outs and bring life out of green screen and prosthetic faces.

 Maybe A Dame to Kill For will be good, I don’t know. I’m going to see it anyways, because I’m going to put on a red dress for my friend Mike and we’re going to watch it at the drive-in under the meteor shower.  But it’s been nine years and half a dozen life changes since the film that made me dream in black and white for a week and defined the crime fiction I would build my reputation as a writer on, and I cannot help but approach A Dame to Kill For with a cautious nostalgia. And like Marv, I can call this new movie Sin City, but in my heart, I know that even if it’s the best film I’ve ever seen, it’s never going to be the film I waited for.  


Friday, June 27, 2014

Summer Shorts '14 Bonus Listen Friday: The Cask of Amontillado in Full Gothic Glory!

Image courtesy of Tantor Media, Inc. & Going Public
Sadly my friends, this is the last Bonus Listen Friday of the month, but it has been so much fun sharing and promoting this collection! And we're ending June is Audiobook Month (JIAM) in full goth form - with Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado! 

Originally posted on the blog Jenn's Bookshelves, the performance features William Dufris and the AudioComics Company giving a singularly creepy rendition of this classic tale. After hitting the play button, we are greeting with the sounds of rain, then a door creaking, followed up by the menacing strains of an organ. Mr. Dufris does an excellent maniacal laugh that betrays the well-adjusted facade of his urbane voice as our narrator, Montresor, who is planning to take revenge on his friend Fortunato, over what seems like a pretty weak excuse. Over a tense, 17-minute time frame, the plot takes on deeper and deeper twists as we are led down into Montresor's the nefarious wine cellar to where he will supposedly show his friend a particular rare vintage.

This production paid great attention to the details within Poe's famous story. We can hear the bells jingle on Fortunato's cap, as he is described as wearing a jester's cap for Italian Carnival, and strains of festival music that recede farther in the background as Fortunato enters Montresor's lair. Water drips, sounds echo. Fortunato has a hacking cough that is eluded to in the text but brought to life to a disturbing effect. Montresor urges the man to go back several times (perhaps having a change of heart regarding his nefarious plans?) saying that the dampness of the cellars is no good for his condition, but Fortunato, perhaps out of pride, presses on. Towards the end, we are convinced that both characters have gone completely mad, if their unhinged laughter is any indication.

Poe has always had a special place in my heart, and I'd like to think he would really enjoy sitting back and seeing his tale retold with the dramatic voices and sound effects bringing forth such depth and passion.

The Cask of Amontillado is a part of a Summer Shorts '14, a collection that is the product of a collaboration of Spoken Freely and Tantor Media, Inc. All proceeds from the sales of this collection will go to support ProLiteracy, a nationwide organization to that provides adult learning, content, and programs to help adult learners and advocate on their behalf. Get hopping! The collection costs only $9.99 until June 30, after that the price goes up to $14.99.

The stories keep rolling on! Check out what's featured in the blog hop for the rest of the month...

 

6/27           Dawn Harvey, Something as Big as a Mountain, by Jane Cawthorne,
w/author Jane Cawthorne at My Books, My Life
6/28            Tanya Eby, The Girl at the Gate, by Lucy Maud Montgomery @ Miss Susie’s Reading & Observations
6/28            Tish Hicks, How They Broke Away to Go to the Rootabaga Country, by Carl Sandburg @ Going Public
6/29             Karen White, Sharks and Seals, by Susanna Daniel @ Every Day I Write the Book
6/30             Xe Sands, Virtue of the Month, by Kathleen Founds @ The Oddiophile

To find out more about the project, visit Xe Sands' blog Spoken Freely. And thanks for joining me on this fun listen through the best of classic literature and poetry!



Friday, June 20, 2014

Summer Shorts '14 Bonus Listen Friday: The Velveteen Rabbit!

Image courtesy of Tantor Media, Inc. & Going Public
"Wasn't I real before?" 
"You were real to the boy because he loved you. Now, you shall be real to everyone."

 Happy Friday everyone! To keep rolling on the JIAM (June is Audiobook Month) party train, today I'm posting the next installment of the Critic's Pick/Bonus Listen Fridays of Summer Shorts '14, a collection, as you read last week, that is the product of a collaboration of Spoken Freely and Tantor Media, Inc. All proceeds from the sales of this collection will go to support ProLiteracy, a nationwide organization to that provides adult learning, content, and programs to help adult learners and advocate on their behalf.

Today features a bonus listen of Margery Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit, narrated by by Cris Dukehart!

For the purposes of full disclosure, while I do work for Tantor, I'm independently promoting this because it is one of my absolute favorite childhood stories - concept of being loved making you "real" is something that still brings tears to my eyes, even as I write this. Written in 1922, it was also published under the title How Toys Become Real and was Williams' first children's novel. Battle armor in ancient Japan was often adorned with rabbits because they are considered a symbol of honor and self-sacrifice, qualities which the brave little bun in this tale displays in spades.  

Original 1922 cover. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
I remember as a child reading an old copy that had the original cover design (see left) and how fiercely I loved my teddy bear which was uncreatively named "Teddy." When I took Teddy to girl scout camp with me, a girl sharing a tent with me snobbily declared, "You're 10 now. You shouldn't be carrying around stuffed animals. He's not real anyway." I remember clutching Teddy protectively to me and, strengthened by Ms. Williams' words, declared "Well, he's real to me!" Talk about fodder for a discussion on childhood existentialism.

 Ms. Dukehart brings a sincere and delicate charm to the retelling of this classic tale that resonates with children and grownups alike. A mother of three herself, she captures the childlike wonder of the retelling with her light, bouyant tones that remains true to the magic of the story without sounding indulgent or patronizing, making it a joy for both adults as well as children to discover for the first time, or revisit and enjoy. Take a listen to the right!

When you're done, head on over to the wonderful book blog A Book and A Latte to read a little more about Ms. Dukehart's experience on narrating this tale and why she loves being a voice actress.

The short stories and essays keep rolling on! You can take a listen to today and tomorrow's new releases by following the link below! 


6/20 & 6/21 Gabrielle de Cuir & Stefan Rudnicki joint, two-day appearance at Joe’s Geek Fest
Selections: Too Far, and Man of Distinction, by Fredric Brown

 And wrap up your literary week right on Sunday with these following selections:


6/22 Heather Henderson, The Curve of Time, by M. Wylie Blanchet @ PostHypnotic Press Blog
6/22 Scott O’Neill, Why I Don’t Believe in Santa Claus, by Matt Rothschild @ Rhonda’s Voice


For the full schedule for the blog hop and how to hear more, please visit coordinator Xe Sands' blog Spoken Freely.

Stay tuned for next Friday's Summer Shorts Critic's Pick!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Summer Shorts '14 Bonus Listen Fridays!

Image courtesy of Tantor Media, Inc. & Going Public
Ah, summer. The time for getting out, hitting the road...and it also happens to be JIAM - short for June is Audiobook Month! What better way to celebrate than to have a collection of some of the best pieces of classic literature bundled into a collection that not only showcases some of the best voices in the audiobook world, but also supports literacy?

 Tantor Media, Inc. has teamed up with Spoken Freely, a group of more than 40 professional narrators to create Summer Shorts '14. All proceeds from the sales of this collection will go to support ProLiteracy, a nationwide organization to that provides adult learning, content, and programs to help adult learners and advocate on their behalf. ProLiteracy also publishes learning materials used in adult literacy and basic education instruction.

Even more exciting - bloggers like me are getting a chance to "host" tracks in an ongoing blog hop that is taking place ALL MONTH LONG. I'll be showcasing each Friday in June my "Critic's Pick" of the theme of the week for a bonus listen! (Full disclosure: although I do work for Tantor in my day job, I had no involvement in the production of this work-I'm independently promoting it because it's a cool project!) We are coming to the end of Poetry Week, and I chose one of my favorite poets (who I also share a namesake with), Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)" that she wrote for her husband and fellow poet Robert Browning and read by Coleen Marlo. Far from being sappy, the line that always stuck like a splinter in my mind is "I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith."I always interpreted that as Ms. Browning's reflection on how true love allows us to redirect our energies away from jaded ideals and embrace the world with new eyes, like those of a child. Take a listen to the right! 

When you're done, head on over to Audio Gals to read the excellent interview they conducted with Ms. Marlo on why she chose that particular poem as her feature in the Summer Shorts.

Poetry week keeps rolling on! You can take a listen to today's new releases by following the links below!


 Katherine Kellgren, Father William, by Lewis Carroll @ Overreader
                    
 Carrington MacDuffie, Al’s Boy, by Carrington MacDuffie @ Beth Fish Reads

And wrap up your week right tomorrow with these selections:


  Diane Havens, So Long, by Walt Whitman @ Author Michael Stephen Daigle’s blog
                   
  John Pruden, The Funny Little Fellow, by James Whitcomb Riley @ Going Public

 For the full schedule for the blog hop and how to hear more, please visit coordinator Xe Sands' blog Spoken Freely.

Stay tuned for next Friday's Summer Shorts Critic's Pick!