Episode #811: Sin City
Added 2025-07-15 04:00:05 +0000 UTC“This is a Spike TV movie, right?” - Eric
On this week’s episode, the Summer Blockbuster Extravaganza gets down and dirty for the all-or-nothing days as we chat about Robert Rodriguez’s still totally wild comic translation, Sin City! Thankfully, folks, this movie still looks totally rad! How eerie is Elijah Wood as Kevin? Even with as fun a ride as this is, did we really need to adapt every bit of the Miller sleaze vibes? Will Rodriguez ever get his edge back? How great is Mickey Rourke in this movie? Was having three different musicians do three different scores a good idea? Should the Hartigan story have been cut in two or should the film have been left as the triptych with the Hartnett character as the bookend? PLUS: Kurt Russell and the arctic crew from The Thing all check to see who’s The Thing by doing the asparagus pee test!
Sin City stars Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Josh Hartnett, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Rutger Hauer, Jaime King, Tommy Flanagan, Nick Offerman, Marley Shelton, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, and the late, great Michael Madsen as Bob; directed by Robert Rodriguez.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: We recorded this episode on June 18, several weeks before we lost Michael Madsen. The guy was a total legend, a singular performer who gave us so many memorable film appearances that we’ve loved and quoted a ton over the years. We’ll miss the guy, gone way, way too soon. — Andrew]
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Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.
Comments
Saw this in the movieplex days 20 years ago. I loved it then but it was the worst movie experiences I ever had. I had come down with a fever earlier in the day but took a bunch of medication, because I really wanted to see it with my friends. What a mistake. At first I was fine, but after like 10 minutes I felt like complete shit. Just a sweaty, nauseous mess, for what felt like a 4 hour movie. Every time I've watched it since, the time just flies by lol
Steven Avalos
2025-07-31 20:04:32 +0000 UTCLoved this movie, made me buy the comics. Unlike the guys I enjoy that the movie tried to match the comic style, while story changes for the sake of media transfer are understandable, I prefer beat for beat from movie adaptation of comic or book. Probably not popular opinion but I find the books or comics usually have a detail or a whole story thread that when removed from a movie version it can take away from the whole experience
Kureigu
2025-07-29 11:37:43 +0000 UTCThere must be another (newer?) version, because I watched the recut version for rent on Prime and it was ordered slightly different and I don’t remember credits playing after each chapter.
Matt Watterson
2025-07-18 17:50:15 +0000 UTCFor anyone curious, I watched the unrated recut version and it actually does have the Tarantino style title cards for each story. The movie starts with Dwight’s story with the Del Toro scene apartment scene, then does both Josh Hartnett’s scenes back to back, then Marv’s story, then Hartigan’s, with the final shot of the movie being him shooting himself. The only scene they added that I caught was a short scene with Marv and his mom.
Matt Watterson
2025-07-18 17:45:16 +0000 UTC“Blued eyed piece of shit” LMFAO it was very weird to see my girl Rory Gilmore in this
Nathalie Pena
2025-07-18 16:20:25 +0000 UTCThank you Andrew for correcting the Solitaire. I was yelling at my radio.
Chris Knutson
2025-07-18 16:10:26 +0000 UTCIt speaks volumes, even in 2005, that people were calling out Frank Miller's rampant misogyny. I need to find that "we won't shoot you if you can write a female character and not say whore" meme FROM 2005 LOL
Tala Hobballah
2025-07-17 15:48:12 +0000 UTCI threw on my Blu Ray to watch with this episode and I forgot I had gotten the awful extended edition with the chapter headings (as you guys remarked would be good) but it also breaks the movie into different parts (each with its own end credits) so the Josh Hartnett scene with the lady in red goes straight to him in the hospital posing as the doctor with no context. Then end credits. When Marv's section ends, you go back to the titles after the end credits to click the next chapter. It's a completely stupid way to watch the movie.
Lono's Oboe
2025-07-17 15:29:42 +0000 UTCThat "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" reference killed me.
Erin Hardy
2025-07-17 03:49:06 +0000 UTCClive Owen recently played Bill Clinton in the third season of American Crime Story, and honestly, with all the *very*unsettling prosthetics he had going on there, his Bubba would fit quite nicely in the world of Sin City.
Z
2025-07-16 22:15:55 +0000 UTCStill in mourning over that show getting cancelled
JK
2025-07-16 21:22:07 +0000 UTCAll that Kevin Smith talk made me think, have the guys ever covered a Kevin Smith movie?
KurliQjen
2025-07-16 19:56:39 +0000 UTCClive Owen on the Knick is top notch, baby!
Purple Roundy
2025-07-16 18:42:59 +0000 UTCNobody had the Fever for the Flava?
Matt
2025-07-16 13:43:41 +0000 UTCSteve beat him to it!
Craig
2025-07-16 13:04:29 +0000 UTCNot only do I know the band that played mentioned song titled Samuel L. Jackson. A band I was in was added last minute to open a date they had in Cincinnati/Covington Kentucky at a place called Jillian's that was like a Dave & Busters. The band was Hot Action Cop and literally the only people that came to the show were our friends that were just going to follow us to the next show we had already booked that night. No idea if anyone even came to the stage area to watch them after we played.
Adam Ray
2025-07-16 05:27:00 +0000 UTCWatched A Dame to Kill For for the first time tonight and I kind of didn't hate it??? Pretty great Brolin and Dennis Haysbert...certainly looks much more like a video game than the original though
JK
2025-07-16 02:43:00 +0000 UTCTIL Hellboy was not in Sin City.
Samuel McGuire
2025-07-15 20:25:56 +0000 UTCGotta stand up for Chris here. I watched Mickey Rourke on Celebrity Big Brother and I'd believe he'd kill a dog
Alex Charles
2025-07-15 19:51:54 +0000 UTCAsparagus piss The Thing was absolutely the best part of my day 😂, great recap and appreciation for the oddity that is Sin City boys, excellent EP 🍻 Cheers!
Watch_N_Rewatch
2025-07-15 18:06:32 +0000 UTCThose should be the Jetsons so kids don't get confused.
MarkNM
2025-07-15 17:36:39 +0000 UTCI always thought it was vaguely cool that Marv took out Rourke pretty much the same way Roy Batty did for Tyrell
j
2025-07-15 16:48:33 +0000 UTCDon’t forget Manswers! Asked the important questions for the ages like: “Can You Fart So Hard Your Balls Explode?”
Jason
2025-07-15 15:26:09 +0000 UTCThe ONLY thing that differs for me from Steve's experience is that I probably watched Deadliest Warrior on SpikeTV instead of Greg the Bunny while consuming my Monster Energy drink. Mobsters vs Samurai! Who would win? Who cares, it's 2005 and we don't know what to put on TV
Matt
2025-07-15 14:01:53 +0000 UTCI usually watch or rewatch whatever the boyz are covering to prepare for eps, but man, didn't need to refresh my memory on this one. I have seen it MANY times, the first of which was at the post-prom party in junior year, when my school rented out a small local theater and let us watch *this* at like 11:30 at night with ice cream, still in prom wear. So that's quite a memory. EDIT: Instagram Pervert is such a wonderful WHM character. 💕 "Good morning, sunshine! That IS what it be like at the DMV."
Rose Esposito
2025-07-15 13:55:12 +0000 UTCPearl Harbor, the love story was so bad I was rooting for the Japanese by the end of it.
DMAC
2025-07-15 12:16:04 +0000 UTCProps to Chris for the devious Trailer Game questions. Even on the second clue that sounded like Resident Evil!
Craig
2025-07-15 11:20:06 +0000 UTCFor what it's worth, this came out before Grindhouse/Planet Terror. Considering how that flopped, I'm surprised he didn't immediately follow it with Sin City 2 and instead went and made *checks notes* Shorts.
profondo robbo
2025-07-15 08:48:21 +0000 UTCThis was the last film I saw at the Pacific 8 in Pasadena. Good film and a terrific theater.
Ed Harris
2025-07-15 06:01:18 +0000 UTCLet’s let big pharma know we want those Flintstones chewable antipsychotics!
MANTE IV
2025-07-15 05:21:42 +0000 UTCI haven't seen this movie since I rented it from Hastings 20 years ago...gonna go turn to dust now
Unicorn Trista
2025-07-15 05:14:20 +0000 UTChaven’t heard the episode yet. holding my breath until Eric says Mickey Rourke looks more human this way. Report back soon.
Rutger McKenna
2025-07-15 04:33:20 +0000 UTCThe love I have for this show grows every week. I’ve listened to that S.W.A.T episode within the last month. The classic catalogs go hard. I just wish they were on Patreon. Keep up the good work fellas.
Papa Taylor
2025-07-15 04:24:37 +0000 UTCDidn't know about Madsen - R.I.P.D.
Dominic Kovell
2025-07-15 04:20:38 +0000 UTC🤘!!!
Matt Doenges
2025-07-15 04:01:12 +0000 UTC
