Reel Critics: Second ‘Sin City’ as striking as the first

Frank Miller’s “Sin City” in 2005 transferred the cutting-edge art of his graphic novels to the big screen with stunning results.

The striking film noir story took on new depth and wonder with his spectacular visual effects. Gangsters, hot dames and corrupt officials took bloody aim at each other in old-school wars over turf and power.

The new “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” continues the gritty tradition. The look is all lush velvet in black and white with a few magnificent explosions of color. The plot is all double cross and nasty deals gone wrong for everyone involved. The narration is hard boiled in the no-nonsense tradition of Raymond Chandler novels.

Hollywood stars line up to join the dark party. Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis and Josh Brolin are the main players. But these bad boys are really the good guys in this tale of confrontation and revenge without mercy. Eva Lord plays the femme fatale at the center of their attention. Rosario Dawson and Jessica Alba are the forceful women seeking justice.

The stylized violence is plentiful and very R-rated. The shooting, beating, stabbing and killing will be too much for gentle viewers. But if you liked the first entry in this unusual franchise, you’ll be further entertained by the latest effort.

—John Depko

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From Tears to Cheers

“If I Stay” is another best-selling young-adult novel brought to the big screen as pure manufactured melodrama.

It seems difficult to believe that Mia (Chloë Grace Moretz), 18 and in a coma after a terrible accident, would need almost two hours of screen time to decide if she wants to live or die. With loving family and friends, a photogenic boyfriend and a special gift as a classical cellist, what’s the problem?

As in the recent “The Fault in our Stars,” we’re subjected to flashbacks. In “If I Stay,” we are taken back to the young couple and the world’s coolest parents — who let a child stay out all night, drink and entertain in her bedroom.

Everything is geared toward making us reach for our hankies, and it genuinely succeeds in one brief moment with Mia’s heartbroken grandfather (Stacy Keach).

But if you’re looking for a good cry, keep searching — unless you like weeping over the price of admission.

Meanwhile, “The Trip to Italy” is a delightful, droll adventure of two British actor-comedians (Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, basically playing themselves) on a road trip to sample the cuisine of six cities. It combines lush scenery, food porn and humor.

Coogan and Brydon may not be familiar to U.S. audiences, but they are terrific at impressions and riffing on Batman, James Bond, the great poets Byron and Shelley, and each other.

Filmed in gorgeous locales such as Rome, Tuscany and the Amalfi coast, it’s a largely improvised movie about nothing and everything. Both men are going through a rocky time with their relationships — Coogan with his son, Brydon with his wife.

I laughed at dueling imitations of Michael Caine and Sean Connery and drooled over plates of freshly made pasta. This trip will definitely leave you hungry for more.

—Susanne Perez