Download MP3 In today's episode Nate and Austin compare Robert Rodriguez's best and worst rated films, Sin City (2005) and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005), respectively. Nate plays the role of Boredboy, Austin is still confused, and they're both tired from watching 5 of the same credit sequences in Sin City. Check back next Sunday at 7pm PST for our milestone 90th episode where we will compare Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and The Brothers Bloom (2008), his best and worst rated films. Also check out this interview with director Fritz Lang about his life and career: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QgLyyYEEnA

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl Notes

Worst Rated

PLOT: A young boy is recruited by his imaginary friends Sharkboy and Lavagirl to help save their planet.

• Ratings: IMDb 3.5 | RT 20% C / 31% A
• Released: 2005
• Director: Robert Rodriguez
• Writer(s): Robert Rodriguez and Marcel Rodriguez (written by), Racer Rodriguez (story)
• Cinematographer: Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids 3, Machete Kills)
• Notable actors: Taylor Lautner, Taylor Dooley, Cayden Boyd, George Lopez, David Arquette, Kristin Davis, Jacob Davich
• Budget: $50 million
• Box office: $69.4 million

• Fun Facts:
  • Taylor Lautner, ironically, has a fear of sharks.
  • The story was conceived by Robert Rodriguez's then seven-year-old son Racer Rodriguez, who receives an on-screen "Story By" credit. Max is named after Racer's middle name (Racer and Robert also provide the audio commentary for the DVD and Blu-ray together).
  • The movie was shot and completed so quickly that by the time Robert Rodriguez was ready to ship it, the advertisements weren't finished.
  • Taylor Lautner's martial arts skills helped him to obtain the role of Sharkboy. "When I auditioned for the film, Robert Rodriguez, the director, didn't know that I had my martial arts background, and while we there in Austin, TX he saw a DVD of me and asked me to choreograph my own fight scenes", said Lautner.
  • George Lopez plays and voices 4 of the movie's characters.

Sin City Notes

Best Rated

PLOT: A film that explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption.

• Ratings: IMDb 8.0 | RT 77% C / 78% A
• Released: 2005
• Director: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
• Writer(s): Frank Miller (graphic novels)
• Cinematographer: Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids 3, Machete Kills)
• Notable actors: Jessica Alba, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Cara D. Briggs, Jude Ciccolella, Jeffrey J. Dashnaw, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Jason Douglas, Michael Clarke Duncan, Tommy Flanagan, Rick Gomez, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Rutger Hauer, Michael Madsen
• Budget: $40 million
• Box office: $158.8 million

• Fun Facts:
  • Because of the way the movie was shot, Mickey Rourke (Marv) and Elijah Wood (Kevin) never met until after the film was released.
  • The swords used by Miho (Devon Aoki) in this film are the same ones used by some of the Crazy 88 in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). That film's director, Quentin Tarantino, had been keeping them in the back of his garage.
  • Robert Rodriguez has said that he does not consider this movie to be an adaptation so much as a translation. This is why there is no screenwriting in the credits. The only mention of writing is Frank Miller as the creator of the graphic novels.
  • Guest director Quentin Tarantino directed the scene involving Dwight (Clive Owen) and Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) in the front of the car, before Dwight is pulled over by a police officer.
  • The film, and many of its effects and scoring, were all done in Robert Rodriguez's studio, which is immediately across the street from his house, because he refuses to work anywhere else, and shuns other Hollywood traditions. It took his friendship with Miramax honchos Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein to make the production of this film possible, as no other studios would take a chance on either Rodriguez's methods or such a bizarre film.
  • While the three stories in the film are based on "The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard" as well as the short "The Customer is Always Right" there is a very brief scene taken from the story "A Dame to Kill For," in which Dwight (Clive Owen) thinks in a voice over in Kadie's Bar how Marv "would have been okay if he'd been born a couple of thousand years ago."
  • The scene in which Marv climbs out of the manhole, and staggers up against a wall, was acted out in reverse, then shown forwards, to give an otherworldly appearance to Marv.

Intro music by Eric Lynch