3 Contemporary Film Noirs

1) Sin City
Sin City is a 2005 film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. The film is primarily based on three of Miller's works: "The Hard Goodbye" focuses on a hulking man who embarks on a brutal rampage in search of his one-time lover's killer; "The Big Fat Kill" focuses on a street war held between a group of prostitutes and a series of mercenaries; and "That Yellow Bastard" focuses on an aging police officer who protects a young woman from a grotesquely disfigured serial killer. The movie stars Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, Michael Madsen, Powers Boothe, Josh Hartnett, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood and Rutger Hauer, among others.
The film employed the use of the Sony HDC-950 high-definition digital camera, having the actors work in front of a green screen, that allowed for the artificial backgrounds (as well as some major foreground elements, this film. The combination of these two techniques makes Sin City (along with Sky Captain, which was produced the same way) one of the few fully digital, live-action motion pictures. This technique also means that the whole film was initially shot in full color, and was converted back to high-quality black-and-white. Colorization is used on certain subjects in a scene, such as Devon Aoki's red-and-blue clothing, Alexis Bledel's blue eyes and red blood...etc.


2) Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs is the 1992 debut film of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It portrays what happened before and after a botched jewel heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast with Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi and Lawrence Tierney. Tarantino also has a minor role, as does criminal-turned-author Eddie Bunker. It incorporates many themes and aesthetics that have become Tarantino's hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture references, memorable dialogue with excessive profanity and a nonlinear storyline.



3) No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men is a 2007 crime thriller film adapted for the screen and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. Adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name,[1][2] No Country for Old Men tells the story of a botched drug deal and the ensuing cat-and-mouse drama, as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas. The film examines the themes of fate and circumstance the Coen brothers have previously explored in Blood Simple and Fargo.