7. Sin City - Quentin Tarantino
It would be fair to say Quentin Tarantino is guilty of self indulgence at times. Despite making some of the best, most influential, movies in modern cinema he has a tendency to shoehorn a terrible director's cameo in nearly all of his movies. I am sure I'm not alone in saying he is often the worst thing about his films (except Death Proof, that was terrible throughout) as his complete lack of talent in front of the camera is all too apparent in Reservoir Dogs, Django Unchained and, worst of all, Pulp Fiction, coming up opposite Travolta, Keitel and Jackson at the top of their games. But it is not simply acting cameos that QT struggles with as Sin City proves. Perhaps the worst thing about this segment is the backstory behind it, which just shows how unnecessary it actually is. Rodriguez, being multi-talented and QT's best mate, composed the score for Kill Bill Vol. 2 for $1 and, in return, QT directed this sequence for $1. It's a great little anecdote for a pre- release interview but Tarantino cannot rein himself in and we are left with a scene which feels very much out of place. There are inexplicable flashes of green, yellow and red which seem to serve no other purpose than to differentiate this scene from the rest of the movie. Benicio Del Toro's dead Jackie Boy talks to Clive Owen's Dwight, his voice changing depending on the position his head is in, and, worst of all Clive Owen actually recites his inner monologue aloud. These changes bring absolutely nothing to the scene except to make it stand out which, I suspect, was the point. The feeling that this was simply an excuse for QT to try and upstage Miller and Rodriguez is only exacerbated by the ludicrous "Guest Director'" credit when he could have just directed the scene and kept his name off it. Robert Rodriguez's decision to co-direct with Frank Miller meant that Sin City captured the aesthetic of the comic perfectly and it is rightly is regarded as one of the most faithful adaptations of a comic book . After a torturous wait, Sin City 2 has finally been officially announced and work has started on production. We can only hope Rodriguez doesn't do QT any more favours between now and then.