The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller

For those of you who’ve seen Sin City, The Hard Goodbye is the one with Mickey Rourke.

It’s my favorite of the film's three segments.

Marv is just such a compelling character. He is sympathetic and terrifying at the same time.

I absolutely love the guy, but he scares the fuck out of me.

We’ve all heard about the hooker with the heart of gold, well, here we have the sadistic killer with the heart of gold.

Miller’s work, all of it, the story, the dialogue, the characters, the artwork all comes together so beautifully.

Best line: "I love hit men. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad."

Christ, Marv is so bad-ass.

The Hard Goodbye is the rare occasion where the perfect story finds its perfect medium.

For those of you who’ve seen Sin City but as of yet haven’t read any of the books, The Hard Goodbye is a great jumping off point.

Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain

I’ve only seen the movie once, but I don’t remember it standing out quite this much. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood, or maybe it loses something in its translation to film. (Still, since Michael Curtiz is who he is, I should give him the benefit of the doubt and give this film another chance.) Veda drips with an uncommon venom, Mildred is a sap, Bert is a tool and Monty is just aching to be killed in his sleep by Veda (you know it’s gonna happen.) What’s so fun about this book is the language and the tone. Words like ‘swell’ and ‘flop‘ in exchange for fuck, ‘stinking’ in place of drunk and of course, referencing tits as ‘the dairy’ punctuate the narrative and it’s just so goddamn (another word used effectively, and as frequent as a comma) fun. You can actually see the black and white photography and the dames driving taxis, wanting to fuck Humphrey Bogart in the background. The atmosphere is that thick.