She Likes to Watch

Women of “Watchmen”? Meet the lovely ladies of “The Spirit”

Remember my rants and raves about “Watchmen”?

This week, I’m turning the focus to another comic book-turned-blockbuster, “The Spirit.” It’s based on Will Eisner’s innovative series about a masked crime-fighter who essentially returns from the dead.

As director Frank Miller explains in this MTV Splash Page featurette, The Spirit (played by Gabriel Macht) has “quite an eye for the ladies.” That’s pretty evident in every trailer, poster and promotional clip for the film, which bank on the eye candy appeal of actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes.

The women of “The Spirit” are:

• Sand Saref (Eva Mendes): A spy, jewel thief and former lover of the Spirit
• Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson): A sexy secretary allied with The Octopus (Samuel Jackson)
• Lorelei Rox (Jaime King): A singing siren known as “The Angel of Death”
• Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega): A knife-wielding femme fatale
• Morgenstern (Stana Katic): A cute cop with a very big gun
• Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson): The daughter of Police Commissioner Dolan and the Spirit’s “one true love”

It’s hard to tell it’s Eisner or Miller speaking when the Spirit rhapsodizes “All I see is women, amazing, lovely creatures.” As fans of “Sin City” and “300″ know, ol’ Frankie has a certain taste for luscious babes in revealing outfits … and he doesn’t really care who knows it.

That’s frankly (haha) what bothers me about “The Spirit.”

While “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder seems to have a pretty healthy respect for his subject material, Miller appears to be molding “The Spirit” in his own image — mixing the guns, grit and bold cinematography of “Sin City” with Eisner’s beloved comic.

He’s upping the sex, upping the violence and potentially upping the ante. And the inclusion of certain actors (Johansson, Jackson) could heap on the cheese.

It just makes me nervous, albeit all the more eager to see “The Spirit” on Christmas Day.

There’s never been a city like “Sin City.”

Based on Frank Miller’s hard-boiled graphic novels, “Sin City” is a place seething with crime and desperation. Its inhabitants are tough guys and even tougher dames, serial killers, corrupt cops and murderous priests.

There’s snappy dialog. Brutal action. In short, this is modern film noir at its finest.

The movie employs state-of-the-art digital technology to mirror Miller’s stylized comics, depicting everything in glorious black-and-white with shocking splashes of color.

Robert Rodriguez, who shared directing duties with Miller and Quentin Tarantino, also helped write the deliciously dark score.

Catch “Sin City” tonight at 7 or 9:15 p.m. at the Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

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If crooks and gun-toting hookers aren’t your thing, try the classic romantic movie “Sleepless in Seattle.”

When his eight-year-old son Jonah calls into a late-night radio show, scores of women across the nation hear Sam Baldwin’s story of love and loss.

One of them is Annie Reed (Meg Ryan), an East Coast gal who’s looking for real romance.

Sam (Tom Hanks) thinks Annie is just another lovelorn woman.

His son thinks she’s perfect. Inspired by the doomed lovers in “An Affair to Remember,” he arranges for the would-be couple to meet at the top of the Empire State building on Valentine’s Day.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan spend just two minutes of screen time together, but they have solid chemistry as the wounded widower and the optimistic single gal both looking for “the one.”

They played another on-screen couple years later in “You’ve Got Mail,” a high-tech remake of “The Shop Around the Corner.”

“Sleepless in Seattle” plays tonight at 8 p.m. at the Dolphin Bay Resort and Spa, 2727 Shell Beach Road in Shell Beach.

Free lawn seating begins at 7:30 p.m.

Moviegoers also have the option of a three-course dinner served on the patio, starting at 7 p.m. That costs $49 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations are required.

Call 773-8900 for more information.