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This movie is everything you would expect out of a made for TV Disney movie. Its hokey plot is nothing that hasn't been done before in many episodes of various sitcoms. It is the classic case of two friends where one friend helps another friend out by letting the other take credit of their work or talent. In "Let it Shine" Cyrus has all the talent of a would-be rap artist, whereas his best friend Kris doesn't have the talent, but has the perfect look. When Cyrus includes a photo of the both of them together with his submission to a songwriting competition under the pseudonym Truth, when he wins it's assumed Kris is Truth. Kris is so excited about the opportunity to work with Roxie, the promoter of the competition, Cyrus goes along with the mistake. The two concoct outlandish plans to keep up the charade. They tell Roxie Cyrus is his DJ so that Cyrus can be part of the journey and so that he is near Kris at all times. The plot is a little thicker with the fact the Roxy grew up with the two boys as part of Cyrus' father's church congregation, a man who opposes rap as a sinful form of music. More than anything this movie is about the soundtrack. This who enjoy hip-hop-that is teen hip-hop-will enjoy this movie more as large segments are devoted to the numbers. The soundtrack boasts it's own success peaking at #1 on Billboard's top rap albums and top kids albums. Other than that it's pretty formulaic of a "be yourself" and "don't be afraid to go for your dream" movie. It's like the "High School Musical" (2006) for hip-hop.

I've never been a fan of anthology films. I like short films, but I don't understand the reason to package them together with some very loose tie. In "Sin City," the link among all the segments is that they take place in Basin City (not Las Vegas), a fictitious city in the west, not the one in Washington state. The city is nicknamed Sin City. It's a crime-ridden place, and the segments each focus on some murder, kidnapping or other scandalous occurrence in this city. At one point, I thought the movie had circled back onto one of the segments, and was therefore going to tie everything together. I don't mind an anthology film as much if it doesn't something like that. Then I realized that portion was merely acting a sequel to the earlier segment. It's a gritty film, and done in a neo-film noir style. This film is base on a series of graphic novels set in this city. In an attempt to duplicate the artwork in the novels, this movie is in black and white, with only occasional splashes of color, usually red. In many scenes, often those that are particularly bloody, anything red is colored in, presumably to symbolize sin. The common sins that seem to pop up in each segment are sex and murder. There is one character that is colored yellow (not I caught the symbolism behind that), but again this duplicates the artwork in the graphic novels. Well known actors make appear in some of the segments such as Mickey Rourke and Elijah Wood. A raked up a ton of nominees and wins in various festivals for the film as a whole, for cast members and for technical aspects; but it was not recognized by any of the major film awards such as the Oscars, Golden Globes or BAFTAs. It's an artsy film, and most of the individual segments were entertaining. It's biggest drawback was that it was an anthology film.