From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) review

(7/10)

   This half crime drama and half Grindhouse type horror movie proves that when two great minds come together, gold is made. With excellent performances by an all-star cast, campy special effects, hilarious dialogue, and intelligent plot execution, From Dusk Til Dawn makes its place as an instant classic in the horror world and in both Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez's fantastic film canon.

PLOT: Wanted bank robbers Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Quentin Tarentino) have plans to travel into Mexico to flee the law and continue their lives without bother. To help on their journey across the border, the Gecko brothers take a vacationing family hostage, including faithless pastor, Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) and his children, Kate (Juliette Lewis) and Scott (Ernest Liu). Once across the border, the unlikely posse stops at a shady bar and strip club open from dusk until dawn, known as the Titty Twister, whose main customers turn out to be more than expected. The customers turn out, unbelievably, to be vampires thrown into a frenzy by the scent of blood. Now the Gecko brothers, the Fuller family, and their new bar friends, Sex Machine (Tom Savini) and Frost (Fred Williamson), must fight their way through the night until the sun comes up at dawn. The plot is unique and very excellently executed. The switch from Tarentino's crime drama to Rodriguez's vampire flick is obvious, but fun to watch. The whole movie is a lot of fun and excellently thought out for the movie that it really is.

ACTING: The performances in this film are not only supplied by an all-star cast, but they are also excellently and professionally done. Clooney and Tarentino made a charismatic, professional acting team creating a presence of a stoic older brother and a loony younger brother as well as an epic criminal team. Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis also did a great job creating a very real family with issues to work out, as well as Ernest Liu in his first role. Everyone in this movie did a fantastic job of performing, from the leads to the supporting cast, including movie veterans Cheech Marin, Salma Hayek, Tom Savini, and Danny Trejo (who would later come to play Machete).

SCORE: The soundtrack and score in this movie was excellently crafted, signalling the many mood changes with rockin' artists. The soundtrack contains the music from rock greats, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and The Blasters while also introducing the bar bad, Tito & Tarantula with excellent action score by Graeme Revell. The soundtrack is probably one of the best, among the ranks of Pulp Fiction and Dazed and Confused.

EFFECTS: The special effects in this movie are cheap but fun. The effects are made to be cheap and campy, bringing on a familiar Evil Dead-esque feel. They aren't professionally done, but they do their job in securing their type as a Rodriguez exploitation film.

OTHER CONTENT: This movie succeeds as both a crime drama and Grindhouse horror film. The two great directors, Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez, come together to make greatness. Almost as if they split the movie in half, you can tell when one man's vision ends and the other man's begins. Along with tall of the achievements this movie has scored for me, it also brings home excellent dialogue from sarcastic jokes to clever references. The movie is also affected by very professional direction and editing, bringing out the color in everything. This movie, to say the least, is a lot of fun to watch and a treat for horror fans. However, it wasn't made to be perfect. It's not a movie for everybody and it really isn't made to be taken seriously. I really like the movie, but it's not a milestone in cinema, just a treat for fans everywhere.

   From Dusk Till Dawn is a treat for Grindhouse and Tarentino fans everywhere, blending horror and drama together in an engaging, fun, campy movie experience with expert acting, an awesome soundtrack, and a pair of geniuses behind the wheel.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) review

(7/10)

This movie is a lot of fun; the quirkiness of Quentin Tarentino with the grindhouse-camp feeling of Robert Rodriguez make a very entertaining film with plenty of scare and comedy to go around.

PLOT:Seth (George Clooney) and Richard (Quentin Tarentino) Gecko are two notorious criminals in their area and are on the run to a deal in Mexico that could get them rich. On the way, the stop at a hotel looking to rest a little until they get the idea to hi-jack an RV across the border. The RV in question belongs to ex-pastor Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) and his children, Kate (Juliette Lewis) and Scott. They make it across the border and to a bar/strip club and stop in to have a drink and wait for the deal at dawn. However, the bar's clientelle isn't so desirable; in fact, they almost seems like vampires. If that's the case, will our friends survive until dawn? It's a great plot executed pretty well.



ACTING:The performances in this movie range from very good to alright. For the most part, they're very good. George Clooney and Quentin Tarentino do a great job as Seth and Richard Gecko. They played off of each other rather well. Along with these two, Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis both played a really good part as Jacob and Kate Fuller. The other shiners would be Fred Williamson as Frost, Tom Savini as Sex Machine, Salma Hayek as Satanico Pandemonium, Danny Trejo as Razor Charlie and Cheech Marin in multiple roles.

SCORE:The score is made up of some creepy and action themes but mainly a killer soundtrack. The soundtrack contains some classic rock and blues mixed with some smooth bar songs from artists such as ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tito & Tarantula, The Blasters and more.

EFFECTS:The effects in here range to many things. There are vampires exploding, decomposing, bursting into flame, and plenty of blood and guts to go around. The effects range from cheap blood and gore to computer-generated effects. Either way, the effects are campy and very well done for a movie like this. It really adds horror to it all.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie is a lot of fun. With two great directors at the chair (Quentin Tarentino of Pulp Fiction and Robert Rodriguez of Machete), you can expect at least something good out of this movie. What we get is a no-holds-barred, gritty, campy vampire flick/crime drama. This movie is mainly for fun, however, and not for substance, for it has some trouble with character development, cheesy jokes, and any sentimentality. This movie was made for laughs and grindhouse fun and not much else, but that doesn't make it all bad.

OVERALL,a good horror movie with a well-done plot, very good performances, a killer soundtrack, campy effects, and a fun time, but it has a few problems with development, humor, and other emotions. It's just not what I'd call the best movie ever anymore.

Inglourious Basterds (2009) review

(9/10)

I have finally seen it. The wait is over for me, and passed on to another unlucky cinephile.

PLOT:There are two separate storylines in this anti-Holocaust film. The first is led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), leader of the notorious Nazi killing group, The Basterds. They have grouped everyone from the ferocious Donnie "The Bear Jew" Donowitz (Eli Roth) to the notorious Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger). They formulate a plan to ambush the local theater they're showing the Nazi film, "Nation's Pride" in and blow it up, for the four highest ranks in the war (including Hitler) are attending. The second storyline is following Shoshanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), an escaped, incognito Jew, who now runs a theater with her partner in France. When she meets a Nazi war hero that falls for her (Daniel Bruhl), he pulls a few strings and has the premiere of his film, "Nation's Pride", shown at her theatre; the same Col. Landa (Christopher Waltz) that killed her family is even going to be there. To get her revenge, Shoshanna comes up with the idea to lock all of the Nazis inside of her theatre and burn it down. If you haven't noticed already, the two storylines seem to run into each other to where the climax sycnhronizes. As you can guess, things don't go directly according to plan. It's a well-thought out plot based on the Holocaust executed to the true Tarentino factor.



ACTING:The acting in here was brilliant. Pitt shined indefinitely in this role as Aldo Raine. He added a certain flair and charm to the role that I don't think could have been pulled off quite by anyone else. Every actor did a fine job, but he definitely stole the show. Other shiners or honorable mentions are Laurent as Shoshanna, Waltz as Col. Landa, Eli Roth as Donny, Michael Fassbender as Archie Hilcox, Martin Wuttke as Hitler, Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark, and the brief cameo of Rod Taylor as Winston Churchill.

SCORE:The soundtrack is one of the finest parts of the film; my dad even had to buy it and he isn't a cinephile or score fan! The score consists of old, vinyl-sounding tunes, marching string tracks, haunting piano themes, and in your face rock songs. This is definitely one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a while.



OTHER CONTENT:This is indeed a Quentin Tarentino film. His direction shows, from cut scene to calm-then-violent cutscene. He definitely has a clean cut vision for direction, and it showed in here. I admire his directing. This film was a thrilling, fun, violent, interesting ride through a historic fiction idea. Just as Tarentino likes, he separated the movie into sections, or chapters, for better effect. Like the films he does that in, you find yourself somewhat confused until the finale. It follows classic Tarentino formula, and follows it well. The film would have gotten a lower rating from me if it had not been for the shocking and pleasing ending. The finale ties the whole film together and gives us what we have been waiting for. My only problem with the film is I feel it's a slight bit predictable,  though satisfying, and that it lags a bit in the middle. It's just a few small flaws to such a great masterpiece.

OVERALL,an awesome Tarentino film with a well-thought out plot, brilliant acting, a great soundtrack, a fun and interesting ride of thrills, classic Tarentino formula, and a finale that ties the whole film together, but with all these flaws comes one small problem; it lags a bit in the middle.