"From Dusk Till Dawn"

U.S. Release Date: 1/19/96
Running Length: 1:48
MPAA Classification: R

Cast: George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Ernest Lieu, Salma Hayek, Fred Williamson, Cheech Marin
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino
Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro

Many people have heard stories about vampires – they have definitely made a name for themselves through out the years. From Dusk Till Dawn is about vampires of the 21^st century.

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino come together again to create a hip and strangely comedic horror story about two robbers who make their way across the Mexico border to find themselves at an all-night bar filled with the blood-sucking creatures.

The film starts when Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and his brother Richie (Tarantino) have robbed a bank and need to get across the Mexico border. The only problem they face is crossing the border without being caught. The two manage to hijack a mobile home which belongs to an ex-preacher Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) with his two kids (Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu) along for the ride. The brothers make sure to flash their guns and force Fuller to take them into Mexico. When they arrive in Mexico they stop at a bar to relax and they are able to do anything but that. When dusk comes, they realize that the place is infested with half-naked dancing vampires – and then some.

I thought the acting was fine, and for Clooney’s first big-screen he was able to do justice when running his stone-faced lines which only added to the dark humor of the film.

This film is more about the dialogue than the plot. It is filled with straight-faced humor and one-liners that will either want people wanting more, or will leave people wondering what just happened. The writing isn’t much compared to Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, but then again – in my mind – Pulp Fiction is a classic.

However, if you’re into the dark humor that is usually produced by these two men, and you aren’t afraid of in-your-face films, you may find From Dusk Till Dawn to be quite entertaining. More so, if you enjoy the work of Rodriguez and Tarantino, this film will not disappoint.

I definitely think that Rodriguez and Tarantino pushed what we know as a “standard” R-rated film. From Dusk Till Dawn is pretty damn relentless and right in your face – which we should be fairly used to when viewing a film by these outlandish artists. If you are not into excessive gore and nudity, you may want to look elsewhere.

Personal Rating: 3.5 out of 5

More information can be found at IMDb.com

"Babel"

United States, 2006
U.S. Release Date: 10/27/06
Running Length: 2:22
MPAA Classification: R

Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Adriana Barraza, Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Kôji Yakusho
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga
Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto

Since there didn’t seem to be any worthwhile movies to be seen in the theater over the weekend, I decided to backtrack and rent Babel since is was recently released to DVD. I was surprised that I missed this one – I always wanted to see it, but I never had the pleasure to until now.

Babel has been one of the most acclaimed and talked about movies of the past year. It was rewarded with seven Oscar nods and won an Oscar for “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score”. The film was also nominated for seven Golden Globes, and walked away with a Golden Globe for “Best Motion Picture – Drama” – just to name a few of the film’s many achievements.

The film is all about the importance and struggles of language and the barriers it can create. It expresses people at their most vulnerable state as minor miscommunications lead to life-changing repercussions.

The film basically consists of four different story lines, three of which are universally connected – the fourth, not so much. The first mini-story talks of two children in Morocco who get their hands on their father’s gun (that is meant for anything trying to kill his sheep) and choose to test it in the wrong place, at the wrong time. One of the boys shoots the gun around a tourist bus when one of the rounds severely injures an American tourist (Cate Blanchett). This intertwines these two stories of the children and two Americans Susan and husband, Robert (Brad Pitt) in a huge international problem with terrorist implication as Susan fights for her life.

Back in America, the third story plays out as Robert and Susan’s two children (Elle Fanning and Nathan Gamble) are brought to Mexico by their nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza). Amelia happens to be an illegal immigrant and needs to travel back to Mexico for her son’s wedding. When Robert and Susan are unable to make it home on-time she decides to bring the children back with her. Problems arise as she tries to bring the children back across the border to America.

The fourth story is about a deaf-mute teenager in Japan, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) who tries to find affection around her where there is little to be given. Her mother had committed suicide and her father is anything but warm and compassionate. As she tries to find means of compassion, she believes that sleeping with different people around her will fill this void. Her story is eventually brought together with the three other stories in the second half of the film.

I thought that this movie was definitely intense, but very good. It really just shows humans being humans, in elements they are unable to control, as they try their best to make it through unpredictable and difficult situations. There is no villain or “bad guy”, only those who sometimes don’t make the best judgment calls – as we are all guilty of at times in our lives. Bad things happen through out this film, but none are intentional.

Another aspect I admired about this film was how each character is developed in his or her unique way. They each stand out as their own person, but ebb and flow with those around them without losing sight of the overall picture.

I think Babel is one of the few films that I strongly would suggest to anyone. It is memorable not only for the story line itself, but for the characters and moving cinematography.

Personal Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Further information can be found at iMDB.com

"All the Pretty Horses"

United States, 2000
U.S. Release Date: 12/25/00 (wide)
Running Length: 1:55
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Cast: Matt Damon, Henry Thomas, Lucas Black, Ruben Blades, Penélope Cruz, Robert Patrick, Bruce Dern, Sam Shepard
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Producers: Robert Salerno, Billy Bob Thornton
Screenplay: Ted Tally, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy
Cinematography: Barry Markowitz

All the Pretty Horses is a visually beautiful movie capturing the feel that an old Western film exudes. However, this film is not the standard American Western movie, for the sole fact that it takes place in the late 1940’s, and has a plot that is heavily located in Mexico.

Matt Damon plays the naïve John Grady Cole, who lives for ranching and a love for the outdoors. He is run off his property in San Angelo, Texas when his mother sells the land to an oil company. John decides to travel to Mexico with his close friend Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas).

Close to the U.S.-Mexico border the two cowboys run into Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black) another rider who asks to tag-along. John and Lacey let Jimmy join them, and along with Jimmy comes the trouble. Jimmy – who happens to have a few oddities making his character more interesting – involves his newfound friends in some horse stealing.

The Texan cowboys escape the mess and eventually land on a ranch owned by Don Hector de la Rocha y Villareal (Rubén Blades) who offers John and Lacey jobs on his ranch. Of course, this could not be a Western without the love story. John falls-head-over-heels-in-love with Don Hector’s prized daughter, Alejandra (Penélope Cruz), and she is just as crazy about the American cowboy. And, of course, this romance creates a big problem as cultures clash and their relationship fizzles just as quickly as it began.

All the Pretty Horses had one major flaw: Little character development. Thornton seemed to be taken over by the technical aspects of the story and leaves out the importance of building the characters. When there is a lack of character development, the audience is not really able to become invested in the film, because there is no real relationship or understanding of the characters. However, I think that the actors did their characters justice with the amount of detail they were allowed – which wasn’t a lot.

Other than a need for character depth, I though that the film had a lot going for it. The plot was entertaining and kept my interest. Also, the cinematography in a film is a crucial ingredient to me, and the cinematography of the scenery was stunning, and really makes you want to be there. This is one film I regret not seeing on the big screen for detail of the scenery.

Personal Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Further information can be found at iMDB.com