From Dusk Till Dawn (5 Stars)

"From Dusk Till Dawn" is a film that practically splits itself in half; a crime thriller mutates into a vampire siege, and the clash between its two central families sits right at the heart of that transformation.

On one side we have the Gecko brothers, Seth and Richie; criminals defined by chaos, instinct and a complete absence of moral restraint. George Clooney plays Seth as cool and calculating, a man who understands violence as a tool, while Quentin Tarantino makes Richie something far more disturbing; impulsive, erratic, and barely tethered to reality. Their family bond is real, but it's warped; loyalty exists, yet it's rooted in survival rather than care.

In stark contrast stands the Fuller family; a broken but fundamentally decent unit led by Jacob, a former preacher struggling with his faith after personal tragedy. Harvey Keitel gives Jacob a weary gravity, a man trying to hold his children together even as his beliefs crumble. Kate and Scott represent a more recognisable familial dynamic; tension, grief and affection all coexisting in an uneasy balance. Where the Geckos are united by crime, the Fullers are held together by something more fragile; the remnants of love and moral responsibility.

The early part of the film thrives on this contrast. The Geckos dominate through fear, forcing the Fullers into submission, yet there's a quiet sense that the balance could shift at any moment. The Fullers' decency becomes a kind of resistance; they endure rather than retaliate, and that endurance gives them a moral strength that the Geckos lack.

When the film pivots into horror at the Titty Twister, the dynamic evolves rather than disappears. Faced with a supernatural threat, the distinction between the families begins to blur. Survival becomes the common ground; Seth's ruthlessness suddenly has value, while Jacob's moral compass regains purpose. The Geckos' amorality and the Fullers' ethics, once opposed, now function as complementary traits in a fight neither family could survive alone.

What makes "From Dusk Till Dawn" compelling isn't just its genre switch; it's how that shift forces both families to confront what defines them. The Geckos, stripped of control, reveal flickers of reluctant cooperation, while the Fullers, pushed to extremes, discover a capacity for violence they would never have chosen.

By the end, the film suggests that family is less about moral purity and more about what people are willing to do for one another under pressure. The Geckos start as predators and the Fullers as victims, but the night reduces everyone to the same basic instinct; survive, protect, endure. It's in that levelling that the film finds its strange, blood-soaked unity.

Success Rate:  + 1.1

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (5 Stars)

This is a film that I can vaguely remember seeing on television in my pre-blog days. What I didn't remember is how good it is. It's set in Mississippi in the time of America's Great Depression. Three convicts escape from a chain gang, and they have to hurry to retrieve the money that was buried from a bank heist, $1.2 million. To put it into perspective, that would be worth $22 million today. They only have four days to get the money, because the area is due to be flooded to make a new lake. Their journey by hitching rides and stealing cars leads them from one mishap to another.

When I sat down to write this review I intended to describe the plot in full, but it's impossible. So much happens in the story. The incidents in this road movie are a mix of comedy and drama. We can't help but feel affection for the three criminals. The film is loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, one of the world's oldest poems. Very loosely. People appear who are immediately recognisable to anyone who's read the Odyssey, but no attempt is made to flesh out or explain them.

The film is directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. They're a phenomenon in filmmaking who worked together from 1984 to 2018. Since then their ways have parted, and their solo films aren't up to the quality of their joint efforts.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

IF (4 Stars)

"IF" stands for "Imaginary Friends". 12-year-old Bea is living with her grandmother in New York City while her father is in hospital waiting for heart surgery. She finds that strange creatures live in an apartment in the building. They live with a man called Cal who collects imaginary friends that were abandoned when children grew up into adulthood. Cal is looking for someone to help him reunite  the imaginary friends with their former owners. Bea accepts the job, but she's not too successful.

I shan't go into the plot in any more detail to avoid spoilers. After seeing the trailers I was surprised that it's very much a children's film. I expected something that would bridge the gap between children's films and adult films, but there's hardly anything adult in the film.

I never had an imaginary friend as a child. As far as I know. One of the main themes of the film is that adults have forgotten their imaginary friends. As a child I was a loner. Until I was eight I lived on the grounds of Little Aston Hall. There were only three families, and neither of the other families had children, so I didn't have anyone to play with. If anyone ever needed an imaginary friend, it was me.

The Flash (3 Stars)

"The film is considered one of the biggest box-office bombs of all-time, with expected losses for Warner Bros to be as much as $200 million".

So it wasn't just me who didn't like "The Flash"? DC Studios are obviously jumping on the multiverse bandwagon. If Marvel can do it, so can they. The comparisons weren't lost on the others in the audience. When I was walking out I was following two DC fans in their thirties. One of them said, "It's a better multiverse film than Spider-Man", and he pointed to a poster of "Across the Spider-Verse", which is also showing at the moment. That's a bad comparison, putting two average quality films side by side. They should have compared it with "Spider-Man: No Way Home", which is a much better film.

Even as far as the subject matter is concerned, "The Flash" is more similar to "No Way Home". Barry Allen (the Flash) meets three different versions of Batman, played by Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton and George Clooney". If DC insists on changes in their version of the multiverse, they should have changed the actor playing Barry Allen. In the TV series the Flash is played by Grant Gustin, who's a terrific actor. In the film Ezra Miller is awful. But let's be fair to him. Maybe he's okay as an actor, it's just the way he was told to play the role. He's an idiot, making one clumsy mistake after another. That's not the Flash that we know in the comics.

The only part of the film that I liked was the two minutes when Wonder Woman appeared. Gal Gadot is a beautiful actress. We should have seen more of her and less of Batman. And less of the Flash.

I haven't written anything about the plot. Go and see the film yourself. Or don't bother. If you're a big DC fan, like the two men in my cinema, you might like it. The other 95% of the world can give it a miss.

From Dusk Till Dawn (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #64

Seth Gecko, played by George Clooney, is in prison for armed robbery. His brother Richie, played by Quentin Tarantino, breaks him out of jail. They rob a bank and head towards the Mexican border to retire with their riches, killing 16 people on the way. Seth is a cold-hearted killer, but he's a professional. He only kills if he has to. Richie is a paranoid psychopath, who hears voices and can't keep his sexual urges under control. Seth is ashamed of his brother, but he still loves him and tries to look after him.

At a motel near the Mexican border the brothers meet Jacob Fuller, who's on holiday with his two children. He used to be a Baptist pastor, but he quit his job after having a disagreement with God. He hasn't completely lost his faith; he still believes that God exists. He just doesn't love God any more, because God allowed his wife to die a slow painful death after a car crash.

These are his children, Scott and Kate. Scott's adopted, in case you couldn't guess. Scott's wearing a T-Shirt that says "Precinct 13". This is a subtle hint that the film is in part based on John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13".

Seth forces Jacob to drive him and his brother across the border. As I've already said, he's very professional and promises to leave Jacob's family unharmed if they do whatever he says. Richie has other plans with Kate, but Seth says he'll keep her safe.

This was the first film in which I saw the actress Juliette Lewis, and I was immediately impressed with her acting abilities. Since then I've seen her in a lot of films. It could be argued that she always plays the same character in her 1990's films: an innocent little girl. But she does it so well! I prefer her 1990's roles to the films that she made later.

Isn't she beautiful? Those eyes!

Could this be her signature role? Possibly.

In Mexico the Gecko brothers and Jacob's family take a break in a biker's bar called the Titty Twister. Ugh! I wouldn't be seen dead in a place like that. The name enough is enough to put me off. And this man welcoming the guests at the door would make me turn and run.

The Titty Twister is the home of a vampire clan. My regular readers know that I have vampire fantasies, but not when they're this ugly. I'll never complain about the ugly vampires in "Buffy" again.

Not all the vampires look so bad. Salma Hayek, whose stage name is Santanico Pandemonium, looks quite delicious.

She seems to have a leading position among the vampires.

And she can dance with a snake!

She has a tempting offer for Seth:

"I'm not gonna drain you completely. You'll be my slave".

"You'll be my footstool, and at my command you'll lick the dog shit from my boot heel".

"Since you'll be my dog, your new name will be Spot".

"Welcome to slavery".

If it had been me, I would have asked for more time to think it over. As it turned out, Seth shot her. That's not cool!

"I don't surrender to vampires! I'm Batman!"

Or is that another film?

"From Dusk Till Dawn" is a brilliant film, written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It's a throwback to the Italian horror films of the 1970's, but with modern production values.

I know his name has become unpopular in recent years, but the film would never have been made without the backing of Harvey Weinstein. In fact, none of Quentin Tarantino's films would have been made. The people who criticise Harvey Weinstein don't realise how important he's been in the film industry. He's done more for the advancement of cinema than anyone else in the last 40 years. That's no excuse for the way he's abused women. The "casting couch culture" has been commonplace in Hollywood for a hundred years, and Harvey Weinstein was convicted to set an example. In court he was found innocent of most of the charges against him, but he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual assault and third degree rape.

Was it right to punish Harvey Weinstein so harshly? In my opinion, Yes. I just regret that it had to come to it. He's not the worst offender in the last 100 years. If other directors and producers had been punished for their crimes 50 years ago, Harvey Weinstein would have been too scared to abuse his position.

Success Rate:  + 1.1

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Hail, Caesar! (3 Stars)

I gave this film five stars when I saw it in the cinema three years ago. In retrospect, I don't understand why. "Hail Caesar" has many good points, but it's not a great film. Maybe I was biased in its favour because I like all the other films made by the Coen brothers. Watching it again today, the first time since 2016, I felt disappointed by the story. On the plus side, I love the cinematography. Every scene is perfectly framed, especially when the production of 1950's films is shown. It's a perfect homage to the golden age of cinema. Or is it the silver age? I don't know what's what in cinema terminology.

The film is about the making of a big budget film called "Hail, Caesar", an obvious parody of "Ben Hur". It's a film about Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of a Roman centurion called Autolycus, played by Baird Whitlock, who's played by George Clooney. Baird is kidnapped when he has only one scene left to film, his speech at the cross. A group of Communist screenwriters hold him to ransom for $100,000. The studio boss pays up immediately, and the money is donated to the Communist cause; or rather the Russian cause.

I know the film is a parody, but it seems to be glorifying Hollywood's anti-Communist sentiments in the post war years. I doubt this was intentional when the Coen brothers made the film, but it's the impression I get. This gives me a queasy feeling in my stomach. The film's sub-plots are totally irrelevant to the main story. There are two rival celebrity gossip columnists, both played by Tilda Swinton, and there's a pregnant film star who wants to adopt her own baby to avoid a scandal. I don't know why these stories were included, except to pad the film out to a full 90 minutes.

There's one small remark that I'd like to close with. After seeing Channing Tatum sing and dance I'm convinced that he should have played the lead role in "La la Land". Ryan Gosling was the wrong man for the role.

Success Rate:  + 0.9

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Monuments Men (3 Stars)

I missed this when it was in the cinema. I remember being interested in it after seeing the trailer. It was probably a scheduling problem. I almost wouldn't have bought it on disc, but when I saw it on sale for three Euros on Black Friday I couldn't say No.

The trailer makes the film look like a comedy. That's misleading. The film does have some comedic elements, but overall it's a serious drama. It might look comical that someone as overweight as John Goodman or as old as Bill Murray should go to war, but it all makes sense. The film is a true story, but the number of characters has been greatly reduced. The actual World War Two team, the Monuments Men, was made up of a few dozen men, but the film reduces the team to seven people, the maximum that the audience can relate to.

The film is all about art, mainly paintings and statues. During Germany's conquest of Europe the Nazis looted museums and private collections, taking artwork and shipping it back to Germany. In America a team was assembled that would go behind enemy lines to identify works of art and remove them before the Nazis got their hands on them. This team was made up of non-soldiers, all of them art experts, whether they were university professors or museum curators. Towards the end of the war they had to search for the hiding places of artwork that had already been stolen.

The film takes place from July 1944 until May 1945. The team's job wasn't finished when Germany surrendered. They had to carry on hunting for Nazi treasure, because the Russian army had been instructed to take artwork to pay for war reparations. Who could get to it first?

I enjoyed the story on an intellectual level as a tale that I'd never heard of before. As far as the entertainment was concerned, the film didn't excite me. The story moved slowly, with too little action. It also seemed disjointed, because the seven-man team was split into smaller groups operating in different cities. The Blu-ray is worth the three Euros that I paid, but I don't think I'll want to watch it again.

Success Rate:  + 0.2

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Money Monster (4 Stars)

This film is so exciting and enthralling from beginning to end that it's easy to overlook the real message. It's a film about corruption by rich executives and the normal poor people -- you and me -- who suffer as a result.

George Clooney plays Lee Gates, a flamboyant financial adviser who hosts a weekly investment advice show, "Money Monster". In one of his episodes he recommends IBIS, a mining company, as "safer than a bank savings book". A few weeks later the company's stock unexpectedly crashes . It's blamed on a glitch in an automated stock trading program, but Lee invites the CEO of IBIS, Walt Camby, as a guest on his show to talk about the crash.

A man bursts into the TV studio with a gun and a bomb during the live broadcast. He's Kyle Ludwell, a delivery man who lost his life savings investing in IBIS. He demands to talk to Lee and Walt live on air. Unfortunately, Walt Camby isn't in the studio because he's flown to Geneva at short notice. Kyle holds Lee hostage while Lee tries to find out what happened to IBIS. As the clock ticks Lee begins to suspect that it wasn't a glitch, it was some sort of corrupt activity. All the time the show's director Patty Fenn is speaking to Lee over an ear piece, advising him what to say next; advice that he doesn't always take.

This is a well written film with first class performances by all the main actors.

Hail, Caesar! (5 Stars)

I love this film. How can a film with such a serious background be so funny?

The film takes place in 1951 in Hollywood. Capitol Film Studios is making a big budget film about Jesus Christ, as seen through the eyes of a Roman soldier called Autolycus. During the filming the film's leading actor, Baird Whitlock, is kidnapped and held to ransom for $100,000. According to an inflation calculator that would be approximately $920,000 today. The kidnappers are a group of Hollywood screenwriters who are protesting against the big studio bosses pocketing all the profits. Baird becomes a willing prisoner when he's seduced by the Communist ideals of his captors.

The film revolves around the efforts of the Hollywood fixer Eddie Mannix, who is determined to get Baird back while keeping the story of the kidnapping out of the press. He was a real person in the post-war Hollywood era. All the other characters are fictional, but it's easy to guess who they refer to. Even the films shown are obvious references to real films. For instance, the Hollywood epic being made is called "Hail, Caesar", but it's a clone of "Ben Hur".

The comedy comes from the ridiculous nature of the smaller Hollywood films of the time and the second-rate actors who played in them. In fact, even the big name actors are portrayed as second-rate.

This is an obvious candidate for Oscar nominations in 2017. It's not just that the film is very good. The Film Academy voters are nostalgic and like films about films. I can't guarantee that it will win awards, because I have no idea what will be released the rest of this year, but it will certainly be nominated as best film. Does anyone think I'm wrong? I'll bet a pint of beer with any of my local friends.

From Dusk Till Dawn (5 Stars)

"What's that you said?"

"You want to look at my feet?"

"That's my left foot".

"That's my right foot".

"Now please excuse me while I wash the blood off my shirt".

"Men are so weird".

Gravity (3½ Stars)

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are two astronauts working to repair a space station. Their space shuttle is destroyed by flying debris, and they're left floating in space looking for an alternative way to return to Earth.

Sometimes a film is difficult to judge. This is one of them. It has spectacular special effects, but it's like fairground candy floss (called cotton candy in America); you pay your money and get something big in your hand, but when you put it in your mouth it shrivels up to nothing. It's all style and no substance. I was recommended this film by a friend who said that it has must-see 3D effects. I agree with this, despite my usual disinterest with 3D films. It's a film worth seeing in the cinema, but I wouldn't want to watch it at home.

---

P.S. When I got home I watched an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Now that is real science fiction action!

Batman & Robin (4 Stars)

They call this one of the worst movie sequels ever. Unjustly. This is a worthy follow-up to the previous three films. George Clooney is more suited to the role of Batman than Val Kilmer. And definitely a better Batman than Christian Bale.

Once more we have mad supervillains. This time Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy, adequately portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman. Arnie's wooden acting is just right for the character. But we shouldn't forget Alicia Silverstone who becomes Batgirl in this film. The picture below speaks for itself. Beautiful and sexy.

I've watched this film a few times, but today was the first time I noticed that the city of Gotham is based on Fritz Lang's Metropolis. There were some similarities in the previous three films, but in this film it's blatant.

From Dusk Till Dawn (5 Stars)

This is one of the best films ever made, and I defy anyone to contradict me. A bank robber and his brother are fleeing to Mexico, taking a disillusioned ex-preacher and his children as hostages. Apart from Harvey Keitel, one of my favorite actors, there are near perfect performances from George Clooney and Juliette Lewis.

While watching the film again today I realised something for the first time, something I've never read in other reviews. The first half of the film is a Quentin Tarantino film, the second half is a Robert Rodriguez film. Anyone who is familiar with the work of these two directors will know what I mean. The first half concentrates on conversation and character development, the second half revolves around over-the-top gore. Although Tarantino is credited as the writer of this film and Rodriguez as the director it's obvious that they influenced one another in their respective work.