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

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The Eternals (1 Star)

Great actors. Awful film.

The sign of an obsessive collector is that he buys things he doesn't like in order to complete a set. That's what I do with the Marvel films. I hated this film the first time I saw it in the cinema. I liked it even less when I saw it streamed on Disney Plus. But I had to have it on my shelf next to all my other Marvel films.

I bought it in July 2022, but the Blu-ray has been lying unwatched on my shelf ever since. Today I finally plucked up the courage. I had great difficulty watching it all the way through. If it had been a non-Marvel film, I would have turned it off within an hour.

There have been on-off rumours about a sequel. Please, no! Let's forget that this abysmal team ever appeared in a film.

Watching the film today was self-inflicted torture. I shan't watch it again. I promise.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

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La Chispa de la Vida (4 Stars)

I buy every film made by Alex de la Iglesia. You know that. He's my favourite European director. I don't understand why he hasn't achieved more popularity outside Spain. "La Chispa de la Vida" was made in 2011, but I haven't been able to buy it until now. The first Blu-ray release didn't have English subtitles. The new release corrected this error.

What I like most about Alex's films is the zany humour, often mixed with satire. "La Chispa de la Vida" surprised me, and not in a good way. The first 15 minutes are painfully boring. It's about a marketing executive, Roberto Gomez, who's looking for a job after being unemployed for two years. No humour at all. He rushes from interview to interview, asking for favours from old friends, but nobody wants him. His biggest success was at the start of his career. When he was 17 he created the advertising slogan for Coca-Cola, "La Chispa de la Vida", engl. "Life's little spark". This is what propelled him into his career, but what we see when we read between the lines is that it was just luck. He didn't have the skill to create slogans on a regular basis.

Roberto's wedding anniversary is coming up, and he wants to spend it in the hotel where he went for his honeymoon. He wants it to be a surprise, so he drives to Cartagena without telling his wife. The hotel isn't a hotel any more, it's become a museum. A Roman arena was discovered next to the hotel, so the museum was built as the entrance to the arena. Roberto falls off a platform, and a metal bar pierces his skull, driving deep into his brain. See the X-Ray picture. This was so horrible that I felt it in my stomach. I wanted to turn away. It wasn't a nice sight.

At this point I felt like turning  off the film. It was stomach-churning. Fortunately, I remained in front of my television. This was the turning point.

Roberto is still alive and able to communicate. The pain is bearable, despite having a metal rod in his brain. Doctors come and say it's too dangerous to move him. They have to operate where he's lying. But Roberto has an idea. He's lying in an arena surrounded by onlookers. It's the main news on every television channel. So why not make money from it? He rings his former colleagues from advertising companies, and they're excited. They want an interview with him. They say they'll pay him 20,000 Euros if he survives, or two million Euros if he dies.

This is sick humour, but highly entertaining. It was enough to make me forgive the slow beginning. We see how greed is stronger than wanting to save a person's life. It's an unusual film, in which the main character is shown lying on his back for almost all the film. Like Tim Roth in "Reservoir Dogs", except Roberto isn't screaming in pain. He's on his phone, making deals to become rich from his injury. If he survives.

I'm sure I'll watch it again, but next time I'll be prepared. I'll have a strong drink in my hand when the ugly scene happens.

The Eternals (1½ Stars)

Disney Wednesday #7

I gave "The Eternals" a bad review after seeing it in the cinema last November. I called it the worst MCU film so far. Since then I've been surprised to read positive reviews. Okay, there have also been negative reviews. The film has polarised critics, but it seems that most Marvel fans like it. Why?

I suspect that Marvel fans are moved by Jack Kirby nostalgia. "The Eternals" was his big story when he returned to Marvel in 1976 after a six-year absence. If this really is the case, can't they see that the Eternals in the film are far removed from the Eternals in the comics? Apart from that, I have to admit that I'm one of the few vintage Marvel fans who wasn't enthusiastic about Jack Kirby's comic. He was a great artist, but a mediocre writer. I know I'll probably get hate mail for saying that, but it's my honest opinion. He didn't have the magic of other Marvel writers like Stan Lee and Roy Thomas. Not even close.

When I watched the film today I made an attempt to like it. I deliberately looked for positive features. I felt sympathetic to Dane Whitman as a character, and Pip the Troll looks similar to the way he looks in the comics, but that's about it. It's a poorly made film with characters we don't care about fighting monsters we care even less about, then squabbling amongst themselves.

Let me give you a test. Name the Avengers shown in the MCU films. I'm betting that if you give yourself ten minutes you can remember all of them. Now name the ten Eternals. Very few of you will be able to name all ten. (I did this test myself and named seven of the Eternals). We don't know them.

Click here to read my first review. That says it all.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

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Bliss (2021) (4 Stars)

Amazon Friday #23

This is a film written and produced for Amazon Studios, so it's only available on their streaming service. It stars Owen Wilson in a role that's untypical for him. He's known as a comedian, but in "Bliss" he's serious, even tragic. His acting is good, I'm just annoyed by the strange accent that he puts on. Couldn't he have spoken with his normal voice?

Greg Whittle works for an advertising agency. He's fired because his boss considers him lazy. Greg sits at his desk drawing pictures of his dream house. Yes, that's lazy. When Greg pleads with his boss he accidentally knocks him over. The boss hits his head on his desk and dies. Greg flees from the office and goes to a bar opposite his company.

In the bar Greg is approached by a homeless woman called Isabel. She tells him that the world around them is a computer simulation. Greg is real, and so is she, but everyone else around them is fake. She shows Greg that they can knock the fake people over with the power of their minds. Instead of returning to his apartment, Greg goes to live with Isabel in her tent next to a bridge.

Films about virtual realities seem to be popular in recent years. It's only a few weeks since I watched "Free Guy". Both films show a world which is made up of a mix of real and fake characters. "Bliss" has a different concept. The real world lives in comfort and luxury. The world's richest businessman distributed his wealth to everyone else. That's something we all want to happen, don't we? But in "Bliss" it has bad results. People don't appreciate their perfect lives. To solve the problem, an imperfect virtual reality has been created in which people can experience crime and poverty. The virtual world is in its early experimental stages. Only a dozen volunteers are among the first beta testers. Millions more will follow.

There are unexpected complications. Isabel remembers her life in the real world, but Greg has forgotten everything. He feels attached to his teenage daughter, refusing to believe she's not real.

"Bliss" has received poor reviews from critics. I like it. It's not a masterpiece, but it's still a good film that's worth watching more than once.

The Eternals (2 Stars)

The bubble has burst. Marvel Studios began to create films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) slowly and cautiously in 2008 with "Iron Man". I emphasise the word slowly. Characters were introduced one at a time in subsequent films, leading up to the first Avengers film, when we finally saw them all together. Even after that new characters were only added slowly, characters such as Captain Marvel and Black Panther.

The box office successes showed Marvel that they have a cash cow. Endless millions of dollars were to be earned from churning out film after film. Two MCU films a year became three, and the quality was still maintained. Then four, and boom... the bubble has burst.

"The Eternals" falls flat on its face. It's not just the poor screenplay and the lacklustre directing. The whole concept is faulty. The idea is that ten beings called Eternals arrived on Earth in 5000 BC to eliminate a race of predators called the Deviants. After a series of battles over the centuries the Deviants were seemingly wiped out. The Eternals thought they could leave Earth, but their leaders, the Celestials, instructed them to remain on Earth, disguised as normal humans, never interfering in human affairs. They remained together as a group until 1450, after which they split up and settled in different parts of the world.

In the present day, presumably 2021, the Deviants return after centuries of hiding, so the Eternals regroup to fight them.

The film's biggest fault is the lack of character development. The ten Eternals are sprung on us, and we know very little about their motivation. After walking out of the cinema I couldn't even remember all ten of their names. The number of characters is too large. Instead of ten there should only have been five, or better still four. That would be a manageable number to hold the audience's attention.

Another problem is that the Deviants themselves are too inhuman. They're just big monsters that the audience can't relate to. Look at the other masterful MCU villains, like Loki and Thanos. We get inside their heads. We understand them, even if we don't agree with everything they do. But the Deviants are just a force of nature.

In fact, we can't relate to the Eternals either. When some of them are killed we don't shed a tear. On the contrary, I felt relieved that there were fewer characters running around.

The story is poorly told. The flashbacks to former times are so random that I groaned "Another one?" The film is poorly paced. After the final battle the film stutters from one quiet scene to another, almost as bad as the final scenes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Then something big happens, and we think the action is starting again, but it quickly fizzles out.

And then there's the excessive use of CGI. If you give me more time I can probably think of other faults in this shoddily constructed film. Maybe my two star rating is too high. I want to forget this film was ever made.

The MCU can't get any worse. Can it? I dread the next film.

The Hitman's Bodyguard (3½ Stars)

Amazon Friday #14

Yes, I know. This is the third time in a row that I've published my Amazon Friday post on a Sunday. Maybe I should just give up and rename it Amazon Sunday. But if I do that, I probably won't write my post until Tuesday, so I'd better leave it as it is. I know my readers are laughing about me, especially the ones who know me personally.

I picked this film today because the film's sequel, "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard", is currently in the cinemas. I don't know whether I want to watch it. Both films star Samuel L. Jackson, one of my favourite actors, but they also star Ryan Reynolds. He's very much hit or miss, as far as his films go. I have no doubts about his acting ability, but he's made a large number of bad films. He even jokingly acknowledges this in the mid-credits sequence of "Deadpool 2". He accepted film roles that he should have turned down, and he knows it.

In "The Hitman's Bodyguard" Ryan Reynolds plays Michael Bryce, an AAA certified professional bodyguard, who lost his reputation after one of his clients was killed on his watch. He can't get top profile jobs any more, until his ex-girlfriend asks him to guard Darius Kincaid, a professional hitman who has to give evidence at a war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The two have met in the past, and Bryce looks down on Kincaid. He thinks he's better, because he saves people's lives while Kincaid kills people. It's not that simple. Bryce will guard anyone for money. He doesn't judge his clients. Kincaid is different. He has a conscience, so he only kills those who deserve to die, whether they're criminals or corrupt politicians.

On the plus side, the acting by the two main characters is superb. There are multiple car chases, including a spectacular five-minute chase involving cars, motorbikes and a speedboat through the centre of Amsterdam.

On the negative side, the plot is highly infeasible. It's difficult to take things seriously. The details of the history between the two men are unclear. Evidently Kincaid has attempted to kill Bryce 27 times in the past. Why? I thought Kincaid would only want to kill Bryce's clients.

Compared with Ryan Reynolds' other films, this is average. Not the worst, but far from the best. I still don't know whether I'll watch "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" in the cinema. I'll decide at short notice.

Success Rate:  + 3.9

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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

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Bandidas (4 Stars)

Two very different women are united in a common cause. It's Mexico in the 1850's. Maria's father is a poor farmer. Sara's father owns a bank in the town. Tyler, the representative of a large New York bank, travels to Mexico to form a partnership with the small Mexican bank. After the deal has been signed Tyler poisons Sara's father and becomes sole owner of the bank. He then goes to reclaim the land from farmers who are in debt, shooting them if they refuse to hand over their land. Among others, Maria's father is killed.

To gain revenge, Maria puts on a mask and goes to rob the bank. On the same day Sara also goes to rob the bank. After a short argument about who got there first the two women team up. The New York bank has a string of subsidiaries in Mexico, so they decide to rob them all. It's not easy to rob banks as amateurs, so they spend time training with a retired bank robber. That's a clever man. Usually bank robbers don't retire, they always want more and more money, so they don't stop till they're caught.

The Mexican authorities are baffled by the crime spree. They know that the bank robbers are women, but they have no clue who they are. The bank is frustrated by the incompetence of the local police, so they hire a top detective from New York.

Despite years of training Detective Quentin Cooke is no match for the Bandidas. What did you expect?

Poor Quentin. He's totally at their mercy, tied to the bed, scared stiff, with a gun in his face.

But as every little pussycat knows, what's the point in catching a mouse if you can't play with your food? When Maria admits that she's never kissed a man Sara shows her how it's done. That's enough to make Quentin's toes curl.

This is a tale of how the West was won. Or from America's point of view, how the West was lost. After a serious beginning the film is a gentle comedy romp. It's good family viewing.

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".

Everly (4 Stars)

It's December 2nd, so it's time for me to think about Christmas. This is my first Christmas film for the month, maybe the last. I'm not a very Christmassy person, so this is probably the Christmassiest film I'll watch. (I offer my sincere apologies to the English language). The film soundtrack reads like a medley of Christmas hits, beginning with "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and ending with "Silent Night". Even the first assassin walks into the room whistling "Jingle Bells".

The whole film takes place in an apartment in an unnamed American city. A Japanese gang runs a prostitution ring. The best whores are trained as assassins. Salma is the best of the best and becomes the lover of the gang boss, Taiko. Salma becomes a police informant in the hope that she can see her five-year-old daughter again. Taiko learns of her deception and puts a $500,000 price on her head. The assassins arrive at Salma's apartment, either alone or in groups, and Salma must fight to survive.

The film doesn't have much of a plot. It's all about non-stop action. This was heavily criticised by film reviewers, so the release date was cancelled and "Everly" went direct to video. That was unfair. I admit that it's no masterpiece, but it's better than a lot of films that make it into the cinema.