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From Dusk Till Dawn

From Dusk Till Dawn

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Flawed, Sometimes Offensive, But NEVER Boring
Review: Directed by Robert Rodriguez with a script written by Quentin Tarantino who also co-stars in it, this film resembles the proverbial little girl with the curl: "When it's good, it's very, very good but when it's bad...." Not much of a plot. Two psychopathic brothers (Clooney and Tarantino) kidnap a fallen-away minister (Keitel) and his two children, commandeer their van, and head south to Mexico to do business with drug dealers at The Titty Twister roadhouse. As in El Mariachi (1992) and then Desperado (1995) which Rodriguez also directed, the emphasis is on interaction between and among characters to create intense moments which may or may not advance the plot, such as it is. Rodriguez is a master of creating a stunning variety of atmospherics (hilarity, menace, confusion, bravado, etc.) amidst truly inspiring posturing by his lead characters. Moments of delicious tenderness are suddenly obliterated by gratuitous violence, both verbal and physical. I probably should have seen it coming but I didn't: Those who frequent Titty Twister roadhouse (only open from dusk until dawn, of course) are vampires. The Gecko brothers and their companions find themselves in harm's way and then....

I always enjoy spotting veteran actors in subordinate roles. In this film, for example, Michael Parks (Texas Ranger Earl McGraw), John Saxon (FBI Agent Stanley Chase), Marc Lawrence (Old Timer) and Selma Hayek (Santanico Pandemonium). At one point, as the roadhouse band performs "Mary Had a Little Lamb," I wondered if Stevie Ray Vaughan was also in this film. (He isn't.) This film is obviously not for everyone. (For Rodriguez and Tarantino, that may well be a badge of honor.) The quality of acting is superior to the plot; the aforementioned atmospherics are superior to whatever "messages" Rodriguez and Tarantino may have intended to send to their audience. Almost everyone who sees this film will either enjoy it or stop watching it long before its conclusion. Whatever.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Carzy JUNK
Review: Quentin Tarantino, i mean what can you expect from him beacuse he is the greatest writer/director ever. He always packs the action that you want into his movies. Now tell me did Pulp Fiction dissapoint you, well if i did you it didn't here. I love alll his films. I only need to see "Natural Born Killers" to complete the series...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Tarantino Fetish-fest
Review: I really didnt enjoy this movie, which surprized me, because im a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino. I had high hopes when I rented it, but its just too creepy to finish. I noticed that there were alot of sick things in this film, like the rape and murder of a hostage, Tarantino's character fantasizing that a teenage girl is telling him to eat her *****, and tarantino's notorious foot fetish pops up like a billion times. But after all of thats over, and it finally gets to the vampires, its all one stupid gore fest. And i dont even have a problem with gore, i mean its cool, but it was almost comical in this film, but not in a witty way. Its like they made the movie and afterwards were like,"Oops! I didnt mean for it to be that cheesy," but it was. And as for all of the sexual content, i could look past that in any other movie, but this film just seemed like an outlet for Quentin Tarantino to make all of his fetishes come to life. Im giving it two stars just because i love Tarantino's other work, and Im sure that when he wrote it, he didnt mean for people to interpret the film like i did. So, sorry to all of the "Dusk Till Dawn" fans, i just didn't like it.

(...)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: OK Ramblers lets get ramblin.
Review: I LOVE THIS FLICK!
Sorry I just couldnt think of any other way to start this off. If your an aspiring filmmaker with a passion for genre films, this one is up there with "Kill Bill", and Once Upon a Time in Mexico".
You get two genre mini-flicks here in one package, who ever thought crime/horror would go together so well? And one of the coolest cinema criminals ever Seth Gecko came to life in this film,how ya gonna beat that.I saw this when it first hit the theatre and Cloony just sold me on his ability, his character here is the epitome of cool.
The rest of the cast is great to, and having Tom Savini, and Fred Williamson onboard along with Michael Parks and John Saxon in the beginning is just heart warming. Speaking of warming Selma Hyak is just devestating as the queen of the vampires.
Of course Rodriquezs whole cast of usual suspects are here and they are all terrific.
As far as this version of FDTD goes its the one to buy. Takin from the laserdisc version the quality of the pictue is excellent, and the audio is surround with a capital S. The commentary with RR & QT is probably the the most valuable gem in this edtion. If you have a love for this genre stuff the way I do you will practically mind meld with these two as they gab away.
The documentary "Full Tilt Boogie " is the whole second disk and it is a well made, and educational look at making a film. At least from a broad view.
Love this stuff and I cant wait for RR & QT to give us more, in the mean time if you havent already check out "Love & a 45", "Love and a Bullet","Versus","Dawn of the Dead"('79),"Full Contact"and everything by Rodriquez, and Tarantino.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Trash.
Review: 'From Dusk Till Dawn' was pure trash from beginning to end. It was a little entertaining, but it has Quintin Tarentino in it, so I knew it was going to be a waste. There is one great thing about it. A SUPER HOT WOMAN DOES A BELLY DANCE!! It is the best scene in the movie!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Blood is Thicker Than Anything
Review: Somewhere in Texas, bank robber Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and his brother Ritchie are in a tight spot. They've got two gorgeous hostages at gunpoint (who were those angels anyway, and why were their roles so small?), and are anxiously waiting for the local lawman to make his way out of the roadside liquor store they're hiding in. Things don't move fast enough for psychopath Ritchie (Quentin Tarantino) when the cop asks to use the restroom, so bullets start flying. Let the bloodbath begin! From here on out, it's carnage candy, Tarantino/Rodriguez style!

Seth and Ritchie, who is now shot through the hand, head south for the Mexican border with a ton of dirty money and a slightly less attractive hostage in their trunk (why they let those other two go and kept this one I'll never understand). They eventually stop at a cruddy little motel to eat and plan their next move. Seth foolishly leaves the hostage with his maniacal brother as he goes out for burgers. When he returns, he finds her a victim of rape and murder; brother Ritchie acting like the innocent victim. These guys have problems.

Meanwhile, the completely innocent Fuller family, former Minister Jacob and his two teenage children, Scott and Kate, have found themselves at the same motel. Seth eyes their motor home and decides it's exactly the transportation he and his brother need to get them across the border with their money, and to the nudie bar where they plan to meet their shady business associates in the morning. Before we know it, the Fuller family is taken hostage, and the whole gang is on the road down Mexico way. After a brief search by a perverted Border Patrol Agent, our little group of adventurers is given the okay to cross, and soon enough they find themselves at the most boisterous gentlemen's club on either side of the border. Once inside, the gang is treated to a show like most of them have never seen before, featuring Salma Hayek as the main attraction. But when Ritchie gets himself into a scuffle and his bloody hand starts flowing red again, the mood of the hosts begins to change, drastically. As it turns out, the ancient Mexican nudie bar is run entirely by vampires! Soon, our anti-hero Seth is leading his hostages and a couple of new friends on a fight to save their lives, at least until dawn!

From Dusk Till Dawn is exactly what you'd expect from a Tarantino/Rodriguez vampire collaboration! And, like all the Tarantino films I've seen so far, every second of it is totally captivating. You don't want to miss a moment! Yes, it's violent to the extreme, but you should be expecting that. There's more than that though. You get a Tarantino style tale of redemption, survival, and triumph of the human spirit over the most evil of adversaries. The entire cast is first rate, including Tom Savini's best work as "Sex Machine," the outlaw biker, reminiscent of the character he played in the original Dawn of the Dead. This film is part Pulp Fiction, part Night of the Living Dead, and part Vamp, all rolled into one kickbutt ball of pure adrenaline. With the awesome make-up and creature effects, and the excellent soundtrack, it's easily among the best Vampire movies ever made. And for me, the real payoff is that pull-away shot in the end, when we get the FULL view of the nudie bar. Definitely one to watch over, and over again. I also can recommend From Dusk Till Dawn 3, a pretty decent direct to video prequel that tells the tale of how Salma Hayek's character came to be the leader of this very ancient clan of bloodsuckers. From Dusk Till Dawn 2 wasn't all that great on the other hand, but hey, ya gotta have the whole set. And I'm serious, where can I find out more about those two angelic hostages in the beginning, Aimee and Heidi? God, they were gorgeous!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Strange how From Dusk Till Dawn isn't a Tarantino film....
Review: I've found it sadly amusing that so many people who reviewed this film have NO IDEA what they're talking about. First off, (and I'll be directing the rest of these towards reviewer "G-Money"), this isn't a Quentin Tarantino film. This movie was directed by Robert Rodriguez. Quentin merely wrote the screenplay.

Since when was Tarantino dialogue senseless? He's renouned in the industry for having the most cutting dialogue around.

So, because he wrote the screenplay to a violent movie, he's murderer at heart? Then I suppose Scorsese and Hithcock are murderers too...wait...so by your logic everyone that enjoyed this film must be a sadist? That's wonderful. Plenty of people enjoy this movie, and even more (I would wager the vast majority of serious film fans) enjoy his masterpieces: Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. These people are not sadists, and anyone with a head upon their shoulders should realize this. Anyone who appreciates film should be able to appreciate Quentin for the brilliant filmmaker he is (sans From Dusk Till Dawn, which isn't even HIS FILM!). Now, you may not fit into said categories, or maybe you just haven't seen any of Quentin's real films (as you seem to be confused as to who he is). The latter is perfectly forgiveable...although it seems, (from your review) that you have. In which case, you are truly missing out, and you have my sympathy. They are among the greatest cinema has to offer.

Maybe I'm asking too much of you...you don't seem to be the kind of person that takes film seriously. I mean, just glancing of the films you've given four and even five stars, I find generic and trendy titles (all of the following being sub-par to TERRIBLE) such as: Rush Hour 2, Bad Boys 2, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Anger Management, They, The remake of Rollerball, Ghost Ship, The Transporter, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Batman and Robin, etc...you can see a trend. This is truly a sad thing, that someone can have such a distorted perception of film...such as Quentin Tarantino being a sick hack, and Batman and Robin being brilliant, worthy of 5 stars. I assume you're really young and you haven't yet matured in terms of film taste. I hope you will.

I wish you a better movie going future, and I pray you get a greater respect for the great, BRILLIANT Quentin Tarantino, as well as film in general.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I agree...TARANTINO is sick and should be institutionalized!
Review: Every flick I've ever seen of this weirdo is frightening, not in a "spooky-frightening" way either, I mean he's frightening in a disturbing way. I believe he's a murderer trapped in a society that doesn't allow murder. Hollywood is his release, but I wonder how long that will satisfy him? Anyhow, about FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, it could have been a good vampire flick. It just seemed to me there was too much senseless dialog, cursing, violence and way too much blood. Yes, I know it's a vampire movie, it's just that it felt too over the top with all the heavy blood baths, horrible murders, bad acting and nerve-racking psychotic behavior!
I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this sickening film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not perfect but I still love it!
Review: From Dusk to Dawn is well acted and directed but it's occasionly dumb too. I mean when the vampire band say "F this place" and just blow up has to be one of the dumbest things I seen in a movie. The movie still makes for an entertaining blood bath though. The performances by Harvey Keitel and George Clooney help make the movie watchable as well. Although the movie starts off like a Pulp Fiction style film in the first half it becomes Evil Dead with vampires in the second half. I mean George Clooney is pretty much like Ash (Evil Dead) and the vampires seem more like the demons in the Evil Dead movies than vampires. Although the script is all over the place Robert Rodriguez still manages to make it sexy and fun and it's still one of his better films.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Total Bomb from Tarantino
Review: I am giving a single star to this movie because Amazon will not allow me to give "zero stars."

There are some movies that shouldn't have been made. This is one of them. The film starts fine for a Tarantino movie. The usual violence, the psycho who robs a bank, the creatively offbeat dialog, etc. That's all par for the field.

But all that ends when the robbers take hostages and drive down to Mexico. The rest of the movie is an incredibly cheap and predictable sequence of horror-gothic effects and extra-super violence. There are even monsters and vampires that pop out of nowhere and God knows for what purpose.

If you enjoy bloodshed for bloodshed's sake, if you like to watch humans get mutilated for no reason whatsoever, and boringly long sequences of fighting with no plot points, then you are welcomed to watch this movie.

But if not, then stay away from it. Even George Clooney and Harvey Keitel were not enough to save this pure disaster.


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