‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ (1996) is a really good half of a movie
Frightening Friday (Movie review): Rodriguez and Tarantino have fun making a grindhouse-style movie. It’s almost at the film’s expense.
‘The Faculty’ (1998) a slick product with a point
Frightening Friday (Movie review): Williamson’s riff on “Body Snatchers” explores serious issues in public schooling, but it’s all in good fun.
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ a final blast of cyborg sci-fi for the decade
Movie review: This James Cameron-written film is a striking final blast of cyborg sci-fi for the 2010s.
‘The Faculty’ reviews
John’s “The Faculty” flashback review, Dec. 25, 2020 “The Faculty” – Teacher creatures attempt to take over Herrington High, but the students fight back in Robert Rodriguez’s film that gives an extra chill to the phrase “Please report to the principal’s office.” The film blends all the elements of a good horror thriller: a mysterious
‘Grindhouse’ review
“Grindhouse” – Writer-directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino have a bloody good time here, spinning yarns in the style of the choppy, grainy B-movies they grew up watching in the 1970s. Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” is the highlight, featuring Rose McGowan as a one-legged, machine-gun-wielding stripper who battles zombies. Tarantino’s “Death Proof” gets mileage from Kurt
‘Sin City’ review
“Sin City” – This adaptation of Frank Miller’s gritty and remarkably violent comics, directed by Robert Rodriguez in a nearly panel-by-panel style, is three mini-movies in one. The second, starring Benicio Del Toro’s head, and third, a gritty love story between Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba (“There’s wrong, and then there’s wrong, and then there’s
‘Sin City’ sequel ‘A Dame to Kill For’ offers more of the same, but that’s not such a bad thing (Movie review)
“Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” was apparently made for me and about five other geeky guys, as almost no one went to see it on its opening weekend. One of the theories for the low interest level is that a sequel was not needed because the 2005 original, a stylistically perfect comic book come
Joke wears a little thin in ‘Machete Kills,’ but it’s still worth seeing (Movie review)
While it’s not as thematically rich as the brilliant immigration parody “Machete” — my No. 1 movie of 2010 — “Machete Kills” still delivers a lot of laughs and is worth seeing if you’re a fan of the franchise. This sequel is a nice mix of old and new gags. It’s cool to see Machete, even in his advanced
‘Machete’ an over-the-top parody that still packs a punch (Movie review)
I always say that “Dumb & Dumber” is a dumb smart movie, and I’ll say the exact same thing about Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete”: It’s very stupid, yet also remarkably intelligent. And hilarious. Make no mistake about it, even if you someday find it in the action section at the video store: “Machete” is a comedy.
Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Machete’ finally becomes a real movie (Commentary)
“Now if only they’d make ‘Machete’ into an actual movie instead of just a fake trailer.” That’s how I ended my review of “Grindhouse” — one of my top 10 movies of 2007 — and it turns out that writer-director Robert Rodriguez had been thinking along those lines for a long time. In fact, a full screenplay