Movie #282 - From Dusk Til Dawn

From Dusk Til Dawn
1996 - Rated R - 1 hr 58 min
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo

So two bad brothers are making big bad deals and just happen to pick the one vampire hangout in town. Could happen. In fact, it's that randomness about this movie that makes it so much fun to watch.  It's completely implausible, and a little bit of ridiculous, but Robert Rodriguez says, "Hey, let's kill some vampires in the middle of this movie. Why not?"  And you say, "Yes sir!"

You gotta love it.  Plus, any time Quentin Tarantino gets to be a sick bastard on screen is pretty awesome. And surprisingly, George Clooney can indeed kick ass.

Movie #57 - Batman & Robin

Batman & Robin
Warner Bros. Pictures
1997 - Rated PG - 2 hr 5 min
Director: Joel Schumacher
Starring: George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone

This movie is like a Who's Who in Nineties Film? project. That dude from Circle of Friends, that chick from Clueless, and oh yeah, the hottest doctor (move over, McDreamy) on TV: that guy from ER. And Arnold. He's cool too.

It's the same director, and yet the only person in this movie from the last is Chris O'Donnell... who plays the kid-brother kind of Robin that you want to punch in the face. Sorry, he annoys me. Whine, whine, whine. Go play on your trapeze, you big baby.

This time, Alfred is sick, his niece (Silverstone) is in town visiting, and a whole bunch of funky stuff is going down at a nearby lab - owned, of course, by Wayne Enterprises. In fact, between Dr. Freeze's cryogenics accident and Pamela what's-her-name's plant problem, Batman & Robin feels like an anti-chemistry advertisement at times. "Don't play with cryogenics at home, kids..."

Again, we have randomly intersecting bad guy plot lines, making things irritatingly complicated at times. At least there's legit girl power in this movie (although it's not much... I mean, really. Batgirl? She couldn't come up with an independent name?), and another dowdy chick turns hot thanks to a freak accident (i.e. Catwoman and Poison Ivy could be BFF's and share weird stories over a pedicure some time.)

But the best part about this movie is what it signifies... the END of the Batman movies before Christopher Nolan rebooted the franchise. Thank God.