From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000)

From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (R)

"Vampin' in the Ole West"

The Mexico border in the early 20th century, groups of pilgrims, desperadoes and lawmen unknowingly end up at a den of evil and prostitution in this prequel to the original From Dusk Till Dawn with a welcome western motif saddled with a dehydration of new ideas.

The film hitches a ride on the mystique of real-life Civil war hero and southern poet Ambrose Bierce (played by the always lovely Michael Parks), who has clairvoyance about his impending doom when he drinks.  He is looking to join Pancho Villa in his revolution and finds his caravan joined by a bible salesman and his virtuous wife who quickly run afoul of a team of banditos and outlaws and a den of vampires.  The film apes the format and twist of the original film without any of the finesse of writing or camerawork.  The color temp varies wildly shot to shot, especially in the daytime scenes, eliciting a nausea that the slimmed-down gore can't achieve.  The gunplay and production design may be far superior to FDTD2:TBM, but the general malaise of sequelhood can't sustain interest, and the forced prequel mother/father plot with its constant call backs to the original prevent it from being its own film.  Both Park and Danny Trejo's return lend weight to the production, but when even Danny's stunt double gets the vampire makeup and replaces him for the rest of the film its time to hang up FDTD3:THMD's spurs and say "whoa cowboy, I don't think you're quite ready for the rodeo just yet".

4 Jeez Earl McGraw really knows how to act drunk out of 10 (BAD)

X-Men (2000)

X-Men (PG) - Review

“Do you know what happens when you write the worst line of dialogue?”

Ah, the halcyon days, before the comic book based blockbuster was arriving every month, where vast veins of graphic novels and spandex jokes were virtually untapped.  Into this void stepped Director Bryan Singer, hot off the success of The Usual Suspects and the tepid mediocrity of Apt Pupil.  Fox took the chance to launch a huge, big budget franchise on the backs of mutated uncampy super-peeps (back when that kind of thing had fallen way out of style).  The result is a totteringly shoddy story encompassing the immensely loveable faculty of Professor Charles Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters.  Their intros and character interplay elevate the dumbed down story and paved the way for actual Super Hero films to be realized.  The Spider-Mans, Dark Knights (and yes, Daredevils), even the Marvel Cinematic Universe all owe a bid of thanks to a goofy, scruffy little movie wrapped in restrictive over-designed leather suits fighting on top of the fake looking Statue of Liberty with absolutely unrealistic justifications.  Excelsior!

7 “Same Thing That Happens to Everything Else” out of 10 (GOOD)