From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Two criminals on the run take a few hostages and head for Mexico. Seth Gecko (Clooney) is smooth and calm under pressure. His brother Richie (Tarantino) is a trigger-happy prick who needs protecting from his own impulses.
It's a movie of two uneven halves. For a while it's an edgy crime flick with QT-penned dialogue. It doesn't go anywhere particularly interesting, but there's at least the feeling that it might. The latter part of the film, however, has no such aspirations. Instead, it goes all out to please fans of a very different genre. I'll say no more, to avoid further spoilers, but the direction it takes will either float your goat or it won't. My goat was thoroughly sunk, but I have to hand it to the creators for trying something so outrageously divergent.

2½ lapdogs of Satan out of 5

THE LION KING [1994]

Disney's take on William Shakespeare's Hamlet comes in the form of singing jungle animals in the beautifully animated The Lion King.
It's about a young lion cub who must reclaim his throne as the King, after his father is murdered by his manipulative uncle and a pack of ravaging hyenas.
Dig a little deeper and you find a tale of love, hope and the search for one's identity.  The expressively lush animation shines bright and keeps one's eyes glued to the screen from beginning to end.  Most of the voicework is pretty dull, with the exception of Jeremy Irons and Nathan Lane who both steal each scene they're in.  While the songs might be a bit much here and there, they're not overly offensive.  I couldn't help but pick apart Disney's idea of social hierarchy and how it treats brawn over brains, rich over poor and how we should just accept what we're born into.
Still, as an piece of animation, I couldn't help but be in awe of the dedication put into crafting it into what it is.

4 circles of life out of 5

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Rodriguez’s third Mariachi film saw him once again write, direct, edit and score the production. That type of creative control must make him the envy of his peers. The film had a budget almost four times what the previous two had combined and was shot digitally, so editing and SFX would've been a breeze, but the story is a mess. There are too many people with not enough to do and sketchy reasons for doing it. It’s a half-baked movie with an abundance of action but not enough plotting.

2 embellishments out of 5

Desperado (1995)

A sequel to El Mariachi (1992) that feels more like a remake because the two stories are so very similar. It has the travelling musician with the guitar case full of guns, the woman in the small town, the bad guy, etc. The most obvious differences are a bigger budget and more competent cast. You get Antonio Banderas to moisten the ladies, Salma Hayek to stiffen the men, and Cheech Marin to make the family dog drool on the throw rug. It’s typical Rodriguez, which means it’s a mix of stylised action and surface deep emotion that goes well with movie snacks, if you like that kind of thing.

3 blood trails out of 5