Tarantino, Quentin

Robert Rodriguez Mexico Trilogy (El Mariachi / Desperado / Once Upon A Time In Mexico)

EL MARIACHI: All he wants is to be is a mariachi, like his father, his grandfather and his great grandfather before him. But the town he thinks will bring him luck brings only a curse of deadly mistaken identity. Forced to trade his guitar for a gun, the mariachi is playing for his life in this critically-acclaimed film debut from director Robert Rodriguez. Financed with earnings from a month-long stay in a research hospital, this astonishing action adventure was shot with no second takes, using borrowed equipment and a talented cast of unknowns. The riveting result is a wild bullet-dodging ride through a world of bandido violence, from the suspense of the opening shoot-out to the tragedy of the unexpected conclusion. With little more than a great story and a lot of heart, Rodriguez has created pure movie pleasure, setting new standards for independent filmmaking, and establishing himself as an unquestionable talent. "An enormously entertaining movie." (Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES). DESPERADO: Antonio Banderas, Joaquim De Almeida, Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin and Quentin Tarantino star in this stylish shoot-'em-up described as a south-of-the-border Pulp Fiction. Director Robert Rodriguez follows up his legendary debut film, El Mariachi, with this sexy sequel about a mysterious guitar player (Banderas) searching for vengeance against the men who murdered his girlfriend. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO: Leaping back into action, gun-slinging, guitar-toting hero "El Mariachi" is back in town in ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, as director Robert Rodriguez delivers the epic final chapter of his pulp Western trilogy. Starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes, Enrique Iglesias and Willem Dafoe ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO is a full-frontal assault.

From Dusk Till Dawn (Dimension Collector's Series)

From a match made in heaven comes a movie spawned in hell! Young hotshot director Robert Rodriquez (El Mariachi, Desperado) teamed up with Pulp Fiction auteur Quentin Tarantino (offering his services as writer and co-star) to make this outrageous, no-holds-barred hybrid of high-octane crime and gruesome horror. QT plays Richard Gecko, a borderline psychopath who breaks his career-criminal brother, Seth (George Clooney), out of prison, after which they rob a bank and leave a trail of dead and wounded in their bloody wake. Then they hijack a mobile home driven by a former Baptist minister (Harvey Keitel) who quit the church after his wife's death and hit the road with his two children (played by Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu). Heading to Mexico with their hostages, the infamous Gecko brothers arrive at the Titty Twister bar to rendezvous for a money drop, but they don't realize that they've just entered the nocturnal lair of a bloodthirsty gang of vampires! With not-so-subtle aplomb, Rodriguez and Tarantino shift into high gear with a nonstop parade of gore, gunfire, and pointy-fanged mayhem featuring Salma Hayek as a snake-charming dancer whose bite is much worse than her bark. If you're a fan of Tarantino's lyrical dialogue and pop-cultural wit, you'll have fun with the road-movie half of this supernatural horror-comedy, but if your taste runs more to exploding heads and eyeballs, sloppy entrails and morphing monsters, the second half provides a connoisseur's feast of gross-out excess. Bon appétit! --Jeff Shannon

It's nonstop thrills when George Clooney (THE PERFECT STORM, THREE KINGS) and Quentin Tarantino (PULP FICTION) star as the Gecko brothers -- two dangerous outlaws on a wild crime spree! After kidnapping a father (Harvey Keitel -- U-571) and his two kids (including Juliette Lewis -- NATURAL BORN KILLERS), the Geckos head south to a seedy Mexican bar to hide out in safety. But when they face the bar's truly notorious clientele, they're forced to team up with their hostages in order to make it out alive!

Four Rooms

This unbearable quartet of stories was written and directed by hot filmmakers Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi), Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging), and Alexandre Rockwell (In the Soup), which only proves that even the smart guys can really blow it sometimes. The anthology is linked by the hotel in which all the events are taking place, and by Tim Roth as a bellboy flitting from scene to scene. Nobody overcomes the insufferable air of self-congratulation that permeates this exercise in forced hipness. With Bruce Willis, Madonna, Lili Taylor, Ione Skye, Jennifer Beals, and Antonio Banderas. --Tom Keogh

Don't miss the fun in this hilariously sexy comedy that has Antonio Banderas (THE MASK OF ZORRO), Madonna (EVITA), and a sizzling all-star cast checking in for laughs! It's Ted the Bellhop's (Tim Roth -- PULP FICTION) first night on the job ... and the hotel's very unusual guests are about to place him in some outrageous predicaments! It seems that this evening's room service is serving up one unbelievable happening ... after another! Also featuring Academy Award(R) winner Marisa Tomei (1992 Best Supporting Actress, MY COUSIN VINNY), FOUR ROOMS is a wild night of highly original comedy entertainment you'll enjoy ... without reservations!

Little Nicky (New Line Platinum Series)

In Little Nicky, Adam Sandler plays the sweetest of three sons of Satan (Harvey Keitel), who's got to go to Earth and retrieve his nasty, power-hungry brothers lest they take over Hell and make it a thoroughly evil place. As with Sandler's other films, this weird premise (based oh-so-loosely on King Lear) is just an excuse to trot out a hodgepodge of comic bits and cameo performances. Admittedly, a lot of the jokes don't work (there was no need to repeat the one about shoving a pineapple up Hitler's ass), but the ones that do tend to be more memorable than the ones that don't, making for a pretty funny movie, when all is said and done. Sure, it's hard to overcome Sandler's speech impediment du jour, not to mention that romantic subplot with Patricia Arquette, but it can be done by focusing on the brilliant cameos by Regis Philbin, Reese Witherspoon, Ozzy Osbourne, and Henry Winkler (especially when he's covered with bees), as well as one of the funniest uses of a scene from De Palma's Scarface in years. Supporting Sandler throughout are two very funny heavy metal disciples and a bulldog named Beefy (voiced by Robert Smigel, the man behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog). And, in an almost unrecognizable cameo, that's Clint Howard as the cross-dressing fetishist named "Nipples." --Andy Spletzer

Adam Sandler is Little Nicky, a shy and awkward guy with a penchant for heavy metal music and two bullies for older brothers. And another thing .... Little Nicky is the son of the Devil and lives in Hell. Also stars Patricia Arquette and Harvey Keitel.

The Cutting Edge - The Magic of Movie Editing

Bullitt's dynamic editing highlighted by its twisting squealing hill-leaping chase sequence that leaves viewers whooping and woozy earned a 1968 Best Film Editing Oscar and helped make the film an action classic. How do film editors work this kind of magic? This fascinating program lets you in on the secrets. "What makes a movie a movie is the editing" says Zach Staenberg Academy Award-winning* editor of the Matrix trilogy. Closeups flashbacks parallel action slow motion juxtaposition of images - these are just a few tools that make clips from Birth of a Nation to Pulp Fiction The Battleship Potemkin to Gladiator indelible. Narrated by Kathy Bates and with interviews of a who's who of contemporary directors and editors The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing is shot for shot and frame after frame reel magic.Running Time: 99 min.System Requirements:Running Time 99 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 012569714298

"Editing is what makes film a film." That audacious statement is made at the beginning of this 2005 documentary about the art of film editing. After listening to many editors and directors, movie novices as well as cinephiles may agree. Kathy Bates narrates this whirlwind history of the art punctuated by dozens of scenes to illustrate the effect of film editing in heightening reality and making a visceral impact on the filmgoer. In fact, the profession seems to be run on "a gut feeling" whether it's clipping a few frames, or 20 minutes of the final act (which we learn happened with Lenny). James Cameron illustrates the importance of a frame as we see a scene from Terminator 2 with 1 frame out 24 missing (24 frames representing one second of film). Or as Quentin Tarantino states, "musicians have notes, editors have frames." It's fascinating to see how editing--the process of assembling the film after it's been shot--can save films, make performances better, and become the ultimate jigsaw puzzle. The last concept is demonstrated as we return time and again to the most well-known editor of the time, Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient), as he edits a few scenes from Cold Mountain in front of us. We see how he works with light, covers mistakes, and controls emotion. For those who wished for a sequel to the excellent documentary on cinematographers, Visions of Light (1993), here's the next step (although made by different folks including first-time director Wendy Apple). Now, anyone want to tackle art directors? --Doug Thomas

Desperado (Special Edition)

It's Sergio Leone meets Sam Peckinpah meets Quentin Tarantino in this ultraviolent, mythological shoot-'em-up by auteur Robert Rodriguez. In Desperado, Rodriguez creates larger-than-life, genre-tweaking stock characters and puts them through their paces. As they stride bravely through an Old West lightly dusted with camp humor, they're periodically called upon to nimbly dodge bullets and fireballs through outrageously choreographed displays of Hollywood pyrotechnics. In this bigger-budget semi-remake/semi-sequel to Rodriguez's indie sensation, El Mariachi (made, famously, for $7,000), Antonio Banderas is the darkly charismatic El Mariachi, the Mysterious Stranger in town; Steve Buscemi is perfectly cast as his weasely, motor-mouth Comic Sidekick, laying the groundwork for El Mariachi's entrance by spinning saloon stories to build up his legend; Cheech Marin is a standout as the Bartender, who really knows how to handle a toothpick; and gorgeous Salma Hayek is, well, the Girl--treated to the kind of full-blown, slow-mo introduction the movies traditionally lavish on beautiful new stars. It doesn't add up to much, but it's a kick. Be careful not to blow out your speakers with the DVD's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. --Jim Emerson

In this continuation of "El Mariachi," a traveling musician looking for work gets mistaken for a hitman and is thereby entangled in a web of love, corruption, and death. This leads to a very high body count, involvement with a beautiful woman who works for the local drug lord, and finally, the inevitable face-to-face confrontation and bloody showdown. Stars Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. Deluxe Edition packed with special features! Featurette: "Sneak Peak: Once Upon A Time in Mexico. Featurette: "10 More Minutes: Anatomy of a Shootout." Audio Commentary with Director Robert Rodriguez.

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

There were good intentions in this Muppets adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic Emerald City story of Dorothy's journey to see the Wizard with hopes of fulfilling her dream of stardom: the film is a nostalgic nod to the original 1979 Muppet Movie, where Kermit leaves the swamps for Hollywood to become a star, picking up some friends along the way. Grammy winner Ashanti plays Dorothy Gale, an aspiring singer who serves meatloaf to truckers and lives in a Kansas trailer park with her Aunt Em (Queen Latifah). In the ensuing chaos of a giant tornado, she gets dumped in the Land of Oz—along with her pet shrimp, Toto (Pepe the Prawn). Dorothy soon meets the familiar Scarecrow, Tin man, and Lion (Kermit, Gonzo, and Fozzie, respectively) and together they journey to see the Wizard (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor) who promises to grant her celebrity wish if first she defeats the Wicked Witch of the West (Miss Piggy). While the Muppets have survived a few cinematic flops before, this film is bereft of all they represent--the endearing innocence, engaging silliness, and cagey humor of Jim Henson's legendary variety series. Instead, a mean-spirited cynicism with sexual subtext prevails that is not only unfunny, but also mildly offensive. In a desire to appear edgy and culturally relevant by the filmmakers (and executive producers Brian and Lisa Henson), the timeless spirit of the vintage Muppets is missing, as are the signature voiceovers by Frank Oz and Brian Henson. Onscreen chemistry between actors and Muppets feels contrived, not to mention Quentin Tarantino's bizarre cameo. When Kermit delivers a religious joke of questionable taste, viewers might yearn for the swamp years, when Kermit the frog and the Henson Company could do no wrong. (Ages 4 and older) --Lynn Gibson

Join Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and all the Muppets as they turn everyone's favorite classic tale into a musical madcap adventure that shines brighter than Emerald City! The fun starts when the Muppets team up with an all-star cast that includes Grammy Award winner Ashanti, Oscar(R) nominee Queen Latifah (2002, Best Supporting Actress, CHICAGO), David Alan Grier, Academy Award(R) winner Quentin Tarantino (1994, Best Original Screenplay, PULP FICTION), and Jeffrey Tambor. Ashanti sparkles as Dorothy, an aspiring singer whose dreams of fame and fortune seem worlds away from coming true in the Kansas trailer park where she lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. But when a tornado transports her and Toto (Pepe the King Prawn) to the magical land of Oz, Dorothy meets the Wizard, who promises to make her a superstar -- if she and her wacky new friends, the Scarecrow (Kermit), the Tin Thing (Gonzo), and the Cowardly Lion(Fozzie), can defeat Oz's #1 diabolical diva, the Wicked Witch of the West (Miss Piggy)! Featuring original music, hilarious performances, and 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage, THE MUPPETS' WIZARD OF OZ will lift your spirits and blow you away!

God Said, Ha!

Comic, actress, and Saturday Night Live alumni Julia Sweeney had just moved to a cozy little bungalow in Los Angeles. Her life was buzzing along quite nicely, thank you very much, and she was planning days of writing, evenings of dinner parties and smart conversations, and nights of quiet solitude. "That's when God said 'Ha!'" confesses Sweeney in her monologue-cum-one woman Broadway show and for the next 80 minutes she shares the intimate experiences of an emotionally turbulent year in her life. Her brother is diagnosed with cancer and takes up residence in her bedroom, her parents move down from Washington and into the guest room, and the adult Sweeney is suddenly reliving her childhood in a bizarre nuclear family flashback. The magic of God Said Ha! lies in her loving lampoon of the details surrounding an inherently tragic situation: learning to deal with the foibles of her parents all over again, sneaking a boyfriend into her ridiculously crowded house like an embarrassed teenager, turning her brother's chemotherapy visits into giggly family outings. Sweeney is in total command of the stage, more like a host giving a cockeyed tour of her life than a monologist, and her easy manner and relaxed tone puts the audience at ease. It's a brave, funny, and irresistibly involving film, like the reflective confession of a dear friend sharing intimate details of her life with a mischievous grin. Tragedy has never been so respectfully hilarious. --Sean Axmaker

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE'S Julia Sweeney has teamed with producer Quentin Tarantino (JACKIE BROWN, PULP FICTION) to create this uplifting motion picture presentation of Julia's hilarious stand-up performance, GOD SAID HA! Recently single, Julia was looking forward to the future in a cozy new bachelorette home. But then, her idyllic life was instantly changed when her brother ... along with their parents ... moved into her tiny place for a year she'll never forget! Acclaimed by critics and honored as Best Picture at the Seattle International Film Festival -- Julia's infectious sense of humor allows us to find moments of extreme hilarity in some of life's most challenging days!

Double Dare

DOUBLE DARE is a double-barreled, action-packed documentary about the struggles of two stuntwomen in male-dominated Tinsel town to stay working, stay thin, and stay sane against the backdrops of Xena: Warrior Princess, Wonder Woman, and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

Desperado / El Mariachi (Special Editions)

Before Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi, Mexicans in North American action films were typically maids, drug dealers, or prison inmates. Even if the Cisco Kid was a friend of yours, you handled a dust cloth or a Mac-10 if you lasted in Hollywood longer than a New York minuto. But when El Mariachi crossed the border in 1992, things changed. Granted, it still involved a drug lord in a shoot-em-up, bang-bang, but this time the good guy was a Mexican. Austin-based Rodriguez made El Mariachi for a fistful of pesos and a little help from his friends. He wrote, directed, coproduced, edited, and operated the camera. Plus, he assembled a cast that had never acted before to work por nada. All for a paltry $7,000, a milagro without a beanfield war.

Desperado continues the outrageous action adventure. Working with a much bigger budget, Rodriguez returns the nameless mariachi to nonstop action. Again thrust into a world he never made, the hero takes his guitar-case arsenal deep into the criminal labyrinth of Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), el gran chingon of the Mexican drug lords. With an amigo (Steve Buscemi) and a beautiful bookstore owner (Salma Hayek), el mariachi confronts an outrageous cast along the way, including a bartender (Cheech Marin), a drug deal pick-up guy (Quentin Tarantino), and the original mariachi (coproducer Carlos Gallardo) as a new-found compa'. Antonio Banderas has the lead this time, and if he's not quite up to the challenge, it's probably because he's Spanish, not Mexican, a distinction not lost by anyone raised on what the popular media now calls "ethnic food." That said, Desperado is not to be missed. Using intelligence, romance, and humor--as well as plenty of explosive, surreal violence--Rodriguez again showcases the timeless struggle between the forces of darkness and light. And, in the process, he's recasting the mold for the contemporary action hero--kids now argue about who gets to play the Mexican. --Stephan Magcosta