Rodriguez (addendum)

1999 - From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (directed by Scott Spiegel) - This was such a bad movie, I actually kind of feel sad for the director. Growing up with Sam Raimi and then watching him become a beloved and successful filmmaker must be hard. You can certainly see Spiegel desperately trying to come up with a cinematic style like his pal. Rather than using the quick-zooms and low stedicam shots favored by Raimi, Spiegel has apparently decided that he is the POV man. We get point-of-view shots of everything from pools of blood to phones to a knob on a safe. They make no sense, are incredibly distracting and, ultimately, make the entire film feel like a high-budget college flick. (4/10)


2000 - From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (directed by P.J. Pesce) -It's a shame that many people, due to the ordering of the numbers in the titles, will skip this prequel after the huge disappointment of part 2. I was taken completely by surprise at how good this Old West/action/bandito/vampire flick was. It's beautifully shot, packed with great characters and is effused with that great Eastwood western flavor I love. My favorite character is the dead-on, historically accurate portrayal of Ambrose Bierce by Michael Parks (who is unrecognizable from his role as the ill-fated policeman in the prologue of part 1). Better than the original. (8/10)