Rodriguez (2005)

2005 - The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D - I'm still trying to figure out why this was a worse movie than the similar Spy Kids 3-D. Maybe I like the Spy Kids universe better? Was it because Spy Kids 3 had Bill "Game Over" Paxton in it? I think the 3-D in SK3 was more fun than in this film. It didn't have the rollercoaster-style excitement that the previous movie's 3-D offered.

I do appreciate the movie's background: I think it's incredibly cool that Rodriguez filmed one of his son's stories (though I might bet his son recently watched The NeverEnding Story and The Wizard of Oz). I liked the title characters. I think all four of the kid actors did excellent jobs. It was good to see David Arquette back.

It didn't work for me, but my six year old niece loved it when it came out and had the Happy Meal toys to prove it. I suppose that's what really matters. (6/10)


2005 - 15 Minute Flic School: Sin City - The more tech-bound Rodriguez's films get, the less these things serve as "film schools" for regular Joes. I suppose knowing that actors take time to adjust to shooting in front of a green screen might be useful if I had an army of CGI artists to fill in all that green with believable backgrounds. Short of that, I'll be hauling the camera and actors outside, thanks.

Still, it was fascinating to see what Sin City looked like pre-computer, Blue Bastard and all. (6/10)


2005 - 10 Minute Cooking School: Sin City "Breakfast Tacos" - A quick, middle of the night snack? Not likely! By my count, there were about 9 million steps to making these scrambled-egg tacos, starting with making the tortillas from scratch. Fresh tortillas are good, no doubt, but, c'mon. If I've been up all night editing a movie and I'm hungry, I'm not gonna be kneading dough. More likely, I'll dig some nachos and salsa, or resort to eating green olives out of the jar if nothing else can be found.

Anyway, I hope we get more of these on future DVDs. These are fun. (7/10)