Chuck's Movie Breakdown

          Hey guys, Chuck here. This is it, the final review of Robert Rodriguez Month . And, of course, we're wrapping things up with the 2014 film Sin City: A Dame to Kill For . Released in 2014, and once again co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, this Sin City sequel would take a different turn, as only two stories were pulled from the original graphic novels: "Just Another Saturday Night" and the titular "A Dame to Kill For," with two original stories, "The Long Bad Night" and "Nancy's Last Dance," being written exclusively for the movie by Frank Miller. This movie would see the return of original movie cast members Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Powers Boothe, Mickey Rourke, Jaime King, and Bruce Willis, with new cast members including Josh Brolin, Eva Green, Marton Csokas, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert, Jamie Chung, Christopher Lloyd, Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, Lady Gaga, Julia Garner, Jeremy Piven, Christopher Mel...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and I am so excited to today's review, the penultimate review of Robert Rodriguez Month . My all-time favorite Robert Rodriguez film: Sin City. Based on the graphic novel franchise of the same name by Frank Miller, Sin City was co-directed by both Miller and Rodriguez, and would boast one of the best ensemble casts since The Godfather , with a cast that would include Jessica Alba, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rutger Hauer, Josh Hartnett, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Marley Shelton, Michael Madsen, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood, and Bruce Willis.          The movie's prologue is an adaptation of the short story "The Customer is Always Right," where we see a meeting between a man called The Salesman, and a woman in a red dress called The Customer, who meet on a balcony overlooking the cityscape of Basin City, also known as Si...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back with more Robert Rodriguez Month, and the latest of the Spy Kids movies: Spy Kids: Armageddon.  This movie was made as part of a multi-film deal Robert Rodriguez made with Netflix for more family friendly fare, which started with the 2020 superhero movie We Can Be Heroes. Spy Kids: Armageddon , which Rodriguez directed, was co-written by Rodriguez and his son Racer Max. Yeah, for the first time in a Spy Kids movie, Robert Rodriguez's actual children, now adults involved in filmmaking themselves, are a part of the production process. Cool. As far as who's in the movie, the cast includes Zachary Levi, Gina Rodriguez, Connor Esterson, Everly Carganilla, D.J. Cotrona, and Billy Magnussen.          Now, the plot of Spy Kids: Armageddon combines plot points and elements from the original three Spy Kids movies, but does something unique with them. It follows the Tango-Torrez family, which consi...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, we're back with more Robert Rodriguez Month , and in 2011, eight years after the franchise ended, Robert Rodriguez came back and made a fourth Spy Kids.  What inspired him to do this? Well, on the set of Machete, Rodriguez spotted Jessica Alba tending to her child, and he got the idea of a Spy stepmom. Uhhh... This is Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, which stars Jessica Alba, Joel McHale, Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Jeremy Piven, and the voice of Ricky Gervais, and the return of both Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara.          The movie opens with Marissa Cortez-Wilson, who is tracking a time-manipulating criminal called Tick Tock, but is warned off by her boss, OSS Director Danger D'Amo, due to one important detail: Marissa is pregnant. But, Marissa can't let Tick Tock escape, and she goes after him, and she ends up in labor while she's going after Tick Tock. Eventually, she catches him, and the OSS ar...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and welcome back to Robert Rodriguez Month.  When I was a kid, I was excited when I saw an insert in my Spy Kids 2 DVD advertising a third Spy Kids movie. And, then, when the marketing campaign kicked off in 2003, I was stunned to see that the movie would be in 3D. And, I am referring to the old style of 3D with the red and blue lens glasses. Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, once again written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, sees the returns of several cast members of the first two movies, including Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Ricardo Montalban, Holland Taylor, Mike Judge, Matt O'Leary, Emily Osment, Alan Cumming, Tony Shaloub, Steve Buscemi, and George Clooney, with newcomers including Courtney Jines, Ryan Pinkston, Bobby Edner, Robert Vito, Salma Hayek, and Sylvester Stallone, with appearances by Glen Powell, Selena Gomez, and Elijah Wood.          So...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back with another Spy Kids movie as part of Robert Rodriguez Month . And, about a year after the release of the original Spy Kids, Robert Rodriguez came back with the second chapter, which promised to go bigger than the first one. Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams would see the returns of most of the cast of the original Spy Kids, including Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, Tony Shaloub, and Mike Judge, with newcomers including Matt O'Leary, Emily Osment, Christopher McDonald, Taylor Momsen, Holland Taylor, Steve Buscemi, and Ricardo Montalban, with a minor appearance by Bill Paxton.          So, in the year since the events of the first Spy Kids, the OSS (Organization of Super Spies) has now opened an entire division of child agents. Known as the Spy Kids division, this new OSS branch has various agents, including Carmen and Juni Co...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're pretty much halfway done with Robert Rodriguez Month.  And, throughout the month, we've been talking about films that Robert Rodriguez made that were more intended for adults, although Alita: Battle Angel does have a PG-13 rating. But, today, and for the next several days, we'll be taking a look at a franchise that marked Rodriguez's first foray into making movies for families and children. And that franchise is Spy Kids.  Released in 2001, the original Spy Kids came as something of a surprise, as not only was it Rodriguez's first time making a movie for kids, but it still has the signature Robert Rodriguez style.         The movie focuses on the Cortez family, which consists of parents Gregorio and Ingrid, and their two children Carmen and Juni. Years before, Gregorio and Ingrid were spies working for rival agencies, and were assigned to take each other out. However, the two instead fel...

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and although we're in the middle of Robert Rodriguez Month,  I want to talk about filmmaker James Cameron. In the early 2000's, Cameron was pointed out to a popular '90s anime called Battle Angel Alita , and sought to turn it into a feature length movie. Heck, his popular television series Dark Angel with Jessica Alba took some tonal cues from Battle Angel Alita.  Unfortunately, focus on the Avatar franchise took precedent for Cameron, forcing him to step back as director, and promptly looking for another director to step in. The director who would eventually take James Cameron's vision for Battle Angel Alita was none other than Robert Rodriguez, who loved the work Cameron and his team at Lightstorm had already done, and sought to bring Cameron's vision to life. And, in 2019, we would see that vision on screen with the movie Alita: Battle Angel.            The movie is set in the year 2563, ...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I just went to see the new movie Madame Web, directed by S.J. Clarkson, released by Sony Pictures, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, and starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Adam Scott,  Kerry Bishé, and Emma Roberts.         The movie is set in the year 2003, and focuses on Cassandra Webb, a New York City paramedic, who after a freak drowning accident, slowly begins to discover her power of clairvoyance, which allows her to glimpse into the future, and attempt to prevent an individual's death before it happens. This puts her into conflict with a very powerful man named Ezekiel Sims, who has been plagued with visions of his demise at the hands of three young women all with spider-like superpowers. The three Spider-Women in question, Julia Cornwall, Mattie Franklin, and Anya Corazon, are all teenagers at this point, and n...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back with more Robert Rodriguez Month . Yesterday, we took a look at the 2010 film Machete , so it only makes sense that today, we take a look at the 2013 sequel Machete Kills , directed by Rodriguez, written by Kyle Ward, and starring Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Demian Bichir, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Hudgens, William Sadler, Marko Zaror, Alexa Vega, Walton Goggins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Amber Heard, Mel Gibson, and Carlos Estevez (Charlie Sheen), with a minor appearance by Jessica Alba.          The movie actually opens with a mock trailer for a possible third Machete film, which is called Machete Kills Again...In Space , which will see Machete and Luz do their thing, but in outer space. And, according to the mock trailer, Machete Kills Again...In Space is set to feature Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Alexa Vega, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber as Bleep the Robot, and, as ...