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Colin Farrell is Arturo Bandini, a young would-be writer who comes to Depression-era Los Angeles to make a name for himself. While there, he meets beautiful barmaid Camilla (Salma Hayek), a Mexican immigrant who hopes for a better life by marrying a wealthy American. Both are trying to escape the stigma of their ethnicity in blue-blood California. The passion that arises between them is palpable â€" if they could only set aside their ambitions and submit to it. Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) directs this outcasts’ tale of desire in the desert, co-starring Donald Sutherland (Pride and Prejudice).Adapted from the acclaimed 1939 novel by John Fante,
Ask the Dust represents a 30-year labor of love for Robert Towne, the Oscar®-winning screenwriter of Chinatown. It's easy to see why Towne was drawn to Fante's classic tale of ill-fated romance in Depression-era Los Angeles: It's a tenacious, hard-scrabble valentine to Towne's beloved city, to the lonely craft of writing, and to the elusive whims of love. Towne must have been inspired by the challenge of capturing the inner life and outer environs of Fante's literary hero, struggling writer Aturo Bandini (played by Colin Farrell), as he arrives in L.A. circa 1932, sells occasional stories to legendary American Mercury editor H.L. Mencken (heard only in voice-overs provided by film critic Richard Schickel), lives in the seedy Alta Loma hotel in the dusty neighborhood of Bunker Hill (where a fellow resident is played by Donald Sutherland), and falls into a stormy relationship with Camilla (Salma Hayek), a Mexican waitress who shares Bandini's immigrant dreams for a better life in sunny California. There are good times and bad in this passionately combative romance (and! Hayek has never been more sensuously appealing onscreen), and! Towne h as done a perfect job of capturing an arid combination of hope, depression, and artistic ambition, working in fruitful collaboration with celebrated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (
The Black Stallion) on meticulously authentic Depression-era sets built on location (of all places) in South Africa.
Ask the Dust never fully succeeds as an emotionally involving drama (the lives of writers are notoriously difficult to translate to film), but there's something undeniably seductive about this curious and great-looking film... and we're not just talking about Farrell and Hayek cavorting naked in the ocean. Even that memorable scene is infused with the threat of broken dreams, as if Towne were reminding us (and himself) that nothing good comes without sacrifice.
--Jeff ShannonSalma Hayek and Penelope Cruz have never been sexier as they team up for this hilarious, action-packed western! Determined to avenge the deaths of their fathers, Sara Sandoval (Hayek) and Ma! ria Alvarez (Cruz) vow to seize the ill-gotten gains of robber baron Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). So, with help from a retired bank robber (Sam Shepard) and a jittery criminologist (Steve Zahn), these two beauties become unlikely outlaws, blazing a trail of larceny and laughter across Mexico!First screened in Europe and scheduled for limited release in the U.S.,
Bandidas can now be viewed by all fans of the visually stunning duo, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Set in Mexico 1888,
Bandidas 
is a Western spoof about two women, Maria Alvarez (Penelope Cruz) and Sara Sandoval (Salma Hayek), who seek to avenge the tragedies befallen both their fathers under robber baron, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). Jackson, employed by the Bank of New York, is sent to Mexico to buy land and open banks to the detriment of local culture. Jackson kills Sara's corrupt father, Don Diego, while ban! dits burn down Maria's home. The two ladies band together for ! the comm unity's cause. Under the tutelage of Bill Buck (Sam Sheperd), Sara and Maria develop bank robbery skills. When criminologist, Quentin Cooke (Steve Zahn), hunts them, they convert him with their strong moral sense and good looks. Like any
Thelma and Louise-ish tale of women who take charge, Maria and Sara are foil characters who eventually become an invincible, sisterly team. This comedy is built around their bickering. For Sara, with European education and penchant of designer clothing, Maria is a hick who lacks refinement, yet Maria, horse whisperer, can fire a gun. The slapstick is overkill, for example when Sara wonders whether a bandana is Gucci or Prada. However, viewers will love Penelope Cruz on horseback and the two actresses practice-kissing their foe in a brothel.
Bandidas is a light film with some laughs and mucho sex appeal. --
Trinie Dalton
Beyond Bandidas
More Films from Salma Hayek | 
More Films from Penelope Cruz | 
More Comic Westerns |
Stills from Bandidas Nominated for six 2002 Academy Awards(R), including Salma Hayek for Best Actress, FRIDA is the triumphant motion picture about an exceptional woman who lived an unforgettable life! A product of humble beginnings, Frida Kahlo (Hayek) earns fame as a talented artist with a unique vision. And from her enduring relationship with her mentor and husband, Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina -- CHOCOLAT), to her scandalous affairs, Frida's uncompromising personality would inspire her greatest creations! Also starring Antonio Banderas (SPY KIDS), Ashley Judd (KISS THE GIRLS), Edward Norton (RED DRAGON), and Geoffrey Rush (QUILLS).Salma Hayek makes up for many bad movies with her fierce ! performance in this sumptuous film. Hayek plays the Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, whose tempestuous life with her unfaithful husband, muralist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), drives the story of Frida. Maverick director Julie Taymor (Titus, the Broadway stage production of The Lion King) pulls out a wealth of gorgeous visuals to capture everything from the horrific bus accident that damaged Kahlo's spine to her and Rivera's trip to New York City, where Rivera's political leanings ruptured a commission from the Rockefeller family. Though the script spends too much time telling us how great Frida's painting is (rather than trusting in the power of the images themselves), Taymor's dynamic energy and Kahlo's forceful personality give Frida genuine emotional impact. The superb cast includes Roger Rees, Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Geoffrey Rush, Antonio Banderas, and Edward Norton. --Bret FetzerALEX WHITMAN IS A STRAIGHT-L! ACED CORPORATE TYPE WHO MEETS ISABEL FUENTES, A FIERY MEXICAN-! AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER. A SINGLE NIGHT OF PASSION LEADS TO MARRIAGE AND TWO PEOPLE FROM VERY DIFFERENT CULTURES MUST ADJUST TO A NEW LIFESTYLE TOGETHER AND OVERCOME THEIR PARENTS' DISMAY AT THEIR UNION.Opposites attract in this conventional but refreshingly unpredictable romantic comedy. New York nightclub designer (Matthew Perry, from television's Friends) is in Las Vegas to supervise the construction of a new project when he meets a fiery Mexican beauty (Salma Hayek). It's lust at first sight, and their one-night stand takes an unexpected turn when she shows up three months later to announce that she's pregnant. They're determined to do right for each other, so they get married in a Vegas chapel with an Elvis impersonator as their witness. Then comes the hard part--trying to figure out if they're actually compatible. The plot complications are mostly familiar, but Perry and Hayek throw some bright sparks as their initial bliss turns to more realistic concerns for family and! future. Along the way there's some sharp dialogue and a few good laughs to give this all-too-human comedy an enjoyable spin. --Jeff ShannonPierce Brosnan plays a master thief who, after an incredibly successful heist, moves to the Bahamas with his beautiful partner in crime. But the cat and mouse games begins again when an FBI agent, his old nemesis, returns convinced he is going for the biggest score of all, the famous Napoleon diamond.
DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features:Content- Script to Screen
Documentaries:"Before, During and After the Sunset" & "Interview with a Jewel Thief"
Gag Reel:Blooper Reel
Music Video:
Other:Deleted/Alternate Scenes
After the Sunset may not be the greatest jewel-heist caper comedy ever made, but it sure is easy on the eyes. Shifting back into his crowd-pleasing
Rush Hour mode, director Brett Ratner kicks off the action with a rousing chase scene that pretty mu! ch describes the entire film: utter nonsense, but adequately e! njoyable . Things get very sunny thereafter, when FBI agent Woody Harrelson lands in the Bahamas to track down ace diamond thief Pierce Brosnan and his lovely accomplice Salma Hayek, whom he suspects of planning their next big heist on a cruise ship. A Bahamian gangster (Don Cheadle) wants in on the action, and the whole thing's about as fluffy as an Elmo doll and just as harmless, especially when you consider Hayek's revealing wardrobe (which, thankfully, distracts from Brosnan's less-than-Bond-like physique). There's an abundance of witty banter between everyone, and the tropical locations make
After the Sunset a balmy, vicarious vacation. Critics weren't exactly kind to this breezy dose of popcorn entertainment, but it's an agreeable time-killer and an instant cure for seasonal affective disorder, even if the comedic chemistry leaves something to be desired.
--Jeff Shannon
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