"With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never be empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way into darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine."

Year: 2005

Directed by: Tim Burton & Mike Johnson

Written by: John August, Caroline Thompson & Pamela Pettler (screenplay) and Tim Burton & Carlos Grangel (characters)

A nervous groom keeps screwing up the wedding rehearsal, so he goes to the woods to practice his vows. Unfortunately he puts the ring on a corpse's finger, and he realises he's now married to a dead woman.

---

Corpse Bride is one of those almost classic movies you should watch on Halloween if you're not too into horror movies. That's kind of the speciality of Tim Burton: he makes dark movies emo or goth teens are way too invested in. I don't know if it has to do with the plots or the aesthetic.

But the aesthetic of Corpse Bride is amazing: almost colourless land of the living, the colourful and fun land of the dead. The characters look amazing, everyone looks different and has different shapes of their faces and body. It's a nice change from typical animations, but of course the main characters are tall and skinny with the typical Burton styled faces: pale skin, huge eyes with dark circles around them. Still, every little detail in the animation is amazing. I could talk about stop-motion animation all day long, but perhaps not.

Danny Elfman's music is pretty but generic. It's been heard over and over again. Sure, Victor's Piano Solo may give the viewer goose bumps, but other than that, every song feels like it's been done so many times before. The soundtrack is alright, but could be way better.

The story is interesting and well-written. It's short, and many things are left unexplained, but it's better that way. It's good that it ends quite suddenly without anything like "FEW WEEKS LATER" because that would kind of ruin the moment. The movie is about what it is about, it doesn't need anything else. The structure of the story is very similar to The Nightmare Before Christmas. No, it's not entirely the same, it's not "copied", but it has some sort of parallels and symmetry.

Corpse Bride is a good movie to watch around Halloween, but that's about it. I can't imagine watching it during the summer or anything. Corpse Bride has charisma, unique aesthetic and astonishing setting.

☆☆☆☆

4 / 10

"That morning was just like any other. No love. No luck. No ride. Nothing changes."

Year: 1992

Directed & Written by: Robert Rodriguez

A town has two visitors, both dressed in black, both carrying guitar cases. One is a travelling mariachi, another is killing drug lord's men for revenge. Of course the innocent one is mistaken for the killer.

I realised I haven't watched anything during October yet. I was going through Netflix and couldn't find anything to watch. Eventually I just thought I'd keep watching From Dusk Till Dawn, which made me think of Robert Rodriguez's movies. Again, Netflix couldn't really offer me anything interesting, but thankfully my dad has the whole trilogy: El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. So, don't be surprised if I'll write about the last two also.

One very notable thing about El Mariachi is the excellent cinematography. The visual side of the movie gives strong Tarantino vibes, but there was something else too. The shots may not be exactly beautiful, but they are close to perfect. There's something enchanting about how they shot the film. And together with the narrating in the beginning, the movie reminded me of some kind of 60's or 70's art films, which is quite far from how the film really is. Also Rodriguez has used some very interesting effects in the movie, but very skilfully. They weren't used too little or too much, just the right amount.

The music in El Mariachi is weird. It's weird and it shouldn't suit to any film - but it does. The soundtrack is a spot-on. It's different and weird, which is a good thing. All action movies tend to have one kind of soundtrack, so it's great seeing (well, hearing) something other for a change.

The editing is also great. The movie is not very long, but it doesn't feel too short. El Mariachi also uses both speed and slowness as interesting and effective stylistic devices, without disturbing the pace of the movie.

The story of El Mariachi is as simple as a plot can be. However, usually action films make the mistake of wasting extra subplots to the movie to make the story seem deeper. El Mariachi has one story, and it sure as hell is short, but it still is thrilling and as interesting as it can be. It's good enough.

It's admirable how a movie like this can be heavy and bloody, and yet still have that weird, light humour that is caused by the weirdest things. They aren't always even that funny, but like certain effects used in the filming make you smile, even if you're afraid for the main character's life. 

El Mariachi is simple and almost modest, yet it is skilfully made and one of the best action movies I've seen. I had high hopes for Robert Rodriguez, and I'd like to think he met my expectations. Well, we'll see about that when I see at least one other movie.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

9 / 10