Machete [2010]

[megabyteme]

The movie was based off of a spoof/fake trailer. Again, what were you guys expecting?

This is not a film where you critique dialog, "did I find it realistic?", or question whether or not DeNiro gave his best performance... This film had only a couple of requirements- be fun, and show some of the politics/attitudes regarding Mexico-American border crossings. On the first count, it was fun- if you like violence, intentionally has-been stars, top-rated stars who are "slumming it", and have a high tolerance for cheesy dialog. If you can't stand any of these things, you should have spotted this movie as a not-for-me when you saw that it was being made into an actual movie...

On count two, the movie does show some good, over-the-top portrayals of the red-neck, "they're taking our jobs", kill-em-all, we need a 1400 mile fence attitudes that are very much real, and happening right now. Michelle Rodriguez did a great job of playing the serious, passionate, counter to the over-the-top characters saturating the rest of the film. Kudos to her for playing that part well- she was the true standout, IMO.

[sandman_1]

This is not a film where you critique dialog, "did I find it realistic?", or question whether or not DeNiro gave his best performance... This film had only a couple of requirements- be fun, and show some of the politics/attitudes regarding Mexico-American border crossings. On the first count, it was fun- if you like violence, intentionally has-been stars, top-rated stars who are "slumming it", and have a high tolerance for cheesy dialog. If you can't stand any of these things, you should have spotted this movie as a not-for-me when you saw that it was being made into an actual movie...

On count two, the movie does show some good, over-the-top portrayals of the red-neck, "they're taking our jobs", kill-em-all, we need a 1400 mile fence attitudes that are very much real, and happening right now. Michelle Rodriguez did a great job of playing the serious, passionate, counter to the over-the-top characters saturating the rest of the film. Kudos to her for playing that part well- she was the true standout, IMO.

Personally, the only fun I had was laughing at how silly and pathetic this movie was.

Again, what were you guys expecting?

The only reason why I did give it a chance, was of the high ratings it got on Rotten Tomatoes. Usually, RT is a good metric for weeding out crap movies from good movies but it failed miserably on this.

[IdolEyes787]

The movie was based off of a spoof/fake trailer. Again, what were you guys expecting?

I was expecting it to be .........fun.
Like I sort of said ,the type of films that this was based on - the cheesy drive-in, grindhouse , B-movie sort of thing were rarely if ever "realistic" or "well acted ".What the good ones had going for them though was originality or a sense of humour or some urgency to their kinetic energy .
Machete on the other hand was like watching bad Mel Brooks ( more annoying than fun or witty) with a bit of gore and a few tits thrown in so that Rodriguez could pretend that he is still a maverick bad-boy.
Shit even the talentless turd part of the unholy triumvirate Eli Roth, is more of a maverick than Rodriguez is any more.

[cinephilia]

8/10 according to mr. nails.

in other words, i will never watch this film (unless idoleyes forces me to do so).

[IdolEyes787]

8/10 according to mr. nails.

in other words, i will never watch this film (unless idoleyes forces me to do so).

link

[megabyteme]

Coincidentally, I grabbed Touch of Evil- Director's Cut (1958) the same night. It was directed by Orson Welles and has an 8.X along with 30k votes. I DID have high expectations for that one... 45 minutes into it, I could not take the (unintentionally) cheesy dialog, a painted-on "Mexican" Police Chief played by Charlton Heston , and shots that jumped from black and white to gray and white. Oh, and very unrealistic (unintentional?) situations. I turned that one off instead of drinking bleach mixed with ammonia. Seriously painful.

[IdolEyes787]

Your first mistake was watching anything with Charlton Heston in it.

[megabyteme]

I am glad you are not defending Touch of Bad Movie with Superstar Director. I seriously believe Machete to be the better of the two.

[IdolEyes787]

I am glad you are not defending Touch of Bad Movie with Superstar Director. I seriously believe Machete to be the better of the two.

You seem to be harbouring the illusion that I think old movies are inherently better than new ones.Good is good and bad is bad regardless of when they were filmed.
Anyway some stylized slightly melodramatic thrillers by well-know directors starring big names that you actually might like.

The Conversation (Coppola and Hackman.Also look for an extremely young(ish) Harrison Ford )
Three Days of the Condor (Pollock and Redford )
Marathon Man ( Schlesinger and Hoffman ...and Olivier)

[megabyteme]

You seem to be harbouring the illusion that I think old movies are inherently better than new ones.Good is good and bad is bad regardless of when they were filmed.

Actually, I have never seen you as the "old is better" type. I was referencing the coincidental Mexican-American border similarities between the two, and noting the very high IMDB rating for ToE. Like I said, I am happy you did not favor ToE because MANY people seem to think of it as a GREAT film. It is dreadful.

The difference, is that Machete was meant to be fun and cheesy- ToE was supposed to be film noir and classic. To use my analogy from a couple of weeks ago- Machete is a McDonell's cheeseburger, while ToE is meant to be fine dining. I can stomach Machete because it is what I ordered- ToE got sent back to the kitchen for containing too much cheese, and being overdone.