Machete (2010)

trekgeezer · September 03, 2010, 06:05:11 PM

What can you say about film that features at least 10 decapitations before the opening credits roll. This is a grindhouse movie complete with scratchy film and oodles of exploitation.

I don't know if they intended it to be so funny, I laughed out loud and nearly fell out of my seat at one scene featuring weed whacker fu.

I'm not going say anything else about it right now except that this is goriest funny movie I've seen since Black Sheep.

10,000 Volt Ghost · September 04, 2010, 08:36:56 AM

So soo good. I loved Steven Seagall's samurai sword sound too.

The Burgomaster · September 06, 2010, 02:36:52 PM

Quote from: 10,000 Volt Ghost on September 04, 2010, 08:36:56 AM
So soo good. I loved Steven Seagall's samurai sword sound too.

Yes. Lifted directly from "The Six Million Dollar Man."

This is an amazingly entertaining movie. Loads of fun. For me, the only drawback was the final battle . . . I thought some of the earlier action scenes were better than the climax. But I still highly recommend this movie.

rebel_1812 · September 06, 2010, 10:29:31 PM

I haven't seen it but I heard there was alot of racism in the movie. Is that true?

The Burgomaster · September 07, 2010, 05:57:30 AM

Quote from: rebel_1812 on September 06, 2010, 10:29:31 PM
I haven't seen it but I heard there was alot of racism in the movie. Is that true?

Well, there are a lot of racial comments and racist characters. But the overall tone is that racism is bad. I think the more controversial issue in this movie is its political stand on immigration and illegal immigrants.

Hammock Rider · September 07, 2010, 11:32:49 AM

I liked it. I would have liked to have seen a little more interplay between Danny Trejo and Steven Seagal. I understand that both guys are probably in their 60's so that final fight scene wasn't as action packed as I would have liked to have seen, but otherwise I was pretty happy with it. That one scene with Danny Trejo, Lindsey Lohan and the actress who played Jeff Fahey's wife kind of shocked me at first because I thought the actress who played Fahey's wife was Laura Linney! Geek that I am I had to fight the urge to whip out my cell phone and look up the casting on IMDB. If it had been her I would have probably moved "John Adams" to the top of my Netflix Queue.

Rev. Powell · September 07, 2010, 04:03:27 PM

Good movie. I'd give it somewhere between 3.5-4 out of 5 stars.

Comments:

*Forget Lindsay Lohan's nude scene, the very first girl (Mayra Leal, I believe) was the hottest.
*The action scenes were definitely parodies and the humor intentional. Pretty over the top, but for the most part it didn't interfere with the excitement level.
*The exception being the intestine-rappelling scene. That's the second time I've seen that gimmick this year and I'm already sick of it.
*Lots of characters and the plot kept moving nicely.
*I wish Rodriguez had handled the political content with more subtlety and taste than he did the action sequences, and this is coming from a guy who's generally very pro-immigrant. I don't like to be preached to even if its something I agree with. The anti-immigration villains were just ridiculous redneck stereotypes.
*Danny Trejo has a great presence. Someone needs to call out a geological survey team to map out the crags in his face.
*As you would expect, it's a lot more satisfying to see Steven Segall killed in a movie than it is to see him survive in one.

The Burgomaster · September 07, 2010, 04:30:12 PM

Quote from: Rev. Powell on September 07, 2010, 04:03:27 PM
Good movie. I'd give it somewhere between 3.5-4 out of 5 stars.

Comments:

*Forget Lindsay Lohan's nude scene, the very first girl (Mayra Leal, I believe) was the hottest.

Not only that, most of it is just the illusion of being nude as her long hair covers her breasts most of the time (other than a few brief glimpses). What you really see most of the time is her bare stomach, arms and legs.

trekgeezer · September 07, 2010, 04:31:02 PM

Segall is a grossly overweight caricature, and what's with the Chairman Mao get up he was wearing?

Derf · September 07, 2010, 10:17:46 PM

I went to see this tonight. It was a very entertaining movie, with the right balance of over-the-top action and dialog. I will agree with the Rev. that the political stuff is handled rather ham-handedly, but that's about the level it was handled at in several movies of the '50s, '60s and '70s, so I let it slide. Yeah, the Freedom Patrol group was pretty stereotypical, but then again, most of the Mexicans were pretty much just cardboard cutouts (no real character at all). I didn't see this for character depth, though, so I can live with all that. It's not an Oscar-worthy movie; it's a popcorn grindhouse flick, and it succeeds in its main aim: to entertain. I would recommend it, and I'll likely see it again next week (a friend was supposed to go with me tonight, but he got sick, so I'll go with him next week).

10,000 Volt Ghost · September 09, 2010, 08:59:04 AM

Quote from: Rev. Powell on September 07, 2010, 04:03:27 PM
*The exception being the intestine-rappelling scene. That's the second time I've seen that gimmick this year and I'm already sick of it.

What as the first?

Rev. Powell · September 09, 2010, 11:32:10 AM

Quote from: 10,000 Volt Ghost on September 09, 2010, 08:59:04 AM
Quote from: Rev. Powell on September 07, 2010, 04:03:27 PM
*The exception being the intestine-rappelling scene. That's the second time I've seen that gimmick this year and I'm already sick of it.

What as the first?

DEAD SNOW, the Norwegian zombie movie.

indianasmith · September 09, 2010, 08:57:14 PM

I remember that! It was gruesome and laughable at the same time!

hedgie · September 11, 2010, 03:48:21 PM

I was surprised at how much political content there was. It has been a week since I saw this and that is what resonates. Although the Deniro and Don Johnson characters are caricatures, there are "minutemen" out there on the border doing the evil deeds depicted in the film. That made the whole thing a little bit frustrating and disturbing for me when the big battle between the rednecks and the cholos was treated so goofily. But until that point I really enjoyed the film. It still resonates (along with the nudity) because much of it is grounded in reality. It was a very delcate balance to get the right tone for this film, and I applaud Rodriguez for trying.

Mr. DS · February 11, 2011, 10:03:11 PM

Getting in on this thread late. I watched it and LOVED the first hour and thirty minutes. Its action packed, over the top and most of all tongue in cheek hilarious.

HOWEVER, the film quickly went south in the last 20 minutes which really p!ssed me off. Matter of fact the climax was nothing more than a rushed clusterf@ck with hardly a bit of continuity. Its almost as if they ran out of money and said "screw it" have everyone off'd easily .

I absolutely can not stand when a film does this by the way. Also, what is with Lindsay Lohan dressing as a nun shooting everyone?

Overall it was a wonderful film that could have been one of the best (as a whole) action films of the past 10 years. However they seriously dropped the ball come climax time and that is a damn shame.