Every genre has rules and that includes homage, which is basically a genre impersonating other genres. Doing a send up of past movie styles, you must decide right off the bat whether you are going to run faithful to the original content or celebrate it with a sense of humor or possible mockery. Trying to do all of those can lead to a sense of confusion for the piece and leaves the audience wondering whether they should be taking anything they see seriously. With such an overwhelmingly positive lead-in, you might already get the gist of my opinion on this 70′s-style mexican-sploitation flick (Is “brownsploitation” a word? Guess it is now.) For more detailed reasons, keep on reading.
Machete tells the terrible tale of a former Mexican federale who witnesses his wife get decapitated by a notorious drug lord. Surviving the fire he was supposed to have died in, Machete makes his way across the border to try and make a new life for himself, but he soon finds the past hardly ever stays in the past. Colliding with the heated battle over illegal immigration, he finds himself a pawn in a much larger game, but one he is determined to finish.
My biggest issue with this flick is the one thing in the description that does not belong, actual politics. While some movies are built and bred for commenting on the real world outside the theater, exploitation movies parody that world instead of making serious commentary. Machete dives way too deep into the political firestorm of immigration policies and finds itself trying to make a real statement, while still keeping the boobs, blood and blades. That kind of balancing act throws the entire experience for a loop and derails the silliness that should’ve been running through every moment of the script. The opening five minutes were great and emblematic of what the following ninety should have been, but for some reason a decision was made to attempt a meaningful plotline. Wrong move.
Also, this movie was basically an experiment in growing something for a very specific fan base. The original trailer for Machete was created as a fake movie trailer in the Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature, Grindhouse. The context and application were perfect back then, but splitting it out and creating a new feature film out of it might have been one step too far. Parts of it felt like Machete director, Robert Rodriguez, just had so much fun making the trailer that he didn’t want to let it die there. While I fully support people working on stories and projects they have a passion for, sometimes there needs to be more reason to do it than, “It was fun.”
For those who read even deeper between the lines in the Hollywood lexicon, this film also was supposed to represent the inevitable and well deserved top billing of Danny Trejo, a character actor who so many know by face, but so few know by name. I fully stand behind finding a leading role that Trejo could finally take to the screen and get some hard earned credit for, but Machete felt thin and hollow in comparison to his earlier cameo and side appearances. I hope Trejo gets another shot at taking the starring role, but if you are looking for that great stepping out into the spotlight moment, it’s not here (try The Visitor instead, where the amazing Richard Jenkins got his starring shot and received incredible amounts of nominations, all well deserved.)
Surrounding Trejo was a handful of random names, each meaning to drive the audience further into a novelty frenzy, but as the scenes wore on, very few really made any real impression. Jeff Fahey (who many know as the virtually insane Lawnmower Man), Steven Seagal (from numerous martial arts actions movies bearing three word titles, Marked for Death, Above the Law, Hard to Kill, etc…), and Jessica Alba (if you don’t know her, well, you probably don’t own a computer), they all make an effort to keep the tongue-in-cheek mentality alive, but when Alba makes her big “the border crossed us!” speech in the movie, the rising tide crests and breaks against the shores of overdone filmmaking. The worst of the bunch was Lindsay Lohan, which has now become a perfect example of what happens when your off-screen infamy distracts from your on-screen fame. Her entire role was a joke commenting on her real life, which only made it worse. If she wants to get back into the good graces of the movie watching audience, she needs to take something with a bit more meat to it and prove she’s more than just a faded child star. The only person who actually got some good screen time out of this was Hollywood rebel chic, Michelle Rodriguez. She really did embody a revolutionary leader persona and it made me wish Steven Soderbergh had found a place for her in his biographical epic, Che, about the Cuban guerrilla revolutionary leader. While she might have had some rocky times in the shiny city of Hollywood, Rodriguez is beginning to remind people what she is capable of (which if you are one of those in need of reminding, please go watch Girlfight.) Maybe she could teach Lohan a thing or two?
The End of the Page Recommendation: Machete cut itself down with too much politics and not enough limb-chopping. For a better example of exploitation homage, check out Black Dynamite instead.
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 8:50 am. Add a comment
Listen here, Ghandi! I want the truth! Where did you hide the Snickers bars?
Rating: 9 out of 10
The moment your cast and crew are announced, the bar is set in the minds of your audience. You tell people that Martin Scorsese is directing a new film and the bar moves up a notch from its humble beginnings. You tell people he is getting Leonardo DiCaprio to star in it, click, there’s one more notch. Then you lay on people that the film is based on a Dennis Lehane novel, which might not mean anything to a majority of people, but once you clarify that he is the author behind such stories as Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, well, now you’ve got their attention. With a quick glace at your expectation pole, you might find this upcoming film to be teetering near the top, almost daring you to shake it off, which is inevitably what happens to most films in this predicament. The bar gets lost in the clouds and the audiences walk out of the theater staring at the ground; but every now and again the pieces slide into place and you just might find yourself glancing at the tip of the pole through a break in the cloud cover. Now is one of those times (so you can leave the raincoats at home).
Shutter Island is a harrowing tale of two Federal Marshalls called to a lonely island that only houses one thing–a psychiatric institute for the criminally insane. The worst of the worst are sent here because there is no hope or possibility of escape. The marshalls are called in due to the recent disappearance of a certain prisoner, vanished right out of her cell like air. As they being to peel back the layers of clinical observation, polite discreteness and congenial denial they find a labyrinth of deceit underneath. Questions are being asked, but not answered, and the marshalls start to wonder whether they are the ones investigating an actual crime or if indeed they are the ones being investigated.
Reaching a pinnacle in your career is a dangerous thing. With each new project people can claim that it is the best thing you’ve ever done, thereby making your next project pale in comparison before you’ve even begun. In some cases artists under that kind of pressure have just given up, chosen not to fight against their own glory in an effort to eclipse it. Martin Scorsese is surely one who has had to battle against the easy way out underneath the weight of his celebrity. From his early exploits with Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to his recent accolades with The Departed, Scorsese has never given up telling stories. It hasn’t been a consistent rising arc for him, with bumps along the way like Gangs of New York, but his name still holds its ring of Hollywood mastery and clout. In Shutter Island, he reminds people why he got that name recognition by going backwards in style and substance, back to the earlier days of thrillers and chillers. Shutter Island plays itself out much more like Hitchcock or Kubrick’sThe Shining than anything in today’s cinematic landscape. Scorsese’s breadth of past experience comes to the forefront through his tonal control and tempo while twisting his audience into his personal web.
One of the glorious moments in cinema is witnessing an acclaimed director find his muse. Although there is an overtly sexual tone to that idea, as in Tarantino and Uma Thurman or Rodriguez and Rose McGowan, it is not always the case. Furthermore, very few directors can find two in one lifetime. Scorsese has done just that with his early display of works with Robert De Niro and now with his younger go-to-guy, Leonardo DiCaprio, who has starred in four films under the Scorsese banner: Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed and of course, Shutter Island. The best thing about this dynamic duo is they seem to be bringing out the best in each other. Although The Departed was fantastic, I actually think DiCaprio’s performance here was more demanding and more fulfilling. The same goes for Scorsese, although I feel Shutter Island is more on par with The Departed instead of outdoing it. Other actors also gave their all in this twisted mind-bender, like the always rewarding Mark Ruffalo, the continually mischievous Max von Sydow and the man with an unending sense of power and grace, Ben Kingsley. Everyone played their parts with extraordinary poise and gratitude for the other actors on screen and watching that ability to share the spotlight never fails to delight.I would also be terribly remiss if I didn’t give accolades to the great cameo monologue by Jackie Earle Haley. Very rarely does a man disappear from Hollywood for such a long time and then erupt back on the scene and make us wonder, “How the hell did that guy get away from us before?” I don’t think we’ll be making that same mistake twice.
The End of the Page Recommendation: If you are a fan of Hitchcock or the original The Shining, you should fit right in on the island. If you are not someone who enjoys a good twist, well, maybe just check out The Island instead. No thinking required in that one.
Posted 1 year, 10 months ago at 8:56 am. Add a comment
Happy April Fool’s Day, dear readers! My best wishes go out to all of in hopes that you don’t get horribly rooked by conmen on the street or needlessly frightened by the masked psychopath in the alley behind your work. Oh wait, that last guy might be real. Umm…duck. (p.s. since it is the day of not-quite-factual information, my daily sources might also be compromised, so take today’s bits with a grain of salt, then a little pepper, a dollop of extra virgin olive oil, and you’re good to go. Fabulous!)
1 – It’s getting pretty cold in Hell right now because the word on the beat is all five members of New Kids on the Block are going to appear on the Today show this Friday to announce their reunion. Once again, this is another case of negligence. If Obama was in charge, he would never let this kind of thing happen. I hate you, Bush! [via Starpulse]
3 – Fitting that this bit of trivia would land on #3 since it has to do with possibly the most amazing trilogy to ever come to the screen. The Lord of the Rings? The Matrix trilogy? The original Star Wars? Oh no, none of these can even come close to the power in one pinky toe of Danny Trejo as he and Robert Rodriguez bring us The Machete Trilogy! Those are the tentative plans to expand the fictional trailer inside the Grindhouse movie into a trilogy of films following one man with many knives. Face it, the merchandising practically takes care of itself. [via Film School Rejects]
4 – People are starting to move into the new 90210 remake, while at the same time the price of peach pie and condoms is on the rise. Coincidence? I think not. [via ComingSoon]
6 – When the slow motion version of this video happens, I’m fairly positive it’s the devil laughing. Listen at the risk of your immortal soul (or more closely you just might feel bad for laughing at the kid getting knocked out by an exercise ball). [via GorillaMask via Break]
7 – Taking part in the spirit of the day, YouTube has played a wonderful prank that will both scare and delight the mass populace. I’m not gonna give it away (or gonna give you up), but take a moment and jump over to YouTube, then try to play any of the Featured videos. I think you’ll enjoy it immensely.
8 – The other side of Happy-Go-Lucky Wonderland: [via CollegeHumor via Explosm]
9 – This is why I hate April Fool’s Day. I get shown things I actually wish were true (not that this is the most amazing trailer, but I applaud the work that went into such an elaborate hoax): [via FilmDrunk]
10 – Take that McEnroe! The stakes have been raised when it comes to on-court abuse, this time, it’s self-abuse. (Oh, and the crazy dude won the match after going on a seven point rally after this. Advantage = Crazy) [via With Leather]
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Posted 3 years, 10 months ago at 11:02 am. Add a comment
Sorry, kid. I’m fresh out Rolex.
DandyID
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