Friday, June 17, 2011

BD impressions: Machete

7:06 PM / BD Impressions / Comments16 Comments

BD Impressions
Blu-ray

The film: MACHETE is probably about as good a film as can be expected from something that began life as a three-minute gag. That gag was a trailer for a non-existent "Mexploitation" film attached to the start of GRINDHOUSE, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's joint ode to the B-movies they grew up loving. While I felt GRINDHOUSE was worth it if only for the amazing half-hour that concluded Tarantino's half, DEATH PROOF, I'm of the opinion that both it and Rodriguez's piece, PLANET TERROR, were far too long for what they had to say, and the same is true of MACHETE. Yes, the sight of Danny Trejo running around dispatching goons left, right and centre while Robert De Niro and Don Johnson ham it up and Lindsay Lohan plays a drug-addled floozy (ha ha) is initially exhilarating, but the joke eventually wears thin and it comes hard to ignore the growing sense that Rodriguez is simply using the minimal plotting and hammy acting of the films he's spoofing as limp excuses for, well, minimal plotting and hammy acting.

It doesn't help that, like PLANET TERROR, MACHETE doesn't actually look like the zero-budget grindhouse flick it's pretending to be. While Tarantino had the sense to actually run DEATH PROOF's print through the grinder (well, the first half of it, at any rate), Rodriguez's love of CGI and digital cameras means that his films simply look like what they are: healthily budgeted modern day productions with a layer of artificial grain and print damage slapped over the top. At least here the fake print damage doesn't extend beyond the pre-credits prologue and the faux grain is largely unobtrusive, but you're left wondering how so much money ($10.5 million, according to IMDB) could be spent trying to make something look like it was shot on a shoestring. (Meanwhile, the likes of Gareth Edwards has managed to ACTUALLY shoot MONSTERS on a shoestring and make it look like it cost a hell of a lot more.)

It is what it is, more or less, and if you enjoyed PLANET TERROR chances are you'll get a kick out of this too. Myself, I found it a pleasant enough way to kill 105 minutes, but it's not something I can see myself ever watching again. 6/10

Image quality: A difficult one to rate, this, since like the film itself, many of the flaws are essentially deliberate (or at least a convenient excuse). With that in mind, I suspect Sony Pictures' encode is pretty much faultless, while the inconsistent detail, noticeable colour fringing (see Example 7) and occasional harshness (see Example 6) clearly stem from the photography itself. (Rodriguez used the Panavision Genesis HD Camera, footage from which has generally impressed me the most out of all the various shot-on-video productions I've seen, but the footage has been manipulated in post to such an extent as to make it hard to decipher what it originally looked like.) Recommended.

Machete
label: Sony Pictures; disc country: UK; region code: ABC;
codec: AVC; aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete Machete

 
16 Comments

1. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

While I enjoy this film and Grindhouse, I have to wonder about this whole exploitation throwback thing when none of these films reminds me of exploitation flicks.

There is a great independent Wisconsin film that actually looks and feels like a late '60s/early '70s exploitation film, called Modus Operandi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze3KyLHHfOY

Danny Trejo alongside that guy from American Movie? Excellent.

(Posted on Friday, June 17, 2011 at 8:58 PM)

2. Kentai said:

"MACHETE is probably about as good a film as can be expected from something that began life as a three-minute gag..."

I'd have agree with you, had Hobo with a Shotgun not defied all expectations and become the single best splat-stick film since Braindead. Words alone can't describe how hard I'm going to buy that Blu-ray next month...

But I don't regret having seen Machete in theaters. It's certainly no QT/RR Double Feature, but if more action movies had this much riced-up vehicular homicide and scenes of Segal reveling in what a joke his career has become, the world would still be a better place.

(Posted on Friday, June 17, 2011 at 11:24 PM)

3. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Hobo with a Shotgun is really that good, eh? I thought it kind of looked like a pile judging by the trailer, but was thinking about checking it out 'cos of Rutger Hauer. That guy is potentially the greatest actor ever.

A nearby arthouse will be playing it next weekend. I'll probably go check it out.

(Posted on Friday, June 17, 2011 at 11:44 PM)

4. Kentai said:

Hobo with a Shotgun left me scratching my head a bit with the "real" trailer too, seeing how different it was from the guerrilla style original short, but it's an experience unlike any other I can remember. A friend of mine described it as "A Troma film channeling Suspiria" - I might not have made that comparison myself (and certainly not to Michael!), but it does accurately highlight how two very different ends of the genre cinema spectrum combined to make a film that's just as confident and stylish as it is offensive and ridiculous. The dialog alone is well beyond anything Machete has to offer ("Lemme wash this guy's asshole off my face."), and the fact that it consistently ratchets up the insanity from the first 5 minutes to the closing credits is something very few films of its' kind can manage before it's completely run out of steam.

It's not quite perfect - the acting outside of Hauer is a bit amateur, more screen time really should have been dedicated to exploring "The Plague", and the ridiculously gorgeous photography (courtesy of Karim Hussain!) might have benefited from being shot on Techniscope, or any other format that not quite as 'sterile' as HD Video - but for what the film is, it simply can't be beat.

It'd make a lovely double feature with Street Trash, I'm sure. :)

(Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 12:39 AM)

5. Greg M said:

I think Machete is an insanely fun and funny film, but certainly don't consider it a true "exploitation" classic.

I hate it when film-makers and critics/fans throw ridiculous words and praise around about films. LIke when everyone called Hatchet a genuine 80's slasher throwback and it turned out to be a goofball, slapstick comedy with gore (and not a particularly good one).

That being said I do want to see Hobo with a Shotgun. Not only does it feature Hauer and the cinematography of Karim Hussain, it actually looks like a great little film.

(Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 2:19 AM)

6. Daniel Joseph Sardella said:

http://thedanmancan.blogspot.com/2011/04/hobo-with-shotgun-2011.html

(Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 6:06 AM)

7. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Well, I sure love Troma, and Suspiria, and Street Trash. I'm also delighted that Ricky from Trailer Park Boys is in it getting his head yanked off. Is he in the movie much, or is it very much a bit part? I hope he at least says some pretty stupid shit in his Canadian accent, 'cos hey...that's what I love about his TPB character.

I hate it when film-makers and critics/fans throw ridiculous words and praise around about films. LIke when everyone called Hatchet a genuine 80's slasher throwback [...]

I recently watched the documentary Cropsey (which I enjoyed) and later read the Wikipedia page on it and some of its review snippets. Some said it was a lot like The Blair Witch Project (it's not), while one compared it to "1970s drive-in movie shockers." Uh...? Sometimes, I wonder if Ebert is the only big-time film critic who knows and actually enjoys movies and has any bit of intelligence to him.

On that note, I hate it when a reviewer or anyone calls these exploitation throwback movies, "grindhouse films." They use the term grindhouse as if it were a genre or something. I blame Tarantino and Rodriguez for bringing that word into the mainstream.

(Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 9:04 AM)

8. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Speaking of Troma... I guess you could call this a preview of sorts for the next Toxic Avenger movie.

http://youtu.be/PugExN_YtsQ

I hope the makeup looks much better than that in the actual movie, heh. Not that I'm expecting amazing effects from a Troma film, but considering Toxie's face makeup in Citizen Toxie is a lot better than that and not so rubbery, I'd expect the same or more from a sequel.

(Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 9:07 AM)

9. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

I'm also perplexed why Toxie's mop goes nowhere near that guy's ass...

(Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 9:09 AM)

10. Daniel Joseph Sardella said:

I really think Hobo is much better than Troma films(though I do enjoy them), and I've always thought that Street Trash was too.

(Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 4:03 PM)

11. Marcus said:

I thought Machete ran out of steam right after the intestine dangling scene. The joke wears out really fast and it's nowhere near as fun of a film as it thinks it is. Very disappointing after both Planet Terror and Death Proof, which I really liked.

(Posted on Monday, June 20, 2011 at 5:31 AM)

12. Virtual Visor said:

Oh christ...Hobo With A Shotgun. I'm going to go full-on hypocrite here, because I tend to roll my eyes in irritation whenever I see/hear someone apply the term "tries too hard" toward a given flick...but if ever there was a movie warranting that (arbitrary, subjective, hehe) accusation, then HWAS is it. Every attempt it makes to be unabashedly raunchy and un-pc and to "freak out the squares" just comes off...indescribably lame and contrived. Everything falls flat. The "shock" scenes (ahem school bus)...the "one-liners"...everything. I dunno...it seems to have its heart in the right place, but screw it all the same. The medevial dudes' modus operandi for dispatching victims was pretty nifyy though. That's really the best thing I can say. Maybe it's a Canada-attmepting-to-co-cop-a-grindhouse-sensibility thing...I found Gutterballs to suck complete ass in a similar way.

(Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 at 10:55 AM)

13. Virtual Visor said:

...That having been said, I did dig some technical aspects. The cinematography and lighting were consistently kick-ass. As someone above mentioned, I too think this would have really benefited from being shot on actual film rather than HD.

(Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 at 11:01 AM)

14. Kentai said:

Mister Visor, you have insulted my honor as a trash-film connoisseur! As such we will face off with pistols at dawn, as is the custom.

That said, I'd be very curious to know what bad-taste films you do think are legitimately funny. Splat-stick isn't an easy genre to pull off, and I think Hobo with a Shotgun is a golden God among ambitiously failed attempts like Premutos, Samurai Princess and Bad Biology.

(Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 at 11:41 PM)

15. Wilson Bro (K) said:

I saw Hobo With A Shotgun at a special screening in London a couple of months ago. I thought it wasn't bad, but I had a few issues with it, most notably the level of acting from everyone execpt the two leads - they all seem to be WAY over the top (this could possibly be deliberate, but when acting against such an old pro as Hauer they come off as ridiculous.

They managed to capture the 80s Troma look and feel pretty well, with ridiculously oversaturated colours and questionably executed gore effects. Five bonus points goes to them for using one of Andy Sex Gang's tracks from Phenomena on the soundtrack...

(Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 8:43 AM)

16. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Just saw Hobo with a Shotgun a few hours ago and absolutely loved it. Thanks, Kentai, for getting me interested. It's definitely a lot like Street Trash—I'd even call it a love letter to the makers of that movie. It's a lot more crafty than a Troma flick as well (as Street Trash is also). Some of the super over-the-top acting reminded me more of Troma flicks, though, and I love every minute of it.

Man, did it feel good to be looking at such a colorful film compared to all the drab I'm used to seeing these days.

(Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 11:17 AM)

 
To combat spam, commenting is automatically disabled on entries older than 30 days.

Did a comment you tried to post accidentally get eaten by the spam filter? It happens from time to time. I get upwards of 200 spam comments every day and unfortunately don't have the time to weed through all of them in case something genuine ended up there by mistake. If one of your posts gets incorrectly flagged as spam, email me at m.r.mackenzie[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll do my best to retrieve it.

 
Archives
Categories
Recent posts