Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Barren.

Gut-wrenched and jagged like bitter metallic grist.

Seductive intransitive loyal strands besmirched in brazen castor.

She's in control.

He can't be beaten.

Youth and femininity seeking independence, suffering as their gifts intend.

Manipulation.

Honesty.

Power crushing its seamless outfoxed score, insurgent violence, brutally resigned.

Limits unextinguished.

Doctored dilettante adoring.

Lessons in lesions.

Just another day.

Its consequences sear its combatants with infernal fetching flames, talk, cheap, destined knees.

Full-scrapped and infiltrating, the cold calumny collapsing, its monstrous festered grip, clenching clasped constabularies.

Reactivity.

Its suffocations.

Its distance.

(I wonder if Christopher Lloyd's [Kroenig] performance was a tribute to that of Harry Dean Stanton in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me).

Machete Kills

Impressed by Machete Kills.

So many great lines in this film.

It's like Kyle Ward and Robert and Marcel Rodriguez really took the extra time and care a quality ridiculously sensational over-the-top film needs to be convincingly down-to-earth yet mesmerizing and decaptivating.

It sets a high standard for other filmmakers working along similar lines, and, much like Planet Terror, gives them something to aspire to.

Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) has her other eye shot out and then gets up to fight blind?

Fully loaded machine gun breasts?

The heart that refuses to cease beating?

It's the President on the phone?

El Cameleón?

No need for rhetorical explanations.

It's rare that a film so confidently and quickly moves from the improbable to the ludicrous to the exceptional, so sure of itself, so Machete (Danny Trejo).

Oddly, whereas I thought Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows faltered by situating Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) in an international scenario, Machete Kills excels precisely for this reason.

The Last Stand had a similar cast but lacked Machete Kills's sharp-edged artistry.

Pacific Rim had many great lines but I'm afraid it's no Machete Kills.

Let's just throw in Star Wars.

The next one takes place in space.

In space!

Like Star Trek II in terms of outshining its predecessor.

Not that I'm comparing Star Trek: The Motion Picture to Machete.

I'm wondering if Machete can somehow be worked into an Avengers film, either through reference or by making a direct appearance.

The Avengers could use some Machete.

A rugged old-school indestructible hero.

Going to see this film, again.

Machete

Robert Rodriguez's new action film Machete (co-directed by Ethan Maniquis) accomplishes its goals and effectively pays respect to its filmic heritage. But it's no Planet Terror. The right content is in place. An implacable officer of the law is disgraced and humiliated by a corrupt Mexican drug lord (Steven Seagal as Torrez) and left with nothing besides his integrity and honour (Danny Trejo as Machete). Continuing to make ends meet as a landscape artist, he is eventually hired by a rich thug (Jeff Fahey as Michael Booth) to kill a politician whose policies vilify illegal Mexican immigration to the United States (Robert de Niro as Senator John McLaughlin). But a double-cross is in the mix, and Machete soon finds himself hunted by Booth's men after narrowly escaping their treacherous clutches. Alone and on the run, he finds help from a sultry revolutionary posing as a taco-salesperson (Michelle Rodriguez as Luz) and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent who needs to recalibrate her attitude (Jessica Alba as Sartana Rivera). Blades and bullets carve up and shoot through a copious cast of ruffians as justice is delivered with unrelenting speed and precision.

The following strengths permeate Machete: it takes itself seriously while seeming unconcerned and distracted which results in a confident cohesive bravado; there are plenty of ridiculous situations and conversations which accentuate its robust candour; voluptuous babes, a pure and indestructible hero, mayhem, and a clearly defined purpose; over the top incompetent villains who are consistently outmaneuvered and thwarted; classic showdown in the end heralded by several acrobatic and athletic escapes throughout; solid response to harsh immigration laws; these features and many others coalesce to forge a thrilling A-listed B-movie whose volatile vendettas and frenetic flesh provides myriad treats for the senses. But the writing lacks the hilarious moments that made Planet Terror superlative kitsch and many scenes consistently fall flat as a consequence. This isn't necessarily a bad thing considering that many of the films to which Machete pays homage possess similar scripts. But many of these films aren't the greatest and Planet Terror worked because it was one of the greatest not-so-great films of the early 2000s, one of my favourites anyways. I'm afraid that without the linguistic skill and ingenuity that adhesively structured Planet Terror's action and dialogue, Machete is little more than a vivid and harmonious recapturing of a lacklustre aesthetic, perfectly sliced, yet lacking innovation.

Predators

Never thought I'd see Adrien Brody covered in mud fighting a Predator monster, but Nimród Antal's Predators delivers such a scene and fills it with pugnacious intensity. The film immediately situates us within a frenetic free fall as several elite military personnel awake after having been cast out of an airborne vessel, parachute in tact. After landing, this multicultural group of warriors discover they've been kidnapped and shipped to an alien planet upon which they've become the prey of a group of unflappable veteran killers, who seek their destruction with inveterate artistry. There's only one way to deal: bond together as a group, embrace the brutal predicament, exchange chides and military strategies, be thankful that everyone has recourse to a common language, and fight back by any means necessary. If you like thrilling horrific action films set in a paranoid chaotic environment wherein battles and direct conversations are consistently presented in an exciting straightforward fashion, then you'll likely enjoy the latest instalment in the Predator series. Its attention to detail and expertly crafted wit indicate that it was created by filmmakers who take action seriously, respect their fans, and aren't looking to simply make a buck. I enjoyed the ambiguous dimension developed for Topher Grace's character, the depth added to the supporting cast, the vindictive one-liner delivered in Russian, the expansion of the Predator universe, the outstanding samurai scene, and the well-timed intelligently designed pacing. Acutely accelerated from start to finish, Predators diversifies and electrifies the Predator franchise, just in time for its third filmic decade.