CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the streaming series “Emily in Paris” the adventures of Emily Cooper and her fanciful/fashionable Paris friends and lovers, now in its fourth season. Episodes 1-5 currently on Netflix.
Film Review: Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Machete’ Pushes Excess Past Breaking Point
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CHICAGO – Not everything should be filet mignon. Sometimes you just want a greasy, delicious cheeseburger. Now imagine eating ten of those cheeseburgers in a row. Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” starts as a wonderful gore-fest but falls victim to its creator’s inability to realize he doesn’t need to answer to every violent vision he can dream up. The film is proof that even extremely over-the-top films can be monotonous in that their one tone is “ARGH!”
![]() Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
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And the way Rodriguez builds on his original B-movie concept of a man with a knife for a nickname is admittedly somewhat brilliant as well. Not unlike the way the Blaxploitation flicks of the '70s used genre to make sociopolitical commentary, Rodriguez uses "Machete" to offer an extreme controversy on the immigration debate in 2010. He imagines a world where the border isn't just divisive or dangerous but downright ludicrous.
The film starts with Machete (stone-faced Danny Trejo) as a Federale trying to track down the notorious drug dealer Torrez (Steven Seagal). When his enemy gets the jump on him and decapitates Machete's wife in front of him, the man becomes a myth. Three years later, he pops up as a day laborer in a Texan border town and just happens to be chosen by the nefarious Booth (Jeff Fahey) to attempt an assassination of Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), a clear characterization of Sen. McCain and his battle against illegal immigration.
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Machete
Photo credit: Fox