| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| randall |
Posted - 08/22/2011 : 03:09:20
If you liked MACHETE -- and I did -- you'll love this one. I missed it at Sundance, but the buzz it was getting sorta described the picture for me, and I wasn't disappointed.
It's another "grindhouse"-era pastiche [like MACHETE, it began life as a phony trailer in GRINDHOUSE]. There's this hobo, see, and one day he picks up, er, a shotgun. He needs it to defend himself against the denizens of a cartoonish no-man's-land, played by Halifax, Nova Scotia. The color palette is early comic book, overly vivid and deliberately clashing with day-glo shimmer. The acting is way over the top, the bad guys off the scale, with the single exception of star Rutger Hauer, who is going for a Clint Eastwood vibe, and really anchors the thing with his deadpan performance. The gore is ample and absurd, a la MACHETE.
It felt a little long, even at less than 90 minutes, because its hobo v. meanies ante has to be upped again and again, so it does get a tad tiresome in that respect. MACHETE, in contrast, had more of an actual story to push it along, and the production design was far more "realistic."
But this is loads of fun, if you're not put off by lots of stage blood. In one quiet scene after a big setpiece, Hauer and the golden-hearted hooker he's befriended are just slathered with the stuff, so their bucolic exchange actually becomes funny!
It's available for streaming on Netflix. |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 09/06/2011 : 22:22:50
 I think I'm going to have to watch it again!  |
| randall |
Posted - 09/06/2011 : 22:12:38
quote:
Originally posted by MguyX
I just queued it up last night! But I was so tired, after a movie marathon with my daughter, that I fell asleep. I'm going to start it up in a few minutes. 
Finally saw it: "When it comes to the streets, sometimes a broom ain't gonna cut it. Sometimes, you gatta get a shotgun."
Oddly enjoyable, and even reminiscent of RoboCop, but it stuck to low-to-no production value except the one they-push-to-the-extreme ethos: gore.
In retrospect, this was more grindhouse than GRINDHOUSE, and loaded with an oddly workable balance of dynamic acting (Hauer) and compelling over-the-top acting (Brian Downey). If you like Snow Falling on Cedars, then you'll LOVE this. 
(but probably not.)
 ! But didn't you think it went to the cartoon world of Chuck Jones and stayed there? We don't mourn Wile E.'s latest fatal fall, any more than we mourn the stunt doubles here! |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 08/22/2011 : 06:47:38
I just queued it up last night! But I was so tired, after a movie marathon with my daughter, that I fell asleep. I'm going to start it up in a few minutes.
Finally saw it: "When it comes to the streets, sometimes a broom ain't gonna cut it. Sometimes, you gatta get a shotgun."
Oddly enjoyable, and even reminiscent of RoboCop, but it stuck to low-to-no production value except the one they-push-to-the-extreme ethos: gore.
In retrospect, this was more grindhouse than GRINDHOUSE, and loaded with an oddly workable balance of dynamic acting (Hauer) and compelling over-the-top acting (Brian Downey). If you like Snow Falling on Cedars, then you'll LOVE this.
(but probably not.) |
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