All right, so Quentin called me on my movie choices for the week and I’ve got to acknowledge he might have a point. Not Matchstick Men—we both agreed it would be worth seeing and, while I didn’t make it this weekend, it’s still on my “to see” list. No, it’s my choice of Once Upon a Time in America over Cabin Fever. His take is that OUATIM was an empty nothing of a movie and, if any movie was going to prove that we deserve crap films, this one would be the one. Meanwhile, he described Cabin Fever as “a hoot… ridiculously funny, gory and over the top. A modern Evil Dead.”
Well, I’m going to defer to him on Cabin Fever for now (although he did follow up his glowing praise with a caveat about the first hour being weak and amateurish)… I may catch this one later on, but chances are, it’ll end up being a rental down the road. And Matchstick Men didn’t make it into our plans this weekend either. Nope, it was Once Upon a Time in America for us! Looks like Johnny & Antonio beat Nic & Sam for Dani’s attention—though I did get the occasional shot of Salma Hayek to check out, so it wasn’t a complete waste for me either.
As for OUATIM … can’t say I disliked it as much as he did. It IS a Robert Rodriguez film and it IS one of his El Mariachi films, so all the things you’ve come to expect from the trilogy (and from Rodriguez) are there—both good & bad. Lots of cool camera angles and great shots, lots of big explosions and over the top gun battles (both falling into the “good” category) as well as a paper thin script, lots of cliché/cardboard characters and some of the most inane motivations in any of his films yet (who knew El Mariachi was a patriot, for instance! Where the hell did that come from?).
So, an “empty nothing of a movie”? Well, yes, if you’re looking for something more than a big explosive adventure and for your movie to say anything beyond “revenge is sweet” and “walk softly and carry a big guitar case” (full of guns, of course), then yes, it is probably pretty empty. If you liked Desperado and/or El Mariachi (and how could you like one and not the other, since they’re basically the same movie), you’ll probably like this one. A quick little down & dirty action movie that I’d take over the likes of Charlie’s Angels or many of the summer’s other bloated action movies this year.
Well, I’m going to defer to him on Cabin Fever for now (although he did follow up his glowing praise with a caveat about the first hour being weak and amateurish)… I may catch this one later on, but chances are, it’ll end up being a rental down the road. And Matchstick Men didn’t make it into our plans this weekend either. Nope, it was Once Upon a Time in America for us! Looks like Johnny & Antonio beat Nic & Sam for Dani’s attention—though I did get the occasional shot of Salma Hayek to check out, so it wasn’t a complete waste for me either.
As for OUATIM … can’t say I disliked it as much as he did. It IS a Robert Rodriguez film and it IS one of his El Mariachi films, so all the things you’ve come to expect from the trilogy (and from Rodriguez) are there—both good & bad. Lots of cool camera angles and great shots, lots of big explosions and over the top gun battles (both falling into the “good” category) as well as a paper thin script, lots of cliché/cardboard characters and some of the most inane motivations in any of his films yet (who knew El Mariachi was a patriot, for instance! Where the hell did that come from?).
So, an “empty nothing of a movie”? Well, yes, if you’re looking for something more than a big explosive adventure and for your movie to say anything beyond “revenge is sweet” and “walk softly and carry a big guitar case” (full of guns, of course), then yes, it is probably pretty empty. If you liked Desperado and/or El Mariachi (and how could you like one and not the other, since they’re basically the same movie), you’ll probably like this one. A quick little down & dirty action movie that I’d take over the likes of Charlie’s Angels or many of the summer’s other bloated action movies this year.
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