Reviews

The film begins with footage of a period-appropriate soap-opera being filmed complete with garish art direction, trite dialogue, and overwrought yet stilted performances; throughout the film, there are plenty of scenes where a soap opera is playing in the background (and, in at least one scene, beco... ...

Sure, it's a little patronising in its treatment of the native population, with the notorious example of this being the fact that the female lead character is a quarter-Hawaiian and quarter-Chinese yet is played by the pale-skinned, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed Stone; while this is arguably justifie... ...

The same lack of coherence affects the plot in ways both great and small - as if the confusion over whether or not the satire works well (if at all) isn't bad enough, the film's jumping around between various weightless sub-plots feels awfully fragmented and stretched-out even for a film that's noth... ...

The numbers are par for the course as far as your average classic Hollywood musical goes, but despite the film's status as a musical these don't always feel strong enough to make the film work as a whole. ...

Considering how McCandless's wonder at the marvels of nature is a large part of what leads him to pursue a life on the road in the first place, the film's inability to capture the scenery in a remotely impressive manner is either a blatant failure to do right by its protagonist or a clever subversio... ...

Even the musical numbers, which are usually the weakest part of your average Marx brothers movie, somehow come across as better because the rest of the film is so incredibly weak. ...

Throw in love-to-hate villains such as Greg Kinnear as the clean-cut yet horribly demanding and nepotistic coach of a rival team and you've almost got enough material to carry a film. ...

The most significant portent of what kind of film Machete Kills is comes when the film starts with a Grindhouse-style fake trailer for a third Machete film, Machete Kills Again...In Space. ...

Meanwhile, the vain Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) from the previous film seeks to reclaim his former glory by uniting a rogues' gallery of classic fairytale villains in hopes of launching his own rebellion and taking the kingdom for himself. ...

Despite that, I put off watching Wimmer's follow-up film Ultraviolet for years - a lot of that had to do with the unfortunate reputation that it earned even from people who had liked Equilibrium, especially when one takes into account that Wimmer hasn't directed a film in the years since. ...