08. Desperado (1995)
Filmed for just seven million dollars, this sequel to independent sensation El Mariachi( itself filmed for seven thousand) continues the story of the Mariachi with the guitar case full of guns. Antonio Banderas takes over the lead role and continues to rampage against the criminals who hold a small Mexican town in their clutches. The action is fast and crazy owing much to the heroic violence found in Hong Kong action films most notably those by John Woo. We are treated to all manner of gun fight insanity as El Mariachi clears out bars, escapes from hotels and raids strong holds. He also gets it on with Selma Hyeck making him maybe the coolest character ever. Banderas really shines here as he pulls the action off beautifully and the regret he feels for the life he has been thrust into while lamenting the life he lost is layered seamlessly into the film and never becomes heavy handed. This is a similar comment to the one I made about the Running Man and this gives some insight as to why some of these films endure as favorites for me. Danny Trejo makes his requisite appearance and is completely bad ass even if he doesn’t get much screen time. Director Robert Rodriguez will be making up for that shortly with the Trejo starring Machete that will literally make me cry if it fails to live up to expectations. I adore Rodriguez’s movies and I am a fan of both El Mariachi and threequel Once Upon a Time in Mexico but this is the movie that really brought me into the fold and it will always have a special place in my heart.
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The Professional? I effing HATED that movie SO MUCH!!!! UGH. You know when you think a movie is just so bad that it makes you angry that you watched it? That is how I feel about The Professional.
I just don’t DIG movies like that as a general rule.
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Given that you never saw the Matrix because it ‘didn’t look even remotely good’ I think it is safe to say this whole list is probably not material you would dig.
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No Ninja Assassin fail.
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GJ: As I said above: I tried to keep it to movies that didn’t stray too far into other their own sub-genre where I could, for instance I avoided primarily martial arts movies as they deserve their own list.
Ninja Assassin definitely goes on the martial arts list which currently doesn’t exist.
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martial arts list stat
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