Rebel Without a Crew Book Review

Just got through reading Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player a couple of days ago and decided to write some words on it because I found it to be a very inspirational book for all those indie filmmakers out there struggling to make their own films. For those not in the know, I am one of those struggling independent filmmakers, living for his films. Much like Rodriguez, I write, direct, shoot, edit and occasionally act in my own productions. I consider myself a growing filmmaker, learning a little bit more with every film I make.

Robert Rodriguez, my own personal Jesus

Though I’m confident in saying my acting days are over. I prefer being behind the cameras much more then in front of them. Acting while directing a film can complicate things beyond belief, which is why I stick to directing. I am a self taught filmmaker. I remember a time when I started searching for film schools to go to, but tuition prices quickly shot down that idea. I decided I didn’t want to start life out with more then 100,000 dollars in debt, so I went about learning the filmmaking process on my own. I’d always been making movies since childhood, so I just went with it. Plus, isn’t that wha t they always say? You learn by doing? And that the basics of filmmaking can be taught pretty quickly? I truly agree with these statements! Filmmaking should be learned by making your own films. Actually going out there and shooting your project. When you are a self taught filmmaker you have to learn the tricks of the trade by experience. But also, by reading and researching on your own.

Which is why I had my eye on Robert Rodriguez’s book for a while. Rebel Without a Crew is structured as a diary made up of Rodriguez’s own life experiences, from getting the money for the film (he was a lab rat for a few months!) to getting the equipment (somebody lended Rodriguez a camera!) to shooting the whole thing between Mexico and Texas to following Rodriguez to L.A. in his journey to find a distributor for the picture. It all leads up to this amazing moment when he finally gets to meet with the fellows over at Columbia Pictures, who end up falling in love with Rodriguez and his film. And buying it and funding his next big picture! It’s an exciting moment when he finally “gets there”.

Rodriguez's early days as a filmmaker, shooting El Mariachi

I was living this book as I read it, not only because Rodriguez is a personal hero of mine, but also because I personally go through a lot of the struggles that Rodriguez went through in those early days of shooting El Mariachi. Where he was making a film because he knew he could do it. Just to prove to himself that he could. To prove to the world that he had what it takes and that he knew it.

Working alongside comic book artist Frank Miller, the creator of the Sin City Comics

Making an independent film isn’t easy, but it has its advantages. Like for example, it can be a hell of a lot of fun! Maybe by reading Rodriguez’s book you might not get the impression that making this kind of film can be a fun experience, but trust me it can. When all the planets align, and things fall into place, making a film can be magical. Sometimes getting there isn’t all that easy though. Rodriguez had to sell his body to medicine so he could get funding for El Mariachi. Once the film was shot, Rodriguez spent grueling hours (at the expense of his own health) editing and mixing sound. These experiences show us the true nature of independent filmmaking. It isn’t easy, but it is fun to shoot the film without any real crew, when the creative juices are set wild and free and there is no executive there to tell you not to do something in some way. There’s a looseness to the whole proceedings that cannot be found on a big budget production. Usually, on an independent film, it’s your friends doing the acting. Or whoever can show up on the set that day. It’s your friends holding the boom. It’s a friend helping you with the lighting. It is hard work, but in the end, when you finally get to hear an audience react to your film and you hear them laugh or react in some way, you realize it was all worth it.

Getting his hands dirty, shooting handheld

Rebel Without a Crew’s diary format makes the whole reading experience that much more personal and real. You feel as if you are following Rodriguez and his crew through out the whole process. It gives you an idea of the attitude and mentality an indie filmmaker needs to have when making his first films. And that’s what I enjoyed the most about the book. You see Rodriguez’s attitude, he never gives up. And he is completely driven to achieve his goal. Nothing distracts him on his journey towards making his film! I was not aware that the whole film was shot in just two weeks! Speaks volumes about pre-production and the benefits of knowing your film and having the whole thing pre-visualized in your head before shooting the thing.

Shooting Spy Kids 3-D Game Over alongside Antonio Banderas

So after shooting the whole thing and searching for a Spanish distributor (and almost selling the film to them for a few thousands bucks) we get to the most interesting part of the whole book for me: when Rodriguez finally meets up with the executives at Columbia. From there on in, the book goes at an exhilarating pace; things start happening fast for Rodriguez once the executives actually see the movie and realize he pulled the whole thing off for under 7,000 bucks. Suddenly Rodriguez goes from being a dude who ate a meal a day at Burger King, to getting hotel rooms, and free food and free computers, and being asked what his next project is going to be. Rodriguez went from nothing to the hottest thing in town in the blink of an eye! Coolest thing about the whole ordeal was that he was aiming to sell his indie film to a Mexican distributor, for the Spanish market. He never had Columbia Pictures in mind!

Hanging out with the big guys!

I loved this part of the book because suddenly you can see how Hollywood thinks. They see this little film, and see an angle they can sell with the whole 7, 000 dollar story. And suddenly every studio in town wants Rodriguez to work for them! And I love how he suddenly gets all these offers from every studio in town. It helped me to see the importance of having an agent handling all the legal hassle. The deals, the contracts…wow, it’s all a back and forth of burocracy that any artist would hate. The books shows how Hollywood loves to waste money. For example, when Rodriguez started out, and he was in that limbo between El Mariachi and his next film, he was given a couple of thousand dollars weekly, to survive. But keeping true to his filmmaking style, he never spent the whole amount! Instead he saved it and sent some of it to his family. It’s the same mentality he has with his filmmaking. Making a film cheaply, so you can later maximize on the profits.

A complete film studio in his own home, lucky dude

Though I will admit, I don’t love all of Rodriguez’s films. His fast paced shooting style can either make a picture, or break it. When he is on, he is really fucking on. When he is not, well, we get Once Upon a Time in Mexico. After reading this book, I re-watched El Mariachi, and saw it from a fresh perspective. I saw it and imagined Rodriguez, 23 years of age, shooting this thing with his pals and neighbors. You do see that raw energy in the filmmaking but you can also see some slip ups in the camera work. Yet the film is enjoyable, warts and all because it is still amazing that he achieved it all so well, without having the experience. It’s commendable for that alone. Rodriguez’s modern films are a mixed bunch. I recently re-watched Once Upon a Time In Mexico and was disappointed by it. I guess Rodriguez’s style of shooting a film really quick can backfire as well. You might have that energy, but not much thought put into. The result can be an empty film like Once Upon a Time In Mexico. It says a lot about the content of a movie when the only thing that makes it watchable is Johnny Depp’s performance. But whatever, I guess every filmmaker is entitled a few duds. In my book, Rodriguez still makes fast paced, fun movies. From Dusk Till Dawn? A memorable vampire flick! Planet Terror? An awesome zombie movie! Sin City? Only one of the best comic-book adaptations ever made! And Rodriguez is bigger then ever, he not only directs, shoots and edits his own films, now he produces as well, Predators (2010) being his latest producing endeavor.

Best part of the book is the advice that Rodriguez gives you on making a film. You want to do one? Shut up and do it! You say you’re a filmmaker? Then make your movie! Don’t talk about it. Do it. It’s interesting to see how Rodriguez had to struggle so much to edit the film, especially when we take in consideration that the whole thing was shot on actual film. As some of you may know, shooting on film makes it all the more complicated to edit a movie. On the book, Rodriguez realizes the benefits that modern indie filmmakers have through computers. We don’t need to worry about editing on film nowadays because everything is digital. Editing a film is so much easier these days! With programs like Final Cut Pro, Avid, and Windows Vega anybody can have an editing station right in their own home. All you have to do is save some money to buy the equipment you need to make the thing. Buy a couple of books, read up on filmmaking techniques, editing techniques and you are good to go. Practice by making short films with your friends. If you are also a writer, there are many excellent books out there that can help you get an idea of how a script is done. Indie filmmakers of today have no excuse! Maybe you won’t get to Hollywood, but then again who knows, maybe if you want it bad enough you will. There is always the pleasure of showing the film amongst your community and friends, Be Kind Rewind style. Anyways, in closing, Id like to say that if you are a filmmaker, then this book will serve as inspiration and will motivate you to get that project you have in mind of the ground. Heck, I'd say it should be required reading for any aspiring filmmaker. Read it, get yourself pumped, and best of luck with your film! Get those cameras rolling!

Predators (2010)

Title: Predators (2010)

Director: Nimrod Antal

Cast: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Laurence Fishburne, Topher Grace

Review:

Many moons ago, when Rodriguez was directing Desperado, and his career was in diapers still, he wrote a script called PREDATORS. The studio rejected it because it was deemed too expensive at the time. Fast forward many successful films later, and many millions of dollars at the box office and the studio unearths Rodriguez’s script and decides they want to have him resurrect the Predator franchise. Cool thing is that Rodriguez now has his own production studio (Troublemaker Studios) and makes his own movies in his own way. The studio offers him the option of making the film with Troublemaker Studios, in this way giving him and his production crew the freedom and liberty to make this Predator movie in their own way. That is how Predators the film I will be reviewing today, was born.

The film tells the story of a group of individuals who are hurled into this strange planet that resembles earth, but isn’t. They literally wake up while free falling down to this planet! Good thing who ever hurled them down gave them a parachute! And good thing these guys know how to use it. Once down on the planet, they explore their surroundings and ask themselves how they got there. It’s not just every day that you wake up free falling towards a strange and exotic planet with more then one moon. As they explore their jungle like surroundings, they realize that they are being watched, and quite possibly hunted! Turns out this planet is the Predators own private wild life preserve where they raise the creatures that they hunt. Will the humans find a way off this god forsaken rock?

What we got here ladies and gentlemen is a sequel that completely respects the original. So much so that it practically plays out exactly the same way that the original Arnold Schwarznegger film played out. A bunch of tough guys in the jungle running from an invisible creature that hunts them. Some scenes are almost too similar, like those where the guys find dead skinned bodies, scenes where everyone is terrified that there might be something looking on from behind the fauna. And of course, the scene where everyone goes batshit insane wasting amo, shooting at ghosts. So expect lots of similarities with the first film.

Testosterone Overdose coming right up! The tough as nail cast of the original Predator (1987).

Of course, the filmmakers were going to give us some familiarity with this new film. They want us to connect, via our collective nostalgia, to the first film. Let’s face it, if you were a kid through the 8o’s chances are you went to see this movie to the theaters. Or at least saw it at least a gazillion times on VHS or on cable. Schwarznegger films had reached an apex by the time PREDATOR was released in 1987. Schwarznegger was king of action films back then, and this movie took him up a couple of notches in that department. The original was a film for guys, about guys. If you notice, the cast was made up entirely of tough hombres. Cigar chomping, muscle bound, military killing machines. Besides Arnold, the original films cast was made up of a who’s who of tough guys: Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers and a couple of other tough looking actors. Heck, it was a film produced by king of macho action films Joel Silver, so this film was bound to be a testosterone overdose from the get go. In fact, the original film was such a guys film that the only female presence in the film was a scared native girl they find while investigating the jungles of Guatemala. She is terrified of the creature, but she’ll be alright, she’s got all these tough dudes to protect her! Keeping in line with all the similarities to the original, we also get a female thrown in the mix with of this new film played by Alice Braga. The update is that she’s not a scared and horrified girl waiting for the tough guys to protect her; she’s actually a kick ass war torn chick who knows how to handle herself. And a machine gun!

This one is a bit different in that the guys in this film are not addicted to going to the gym everyday to pump iron. On this one we have mostly guys, yeah, but they are a bit more vulnerable. Let’s face it, Adrien Brody isn’t exactly the embodiment of tough looking dudes, he has a more vulnerable looking physique, though I think that helps the story a bit. He isn’t this indestructible looking tank like Arnold. But to Brody’s credit I will say that he did apparently work out to toughen himself up for this role. Topher Grace is also thrown in the mix, and he isn’t so tough looking either. Actually, he plays a doctor! We get a Chinese guy with katanas, and finally, I think the toughest dude on this movie is Machete himself, Danny Trejo. So we get an assortment of tough yet vulnerable dudes to go up against the beasts.

The big difference in this film is that we get more Predators. Hence, ‘s’ at the end of the title. I really liked something about this movie and it’s that we have two warring Predator factions, the younger vs. the older ones. In one awesome sequence we get the older Predator fighting against the older one, and the older one looks exactly like the Predator on the original 1987 film! A great nod to Stan Winston and his work in designing the original beast. The new predators that show up in the film are interesting as well. Kudos to the guys at KNB FX (headed by now make up effects legends Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero) for outdoing themselves once again with yet another batch of excellent make up effects creations. These guys have never disappointed me with their work, and Predators is no exception.

The KNB FX guys give a nod to Stan Winston's original creature design on this new film

This wasn’t the best Predator film ever made; the story feels like it needed a little something extra to make it fully tick. I mean, I didn’t like the fact that they changed the focus from having the Predators be the main threat to having some of the humans become the threat. The main focus of the original was the human vs. the monster. On this one, the film plays out more like CUBE (1997), where we lock a bunch of humans up in one place and see which one shows his evil side first. The story wasn’t as epic or as important as I would have liked for it to be, but we owe that to the studio. They deliberately wanted a smaller film, to test the waters, see how much the audience wants another Predator film. I guess people do want another one, the film went on to make 126 million worldwide. But whatever, I didn’t hate this Predator film which is a good thing. I mean, at least it wasn’t a complete disappointment like Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem (2004) was. Let’s just hope that future films in this franchise improve. Rodriguez himself said that the story can go any number of directions, let’s hope they decide to take things in a more epic direction. There is hope in Rodriguez’s own words: “the bigger movie would actually be what comes following that. Then you can really go crazy from there”. Let’s hope the next film lives up to those words!

Rating: 3 out of 5

Machete (2010)

Title: Machete (2010)

Directors: Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis

Cast: Danny Trejo, Robert Deniro, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Jeff Fahey, Steven Segal, Don Johnson, Lindsey Lohan, Cheech Marin, Tom Savini

Review:

Beneath all its B-Movie madness, behind all its nudity, and its ‘R’ rated gore, behind what some might call its political incorrectness, Machete surprised me with its relevant themes. One look at the previews and you know you are in for over the top action and oneliners galore. So who’s to suspect that a film like this would actually have something important to say?

Many people downplay the film by saying that Machete is simply an excuse to show over the top action pieces and lots and lots of tits and gore, and in a strange way, they are right. But, I refuse to go with the idea that this is a completely stupid movie. On the surface, at first glance, that's what it might look like, that’s what it might sound like. But if you ask me, beneath it all lies a very important truth. The ‘system’ doesn’t work. Certain rules aren’t working, and they need to be re-thought. Of course, I’m talking about immigration laws in the U.S. and this idea that any foreigners need to be eliminated, like a decease, like a plague that’s spreading through out North America. What every happened to the U.S. being a “free country”? The land of the free?

Heavy Metal in Deed!

Machete tells the story of a Mexican cop (named Machete) whose wife is decapitated by a vengeful drug lord. After this happens, Machete vows to hunt down the ones responsible for his wife’s death and execute his revenge. Years pass and Machete goes to live to the U.S. He is trying to get a job, but so far, its proving to be an unfruitful affair. That is until a guy offers Machete 150,000 dollars to kill a U.S. Senator who wants to pass stronger laws that will keep any Mexicans who are trying to illegally cross the border out of the U.S. Machete smells trouble, but he needs the cash, so he takes the job. Little does he know he is being set up! The government arranged the whole thing so they could kill Machete and make it look like Mexicans are trying to kill The Senator, and blame it all on the Mexicans. Problem is that the bad guys fail to kill Machete, and he doesn’t take it very nicely when people try to kill him. So he goes on an all out revenge spree, where he teams up with a bunch of underground rebels to stop the Senator and at the same time avenge the death of his wife.

Senator Deniro

The character of Machete has been on the back of Robert Rodriguez’s head since the days when he was making Desperado (1995). He first met Trejo while shooting that picture and upon taking a look at Trejo’s appearance decided right then and there that Trejo should be making revenge movies, same as Charles Bronson did. So Rodriguez wrote a script for Machete but took his good old time to get it made. The fake trailer in Grindhouse (2007) sparked the publics interest for a film and boom, here we are today! This is Danny Trejo’s first starring role. Before Machete Trejo always played small roles that included killers, bar tenders, criminals, vampires and ex-cons. On Machete Trejo plays an anti-hero. He isn’t squeaky clean, he has no problems about slicing a bad guys stomach open and using his intestines as a means to bungee jump out a window. He was a cop who was done wrong, so now he’s become a vigilante of sorts. Taking the law into his own hands. The thing about having Trejo play Machete is that he simply looks the part. He looks like a Mexican you definitely "don’t want to fuck with". Nobody could have done Machete but Trejo; it’s the role he was born to play! Not bad for a guy who did 11 years in jail and then rehabilitated, turned his life around and became an action star! Not to mention the guy is doing all this while going on 67 years on planet earth. Talk about a late bloomer.

The movie satisfies and achieves all it sets out to do. Just what did it set out to do you might ask? Entertaining the hell out of you is the number one priority and it achieves this 100%. Comic book style action, over the top gore, lots and lots of nudity, funny characters, funny dialog, one liners galore and motorcycles with machine guns attached to them! There are decapitations, dismemberments, crucifixions and never ending shoot outs. Hell, we even have a bonafide sword/machete fight! There is never a moment where the film takes itself seriously; it’s all done very tongue in cheek. The guys and gals behind this picture simply wanted to put a smile on your face. I have to say it achieved that. People in the theater where giggling and down right bursting in laughter in all the right places of the film. We have chicks with eye patches and guns! Which reminds me that Michelle Rodriguez looks like a total bad ass on this picture! She is way sexier looking than Alba any day of the week. By the way, Michelle Rodriguez wearing an eye patch while shooting guns made me think of They Call Her One Eye, a.k.a. Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974). On that grindhouse classic, we also have a vengeful tough chick who shoots guns and wears an eye patch. But Rodriguez's 'She'  reminded me of that film only visually, because Rodriguez’s character is more of a female Che Guevara, leading the people towards revolution. It is no coincidence that her name in the film is ‘She’, an obvious play of words aluding to the legendary Argentinian revolutionary Antonio 'Che' Guevara. Speaking of films that influenced this one, there was a scene in which Machete is looking at a table filled with weapons, trying to choose the perfect one to achieve his mission which reminded of  John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981). In that film there's a similar scene with Snake Plissken looking at a table filled with guns. By the way, Escape from New York was one of the films that made Rodriguez want to become a filmmaker, so that connection makes sense.

The cast is one of the films main draws, it brings together an unlikely bunch of actors that you would never in a million years expect to see together, yet here they are working on this completely over the top movie. Did you ever think you’d see Robert Deniro working along side Steven Segal in the same movie? Nope! Yet strangely enough, it all works, because they all fit in their characters skin. Speaking of Steven Segal, he's really let himself go! On this movie he resembled Marlon Brando during his last days, when he got really chunky. And by chunky I mean fat! But he plays his character well, cursing in spanish all the time. Made me laugh. One of the funniest characters in the film was Cheech Marin (a.k.a. Cheech, from the Cheech and Chong Movies) playing Machete’s brother, who is also a priest! Machete asks for his help to kill, and Cheech is like “I’ll see what I can do!” and then proceeds to smoke a joint with Machete! One of the funniest characters in the movie no doubt. In one scene Cheech absolves Machete and then tells him: “Fine, I absolve you! Now get the fuck out!” Ha! Hilarious! That’s the kind of humor you’ll find on this movie.

Catholicism isnt taken too seriously on this movie at all!

The film speaks about the immigration laws, and the whole problem that this is causing in the United States. Mexicans pour into the United States every year by illegally crossing the border, they are employed by factories and companies who have no problem paying them less than minimum wages for their hard labor. They get treated like slaves. The companies do this, and the government knows it. Yet they do nothing about it because these illegal aliens do the hard labor that no one is willing to do, and for so much less! This saves companies millions every year. So if you kick these Mexicans out, who is going to do all these jobs that no one else will take on? I absolutely hate the fact that right now the U.S. is making it practically illegal to be a Latino. They are making it really hard in many ways for Latino’s to simply live in the States. It’s all part of the Xenophobia that’s eating the world. As far as Im concerned we are all citizens of the world. We are all the same, different colors and countries, but we are all humans living in one gigantic spaceship flying across the Universe, why cant we all just get along?

Nifty opening sequence looks something like this

Why is there such a thing as an “illegal alien”? Why is it such a hassle to go from Mexico to U.S.? Why does it cost so much? Why can’t it be simpler? I’ll tell you why, same as in this film: some Americans see Mexicans as a plague. They don’t see them as human beings, they see them as less. It’s sad living in a world like this, but that’s the way it is. That’s why I liked the films theme: if it doesn’t work, fix it! If necessary change; If change doesn’t come then fight; revolt. Which is why there are so many protests going on right now in many parts of the U.S. Machete touches upon a theme that is more important then its b-movie nature. Machete is the embodiment of Latino’s looking to be truly free, fighting for their rights. He is a true Latino anti-hero!  

I really liked the fact that this movie addressed these themes with such conviction. It had no problems whatsoever in voicing the anger that is felt over the whole immigration issue. Jessica Alba out of all people gives the speech that best encapsulates the whole theme of the film: “We didn’t cross the border! The border crossed us!” I mean, I’m not saying that Machete is the most intelligent film ever made, because it isn’t at all. Machete speaks in one-liners, which kind of makes him seem uncapable of speaking complete sentences. Or maybe tough movie guys simply talk that way? Whatever the case, people don’t talk much in this movie; they shoot their guns. That’s the general vernacular spoken on this film. But beneath all that, I’m sure the filmmakers main objective was to vent out the frustrations about the whole immigration thing, cant say I blame them. Kudos to Rodriguez and crew for mixing a fun movie with relevant subject matter; even if it is hidden underneath all the tits and gore.

Rating: 4 out of 5