时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2010年(九)月


英语课

"Cuidado [warning], don't start what you can't finish, 'Machete.'"


Texas-based writer-director Robert Rodriguez pays tribute to the movies that inspired him to become a filmmaker with a no-holds-barred, action-packed adventure that features knife fights, shootouts, car chases and beautiful women …and that's just in the first scene. Here's a look at Machete.


"I saw the file. 'Rogue 1 federal agent ruled by a sense of destiny.' Machete."


He was a Federale - a Mexican national police officer - until a drug kingpin murdered his family. Then, it became personal. Left for dead, the ex-policeman nicknamed "Machete," (for his deadly skill with that long, sharp blade), slips across the Texas border and disappears into the legion of undocumented workers; but he soon finds himself in an underground movement for immigrant rights and against criminals like that notorious druglord.


"You're a fighter."

"Only when there's something worth fighting for."

"Is there?"

"Always."


Danny Trejo stars as "Machete," a character writer-director Robert Rodriguez explains he put in a mock 'trailer' or coming attraction preview as part of Grindhouse, his 2007 double-bill collaboration 2 with Quentin Tarantino.


 Joaquin Avellan

Danny Trejo is MACHETE, a legendary 3 ex-Federale with a deadly attitude and the skills to match.

 


"The reason I made the movie was because that original trailer I put in Grindhouse had such a huge response from fans of all types, because they had never seen a movie like that before," Rodriguez says. "I thought it was kind of a no-brainer: how come nobody has ever made a movie like this before? You had 'blaxploitation' films, but you never had a Latin super-hero."


"Cuidado [warning], don't start what you can't finish, 'Machete.'"


 Rico Torres

Jessica Alba stars as Sartana, a beautiful immigrations officer torn between enforcing the law and doing what is right.

 "This movie is very strange [and] was very fun to do creatively," explains Rodriguez, "because I shot the trailer first and I wanted to use every shot from the trailer in the movie, so I had to 'reverse engineer' the movie. I looked at the trailer and said 'I need to use the shot of him doing this, how did he get there?' Then I'd come up with things to do that. So the scene of him in the waterfall with the two beautiful blondes …how did he get into that pool? And what twists can I put on it so that it surprises an audience?"


One twist that Rodriguez slips into Machete is framing the action scenes with a serious plot about the raging controversy 4 over illegal immigration in the United States.


Robert DeNiro plays a blustering 5 politician using the issue in his election campaign. Jessica Alba plays an immigration agent attempting to uphold the law.


 Rico Torres

Nurse Mona [Elise Avellan, left] and Nurse Lisa [Electra Avellan] take a break from healing to wage war against an army of vigilantes.

 "I think if it was a serious drama, we wouldn't be able to explore the political themes the way we do in this film," Alba says. "People go in thinking are watching this amazing action-comedy film and they can walk away with a conversation …they can walk away having an opinion on one side or the other. I feel like this also something that is politically and socially relevant anywhere in the world, because every country deals with immigrants and there are always two sides to the argument."


The punchy dialog and gritty action are in the style of low budget features Hollywood used to churn out to fill double-bills at local cinemas - so-called "B" movies; but that description bothers actress Michele Rodriguez (no relation to the writer-director) who plays a local activist 6 in Machete.


 Rico Torres

Michelle Rodriguez as Luz, a sexy taco-truck lady with a rebellious 7 spirit and a revolutionary heart.

 "I don't like the sound of 'B' movie. I think it is more of an exploitation film," notes Rodriguez, "in the vein 8 of Natural Born Killers 9 or Pulp 10 Fiction or any of those exploitative genres 11 where you just exaggerate images. It's more artistic 12 than a B movie, which is like Splat-man or something with really bad acting 13. This is different."


On the other hand, Robert Rodriguez embraces the "B" movie spirit.


"There is a quality to a 'B' movie. It is almost giving yourself permission to have more fun than you would normally have and when you go into a movie theater that's what you are going to do," the writer-director says. "You can go to the opera or you can go to the roller coaster. Some people want to go on the roller coaster. That's what I consider the 'B' movie to be.


"Not that it's 'less than …' It can be 'more than …' in a lot of ways if you're talking about the world of entertainment," he adds. "You can ask film students what their favorite film was and they might say a foreign film, but really their favorite first film that got them in love with movies was probably seeing Rambo or Raiders of the Lost Ark in a dark theater as a kid. Those movies travel really well. That's why those actors were big stars. They played all over the world, not just LA and New York, but Ukraine and Nigeria. You knew who the good guy was and who the bad guy was and they're really just fun, strong entertainment."


Machete also features Cheech Marin, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan and veteran action star Steven Seagal. The film was shot at Robert Rodriguez's "Troublemaker 14 Studios" in Austin, Texas.



1 rogue
n.流氓;v.游手好闲
  • The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
  • They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。
2 collaboration
n.合作,协作;勾结
  • The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
  • He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。
3 legendary
adj.传奇(中)的,闻名遐迩的;n.传奇(文学)
  • Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
  • Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。
4 controversy
n.争论,辩论,争吵
  • That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
  • We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。
5 blustering
adj.狂风大作的,狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 );咆哮;(风)呼啸;狂吹
  • It was five and a half o'clock now, and a raw, blustering morning. 这时才五点半,正是寒气逼人,狂风咆哮的早晨。 来自辞典例句
  • So sink the shadows of night, blustering, rainy, and all paths grow dark. 夜色深沉,风狂雨骤;到处途暗路黑。 来自辞典例句
6 activist
n.活动分子,积极分子
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
7 rebellious
adj.造反的,反抗的,难控制的
  • They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反,他们就要发生危险。
  • Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和,但她的心里十分反感。
8 vein
n.血管,静脉;叶脉,纹理;情绪;vt.使成脉络
  • The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
  • The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。
9 killers
凶手( killer的名词复数 ); 消灭…者; 致命物; 极难的事
  • He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
  • They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。
10 pulp
n.果肉,纸浆;v.化成纸浆,除去...果肉,制成纸浆
  • The pulp of this watermelon is too spongy.这西瓜瓤儿太肉了。
  • The company manufactures pulp and paper products.这个公司制造纸浆和纸产品。
11 genres
(文学、艺术等的)类型,体裁,风格( genre的名词复数 )
  • Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
  • But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆,古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
12 artistic
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
13 acting
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
14 troublemaker
n.惹是生非者,闹事者,捣乱者
  • I would hate you to think me a troublemaker.我不愿你认为我是个搬弄是非的人。
  • Li Yang has always been a troublemaker.李阳总是制造麻烦。
学英语单词
A-point
acute parametritis
Allium ramosum
ammonia-potassium water regime
amnicolous
an hourglass figure
anaxipha pallidula
anti-clash key
Aphredoderoidei
assimilations
barness
bepenised
Boldrewood Rolf
box diagram
boxesful
brake camshaft
by product recovery gas producer
car yard
cardiac electrophysiology
checkmates
chemical microencapsulation process
chromite sand
cielo
collapsed face
crooning
cynophile
deaphragm gas meter
delivered cost
die-locking toggle
duty of alcoholic liquor
Euphorbia helioscopia
expanding subspace theorem
fast firing kiln
fire-enhancing grasses
first pylon
fly half
gas-forming property
Gorillas in the Mist
Grezzana
hard nickel
heart disease prevention program
hemicompatible
index of ripple mark
Iron County
irradiation swelling model
irregular articulation
jacket water
jamul
keyna
killingly
kiln site
l-block type wharf
latitude of an observer
lift lug
Ligusticum elatum
linnorm
Lopokino
loungingly
macrosporocyte
marker mark
maximum transverse force
maximum work
mcpc (multiple channel per carrier)
MDMP
microthermal type
morbid physiology
moulded resin
Mumcular
naviss
nuclear magnetic induction
Ortilis vetula macalli
over order
part learning
physical chemistry of electrolytic solution
polyethylene balloon
rasamala
salesclerk
shoring beam
signeted
silence signal
simple chain
social resource
spin paramagnetism
suspension of transit period
tank engine oil
tapered leading edge
territorial limits
Theotiscan
TIC (transfer in channel)
traffic-choked
trail car
tree pie
trunk movement
tutela legitima
ureogenesis
urethral polyp
USSS
wave height coefficient
web former
write against
xylosylation
yao