I'm glad you brought that up, I've yet to see the A-team and I'd like a good popcorn flick.
Unlike Adrock, I absolutely adored Machete. Now, I don't know your ethnicity, Adrock, but maybe there were some cultural things that just didn't click with you? It was a predominately Hispanic audience when I went and everyone walked out satisfied. There were a handful of moments where I thought "man, I'm glad I know what that Mexican slang meant or else I would of missed the joke" so if you were in that boat, I can see how the movie could feel a little subpar. I felt this movie was supposed to me an even mix of comedy with RR's usual over the top violence. I really feel as if he set out on making a movie specifically for his people and said **** everyone else. You should of seen how empowered the Mexican portion of the audience looked upon leaving haha.
Then again, maybe you do get it and just didn't enjoy it, and thats cool. I thought it was 10/10 though and I can't believe I haven't picked up the dvd yet.
Taken 8/10 - Second viewing since originally release; just as good as the first time around, maybe better because I could get passed Liam's initial performance. I felt that the his character at the films start is a bit too.. hokey? I dunno, I just don't really see him as an overly sensitive father who would keep a scrap book of his daughter's life with a single photo per page.. It just didn't seem to fit. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome seeing him go from Mr. Sensitive to full on bad-ass, because it made the movie, but actually watching those initial scenes was just off putting.
Still on this second time around, it was forgivable because I knew what was to come, and I still felt that sense of intensity that came from him being a father stopping at nothing to get his daughter back, that **** was just real. I still couldn't believe it was just a pg13 movie because it felt way too intense for what I normally considered a scaled back movie, but that's just a testament to how good it is.
With that said though, I watched the unrated version last night and didn't notice anything different or extended from the original film. If I had the time to watch each version back to back, I would, so I felt only slightly disappointed by the end.