James Cameron is making the Battle Angel Alita movie.

it's flawed, and ending right where the story should be ramping up to a conclusion is... frustrating

but it has a lot of heart and the cast are great

(especially christolph waltz, who delivers an actual genuinely touching performance instead of falling back on the tics he's been relying on since inglourious basterds and also he has a rocket-propelled hammer ffs)

agreed wholeheartedly re: waltz

is this maybe robert rodriguez's best movie?

what a wildly varible career that guy's had

i'd have to rewatch SpyKids and the first two Mariachi movies, which iirc do have the advantage of being a little more focused than this one.

I maintain that this movie’s wandering episodic focus is a strength not a weakness and makes the whole project feel More Anime

i recall the first spy kids being an absolute joy

ranking the Rodriguezes I've seen:

1995 Desperado
1995 Four Rooms: Room 309 - The Misbehavers
1992 El Mariachi
1996 From Dusk Till Dawn
2002 Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
2007 Grindhouse: Planet Terror
2010 Machete
2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico
2001 Spy Kids
2013 Machete Kills
1991 Bedhead
2005 Sin City
1998 The Faculty
2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

not seen:

1994 Roadracers
2005 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
2009 Shorts
2011 The Black Mamba
2011 Spy Kids: All the Time in the World
2013 Two Scoops
2014 Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
2015 Sock 'em Dead
2018 The Limit
2019 Alita: Battle Angel

i remember absolutely dying at the misbehavers in theaters but i haven't seen it since then and i'm unlikely to hunt it down

I groaned thinking that the villain was played by Cameron himself under dodgy makeup but then groaned again when it turned out not to be Cameron.

would now rank this between Spy Kids and Kills