So on friday I went with Rachel, Santi and Steve to go see Grindhouse. Lots upon lots of people were anticipating the arrival of the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature in the vein of old drive-in double features of B-movies. Essentially this was supposed to set a mood and pull you in for the 3 and a half hours of playtime and create a rather unique theater-going experience. With its own set of coming attractions to open it (Machete! Soon to be a direct-to-video feature) and to line the intermission it really felt like its own awesome entity, like you were taken into an undisclosed point in time, in your own little contained world within the theater.
That is really something that is a great idea and we need more of now. Now, if you afraid of anything being 'spoiled' for you, don't read further. Go see this, though.
One of the issues I had with 'Grindhouse' was that neither director I'm really big on anymore. Rodriguez really turned me off with 'Sin City' as many people know. Some of his past movies I've really loved, but I feared he had 'grown into' just being that stylized director with the flash-and-style-over-substance approaches to film-making. Sin City, in my opinion, was trash. There was nothing to it, and it just sucked. Then again, I don't like Frank Miller, I don't like comic book films, and like movies with substance. There is nothing wrong with a simply 'fun' movie, but it needs to be fun, and not trying to be something its not. 300 can go suck a dick, BTW.
Planet Terror was amazing. Planet Terror was a post-modern zombie film to the nth degree. It was campy, dark, stylized, funny, well-acted, well-written and full of everything a zombie film should be. Rodriguez didn't take the film too seriously, but all the same took it very seriously. The 'Machete' trailer sets a really great pace and sets the visual style for the rest of the feature. Planet Terror is visually stunning throughout, using what looked like either old film or lots of filters on the film to make it look like a 'polished' b-movie. Some scenes are almost unwatchable due to the film 'melting' or being so full of scratches, and it just adds to the whole feel of it. At one point, when we were set for the streamy/awkwardly (yet perfectly) placed sex scene, the film melts and 'breaks' away, leaving up a 'missing reel' apology from 'the management.' It was worth a few laughs, and proved to be an awesome segue to the next portion of the film.
The casting was just spot on, as every character felt like they should have; Naveen Andrews (of Lost fame) was a very pleasant surprise as the Middle-Eastern biochemist/terrorist, Bruce Willis was amazing as the mutant/soldier baddy and Rose McGowan was just perfect. The rest of the cast was great as well. The only issue I had was QT being one of the main mutated soldiers, simply credited as 'The Rapist.' QT is not a good actor, hell, he is barely a competant director. The whole trend of casting directors in important roles needs to stop. Cameos are great, and the only saving grace for 'Hostel', for example was Takashi Miike's brief cameo to me. But QT's ego is just unmatchable, and somehow we are supposed to believe that him, next to brawny soldiers was accepted to the military, passed basic training, got put with an elite unit and served in Iraq with the unit that infact killed Osama Bin Laden and paid the price in being sprayed with a zombifying chemical. Then I'm supposed to believe that he is so bad ass that he would be high in command enough to go off to rape two women while nobody gives a shit?
UGH. GO AWAY, QT. He had to have written his own dialog, as he had the same dialog he pretty much does in every film he is in; the whole awkard diatribe about something gruesome involving a lot of swears and obscure pop culture references. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but his act is really tired.
From here we are treated to another few faux-trailers, which were amazing. Eli Roth of 'Hostel' fame pretty much stole the show with his 'Thanksgiving' trailer, Edgar Wright of 'Shaun of the Dead' fame did the 'Don't Scream' trailer (which was just kinda blah), and Rob Zombie's awesome 'Werewolf Women of the SS' trailer with Nick Cage with a FuManchu was incredible. What really struck me about this was the uniformity of the trailers; they all kept with the visual style and kept the same feeling that 'Machete' and 'Planet Terror' presenting, while still being unique to themselves and not seeming like they were all done for the sole purpose of this film extravaganza. The point I'm making here is leading me directly into...
Death Proof. Death Proof was a one man tour-de-force, and it had nothing to do with Quentin Tarantino. It had everything to do with Kurt Russell. I've seen people saying this might 'revive' Russell's career, and while I don't know about that, he was just incredible in this. This film sadly falls apart and proves QT might not be on the same level of the other directors featured in 'Grindhouse.' Planet Terror was enthralling, exciting and easily one of the best zombie movies I've ever seen. It was fast-paced, fun and just plain awesome. The trailers were the same, then QT comes at us with a slow, plodding, dialog-based film with very little action until the end.
A lot of people don't understand the criticism launched against 'Death Proof' and chalk it up to people not liking 'slower' films. That really isn't the case. There are many great 'slow' films, and this is not one of them. QT is a guy that prides himself on his dialog, and what we got instead was the same dialog, verbatim, from his past films. The situations are nearly the same; sitting around a table smart-talking, riding in a car smart-talking, the 'I'm going to kill you, let me go off on a diatribe' smart-talking and so on. QT's dialog is played out, and he really needs to come up with something new other than the above situations lined with obscurish pop culture references, obscure and foreign film masturbation and ample use of the word 'fuck' as an adjective, noun, verb and anything else he can squeak it in as.
The action, when there is action, is great, but that is pretty much reserved for the end of the film. The end of the film is by far the best part, and I really can't say much bad for it, but the whole first half just doesn't fit. Not only does it not fit, but the visual style totally ruins everything that was being built in 'Grindhouse.' I was giving it a chance, as the beginning of gratuitous ass-shots, cheesey music and quick dialog and camera cuts seemed totally 70's b-film. Then it just went to long, masturbatory dialog sequences and building of characters that have no consequence on the point of the film for about half of it. He creates characters you want to care about, kills them off, and then creates a bunch you don't care about and makes them your heroins. Greeeat.
Not only that, but here he is as the owner of the bar, on my screen for another 20+ minutes. Dear lord, make him stop. But back to the style, the style falls apart, and it goes from an undeterminable point in history to being set in modern day and looking like a modern film with a few retro cars and films mentioned. The emulation of Rodriguez's 'missing reel' gimmick was just bland, not funny and poorly executed compared to the previous film's, and just about anything else done similarly just wasn't on the same level of interest. Which makes me wonder, how did these 'lesser directors' make their faux-previews come out so well, but QT can't make his own grand idea work? He tried to do something, and really failed. Nevermind the placement of the film made no sense. Maybe this film would have been better if it came first? Its slower pace that builds to something quicker would have been a great lead-in to 'Planet Terror', and 'Planet Terror' was just the better film, period.
That isn't saying 'Death Proof' was all shit, as the action sequences were great, the acting was good (as was the casting), and as mentioned, Kurt Russell really stood out. My only issue with Kurt Russell was how horribly his character was written. He is a bad ass, but we don't know if his killings in the beginning was a random occurance, something he had done before, or what. We see him put himself into a horrible wreck without fear, then at the end take a bullet to the arm (well, he got grazed) and fall apart, turning into a crying mess, after apologizing to the girls for chasing them. The character is all over the place, and maybe all of the time he spent building up these girls (who, if according to the b-movie formula were just for T&A, should have had much lesser roles) and more time focusing on 'Stuntman Mike' and his past, the ending would have been a lot more of a rush and possibly made more sense.
All in all, its a great idea that was executed well (for the most part), and the only parts that fell flat in the 3 and a half hours were QT's ego-stroking dialog-sequences and his lack of understanding of his own concept. Go figure, the guy who spends his career making movies that had been made before cannot do it when it is supposed to be blatant, but can when he is hiding it.
That is really something that is a great idea and we need more of now. Now, if you afraid of anything being 'spoiled' for you, don't read further. Go see this, though.
One of the issues I had with 'Grindhouse' was that neither director I'm really big on anymore. Rodriguez really turned me off with 'Sin City' as many people know. Some of his past movies I've really loved, but I feared he had 'grown into' just being that stylized director with the flash-and-style-over-substance approaches to film-making. Sin City, in my opinion, was trash. There was nothing to it, and it just sucked. Then again, I don't like Frank Miller, I don't like comic book films, and like movies with substance. There is nothing wrong with a simply 'fun' movie, but it needs to be fun, and not trying to be something its not. 300 can go suck a dick, BTW.
Planet Terror was amazing. Planet Terror was a post-modern zombie film to the nth degree. It was campy, dark, stylized, funny, well-acted, well-written and full of everything a zombie film should be. Rodriguez didn't take the film too seriously, but all the same took it very seriously. The 'Machete' trailer sets a really great pace and sets the visual style for the rest of the feature. Planet Terror is visually stunning throughout, using what looked like either old film or lots of filters on the film to make it look like a 'polished' b-movie. Some scenes are almost unwatchable due to the film 'melting' or being so full of scratches, and it just adds to the whole feel of it. At one point, when we were set for the streamy/awkwardly (yet perfectly) placed sex scene, the film melts and 'breaks' away, leaving up a 'missing reel' apology from 'the management.' It was worth a few laughs, and proved to be an awesome segue to the next portion of the film.
The casting was just spot on, as every character felt like they should have; Naveen Andrews (of Lost fame) was a very pleasant surprise as the Middle-Eastern biochemist/terrorist, Bruce Willis was amazing as the mutant/soldier baddy and Rose McGowan was just perfect. The rest of the cast was great as well. The only issue I had was QT being one of the main mutated soldiers, simply credited as 'The Rapist.' QT is not a good actor, hell, he is barely a competant director. The whole trend of casting directors in important roles needs to stop. Cameos are great, and the only saving grace for 'Hostel', for example was Takashi Miike's brief cameo to me. But QT's ego is just unmatchable, and somehow we are supposed to believe that him, next to brawny soldiers was accepted to the military, passed basic training, got put with an elite unit and served in Iraq with the unit that infact killed Osama Bin Laden and paid the price in being sprayed with a zombifying chemical. Then I'm supposed to believe that he is so bad ass that he would be high in command enough to go off to rape two women while nobody gives a shit?
UGH. GO AWAY, QT. He had to have written his own dialog, as he had the same dialog he pretty much does in every film he is in; the whole awkard diatribe about something gruesome involving a lot of swears and obscure pop culture references. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but his act is really tired.
From here we are treated to another few faux-trailers, which were amazing. Eli Roth of 'Hostel' fame pretty much stole the show with his 'Thanksgiving' trailer, Edgar Wright of 'Shaun of the Dead' fame did the 'Don't Scream' trailer (which was just kinda blah), and Rob Zombie's awesome 'Werewolf Women of the SS' trailer with Nick Cage with a FuManchu was incredible. What really struck me about this was the uniformity of the trailers; they all kept with the visual style and kept the same feeling that 'Machete' and 'Planet Terror' presenting, while still being unique to themselves and not seeming like they were all done for the sole purpose of this film extravaganza. The point I'm making here is leading me directly into...
Death Proof. Death Proof was a one man tour-de-force, and it had nothing to do with Quentin Tarantino. It had everything to do with Kurt Russell. I've seen people saying this might 'revive' Russell's career, and while I don't know about that, he was just incredible in this. This film sadly falls apart and proves QT might not be on the same level of the other directors featured in 'Grindhouse.' Planet Terror was enthralling, exciting and easily one of the best zombie movies I've ever seen. It was fast-paced, fun and just plain awesome. The trailers were the same, then QT comes at us with a slow, plodding, dialog-based film with very little action until the end.
A lot of people don't understand the criticism launched against 'Death Proof' and chalk it up to people not liking 'slower' films. That really isn't the case. There are many great 'slow' films, and this is not one of them. QT is a guy that prides himself on his dialog, and what we got instead was the same dialog, verbatim, from his past films. The situations are nearly the same; sitting around a table smart-talking, riding in a car smart-talking, the 'I'm going to kill you, let me go off on a diatribe' smart-talking and so on. QT's dialog is played out, and he really needs to come up with something new other than the above situations lined with obscurish pop culture references, obscure and foreign film masturbation and ample use of the word 'fuck' as an adjective, noun, verb and anything else he can squeak it in as.
The action, when there is action, is great, but that is pretty much reserved for the end of the film. The end of the film is by far the best part, and I really can't say much bad for it, but the whole first half just doesn't fit. Not only does it not fit, but the visual style totally ruins everything that was being built in 'Grindhouse.' I was giving it a chance, as the beginning of gratuitous ass-shots, cheesey music and quick dialog and camera cuts seemed totally 70's b-film. Then it just went to long, masturbatory dialog sequences and building of characters that have no consequence on the point of the film for about half of it. He creates characters you want to care about, kills them off, and then creates a bunch you don't care about and makes them your heroins. Greeeat.
Not only that, but here he is as the owner of the bar, on my screen for another 20+ minutes. Dear lord, make him stop. But back to the style, the style falls apart, and it goes from an undeterminable point in history to being set in modern day and looking like a modern film with a few retro cars and films mentioned. The emulation of Rodriguez's 'missing reel' gimmick was just bland, not funny and poorly executed compared to the previous film's, and just about anything else done similarly just wasn't on the same level of interest. Which makes me wonder, how did these 'lesser directors' make their faux-previews come out so well, but QT can't make his own grand idea work? He tried to do something, and really failed. Nevermind the placement of the film made no sense. Maybe this film would have been better if it came first? Its slower pace that builds to something quicker would have been a great lead-in to 'Planet Terror', and 'Planet Terror' was just the better film, period.
That isn't saying 'Death Proof' was all shit, as the action sequences were great, the acting was good (as was the casting), and as mentioned, Kurt Russell really stood out. My only issue with Kurt Russell was how horribly his character was written. He is a bad ass, but we don't know if his killings in the beginning was a random occurance, something he had done before, or what. We see him put himself into a horrible wreck without fear, then at the end take a bullet to the arm (well, he got grazed) and fall apart, turning into a crying mess, after apologizing to the girls for chasing them. The character is all over the place, and maybe all of the time he spent building up these girls (who, if according to the b-movie formula were just for T&A, should have had much lesser roles) and more time focusing on 'Stuntman Mike' and his past, the ending would have been a lot more of a rush and possibly made more sense.
All in all, its a great idea that was executed well (for the most part), and the only parts that fell flat in the 3 and a half hours were QT's ego-stroking dialog-sequences and his lack of understanding of his own concept. Go figure, the guy who spends his career making movies that had been made before cannot do it when it is supposed to be blatant, but can when he is hiding it.
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