Grindhouse
I went to see Grindhouse Monday night. I know that's an odd night to see a movie, but I had to go to my parents' for the weekend so I wasn't able to see it then. It's insane how much it costs to go to the movies these days. For 1 ticket, a small popcorn and a medium drink was $18.50. A guy almost couldn't afford to take a girl out to a dinner and a movie date, especially a high school or college kid.
I've been looking forward to this for quite some time Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Taratino are two of my favorite film makers. Their movies are so chock full of pop culture references, homages to other films, plays on genres and archetypes, unbelievable over the top violence, and a strange slightly disturbing sense of fun. These are really two guys that I'd love to hang out with.
Anyway, for the most part I love Grindhouse. Honestly, I loved Rodriguez's Planet Terror way more than I did Tarantino's Death Proof. For the most part I really don't care for horror movies. It's not that they scare me or I'm disturbed by the gore. The characters just make me so freakin' mad, that I end up screaming at them. It's bad enough that they apparently exist in a reality where horror movies aren't being made; they just plain don't have any common sense. On the other hand I kind of enjoy those kind of tongue in cheek horror films like 8 Legged Freaks, Slither, or one might say Ghostbusters. Those I like. Planet Terror was one of the films.
It was just a fun ride. The cast was wonderful. The movie could have been ruined by actors that either took themselves too seriously or went too far into parody. Josh Brolin was one of my favorites. He played Doctor Block, an emergency room doctor who walked around with an old fashioned glass thermometer in his mouth, to 'monitor his calm'. I didn't expect him to be quite so sinister. I've not seen Rose McGowan in much, but I liked her here. She seemed to really grasp the nature of the film. But then she did date Marylin Mason so I guess would have a good grasp of the absurd and the disturbed. I nearly died when I realized that the scientist that devoloped the gas that turned people into Zombies was Balraj Bingley from Bride and Prejudice. Mr. Bingley created zombies. I must get the sudden uncontrolable urge to do a zombie version of Pride and Prejudice out of my head.
Robert Rodriguez gave a lot of attention to little details that made it feel like a old grindhouse flick. The dust and scratches on the film and the missing reel. In sounds like it would make it unwatchable but it wasn't. The missing reel was used very effectively. You got a lot of talking and exposition out of the way that can slow down the pace. On the other hand you never got to figure out who exactly El Wray was and why he was so good with guns. We're rather led to believe that he was a special ops guy, but don't know why he gave that up. We also miss how the BBQ joint caught on fire.
There was one part that reminded me of a lot hurt/comfort fic where a character is injured in some horrible way but still mananges to have really hot sex. I got a good laugh.
Planet Terror was just fun and I can't wait to see it again so I can find even more stuff in the layers of homage and parody.
Unfortunately, Death Proof wasn't as good and it had been the one I was most looking forward to. It's an interesting premise. A former stuntman uses his stunt car to murder young women. He's the only constant throughout the story involving two different sets of women that he targets. I know Tarantino is known for his non-linear storytelling and normally I like that. In this case it just feels like two short movies under the title Death Proof. The tone is very different in each segment and switched rather abruptly after the first set of girls are killed, it feels like a completely different film.
There was also too much sitting around talking in the normal Tarantino manner, but it really just slowed down what ever tension there was. I usually love those type of scenes in his movies but it didn't work here.
Kurt Russell was kinda creepy, more so in the first part of the movie. It's really strange to see him in a bad guy type of role. He's normally such a hero. He really does have great head of hair too. Most girls would kill to have such nice thick hair.
I think the best part of Death Proof was the music. Tarantino always has such great soundtracks and this was no exception. There was such a great mix of obscure music I'd probably never hear if it wasn't for this. I had to go pick it up. Needless to say it's great driving music. I was half expecting to hear The Unknown Stuntman somewhere. That would have really made me smile. C'mon, you guys know the The Fall Guy theme as sung by Lee Majors. I used to love that show when I was a kid even though I don't remember much other than the opening title sequence with this song. I think I even had it on record back in the day.
With a wistful smile of nostalgia I give you:
The Unknown Stuntman
It kinda reminds me of Dan Shae and RDA. Dan Shae get blown up and RDA gets all the girls and mocks poor Dan's thumb.
I've been looking forward to this for quite some time Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Taratino are two of my favorite film makers. Their movies are so chock full of pop culture references, homages to other films, plays on genres and archetypes, unbelievable over the top violence, and a strange slightly disturbing sense of fun. These are really two guys that I'd love to hang out with.
Anyway, for the most part I love Grindhouse. Honestly, I loved Rodriguez's Planet Terror way more than I did Tarantino's Death Proof. For the most part I really don't care for horror movies. It's not that they scare me or I'm disturbed by the gore. The characters just make me so freakin' mad, that I end up screaming at them. It's bad enough that they apparently exist in a reality where horror movies aren't being made; they just plain don't have any common sense. On the other hand I kind of enjoy those kind of tongue in cheek horror films like 8 Legged Freaks, Slither, or one might say Ghostbusters. Those I like. Planet Terror was one of the films.
It was just a fun ride. The cast was wonderful. The movie could have been ruined by actors that either took themselves too seriously or went too far into parody. Josh Brolin was one of my favorites. He played Doctor Block, an emergency room doctor who walked around with an old fashioned glass thermometer in his mouth, to 'monitor his calm'. I didn't expect him to be quite so sinister. I've not seen Rose McGowan in much, but I liked her here. She seemed to really grasp the nature of the film. But then she did date Marylin Mason so I guess would have a good grasp of the absurd and the disturbed. I nearly died when I realized that the scientist that devoloped the gas that turned people into Zombies was Balraj Bingley from Bride and Prejudice. Mr. Bingley created zombies. I must get the sudden uncontrolable urge to do a zombie version of Pride and Prejudice out of my head.
Robert Rodriguez gave a lot of attention to little details that made it feel like a old grindhouse flick. The dust and scratches on the film and the missing reel. In sounds like it would make it unwatchable but it wasn't. The missing reel was used very effectively. You got a lot of talking and exposition out of the way that can slow down the pace. On the other hand you never got to figure out who exactly El Wray was and why he was so good with guns. We're rather led to believe that he was a special ops guy, but don't know why he gave that up. We also miss how the BBQ joint caught on fire.
There was one part that reminded me of a lot hurt/comfort fic where a character is injured in some horrible way but still mananges to have really hot sex. I got a good laugh.
Planet Terror was just fun and I can't wait to see it again so I can find even more stuff in the layers of homage and parody.
Unfortunately, Death Proof wasn't as good and it had been the one I was most looking forward to. It's an interesting premise. A former stuntman uses his stunt car to murder young women. He's the only constant throughout the story involving two different sets of women that he targets. I know Tarantino is known for his non-linear storytelling and normally I like that. In this case it just feels like two short movies under the title Death Proof. The tone is very different in each segment and switched rather abruptly after the first set of girls are killed, it feels like a completely different film.
There was also too much sitting around talking in the normal Tarantino manner, but it really just slowed down what ever tension there was. I usually love those type of scenes in his movies but it didn't work here.
Kurt Russell was kinda creepy, more so in the first part of the movie. It's really strange to see him in a bad guy type of role. He's normally such a hero. He really does have great head of hair too. Most girls would kill to have such nice thick hair.
I think the best part of Death Proof was the music. Tarantino always has such great soundtracks and this was no exception. There was such a great mix of obscure music I'd probably never hear if it wasn't for this. I had to go pick it up. Needless to say it's great driving music. I was half expecting to hear The Unknown Stuntman somewhere. That would have really made me smile. C'mon, you guys know the The Fall Guy theme as sung by Lee Majors. I used to love that show when I was a kid even though I don't remember much other than the opening title sequence with this song. I think I even had it on record back in the day.
With a wistful smile of nostalgia I give you:
The Unknown Stuntman
It kinda reminds me of Dan Shae and RDA. Dan Shae get blown up and RDA gets all the girls and mocks poor Dan's thumb.