Grindhouse
I haven't been entertained like I was watching Grindhouse last night since my college film series days, when my friends and I were the ones physically attaching trailers and shorts to reels of film.
What Grindhouse represented to me, beside sheer cinematic joy, was the promise it has in this age of home theaters and the cinematic decline: not as a 70's throwback to the good old days of single-screen movie house (which I rarely ever experienced anyway during my 80's childhood), but as a trendsetter of what the cinema must become: a packaged experience. I will never grow tired of viewing conventional movies on the big screen, perhaps for generational reasons, but it's becoming clear that the technological benefits are no longer exclusively available at the multiplex. James Cameron, who's next feature film will use advanced 3-D project, is aware of this, and the rapid construction of IMAX theaters is a testament to the pushing of boundaries.
In Grindhouse, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino are packaging cinema in another way -- both with nostalgia and with film-geek-friendliness. The fake trailers are hilarious, and their pacing and narration are spot on. Various oddities are spliced in. The movies themselves are a mish-mash of old B-movies and horror films: Rodriguez's with a strong John Carpenter and Dario Argento element, Tarantino's with old-school car porn films that I'm actually not well versed in (but hey, at least I've seen Bullitt) -- and a bit of 2006's The Descent as well. They're both over-the-top and ridiculous -- Rodriguez's more so -- but pretty much entertaining the whole way through. When I spotted the couple in the row ahead of me engaging in a brief spat of oral sex, I was less disgusted than I expected, perhaps because it was fitting with what was happening on-screen.
But if my film-geek hopes here are too optimistic, and Grindhouse turns out to be the rare packaged experience, so be it. Never has spending over three hours in a modern multiplex been so fun.
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Glad you liked it. I'm looking forward to seeing it, but alas, was unable to find someone with a similar bloodlust to my own to partake of the experience. Perhaps next week.
Yeah, I had a great time at the Grindhouse, although I thought both movies began on the slow side and thought Planet Terror was much more fun. Highpoint: Thanksgiving. Low point: Werewolf Women of the SS.
Funny that this movie was packaged with real trailers by directors that made the fake trailers.
more details on the oral sex, please. what type?
Just the usual girl-on-guy kind.
Rodenator: I thought Planet Terror had a slow ending, and that Death Proof had a slow ending beginning. But that was offset by the material placed in between. And I'm with you about Thanksgiving -- the narration was worth the price of entry.
I checked this out on Friday night, and couldn't agree more with your synopsis -- and I especially share your hope for more cinematic "experiences."
Have to disagree on the fine print, though -- there was virtually no John Carpenter or Dario Argento to be found in "Planet Terror." It was Romero through and through (as witness the Tom Savini bit part -- "Deputy Tolo"), with perhaps a bit of Lucio Fulci, "Zombi II" eyeball fetish thrown in for good measure. But whatever, it was awesome.
Film-geekdom or not, I was impressed by the artistry in Tarantino's -- a bit less over-the-top than "Planet Terror" I thought, in terms of "scratchy" film, dodgy audio, etc. I think I may be in the minority, and especially as a fan of 70s gore stuff, but I thought "Death Proof" was the better of the two.
Nobody here was interested. I might try to rally one or two potential targets to go next weekend... if it's still in the theaters then.
Saw it as well and agree w/ your assessment, but I don't know how well it bodes for the future of such cinematic endeavors. I read it as more of an ode and farewell - particularly for Tarantino. Maybe this was an over-reading, but I think in the second film there are a number of images (when the cars from two eras finally meet and the fact that 'the Hollywood version' of some of the characters triumphs) that led me to believe Tarantino was trying to tell us that this is in fact a rare experience and you better enjoy it. You should take solace in the fact that people are still having sex in movie theaters though - and I snuck in a flask of whiskey to poor in my $6 Coke.
Luddite Robot: Well, the Romero influence on zombie movies is pretty much common knowledge now, so I left that out. Fulci, on the other hand, I'm unfamiliar with. But I stand by my John Carpenter claim: both the music and the stop-motion feel of the monstrous creatures reminded me of Carpenter. Argento, less so, but he's my main connection with gory Italian horror.
Drew: If you're assessment is right, I think it's yet another one of Tarantino's I'm-the-savior-of-modern-film claims. Also, he's explicitly stated before that he plans to stop making movies within the next decade or two, so that he doesn't experience the sort of old-man decline that's afflicted filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola. So, perhaps he's saying: once I stop making movies, you're all doomed!
Rodriguez on his feature: "It feels like a John Carpenter movie."
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/robert.html
Ah, I read that a week or two ago so that may've been in my subconscious mind. But still, the creature effects reminded my much of Carpenter's The Thing.
if anyone wants to relive - or spoil for themselves - the wonder that is Thanksgiving,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yibXKDUkytg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fidontlikeyo...
Hmm ... apparently it's time for me to start watching some old John Carpenter stuff.
CM -- Fulci is spectacularly terrible. Watch Zombi 2 or The Beyond if you're in the mood for gory nonsense, and The New York Ripper if you're in the mood for a villian who sounds exactly like Donald Duck and says things like, "You'll never catch me -- you're too stupid!"
CM, you thought the movies had slow endings rather than slow beginnings, odd?
Also, I guess I am so acclimated to good looking women in movies that I kept thinking "why is this woman so unattractive?" about Zoe whatever, not knowing she was a real stunt woman.
No, that was a typo -- I thought Planet Terror had a slow ending, and Death Proof had a slow beginning. Death Proof had an amazing ending.
DP was all about the ending, although I disagree about PT's ending. I thought it was really fun.
just saw this today.
who cares what specific kind of homage it was. it was all damn slow save for the very very end of the 3+ hour experience. planet terror left no lasting impression. a few good moments. to me it kind of didn't commit to being fully ridiculous and therefore failed. like it was JUST about tipping itself over the edge, but didn't.
death proof on the other hand i liked. yes, slow start (and a WHOLE lot of exposition for a bunch of characters who were all going to get killed), but big payoff in the end. big payoff. i enjoyed that. rodriguez's planet terror was generic while death proof was pure tarantino trash talking with an extra slasher B film flair.
i think in the end i could have done w/o planet terror altogether. i know the whole concept was to have a double feature. but i say scrap it and flesh out death proof.
i liked "don't" as well as "thanksgiving." "werewolf women of the ss" was SO embarrasing.
I saw this tonight and damn it was good fun. The whole experience was really well done. I found Planet Terror to be pretty redundent, but it made me laugh. I loved lots of it, but it should have been cut in half. As always, Robert R. is just not that talented of a director. He has a lot of energy, but he just doesn't have the chops.
On the other hand I loved Death Proof. the ending was fantastic and the first group of girls kept me rapt, which is tough to do with just dialogue. I started to get a bit bored when the next group of girls showed up and talked in the diner forever and then talked about driving the car forever, but once that chase scene started. Damn. Tarantino, crazy coke head that he is, is so damn talented. he is everything Robert R. is not.
Oh, and the trailers were great. My favorite was Don't, with Thanksgiving a close Second. Werewold Women of the SS was jsut dumb and a piece of shit. Any suprise that it was made by Rob Zombie? Nope.
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