White meat...Dark meat...ALL will be carved!

[kleenexwoman]

I just got back from seeing Grindhouse. I skipped a class and smuggled in double cheeseburgers in a trenchcoat to see this movie. Worth it, worth it, worth it. Definitely one of the top five movie-going experiences I have ever had. (#1-4 all took place in Royal Oak, at the Main Art Theatre. Midnight movies FTW.)

--The trailers were excellent and hilarious, yes. Don't and Thanksgiving were great as parodies of trailers, but exactly the opposite in tone--Don't was all suspense and a total lack of revelation, and Thanksgiving was all the gory bits and payoffs of a movie without the buildup.
They're making an actual Machete movie, with Danny Trejo and all. I hope that this kicks off a wave of anachronistically styled action movies. I just like the look of the old ones, you know? They're more colorful and more fun. And apparently, Rob Zombie is currently shooting footage for Werewolf Women of the SS. I want to see this movie. I want Nicolas Cage to reprise his role as Fu Manchu.

--Planet Terror was fucking awesome. The special effects on the zombie people were so over-the-top that I almost managed not to wince (and the flesh dripping from between Tarantino's character's legs was fantastic. I heard people cringing behind me). The missing reel worked perfectly, as far as plot goes--it just cut out parts that would have been there, but unnecessary, in a film where the conceit wouldn't work. I loved how the cliches of the genre were handled and dispensed with, without resorting to parody or plodding through unnecessary explanation.
I dug the Dr. Block character. I'm not sure why. He was great as a minor baddie.
I would also like to note that Cherry Darling is absolutely fucking smokin' and someday I would like to see a movie or at least have a nice dream where she and her machine-gun leg team up with Ash Williams and his chainsaw hand and fight zombies.

--Death Proof was sort of a disappointment. Tarantino spent so much time setting up the first group of characters, and ultimately there's very little payoff to their deaths. It's all very abrupt and throwaway, and the extended bar-crawling scene would have worked if the dialogue and character interaction had been interesting at all. I'm used to snappy and memorable dialogue from this man! Where did it go? The second half was more interesting, but uneven in the balance of dialogue/character development and pure, unadulterated action. (Note: Film buffs on an SA thread are saying that this is par for the course for "girls with machine guns" type films. Fair enough, then, but the dialogue and characters were still duller and more inane than I'm used to from Tarantino.)
I was disappointed to notice that Tarantino seemed to forget about the "this is an old-fashioned piece of film!" gimmick--the first half was "cleaner" than Planet Terror, but did have glitches and stutters that made it seem believable. The second half didn't, and while this made for a more immersive story, the story really wasn't much to be immersed in, and would have been far more interesting with the stutters and glitches put in.

--One thing that I didn't expect to like about the entire movie, but ended up loving anyway, was the lack of deliberate anachronisms. While the movies and trailers were all done in an anachronistic style, modern technology is used throughout the movies--there are cell phones with text messaging functions and a high-res computer screen. However, unlike many present-day action movies, the plot (or the action-y parts of the plot) do not hinge on the use of this modern technology, and it's certainly not pervasive. It actually gave the whole movie the feeling of being from a slightly parallel universe where cheesy, colorful double features like this are still popular, rather than being a deliberately constructed false artifact.

--Ultimately, I would have preferred to see Planet Terror as a single movie, with the previews intact but shown all in a lump before the feature presentation.

Thoughts? Theories? Anyone in the area want to go see it again with me?

Comments

[remindmeofthe.livejournal.com]

Yes! I assumed the movies would be taking place in the seventies, so I found the cells and such amusingly jarring - I didn't realize they were "supposed" to be set in present day until Stuntman Mike was all, "You girls have never heard of any of those shows, have you?"

I fully support an Ash/Cherry team-up of awesome, but it could never happen. The collective hot, you see, would melt the film right inside the camera. (Seriously, Rose McGowan has never done anything for me before, but she was, as you said - and as I told someone else the other day - fucking smokin' in Planet Terror.)

I love how the zombie makeup got increasingly elaborate as the movie went along. That reveal of Bruce Willis having suddenly turned into, basically, a tumor on legs cracked me up.

I am amused that Machete is supposed to become a real movie, because when I was watching the trailer, I was thinking, "Too bad this is fake, because I'd see that." I just hope they keep it all overblown and ridiculous and don't try to streamline it into - oh, hell, this is Rodriguez I'm talking about. It will be CRAZY.

I liked all of Death Proof, because I happen to be a sucker for character stuff (and possibly because I'm not really familiar with Tarantino's work, so I had no expectations), but if I were to go see it now, knowing that that insanely awesome car chase is coming? I would be bored to TEARS. That would have to be the point where I would slip out to grab a bite to eat before the good stuff started.

In conclusion, THE KNIFE THROUGH THE TRAMPOLINE AUGH HELP.

[dmilanflash.livejournal.com]

I ain't got your number. it goes to some guy named dave. if u get this call me back. i think the reading was nine thirty. i'll swing by your place at like 845ish.

but call to confirm.

[inkhornsybarite.livejournal.com]

i loved it. i'd see it again.

[imrihamun.livejournal.com]

(I was totally going to post this the other day but sleep snuck up on me.)

Sneaking out and smuggling cheeseburgers is PART of the grindhouse experience. I think it makes it better. I ate my hamburgers in the car and went on a Tuesday afternoon (I left one of my jobs early.)

As for the 'lack of deliberate anachronisms' part, I've always seen it as a weird, Tarantino universe. The Tarantino universe is part 60s, part 70s, and part 'the present.' It's present in all his films - I think I came to this conclusion that he had his own, particular universe in 'Foxy Brown,' and had it reinforced in Kill Bill. It feels very much to be his world, with his aesthetic (mostly visual and auditory) values imposed on top of the present reality. Needless to say, that is one of the reasons I love his films.

[josephwaldman.livejournal.com]

Mmm . . . trenchcoat cheeseburgers. (I hope at least two of them were stuffed in your bra. Junk food and boobs -- it's a winning combination.)

As before, I'm the only person in the world under the age of forty who's still not yet seen even Pulp Fiction, so I think I'll have to rent that before I go on to further Tarantinosities.