Grind House

Started by MacGuffin, May 26, 2005, 12:11:11 AM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: RedVines on April 07, 2007, 11:01:08 AM
Quote from: modage on April 07, 2007, 09:47:09 AM
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on April 06, 2007, 10:31:44 PM
Death Proof, for the most part, was very boring.  I didn't dig Planet Terror that much. Since I am not able to smile at zombie movie lore, I was pretty bored through out. The audience I was with dug it a little way too much, but I enjoyed Freddy Rogriguez's character.

All in all, not impressed. I'll likely see it again because I am writing a larger piece for another website. I'll try to articulate my feelings better.

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on October 11, 2006, 07:53:43 PM
The film world just got a little nerdier

So we're not hipsters if we don't love this movie? I liked this movie (for the most part) but I agree with GT on some things. I was really bored through several scenes. I feel both films could have been cut by atleast 20 minutes.

It says something about him, doesn't it? I respected his opinion and left his review alone. He again tried to undermine mine. Mind you, I really didn't give a full opinion with detailed points, but I said no more or no less than he did. I'll write something larger about Grind House and post it in Green Screen.

In the end, the truth is Mod and I enjoy different genres. I spoke glowingly of Casino Royale for so long but I didn't make one actual point that would have made a difference to someone outside the Bond appreciation society. Grindhouse just wasn't my bag, baby.

SiliasRuby

I saw this Thursday night at a sneak preview at the new beverly. My girlfriend and I were the last two people included in the theatre and we had to sit on the floor, because they oversold. QT, Rodreiguez, Eli Roth, and Havey Weinstein were in the audience as well as Fergie. We saw Eli, robert, fergie and harvey. We knew QT was there because we heard that a assistant of quentin's asked robert if he wanted to sit by quentin. Harvey accidently kicked my gf's shoe.
Even though we had to stand and then sit on the floor right by the door to the lobby it was the most exilirating (sp?) experience I've had at the movies in a very long time. I liked both of them and had a great theatre going experience. Everyone in the audience was being rowdy and rambunctious during the parts they were supposed to be. I liked Death proof more than planet terror, because it seemed more engrossed into Grindhouse fashion. It was quite a ride and I really can't wait for the DVD.
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on April 07, 2007, 02:13:26 AM
Quote from: sparrowhoff on April 07, 2007, 12:08:15 AM
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on April 06, 2007, 10:31:44 PM
Planet Terror was too cult for anyone to like but fanboys of the genre.

Do you mean fanboys of the "fanboy film" genre (which is where Tarantino and Rodriguez are now) or the zombie genre?  Because I'd be inclined to agree with you if you mean the former and strongly disagree if you mean the latter.

I actually don't care which. But if you do disagree on the zombie genre reference, I'd love to hear an explanation. I've seen some of the movies but never have been a big follower.

I disagree on the zombie point because it's like saying that Death Proof is too cult for anyone but fans of car porn movies like Fast and the Furious or something like that.  They're labeling Planet Terror as a zombie movie and I think Rodriguez even refers to them as zombies in his script but it has much too much of an action movie feel and too little of a standard zombie movie feel to have a kinship with the benchmarks of zombie films. 

If you were arguing that point about Shaun of the Dead, I'd agree 100%, but Planet Terror requires no previous knowledge about the zombie genre in order to enjoy it the way that Shaun or 28 Days Later might.  However, it does require you to have seen and enjoyed a couple of John Carpenter films, which is why I would agree if you meant it would only appeal to fans of fanboy directors.

©brad

1. it was all too long.

2. death proof was much better.

3. i need a shower.

RegularKarate

Quote from: ©brad on April 07, 2007, 05:56:25 PM
1. it was all too long.

Dear christ, I'm getting sick of people saying this... IT'S TWO MOVIES!!!! they're both pretty SHORT!
If you watched any other two movies back to back and then said "that movie was too long" then whoever you were watching it with would think that you were kind of nuts.

Quote from: ©brad on April 07, 2007, 05:56:25 PM2. death proof was much better.
see above where I called you nuts.

Quote from: ©brad on April 07, 2007, 05:56:25 PM3. i need a shower.
That much we can agree on... Peee Yoooo, Cbrad

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on April 07, 2007, 12:21:53 PM
I'll write something larger about Grind House and post it in Green Screen.
I'm sorry, do everyone (including yourself) a favor and don't.
You go on about how Planet Terror is a "fanboy" movie that requires prior knowledge about zombie pictures and you just reveal how pre-judging you were of it.  THIS ISN'T a zombie movie... the only thing this is a fanboy copy of is KIND OF John Carpenter's earlier movies, but even then that requires no knowledge of his work to "get" this movie.
Everyone knew from the getgo that you wouldn't enjoy this... so why are you examining it like a recipe?

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: RegularKarate on April 07, 2007, 08:04:37 PM
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on April 07, 2007, 12:21:53 PM
I'll write something larger about Grind House and post it in Green Screen.
I'm sorry, do everyone (including yourself) a favor and don't.
You go on about how Planet Terror is a "fanboy" movie that requires prior knowledge about zombie pictures and you just reveal how pre-judging you were of it.  THIS ISN'T a zombie movie... the only thing this is a fanboy copy of is KIND OF John Carpenter's earlier movies, but even then that requires no knowledge of his work to "get" this movie.
Everyone knew from the getgo that you wouldn't enjoy this... so why are you examining it like a recipe?

Don't worry, I'll barely focus on Planet Terror. By asking other members questions about it, I've showed my ignorance to that film and what it is referencing. Besides, I have little interest in it. My main focus will be on Tarantino and questions outside of the film. I know I can't say much by writing something that tries to criticize a genre I just don't enjoy, but I'll focus on aspects I am interested in.

©brad

Quote from: RegularKarate on April 07, 2007, 08:04:37 PM
Quote from: ©brad on April 07, 2007, 05:56:25 PM
1. it was all too long.

Dear christ, I'm getting sick of people saying this... IT'S TWO MOVIES!!!! they're both pretty SHORT!
If you watched any other two movies back to back and then said "that movie was too long" then whoever you were watching it with would think that you were kind of nuts.

i understand there's two movies here. that doesn't change the fact that i thought it all could've been trimmed a bit. planet terror doesn't feel short at all. a good number of people walked out of the movie at several different parts.

Quote from: RegularKarate on April 07, 2007, 08:04:37 PM
Quote from: ©brad on April 07, 2007, 05:56:25 PM2. death proof was much better.
see above where I called you nuts.

consider this me calling you nuts. the "boring talking parts" were some of the best parts of the entire thing. not to mention the car chase in death proof was more exhilarating, scary, and fun than anything in planet terror.

Quote from: MacGuffin on April 06, 2007, 11:44:18 PMPersonally, I preferred QT's flick. I felt it captured more of what a B-movie of that era was, and the story felt more of that time and yet still being somewhat original. And the ending couldn't have been any better. RR's flick felt overstuffed with many characters and storylines and what felt like a complex plot for an exploitation movie. Plus, all of McGowan kicking ass was pretty much shown in the trailers, so the want to see the 'tease' placed in the trailers and posters of her with the machine gun leg was left till the end and made me feel somewhat cheated.

i agree w/ macman here. i think rodriguez sufferred from having his movie be 80% of all the trailers. sitting through planet terror, all i was thinking was "okay, when is she getting the gun leg? come on already." then all the cool scenes w/ her was all stuff we've seen. maybe this is the reason one should avoid trailers before movies, but it's pretty hard to do that when the movie's marketing budget is as big as this one.

RegularKarate

Quote from: ©brad on April 08, 2007, 08:16:38 AM
consider this me calling you nuts. the "boring talking parts" were some of the best parts of the entire thing. not to mention the car chase in death proof was more exhilarating, scary, and fun than anything in planet terror.

QT's dialogue is not always that great and this was some of his worst.  That kind of dialogue is good when it's been delivered by a Sam Jackson or even a David Carradine, but these girls just didn't sell it at all.  It was just delivering words and pretty poorly.
I'll admit the car chase was probably the best stuff in all of Grindhouse, but that was MAYBE ten percent of Death Proof while Planet Terror was almost entirely made of excitement.

Quote from: ©brad on April 08, 2007, 08:16:38 AMi think rodriguez sufferred from having his movie be 80% of all the trailers. sitting through planet terror, all i was thinking was "okay, when is she getting the gun leg? come on already." then all the cool scenes w/ her was all stuff we've seen. maybe this is the reason one should avoid trailers before movies, but it's pretty hard to do that when the movie's marketing budget is as big as this one.

Once again, that's not the movie's fault.  I hate that shit too... Also, I always turn the station when those promos come on, but they used them for a reason, Planet Terror was better and so they showed more of it in the promos. 

As for the leg, the movie would have been pretty stupid if she had the gun throughout... by the time she gets the gun for a leg, you've been set up with so many escalatingly ridiculous scenarios, you just buy it.

modage

i saw this a second time yesterday and other than saying i still agree 100% with RK, i will elaborate with a few more thoughts....

i think one's enjoyment of these films depends on three factors:

1. your expectations.
2. an appreciation of "good" bad movies or at least some knowledge of bad movies.
3. the audience.


if you saw the trailers (not the horrible tv spots, the actual trailers) or read a single article about the film i would think you knew what to expect.  however, if you went in expecting "the 5th film from Quentin Tarantino" or whatever then i think that was your mistake.  despite Tarantino's insistence otherwise, it really seemed to be more of an experiment (like Four Rooms) than a follow-up.  he said he just wanted to be free to try something without having the weight of the world on his shoulders to deliver a follow-up.  he and Rodriguez just wanted to deliver a fun balls-out night at the movies and i think they totally succeeded. 

while i probably haven't seen a single one of the exploitation movies that Tarantino references during his film, i have seen enough movies good and bad to be able to appreciate what he and Rodriguez were doing with their films.  my touchstones may be different than theirs but i grew up watching whatever action movies i could get my hands on going from the A (Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Russell) to B (Segall, Van Damme) and even in a trailer like Machete those references seem to come back for me.  later on in middle and high school i moved onto watching more horror films including some truly terrible ones (like Blood Diner) but some great ones also.  so while i may not have seen Vanishing Point or Dirty Marry Crazy Larry i did used to watch Big Trouble In Little China every few months on the Fox Sunday Afternoon Matinee and i did see Cliffhanger at the $1.50 theatre when I was 11 or 12 years old and during one of the big "kill" scenes there was about 15 seconds of missing film where the film jumped from Stallone fighting one of the baddies to being underwater.  i wasn't even sure i had missed something at the time until i saw the film again on video and saw the moments in between.  i just remember there was a sense of discovery back then sifting through the video store for whatever title you could get your hands on and occasionally finding a gem, or finding the gem moments during an otherwise bad film. 

this seems almost retarded to have to spell it out like this but a big part of enjoying these films is being a part of an audience who 'gets it'.  seeing the films again yesterday afternoon was a completely different experience from my first viewing which was full of critics (who have seen their share of bad movies) and geeks (ditto that).  yesterday the audience did not seem to be as 'in on the joke' and much of the laughter and applause was absent which really affected the way the film played for me.  because of this i actually found that during the first 30 minutes of Death Proof i actually found myself thinking that i enjoyed it more than Planet Terror.  if the crowd is full of people like GT sitting there "bored", it's not going to seem like the film worked.  if you saw Spinal Tap in the theatre expecting it to teach you about rock n roll lore and nobody laughed you probably would've thought it wasn't very funny.

if i had wanted to be critical there are a dozen things i could point out that didn't quite work but when i left the theatre and thought about the experience i just had i decided not to.  it was SO MUCH FUN and SO OVER-THE-TOP it really just seemed like a waste of time to nitpick these films.  yes, it was a fanboy film made for fanboys and it has no intention to convert anyone else.  (see: it flopped).  so like i said if anybody went and was bored and couldn't have fun with it, then i'm sorry for you that you couldn't get past the pretension and just have a good time.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

pumba

Machete was fantastic!

Was anyone else super impressed with quentin's diner scene? I soiled myself.

modage

Quote from: shnorff on April 08, 2007, 01:59:12 PM
Was anyone else super impressed with quentin's diner scene? I soiled myself.
i was!  but i liked it better when it was in Reservoir Dogs.  oops! not going to nitpick. not going to nitpick. not going to nitpick.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

pumba

But it was so much longer here! And looked way more difficult - i could be wrong though? Am i?

The Red Vine

I agree with RK on the dialogue. The girls didn't make it engaging the way other actors could. And considering the length of those scenes, it drags quite a bit. Of course I hate to pick on Rosario Dawson...

My fear is that Tarantino will become an action frat boy getting by with stylish homages to other movies as oppose to doing engaging, clever dialogue. He tried to do both things with "Death Proof", but I'd say he failed with the dialogue. I hope he isn't losing his talent in that area. Because after two "Kill Bill" movies and now this, it's time for him to write one hell of a great script. And I'd say he hasn't done that since "Pulp Fiction".
"No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.">

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: modage on April 08, 2007, 01:03:24 PM
however, if you went in expecting "the 5th film from Quentin Tarantino" or whatever then i think that was your mistake.  despite Tarantino's insistence otherwise, it really seemed to be more of an experiment (like Four Rooms) than a follow-up.  he said he just wanted to be free to try something without having the weight of the world on his shoulders to deliver a follow-up. 

I don't know. I think with Kill Bill, everyone is assuming all of his next feature lengths will be equal size projects. Pulp Fiction was a universe compared to how small Reservoir Dogs was, but Tarantino followed that up with Jackie Brown which is on a comparable size to Death Proof.

I'm identifying this as a feature length for many reasons. One, the film is no more a venture into fun and silly than Kill Bill is. Kill Bill Part I has more similarities to Planet Terror than Death Proof does. Second, Quentin Tarantino is extending Death Proof into a feature length film. He wants the film to stand alone.

Everyone is expecting that his next feature length will be more meaningful. I don't believe it. All of his ideas and projects are registering on the same level. Sometimes he makes big insane projects out of them (Kill Bill) and sometimes he makes smaller pieces (Jackie Brown). It's becoming all the same.

polkablues

Quote from: RedVines on April 08, 2007, 03:40:35 PM
I agree with RK on the dialogue. The girls didn't make it engaging the way other actors could. And considering the length of those scenes, it drags quite a bit. Of course I hate to pick on Rosario Dawson...

I liked everything about this movie, with the HUGE exception of that segment.  Everything between the first part of Death Proof and the car chase was the most awful, sub-Kevin Smith dialogue and acting I could possibly imagine.  The exception to that being Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who was so natural and funny that it made the other three look even worse than they already were.  And then, of course, what do they do but leave the good one behind, never to be seen again.

But all in all:
Trailers = great (especially "Don't", but NOT especially Rob Zombie's, which was the biggest wasted opportunity)
Planet Terror = absurdly fun; loved every moment of it.
First part of Death Proof = excellent; the closest to capturing the specific tone and rhythm of authentic grindhouse films.
Second part of Death Proof, up to the car chase = If you need to go take a half-hour dump, now's the time.
The car chase = Absolute cinegasm.
My house, my rules, my coffee