I finally caught up with Grindhouse. Not the original three-hour extravaganza that's been denied us Brits, but the two component parts, Planet Terror and Death Proof, in their international extended versions. Watching the two B-movie lovefests back-to-back on DVD is about the closest one is going to get to original but with both running to nearly two hours, it was, to be honest, more of a chore sitting through them than I expected. Perhaps, I'd have liked them better slapped together in their original (and shorter) incarnations, surrounded by a whooping appreciative audience. Perhaps. Of the two, I preferred Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, a gruesome zombie movie which goes for the jugular from the word go, and offers more thrills, spills and exploding heads than 28 Weeks Later and the Dawn Of The Dead remake combined. And while the tone is deliriously OTT, Rodriguez’s direction is marginally more restrained than normal, an attempt to emulate the style (or lack of) of 70s exploitation flicks, along with missing reels, burn outs and scratches. But, as Rodriguez explains, on his Ten-Minute Film School extra, the film actually features more than 400 visual effects shots which, to me, kind of defeats the point of making something that’s a homage to the low-budget fare that both he and Quentin Tarantino are riffing off. Death Proof is a strange beast — talky and repetitive, but with a killer car chase — it represents the best and worst of the man. The dialogue is as wordy and film referencing as before, while Tarantino's foot fetish gets its most extreme onscreen work out yet, but since I didn’t care about the majority of the characters — the exception being Vanessa Ferlito’s Arlene — I didn’t care what happened to them when Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike came charging at them in his souped up car. [That's not to say, I wasn't gripped by the clearly CGI-free car stunts.] Perhaps if both he and Rodriguez had stayed more faithful to the films that inspired, making theirs a little rougher, dirtier, and cheaper, Grindhouse might not have seemed so self-indulgent and might well have found more of an audience. Perhaps.
Thursday 31 January 2008
Double trouble
I finally caught up with Grindhouse. Not the original three-hour extravaganza that's been denied us Brits, but the two component parts, Planet Terror and Death Proof, in their international extended versions. Watching the two B-movie lovefests back-to-back on DVD is about the closest one is going to get to original but with both running to nearly two hours, it was, to be honest, more of a chore sitting through them than I expected. Perhaps, I'd have liked them better slapped together in their original (and shorter) incarnations, surrounded by a whooping appreciative audience. Perhaps. Of the two, I preferred Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, a gruesome zombie movie which goes for the jugular from the word go, and offers more thrills, spills and exploding heads than 28 Weeks Later and the Dawn Of The Dead remake combined. And while the tone is deliriously OTT, Rodriguez’s direction is marginally more restrained than normal, an attempt to emulate the style (or lack of) of 70s exploitation flicks, along with missing reels, burn outs and scratches. But, as Rodriguez explains, on his Ten-Minute Film School extra, the film actually features more than 400 visual effects shots which, to me, kind of defeats the point of making something that’s a homage to the low-budget fare that both he and Quentin Tarantino are riffing off. Death Proof is a strange beast — talky and repetitive, but with a killer car chase — it represents the best and worst of the man. The dialogue is as wordy and film referencing as before, while Tarantino's foot fetish gets its most extreme onscreen work out yet, but since I didn’t care about the majority of the characters — the exception being Vanessa Ferlito’s Arlene — I didn’t care what happened to them when Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike came charging at them in his souped up car. [That's not to say, I wasn't gripped by the clearly CGI-free car stunts.] Perhaps if both he and Rodriguez had stayed more faithful to the films that inspired, making theirs a little rougher, dirtier, and cheaper, Grindhouse might not have seemed so self-indulgent and might well have found more of an audience. Perhaps.
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6 comments:
You know, I actually really dug the both of them. Sure Planet Terror has far too much CGI to be true to its supposed intentions, but it's a damn lot of fun, and I found Death Proof to be excellent. Far from Tarantino's best, certainly, but consistently entertaining with bursts of brilliance. A specialist cinema down here is getting a print of the actual Grindhouse in its original form this March, which I shall most certainly be checking out.
I would never use the world excellent in the same sentence as Death Proof. Then again, the last Tarantino film I can honestly say I loved is Jackie Brown.
Really? Death Proof was just fun as hell to me, but for different reasons than Planet Terror, and for that I enjoy it very much. I loved the Kill Bill films, shallow as they are; I'm hard pressed to think of many films more entertaining. They (like Death Proof) could have been tighter, sure, but if I'm not bored ultimately I'm not bothered. And, heck, the Bills were just cool as hell.
Death Proof is insanely divisive, even amongst ardent Tarantino admirers. I know so many people who out-and-out hated it, yet just as many who positively adored it.
To me, it's a nice extension of Tarantino's detour into trash homage. Though his next film had better be something more - I hate to use the word, but right now an alternative escapes me - serious, lest he go from pop culture magpie and genre junkie to genuine purveyor of the trash and exploitation flicks he so reveres.
What made Dogs, Pulp and Jackie Brown work for me were the characters and the dialogue. There weren't really any characters in Death Proof beyond pretty girls spouting QT's trademark speak. Did any of those people seem like they were actually friends with each other? Not to me they didn't.
Compare that film with Pulp Fiction (or Dogs) where you actually cared when characters were in peril. Or jeopardy. Or died.
Sure, KB had its cool moments (and I just love Lucy Liu) but it (and I tend to think of it as one big movie) is mainly surface... And self indulgent surface at that. And I say this all as someone who, during my years at Empire, worshipped at the altar that was Tarantino. For me, he's got to do something completely different next time out...
I agree entirely about them being all surface, but they had some fantastic action sequences, and I just find them a lot of fun in a turn on and check out kind of way. KB in partic.
I really agree he needs to do something drastically different next, which is why I'm really hoping Inglorious Bastards finally comes together soon...
Hello,
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Hollywood memorabilia lines all the walls of the restaurant Planet Hollywood. Bongos Cafe presents diners with some delicious Cuban cuisine. There are many other shops, including a huge selection of magnets at Magnetron Magnetz, tricks and gags available at Magic Masters, all sorts of sweets at Candy Cauldron, and authentic American collectibles and memorabilia at Starabilias.
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