Grindhouse

I'm commenting on the double feature version of this rather than the separate films. I do have quite separate impressions of these but I do believe that the original intent was that they be seen together, and with all the interstitial matter.

When you approach films from certain filmmakers, you do it on a basis of trust. Its a matter of how willing you are to allow yourself to be.

Rodriguez has never betrayed my trust, so each time I encounter him, I am willing to play the game by his rules. That allows me to take more chances about the balances he chooses to make. Its a matter of yielding in the collaboration, so when he makes a cinematic joke or comment, I don't fight it. Trust.

In this case, its sharpened by this phenomenon I notice a lot: he's directing a lover. It is obvious of course, but even if it weren't, it drives him to make ever stronger chances, on the edge of his emotional horizon.

I think these two factors would make me like what he has done here regardless of all other factors. I do see the interior nature of the cinematic world. I do settle into the thick web of narrative threads. I do cheer when his love kicks ass.

But the opposite is the case with Quentin. I cannot trust him. It isn't just because he's made some bad films. Its because he sets himself aside. He doesn't include the viewer: he preaches. All of the cinematic effects are delivered as monologues not as a collaboration. So we are never in on the joke, never in on extending the nature of the world.

So I truly disliked his film. Sure, there's an empowerment story, and a sort of male's view of female bonding. But its all from the outside: the current of fate, the access to the group, the folding of all the principle characters being in the movie business. The actual camera-work of the stunts is from a discrete viewer, where Rodriguez puts the camera jumping around in the midst of the action and the emotional space.

Both films play with the joke of what constitutes good and evil. But they themselves represent this as well.

I will give Rodriguez a 3 and Tarantino a 1, but having Tarantino to have to go through increases the value of Rodriguez' effort. Bless him. I hope he does well with this woman.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I won tickets to the world premiere of Grindhouse in LA this past week and it was the best 3 hours of my life in recent history. The stories of the two movies combined with the detail and inventiveness of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez brought together 3 hours of action packed fun. The two directors updated the sleazy grindhouse movie experience from the 70's and commercialized it so that we can all enjoy it. You won't find some greasy guy with his pants around his ankles sitting next to you, but you are probably going to be able to sit through all 3 hours of these movies.

I want to compliment the directors for having a unique cinematic vision (and the Weinsteins for funding that vision). I don't always agree with the choices made with either of the filmmakers, but I think they are two of the hardest working most innovative people in Hollywood today. I add this because most film studies students love to hate both of these people and in most conversations suggest that they would be able to do a much better job than either. I disagree.

Planet terror is a gross out flick that has appropriate amounts of gore and guts. If you like Rodriguez, then this movie fits in with all of his previous works. No real surprises here, but fun fun fun!

Tarantino surprised me. I liked the first movies from Tarantino because his movies were set in realities not far from our own. I doubt that it would happen in a weekend, but Pulp Fiction is a semi-believable good story in Los Angeles with unbelievable dialog. Same with Reservoir Dogs. (Jackie Brown is too believable and therefore, uninteresting) As he has progressed, his movies became fantasy, e.g., From Dusk til Dawn and Kill Bill 1 & 2 and WAY too over the top for a "Tarantino" flick.

Death Proof brings it all home! I don't want to spoil any of the movie, so just go see it! It's a simple plot with unbelievable suspense and decent dialog. I have never been so nervous in a film in as long as I can remember. Its no secret that the movie involves a car -- but Tarantino has taken a "classic" car scenario using a classic car and updated it for the new millennium. One only has suspend belief "just enough" for this mix of reality and fantasy to suck them in. It was Tarantino at his best.

Both movies were well executed, well scored, well written, and well played. The extra's and cameos are icing on the cake. No Oscars for either director, but that isn't why you went to see these movies in the first place, now is it?

I went to the premier in Austin last night. Wow, what an awesome event. Here are a few brief thoughts: One of the previews, that is being made into a movie, looks absolutely absurd and I am sure that it will be a joy to watch.

Planet Terror kept you laughing, groaning, and cringing the entire time. Enough action to keep you into it, enough campy gore to laugh at, and plenty of build up to have you cheering for the good guys. Rodriguez put together an A-rated, B-movie.

Death Proof was also enjoyable. I may have been antsy due to the cramped seating, but it seemed like there was a little lull in the middle. I didn't want to get up at intermission as I didn't want to miss the trailers. As Tarantino has done before, there is some great dialogue flying around the core group of actors.

I will definitely go see it again in the theater. I missed some of the dialogue due to the roar of the audience. However, I think having an interactive audience really adds to the experience.

Enjoy.

I went into this film with expectations for an extreme amount of campy senseless gore and violence - and it was delivered as promised! A WARNING: Know what to expect when you go see this movie, or you might be surprised/disappointed. There is no moral, no good sense or life lesson to be taken from the story lines or characters. Sometimes things don't make sense and this is all done on purpose in homage to original exploitation films Warnings aside, Grindhouse is a lot of fun, there were as many "ooh" and "ahh" moments as there were "oh my god why did they show that?" moments. All of the actors' performances were right on and the action directing was excellent. My only negative comment is that Tarintino's film dragged a bit in the middle, but he more than made up for it. I couldn't help but raise my fist in the air and shout out "yeah!" at the end of his flick.

You will be surprise, you will be disgusted and you'll enjoy the hell out of it.

A unique cinema experience indeed.

The idea of the movie is to make a homage/parody of B movies and recreate a distilled grind-house experience, with an oversized budget, A-list star cast and by two top directors, resources that none of the trashy genre movies had. It is a work of love and a guilty pleasure to watch, though the first part, Planet Terror, is much more successful and would rate 9+, while the Tarantino entry is somewhat of a miss. The fake trailers, the first of which resulted in an eventual feature - Machete, are great.

Planet Terror is the very definition of camp, and its only (slight) flaw is how obvious and in-your-face that campiness actually is. This part is action filled, and works perfectly as great, over-the-top, always hilariously fun, gory cheesecake. The second part is slower and somewhat different in tone, and is perhaps better viewed separately, it has its moments but Planet Terror is the superior part.