Movie of the Week: Grindhouse

Wow, those movies sucked and I loved it.

Planet Terror
This is the kind of movie Robert Rodriguez is always making in some respect. The dialogue was laughable but the acting for the most part was pretty good. Everybody was game especially Marley Shelton, Rose McGowan and Naveen Andrews. The story made absolutely no sense but it was fun so who cares. The gore was extreme even for a 60's/70's homage. Even though it was a lot of fun, the intentional badness of the movie started to wear on me.

Death Proof
I can see why people would dislike this movie over Planet Terror (or in general). This should have definitely been the first showing due to the slow build. It has a typical Tarintino talking scenes which go on longer than necessary and there are tons of scenes that seem pointless but if you ever watched those 70's movies, there were always pointless character scenes so he was being true to the form in that respect. That said, it reminds me why I don't watch cheesy 70's movies. The dialogue and character interactions were much better in the second half of the movie.

I won't get into details as to not spoil but the car scenes were amazing. AMAZING. I can't believe this is the first time QT acted as his own cinematographer. Once the action got going, everyone was on the edge of their seat in the theater. Planet Terror was more fun but Death Proof was better directed.

On the acting front, here's another movie where I actually enjoyed Rosario Dawson's performance and Zoe Bell, real-life stuntwoman, is fucking awesome. Kurt Russell is always great in my mind.

The Trailers
My two favorites were "Thanksgiving" (Eli Roth) and "Don't" (Edgar Wright). "Machete" (Robert Rodriguez) looks like a movie he would actually make. "Werewolf Women of the S.S." (Rob Zombie) was pretty awful despite the cameo at the end. I am officially worried for Rob Zombie's Halloween remake.

Overall, it was an awesome movie experience. I really hope Harvey Weinstein doesn't split them as he's considering after the poor box office. If he does, I think Death Proof works better as a solo feature.