| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| randall |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 01:57:45
Couldn't for the life of me find a GRINDHOUSE thread, and I tried hard, so let's go to the DVD editions.
I m getting tired of QT s M.O. DEATH PROOF is so faux it hurts. Even the conceit of the scratched, edited grindhouse print is abandoned once the thing gets really going; nobody's fooling anybody any more -- and they never were. The QT dialogue may be fun to hear, but now, after all these frickin movies, it's become like an obligatory sitting-room scene in a mystery cozy: OK, that's done, now let's get to the carnage. This flick has (1) one stone-ass fine performance by Kurt Russell, and (2) the damndest stunts in a flick-ending car chase you've ever seen -- the stuntwoman even plays herself. However, my friends, we're talking :30, maybe :40, amid a helluva lot of air, 2:00 or so in total.
The QT act, sadly, is approaching self-parody. Not to say you shouldn't see it, but it's a midget against the likes of PULP FICTION or even either KILL BILL. Sorry, but ptui. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| randall |
Posted - 11/09/2007 : 23:43:55
quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
I love all of the Tarantino films I've seen,
Have you seen that stupid remake of the Roald Dahl story from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, in which Tarantino, Willis and pals seem to have no knowledge of the piece beyond ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS? [QT may be one savvy cineaste, but that's one of Dahl's most famous works, and our hero is clueless.] It's in the "comedy" FOUR ROOMS, by R-Rod, QT, and two others...
That's a really awful criticism of the segment. The segment is not about the Roald Dahl story, or even about the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, it's about a bunch of drunk guys who once saw the episode. I don't see why the Dahl story matters at all.
A real Tarantino "hero" would know that too [the story had by then been shot at last twice] and maybe even use the info to further torture the hapless bellboy. We're talking meta-knowledge of film history, which is what these movies all brag about. |
| damalc |
Posted - 11/07/2007 : 04:04:05
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
-- the stuntwoman even plays herself.
no way!  |
| randall |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 23:09:18
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
Tarantino's editor, Sally Menke, ranks much higher on my editors list (#18)! (Yes, I am a little obsessive).
Now the editing is really something to rave about in DEATH PROOF, especially the last :30. No argument there.
the thing about editing is that it is just as difficult, and often more difficult, to edit a dialogue scene and have it make sense and to keep it interesting as it is to edit a high pace action sequence. The dialogue scenes in "Death Proof" (and other Tarantino/Menke films) are edited with as much style and grace as the action scenes.
Yes, of course, as Thelma Schoonmaker has shown us for the last two decades; I appreciate the contribution of editing to great dialog sequences [GODFATHER, for example]. But QT-pie threw his editor into the spotlight, and she, an amateur in all this, absolutely ripped it: look at the last :30 and tell me I'm wrong. Magnifico! Yes, they may have sat together and watched a bunch of grind-house movies, but they actually put an acting [stunt-woman] star on the hood of a car and gunned the muffafakka. Stunts contributed more than half to the show; Sally the rest. |
| randall |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 22:56:34
I agree about Uma's square: WTF? We're so cool that we can just jump out of the movie? Turns out, we can! Save me!
QT may have just been chasing booT at that point. |
| Animal Mutha |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 21:16:47
I think I heard somewhere the glowing briefcase was a nod to 'Kiss Me Deadly'. |
| Downtown |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 21:06:54
You can't make a fake or artificial B-Grade movie. You can SPOOF them, like in Mars Attacks!, or you can make tributes to them, like Kill Bill, but this was an attempt to actually recreate a "real" B-grade movie. That is a pointless endeavor.
I really like Pulp Fiction. I think it's great...except for two fatal flaws: the "square" that we can see, and the stupid light in the briefcase. I don't know what the bleep QT was thinking putting that in. |
| GHcool |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 19:44:00
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
Tarantino's editor, Sally Menke, ranks much higher on my editors list (#18)! (Yes, I am a little obsessive).
Now the editing is really something to rave about in DEATH PROOF, especially the last :30. No argument there.
the thing about editing is that it is just as difficult, and often more difficult, to edit a dialogue scene and have it make sense and to keep it interesting as it is to edit a high pace action sequence. The dialogue scenes in "Death Proof" (and other Tarantino/Menke films) are edited with as much style and grace as the action scenes. |
| randall |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 16:54:11
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
Tarantino's editor, Sally Menke, ranks much higher on my editors list (#18)! (Yes, I am a little obsessive).
Now the editing is really something to rave about in DEATH PROOF, especially the last :30. No argument there. |
| GHcool |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 06:17:57
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
I love all of the Tarantino films I've seen,
Have you seen that stupid remake of the Roald Dahl story from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, in which Tarantino, Willis and pals seem to have no knowledge of the piece beyond ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS? [QT may be one savvy cineaste, but that's one of Dahl's most famous works, and our hero is clueless.] It's in the "comedy" FOUR ROOMS, by R-Rod, QT, and two others...
I haven't see Four Rooms nor the Dahl episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
cool, watch FOUR ROOMS -- just the last :30 will do -- and then tell me you're still a QT completist. If so, God bless you. For a hint, the Dahl story involves a wager with a hatchet and a finger.
I never said I was a QT completist. I haven't even seen Resevoir Dogs yet! I just said that I loved everything I have seen of his, althought this was probably an over-exaggeration because I really only loved Pulp Fiction and just plain liked the other QT movies I've seen. I heard mixed things about Four Rooms, but I still would like to see it. Maybe I'll make a double feature weekend with Resevoir Dogs and Four Rooms some day.
I keep a list of the directors and filmmakers that inspire me. I raise and lower their status on the list depending on a ballpark analysis of how much their movies mean to me and how much their style influences my ideas about films and filmmaking. I update this list whenever I find a filmmaker or film that excites me (the most recent being Roger Donaldson who directed The World's Fastest Indian). Right now the list has 58 names on it; my #1 filmmaker on the list is Steven Spielberg and my #58 filmmaker is Vincente Minnelli. Quentin Tarantino ranks at #40 which is just below Tim Burton and just above John Avildsen (who directed The Karate Kid and Rocky). I think its safe to say that Tarantino to be in this company and not closer to Spielberg or closer to Minnelli.
But that's just my directors list. Tarantino's editor, Sally Menke, ranks much higher on my editors list (#18)! (Yes, I am a little obsessive). |
| randall |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 03:46:20
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
I love all of the Tarantino films I've seen,
Have you seen that stupid remake of the Roald Dahl story from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, in which Tarantino, Willis and pals seem to have no knowledge of the piece beyond ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS? [QT may be one savvy cineaste, but that's one of Dahl's most famous works, and our hero is clueless.] It's in the "comedy" FOUR ROOMS, by R-Rod, QT, and two others...
I haven't see Four Rooms nor the Dahl episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
But the characters had definitely seen the latter, and they ascribe it to Alfred Hitchcock. It was also dramatized [better, IMHO] on the Dahl-hosted British series TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED.
cool, watch FOUR ROOMS -- just the last :30 will do -- and then tell me you're still a QT completist. If so, God bless you. For a hint, the Dahl story involves a wager with a hatchet and a finger. |
| GHcool |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 01:22:46
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
I love all of the Tarantino films I've seen,
Have you seen that stupid remake of the Roald Dahl story from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, in which Tarantino, Willis and pals seem to have no knowledge of the piece beyond ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS? [QT may be one savvy cineaste, but that's one of Dahl's most famous works, and our hero is clueless.] It's in the "comedy" FOUR ROOMS, by R-Rod, QT, and two others...
I haven't see Four Rooms nor the Dahl episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 23:31:07
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
I love all of the Tarantino films I've seen,
Have you seen that stupid remake of the Roald Dahl story from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, in which Tarantino, Willis and pals seem to have no knowledge of the piece beyond ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS? [QT may be one savvy cineaste, but that's one of Dahl's most famous works, and our hero is clueless.] It's in the "comedy" FOUR ROOMS, by R-Rod, QT, and two others...
That's a really awful criticism of the segment. The segment is not about the Roald Dahl story, or even about the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, it's about a bunch of drunk guys who once saw the episode. I don't see why the Dahl story matters at all.
Now, the fact that it's a very long setup for a middling punchline, that's my criticism of the piece.
Death Proof, I liked. I understand the criticism of too much dialogue, yes. I even agree with it somewhat. I loved the first dialogue-heavy setup, but during the second part, I was dying for some action.
I'd say Kill Bill has a good shot of lasting forty years. |
| Ali |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 07:03:33
Yeah - terrible films both, Death Proof and Four Rooms.
|
| randall |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 23:00:25
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
I love all of the Tarantino films I've seen,
Have you seen that stupid remake of the Roald Dahl story from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, in which Tarantino, Willis and pals seem to have no knowledge of the piece beyond ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS? [QT may be one savvy cineaste, but that's one of Dahl's most famous works, and our hero is clueless.] It's in the "comedy" FOUR ROOMS, by R-Rod, QT, and two others... |
| Salopian |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 09:17:02
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
Couldn't for the life of me find a GRINDHOUSE thread
It's here because of the issue of how to present it on this site. |
|
|
