The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

I just saw GRINDHOUSE this afternoon at the Saturday matinee. I hate to sound negative, but I didn't like it. PLANET TERROR was just a rip of DAWN OF THE DEAD, with occasional nods to Lucio Fulci and Anthony Dawson. Yes, the effects are gory, but the characters are clones of everything we've seen before. And even the Italians payed more attention to serious suspense and logic than is done here.

The trailers in the middle were the best part, but they still felt like lifts from KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.

The Tarantino flick, DEATH PROOF, was touted as the better of the two entries - but in my opinion, it's worse -- much worse. The majority of the flick is spent with two bunches of girls sitting around talking. And I mean 'just talking.' Bunch #1 never meets Bunch #2 - yet they all speak the same, spouting reams of dialog guaranteed to raise the ire of any 42nd street stalwart.

Yeah, Tarantino obviously loves films like DIRTY MARY & CRAZY LARRY, VANISHING POINT and the original GONE IN 60 SECONDS - and he does deliver some impressive non-CGI driving sequences -- but in doing so throws logic(even bad cinema logic)right out the window. And as I've stated, in between the stunts is enough useless gab to frustrate any lover of B-cinema.
Roger Corman would have trimmed both these features down to 62 minutes apiece and both would have been better for it.

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Jim Wynorski

I agree that the film is flawed, but not for the reasons you state.

First of all, this is a great primer for the marathon. It is one of the most fun times you will have at the movies.

As for Planet Terror, the characters are supposed to be clones of everything we've seen before and there isn't supposed to be any serious suspense and logic. PT accomplishes nearly everything that the directors were going for in structure and tone. My problem with that half of the film was that the anachronisms like cell phones and the Bin Laden reference felt out of place amongst the intentionally scratched and weathered print. Also, some of the more intense scenes were overly "distressed" so that some of the money shots were not as effective. Maybe that was for the R rating, I don't know.

Then yes, the trailers are brilliant, hilarious and sickeningly twisted.

And then there's DEATH PROOF. I agree with the critics that this is the stronger of the two films. i think a lot of people will not like it for many of the same reasons you brought up. However, I think the "talking" is what makes the film brilliant, just like most of Tarantino's previous work. Getting to know the two sets of characters the way that we do makes us care all the more deeply about what happens to all of them. i think this is a classic case of too much information. I mean, wouldn't it have been so much more visceral if you didn't know going in that Kurt Russel is a bad guy?

I think DEATH PROOF is a beautiful piece of cinema, but the problem is that it doesn't fit with the rest of the GRINDHOUSE concept. Sure, it's an homage with references and stylistic choices resembling grindhouse films, but Tarantino has always worked that way and has always transcended the genre he is celebrating. So, in essence, DEATH PROOF is a great Tarantino film that should have been a "bad" Tarantino film. As a result, the on purpose aging of the print (which he abandons about halfway through), the "missing" reel, the intentional continuity errors (though funny) all seem forced and out of place. Also, it follows Eli Roth's much talked about THANKSGIVING trailer, so I can see how this great film can be interpreted negatively.

From what I hear, he is re-editing it as a stand alone film for festivals. I would love to see this version of that film.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

knowing my opionion isn't worth much when it comes to movie reviews I have this to say...anyone can kind flaws in any movie and point them out for everyone to see.. so along time ago I decided my review of a movie will be based on one simple fact, did I have fun or not, if I had fun watching it than Thumbs up If I didn't than thumbs down and I had LOTS OF FUN WATCHING GRINDHOUSE maybe there was too much talking and YES both movies would have been WAY better had Rose McGowan actually got naked for us to all see but oh well I still had fun, nothing technical nothing earth shaking but FUN is what I want to have at a movie like GRINDHOUSE and CHOPPING MALL if I want art direction and continuity and that other crap I will see some foreign movie or go to one of those stuffy film festivals with the artsy movies.

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Jaws3dfan®
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