April is Tarantino and Rodriguez month

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:44 pm

In honor of my raging man crush upon them both for the beauty that will be Grindhouse.

Even if you don't like Grindhouse I'm sure there is another film by either of them. If nothing else, we'll have a lot of Shark Boy and Lava Girl avatars!

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:03 pm

I did not get to see the trailer for Hobo With a Shotgun. This was a terrible disappointment on an otherwise great day.

The Time Keeper · Post by **The Time Keeper** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:39 pm

Tarantino is a fruitcake with a disturbing foot fetish who peaked with Pulp Fiction.

FIGHT

Rothlover · Post by **Rothlover** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:56 pm

foot fetish? Also, he peaked with Resevoir Dogs, its just that that was a damn high peak to be able to come down from.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:59 pm

Rothlover wrote:foot fetish? Also, he peaked with Resevoir Dogs, its just that that was a damn high peak to be able to come down from.

Yeah, Tarantino is the most overrated director pretty much ever, and Kill Bill vol. 2 was awful.

HATE

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 6:11 pm

Dude does have a foot fetish. It did lead to a great series of lines in Pulp Fiction, so I'll overlook it some. It's probably just a matter of time until Uma Thurman does some kind of disgusting act involving her feet and Bruce Willis' genitalia.

Pulp Fiction was his peak, with Resevoir Dogs not being far off. Either way you rank those, that's a hell of a peak. Kill Bill vol. 1 was solid to me, but vol. 2 only works as an extension to vol. 1. Can't comment on Jackie Brown as I have yet to see it.

Also Rodriguez's portion of Grindhouse is much better than Tarantino's. I still enjoyed Death Proof- Kurt Russell plays a great character and the dialogue is very entertaining - but Planet Terror was better.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:42 pm

leftsaidfred wrote:Kill Bill vol. 1 was solid to me, but vol. 2 only works as an extension to vol. 1.

It's worse than that, though. The problem is that vol. 1 spends all this time building this fantastic edifice of corpses in a totally unreal fashion and by the end we're all primed for the chaos that is a good revenge fantasy. And then in vol. 2, all that is undermined by spending half the movie retelling her apprenticeship, and the other half of the movie is her moving tale of transformative motherhood which is nothing like what came before. It's like they couldn't decide what kind of movie they wanted to make or something.

But that's not what gets me the most about Tarantino. What I hate the most is the implicit condescencion of his fans, and by extension his films. It always seems like you have to be familiar with some pop-culture esoterica in order to fully "get" his movies, and that's something I really don't have the patience for. He has this reputation for being oh so deep, but really, his movies are just solid, mid-of-the-pack entertainment. Most of them are decent enough, but he gets built up into some kind of demigod, probably because he's the success that every film school dropout hopes to be, and he's just not that.

The Time Keeper · Post by **The Time Keeper** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:44 pm

Everything Jerry just said is awesome.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:18 pm

See, I think the switch in style worked as a concept. More rip-roaring violence would have been overkill. Another Crazy 88-style fight scene wouldn't work because we'd seen it before. An attempt to tell a story through dialogue and plot rather than blood and katanas was a good idea.

But the presentation of volume two was a disappointment. The training sequence, while doing a good job of building something of a Beatrix Kiddo mythos, went too long for my tastes. The final fight scene was too short and didn't provide the payoff I hoped for. I like Michael Madsen, but his character came off as two dimensional. And I still don't know why the crap we had the addition of Bill's .

All that being said, I think the final scenes with Thurman & Carradine are pretty strong. Madsen's death and the fight scene between Thurman & Daryl Hannah is very entertaining, with a pretty poetic ending. There's a few good gags in there. I still think it's an above average film, but it is the weak link in the Tarantino library I have seen.

I agree with you about the fanbase and perception of QT. I enjoy his movies without knowing what obscure Hong Kong kung fu or spaghetti western he reference for three seconds. I just ignore the fanboys who build him up as the second coming of Orson Welles; Tarantino does what he does well, and what he does is basically pulp fiction (lower case). We're not talking great morality plays or tales about the wrongs of our holding of social norms. We're talking pure entertainment. It's great entertainment, but there's no deeper meaning to it.

Also what are we doing giving serious criticism in the crap forum replace the above with 'you suck balls Jerry' and then a hidden link to goatse for Pat. Hell yeah

The Time Keeper · Post by **The Time Keeper** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:22 pm

Well I was trying to start something by shitting on Tarantino but it turned into a reasonable debate. Reasonable debates suck.

I guess I'll throw in a 'you suck balls Jerry' because it's funny, even though Jerry is pretty cool.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:30 pm

Dolemite wrote:Well I was trying to start something by shitting on Tarantino but it turned into a reasonable debate. Reasonable debates suck.

More like you suck amirite amirite

Jerry is cool you are too group hug ok

The Time Keeper · Post by **The Time Keeper** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:31 pm

BuzzerZen · Post by **BuzzerZen** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:31 pm

I've seen Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction (in that order, if it matters) and I felt that Kill Bill was a lot stronger of a movie. Pulp Fiction is a very wordy movie and lacks a strong visual language. Imagine listening to Pulp Fiction: how much of the film do you really lose? It would make for a good radio drama. Sure, it's witty and some of the performances are quality, but it lacks visual identity. When you're working in a visual medium, focusing on verbiage and dialog means you're ignoring the advantages of film.

Kill Bill, on the other hand, tells a fantastic visual story. The hyper-kinetic violence, the blood, the visual code of honor, ceremony, and revenge are the focus of the film. A film is like a painting with the added dimension of time, and Kill Bill is a metonymic exultation of its themes with a code as rich as that of a vanitas still life. Now imagine listening to Kill Bill: the soundtrack in no way can stand alone. Conversely, a sound-free Kill Bill would hold together. It's a stunning visual achievement, which is what film is about. (exception: Casablanca)

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:43 pm

See, I think Pulp Fiction is visually strong. Not as strong as KB1, but pretty strong. Things that pop out to me is the visual of Vicent's car careening down the street, the adrenaline shot sequence, Jules' speech, the shot of Bruce Willis' character sneaking up to his apartment and the taxi dialogue. It's not nearly as glamorous as KB1 cinematically, but I think the more "gritty" feel matches Pulp Fiction's style more and as such works better than the more polished KB1.

Plus, the medium of film isn't merely about the visual aspect. Movies can be carried by great dialogue and plot and still be great movies. Pulp Fiction didn't ignore the visual aspects, it just put more of a focus on the writing and delivery of lines. Without the visual you would lose a good bit.

Dolemite wrote:No.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:58 pm

Dolemite wrote:Well I was trying to start something by shitting on Tarantino but it turned into a reasonable debate. Reasonable debates suck.

I guess I'll throw in a 'you suck balls Jerry' because it's funny, even though Jerry is pretty cool.

I'm sorry I will post worse group hug everyone

edit: I really, really loved the anime sequence from Kill Bill, and I don't particularly like anime. Perhaps that was my favorite part of the movie and I'm greatly disappointed that that little snippent is basically as much as there is.

Rothlover · Post by **Rothlover** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:37 pm

the anime in Kill Bill was probably the best I've seen, and it was my favorite sequence of the two films (though I did enjoy both). I also dislike both anime and the Matrix, but enjoyed most of the Animatrix. fucking AHAN confessions.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:00 pm

The anime was pretty awesome. There's rumors of an anime being done of the backgrounds of all the DiVAs and that would be cool if it's the same quality as the bit in the film.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:10 pm

hey we're kind of lacking on discussion of the actual movie that inspired this thread. I saw Grindhouse today and it was pretty good. Rodriguez's portion was better, but I thought Tarantino's portion was pretty decent - way too slow for the first 60 minutes, but one hell of a car chase and climax. Kurt Russell plays a pretty laffo villain. But Planet Terror is better in pretty much every way. It's better paced, more exciting, funnier for the most part

Also the fake trailers... oh man, so awesome. This is the first time I've actually loved something that Rob Zombie did. All of it was great, though I'm pissed Hobo With a Shotgun is only in Canada. Hobos are in America too :(

No Sollositing On Premise · Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:34 am

The fake trailers were my favorite part, although the movies themselves were a hoot. "They Call Him Machete" is going to be made into a real straight-to-DVD movie!

And yes, it's too bad that Hobo with a Shotgun is Canada-only. Hopefully it's in the DVD extras or something.

Post by **DumbJaques** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:44 pm

I'll carry a small camcorder with me to ICT in an attempt to make the documentary "Hobo with a Shotgun: The Arminius Equation"

Rothlover · Post by **Rothlover** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:20 pm

DumbJaques wrote:I'll carry a small camcorder with me to ICT in an attempt to make the documentary "Hobo with a Shotgun: The Arminius Equation"

Please do so.

Bigfoot isn't the pr · Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:15 pm

So who all has seem Grind House? Thoughts?

ArloLyle · Post by **ArloLyle** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:18 pm

Car Chase > Planet Terror > Death Proof as a whole

In general the best movie experience I've had in quite some time.

Can't wait to see the direct to video release of Machete.