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Death Proof
(directed by Quentin Tarantino)
A Quentin Tarantino movie is 20 percent celluloid and 80 percent bravado, and the PR whirlwind surrounding the release of his recent double feature Grindhouse with Robert Rodriquez was a prime example. However even though the directors talked up the movie geek factor and the ultra violence factor, the project bombed at the box office. There's probably lots of reasons barely anyone went to see it, but choosing to sit through three hours of B movie, a genre that is by definition schlocky and bad, was probably a major one. Now QT and Dimension films have decided to release each of the films separately on DVD with his extended and uncut installment of Death Proof, about a crazed former stunt man and his evil muscle car that terrorizes girls, coming out this week.
The problem with this marketing plan is that neither Death Proof nor Planet Terror are fully realized, complete movies. (Planet Terror comes to DVD on Oct. 16.) They each run around an hour and a half, a pretty standard full length film running time, but they come across as half baked. Death Proof is really just two extensive sequences: a group of girls go out on the town in Austin where they meet Stuntman Mike and are murdered by him, and another group of girls encounter Stuntman Mike but this time they fight back. However, Death Proof is worth watching at home for Kurt Russell silly but fun, ham-fisted performance and for real life stunt woman Zoe Bell's phenomenal acumen behind the wheel. Only Quentin would think to write a whole character around a stunt person's abilities and though she's got Kiwi moxy to spare, Bell's not much of an actress. But hey, it wouldn't be a Quentin Tarantino movie if it wasn't heavy on the movie insider references and light on the substance. Another note worthy drawback to this DVD release is they don't contain the wonderful trailers that ran during Grindhouse. Maybe they'll end up in the eventual full box set.
Other new DVDs hitting shelves this week include a director's cut of Oliver Stone's attempts to turn Colin Farrell in a blond warrior in Alexander
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"Only Quentin would think to write a whole character around a stunt person's abilities"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081568/
Don't forget about Season 2 of Upright Citizens Brigade, one of the best sketch comedy shows of all time.
Quentin Tarantino just bores me, always has, his art is so juvenile, facile and plain ham fisted and that whole "genius" thing has sort of an emperor's new clothes factor to me.
[1] with the BURN!!!
re: this supposed burn by linking to a film from 1980 called Stunt man, I say, why is that a burn? I'm not familiar with the film in question but it seems like from the IMDB page that the film is about a character who becomes a stunt man to avoid the law. The actor who played him wasn't an actual stunt man in real life, at least that's what I'd guess from his profile. As opposed to Zoe Bell, who Quentin Tarantino met when he cast her to do Uma Thurman's stunts in Kill Bill and then liked so much that he wrote the Death Proof character, who is a stunt woman called Zoe, for her. If someone has another example of a stunt man or woman cast in a speaking role based on their stunt abilities, I'd love to hear it.
@ guest 2, thanks Upright Citizens did slip my mind when making this week's list. So check it out per their suggestion.
I'm glad I was able to watch Grindhouse in the theaters. With it's cheesy faux trailers, fake commercials and double bill b-movie it was probably the best movie going experience i had in a long time. Isn't this what a "grindhouse" is supposed to be?
Watching it on DVD just won't be the same. Kind of reminds me of NYC in the 80's.
#3- are you serious? Pulp Fiction was probably the BEST movie of the 90's. It also had substance. Sadly, Grindhouse was like QT losing his shit. It wasn't bad but not up to par with pulp of r dogs. It's like sickboy's unifying theory of life from trainspotting "you get old and you canna hack it anymore". QT has no desire to make complete movies anymore. Too much self indulgence.