Movie: Grindhouse and the trailer before it.

Grindhouse

I love Quentin Tarantino.

I always had a strong liking to him. Ever since I first saw Reservoir Dogs. But with this movie, it has blossomed into love.

It all has to do with one scene. In a bar. Near the beginning of his segment of the movie, called Death Proof. Anyone who sees this scene and knows me, will know EXACTLY why I love this scene. I won't spoil it for you, but if you see it and have ever been in a bar with me, you'll know.

But how was the movie(s)?

Motherfrakkin' fantasic!

I came into the game a little to late for the whole Grindhouse thing. Well, Rodriguez and Tarantino aren't that much older than I am. Maybe because I grew up in the suburbs of a small town. Or I had no idea where the grindhouse theaters were in my locale.

I know B-movies, mostly through video. But B-movies alone weren't what grindhouse were exclusively about. Sure, they showed B-movies (and C- and D- movies as well.) But they were more about the theater combine with the movies into an entire experience. Missed reels, crappy film quality, and sex and violence. This is what Rodriguez and Tarantino are celebrating. Both try to replicate the experience the best they can, right down to missing reels at the worst possible time (Rodriguez's missing reel contained revealing information about a main character and Tarantino contained a scene that he built most of his movie up to that point around (it is also featured in the previews, so it appears to have been shot.))

Rodriguez's Planet Terror starts it off and it had me at the premise. Because, gosh darn it, I do love me some zombie movies. And, as zombie movies go, Planet Terror is a good one. Basic, but good. And gory and gross, let's not forget about that.

Rodriguez did better with replicating the bad quality of these types of movies. And by bad quality, I don't mean story. Planet Terror had scratches, dings and warps. It looks like he stepped on the film, left it our in the car on a hot summer day then dunked it in water. It looks beat-up, just like the movies of the time did, I guess.

Tarantino's Death Proof  looked much better. There were a couple of jumps here and there, but otherwise, the film quality was crisp and clean. Tarantino's was less gory than Planet Terror, and by less gory I don't mean completely gore free. But it's hard not to be less gory that Planet Terror. A demented stuntmen killing young girls doesn't lend itself to gore as much as zombies. But the gore shots are brutal and memorable.

And I will say this, Kurt Russell is the motherfrakkin man. He will make you remember that he was man that once played Snake Plisken. Supposedly, Gerard Butler is playing Snake in the remake. He has big shoes to fill.

But, while Rodriguez made you believe that you were watching a B-grade movie, Tarantino's had all the trappings of a usual Quentin Tarantino movie. The snappy dialogue, the pop culture references, the hip soundtrack. And I am not saying that is a bad thing.

And I was intrigued by the mish-mash of time in props of the movies. The heroes drove early model cars, but they had cell phones. It was as if there was some paradox that allowed the two era to intermingle.

I also loved the fake trailers they had inbetween the two halves. Suitably campy.

So, if you like the directors, and the grindhouse era, you'll love this movie. But beware of you have a low gross-out factor. Mine is high and even I emitted several "Ewwww's".

Now the previews:

I might have missed some of the previews. I was cutting it close when I got the theater and the woman infront of me decided it would be nice to let the brats she brought with her to buy their own ticket. All five of them. And of course there was only one guy working the ticket counter. Grrr. So I walked in when the first preview was already on. Which was...

• Hot Fuzz: After Shaun of the Dead, done by the same people who did Hot Fuzz, I was hooked. I loved that movie so much they get a five film grace period from me. Meaning that they have five sucky films before I lose my faith in them. And it doesn't look like this is going to be the first one. It looks like cop films are getting the same treatment that zombie movies did in Shaun.
• Oceans 13:  Saw and commented on this one already. I have nothing more to add.
• Next: How many books did Philip K. Dick write? I mean, they have been making adaptations of his work for 30 years and they are still adapting them. Here is another one. I usually like films that are made from his work. This might be the exception. It stars Nicolas Cage (who also had a cameo in one of the fake trailers in Grindhouse, to good comedic effect). It's safe to say that he is not one of my favorite actors.
• Superbad: But this movie has one of my current favorite actors in it, Seth Rogen. Loved him in 40 Year Old Virgin. This is a coming of age comedy that seems to be in the similar vein as 40YOV. Might be worth a shot.
• I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry: I covered this one too. The trailer got a laugh or two out of the audience (not from me though). Did I mention Jessica Biel has a scene where she wears nothing but her underwear?
• 1408: I'm not a big fan of ghost stories and haunted house movies. But this one stars John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, and is based on a story by Stephen King, three of my faves. But I don't know if I can actually bring myself to see it.

Bill