"Grindhouse" by Tarantino and Rodriguez

[pzarquon]

It's a movie my wife and I are irrationally eager to see. A totally indulgent, over-the-top filmmaking effort by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, "Grindhouse (http://imdb.com/title/tt0462322/)" is coming April 6.

"The sleaze-filled saga of an exploitation double feature," IMDB says. "Two full length feature horror movies written by Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez put together as a two film features. Including fake movie trailers in between both movies."

Here's a write-up of a Comic Con panel (http://movies.ign.com/articles/720/720519p1.html) last summer with the filmmakers and the preview page from Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/grindhouse/). For a lot of people, this will be the last movie they'll ever want to see. But for a lot of others, it's may be the highpoint of the year.

[Hellbent]

I mentioned it in the 300 movie thread, to which no one replied yet. I am eager to see it, but then again I like some weird movies. Hopefully its a good kind of campiness.

[anapuni808]

I too am looking forward to the new movie - seems like it's taken forever to get made. Thanks for giving the release date. I recently did a movie marathon for myself of the 3 "Mexico" movies and just put another one of theirs on my Netflix list - "From Dusk to Dawn".

[Hellbent]

theres apparently several sequels to dusk til dawn. i havent seen any of them.
i liked dusk til dawn, but wished they started the movie more towards the middle or end - going into that huge temple

[helen]

The IMDb entry for this movie doesn't list it's run time so one doesn't know if this movie will run 2 hours or 4 hours (since it tries to be a double feature) or something in between.

[anapuni808]

theres apparently several sequels to dusk til dawn. i havent seen any of them.
i liked dusk til dawn, but wished they started the movie more towards the middle or end - going into that huge temple

do you know the names of the sequels? I love the movies these 2 guys make!

[Hellbent]

do you know the names of the sequels? I love the movies these 2 guys make!

I cant beleive IMDB only have FDtD 2.9/10... Heres the links:
From Dusk til Dawn 2 (http://imdb.com/title/tt0120860/)
From Dusk til Dawn 3 (http://imdb.com/title/tt0120695/)
neither are directed by Rodriguez

If I remember the trailer, they said 2.5 hours for Grindhouse.

[alohabear]

Any movie with my two favorite actors Bruce Willis and Kurt Russell can't be all that bad. Here's the Trailer (http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/grindhouse/)

The runtime according to the trailer is 2 1/2 hours. I can't wait for the "return of the killer B's". I hope this becomes a series of films.

[helen]

Saw Grindhouse this afternoon at Ward Theater. Movie runs around 3-1/2 hours or so. As a suggestion you should not eat anything during the movie since the first segment (named Planet Terror) is kind of gross with body parts being torn apart, eaten or simply dropped.

The movie is mindless fun, it got slow during the second segment (named Death Proof) but it got redeemed later on.

Naveen Andrews (Sayid from Lost) has a role in the first segment.

The movie previews between segments hinted towards horror movies but the audience was laughing.

[pzarquon]

My wife and I saw it this past weekend. It was fantastic. Even expecting something a little over the top, they topped it. Well, Rodriguez did, to be sure. Tarantino's half of the double feature was classic Tarantino. Very talky, but very awesome in the end.

I was thoroughly amused by the fact that Consolidated felt compelled to post warning signs:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/243/450200167_56c9f4d030_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawaii/450200167/)

They also sent two smirking young employees to give the same warning in person before the movie began. I gotta admit, the film artifacts they introduced digitally were almost entirely convincing. Scratches, skips, dragging frames, and of course, completely missing reels.

And the "intermission" was great.

[blueyecicle]

I am totally stoked to see this in our bRand new theater here in town. (Oregon) I hope I can get a sitter, maybe when we are having open house we will go see it!! Woohoo! I love these movies.:D

[Cameron]

Did you leave the theater with the typical WTF daze you get from watching a RR and QT movie?

[helen]

I was thoroughly amused by the fact that Consolidated felt compelled to post warning signs:

They also sent two smirking young employees to give the same warning in person before the movie began. I gotta admit, the film artifacts they introduced digitally were almost entirely convincing. Scratches, skips, dragging frames, and of course, completely missing reels.


I think the warnings is there to prevent people unfamiler with the movie to complain to the management that the movie has these scratches, skips and missing reels and then demand a refund for watching a movie that is simulating a poor presentation.

[pzarquon]

Thank you, Helen.

Say, the wife read an interesting review of "Grindhouse" today, specifically "Death Proof," the Tarantino flick. "Death Proof" is a movie in two acts, and the reviewer noted that it seemed like the two pieces were shown in reverse chronological order. Now that I think about it, it makes sense.

At least as much sense as a timeline-jumbling Tarantino film can make, at least.

[helen]

If you mean that the events in "Death Proof" take place before "Planet Terror" then yeah I agree with you there.

Are you saying that in "Death Proof" that the second group of girls that Stuntman Mike targeted actually happened before the first group of girls?

[Cameron]

you need to go see Grindhouse right away! It's going to become an even rarer experience in its 3-hour-and-10-minute double-feature exposition, as news just came in early today that The Weinstein Company may split each film up individually, just as they're going to do in Europe. But they're going to do it quickly, maybe even this weekend, right here in America.
Source (http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/04/09/that-unique-grindhouse-theatrical-experience-just-got-rarer/)

I hope it's not true, In any case I'm not going to have a chance to see it for at least another 2 weeks

[pzarquon]

If you mean that the events in "Death Proof" take place before "Planet Terror" then yeah I agree with you there.This is not what I meant, but this is certainly true, as an event in "Death Proof" is referenced in "Planet Terror."
Are you saying that in "Death Proof" that the second group of girls that Stuntman Mike targeted actually happened before the first group of girls?Yes, this is what I was saying, though trying to be a little less spoilery about it.

I can't see how they'd split the films. They need each other.

[helen]

Spliting the film in two parts would be a bad idea. For one thing what is going to happen to the fake trailers?

I can see them making them as a double feature with an real intermission inbetween, it would do wonders for the consession stands and the restroom breaks.

It would work for a theater like the Varisty but not the multiplexes.

[TATTRAT]

Planing on seeing it this weekend, I can't wait.


Little thrown off to see that Fergie is in it...

[scrivener]

I was visiting a friend in Tennessee and we went to see Nicole Kidman's To Die For in a second-run theater. The bozo projectionist showed the reels in reverse order. We didn't figure that out until, well, we never figured it out. Another patron came over and told us after the show. All I could think was, wow. This film is amazingly inaccessible in some ways! I mean, someone dies halfway through the flick and then is SUDDENLY back alive with NO apparent reason or explanation.

I still haven't seen it the way it was meant to be seen.

[Hellbent]

Finally saw it tonight, had to drag the SO to it...
I loved Planet Terror, much more accessible of the two. I'm getting old. The movie was very loud and a bit too gory. I expected campiness and got it. Loved it.
Same complaints about Death Proof, too much useless dialogue, it didnt really even have anything quotable like his other movies (le big mac, i dont believe in tipping)
I would actually pay to go see 'Machete' :)

IMDB gives it a 8.4/10, 19k votes. I think I'd give it a 5, would have been higher but DP dragged it down, IMO.

"God forgives... I dont"

An interesting link I found in the IMDB forums: What was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020266603)

[Hellbent]

woot! i just read on IMDB that Machete will be made as a direct to DVD released at the same time as Grindhouse is released on DVD!

[helen]

Noticed in Sam's Club that they are selling seperate DVD for Planet Terror and Death Proof. Each of them sells for roughly $13 and it is in a 2 disc DVD set.

[Frankie's Market]

I picked up the Death Proof DVD recently. It does contain scenes not originally in the Grindhouse theatrical release. But it will still have the abrupt splices/reel changes that gives the movie the feel of a 1970s grindhouse flick.

Watching it again, I can't help but think how Quentin Tarentino has seemingly fallen into a rut with creating yet another anachronistic movie, a la Kill Bill. But instead of overlapping genres like the former, you had overt little items thrown in to create this pastiche. What started as a genuinely mid-1970s setting, complete with all the music and clothing/hair styles from that time, was disrupted by Kurt Russell's character mentioning Gavilan (a short-lived 1980s TV series, for those who didn't know) and then one of the other characters using a cell phone to send a text message. (This, at a time when only doctors used to carry pagers.)

Then of course, there was the presentation itself. Yes, the first half of Death Proof does have the specks, skips, and muted colors to give it the '70s feel. But then right in the middle, it inexplicably switches to black-and-white for a good 15-20 minutes. Then it suddenly switches to back to color for the rest of the movie. But this time, the color is bright and crisp, with none of the faux specks and distortions from the first part.

Call me clueless. But I just don't "get" what Tarentino was trying to do here. And this is coming from someone who absolutely adored his work on Jackie Brown.