Grindhouse

[Fouts]

Any thoughts on the upcoming movie Grindhouse?

I like Tarentino and Rodriguez, but the previews have me wondering. Then again, I like violent monster/zombie movies (i.e. From Dusk to Dawn, Feast, [another movie I can't remember the name of]).

I did read it is 2 movies split by fake movie previews with a running time around 3 hours.

[Karlifornia]

My take on this movie is the same as it is with all other movies that Tarantino (and nearly to the same extent) Rodriguez make:

The previews on television can barely even scratch the surface of what you'll be seeing at the theater. I'm there opening weekend.

[cthomer5000]

Can't wait to see them, that's how I feel about it. Most anticipated release of this year for me. They look like they had a lot of fun making these movies, and I expect they will be a lot of fun to watch.

[ImTheCrew]

it can obtain a rating of "R" yet

[st.cronin]

Tarentino, yay
Rodriguez, nay
Tarantino + Rodriguez = meh

[MikeVic]

Both movies look fun.

The machine gun attached to the girl's leg = LOL.

[cthomer5000]

I just watched the trailer again. this is going to be awesomem can't wait for this to come out.

[stevew]

I like tarantino movies, but I have no desire to see this movie. Maybe on video. RR doesn't usually do shit for me, Sin City is the only movie of his I actually liked a lot.

[cthomer5000]

I like tarantino movies, but I have no desire to see this movie. Maybe on video. RR doesn't usually do shit for me, Sin City is the only movie of his I actually liked a lot.

I would just rather see a movie that is clearly meant to be pure cheese and fun like this than something taking itself way too seriously (300). I'm with you on Rodriguez, Sin City is the only movie of his I can say I genuinely like.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wait a minute, I'm in the minority that kind of enjoyed ...Mexico, Dusk, and at least some of the Spy Kids?

Dang, usually when I'm in a movie minority around here it's because I didn't like something that everybody else did. This time, it's the other way 'round.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am cautiously optimistic.

Rodriguz has talent (see "Sin City"), but often loses his way ("From Dusk til Dawn"). I'm afraid his part of the movie will be more like the latter than the former, but I am still hopeful. I mean...

They had me at "zombies" and finished me off at "minigun". When I came to there was Rose with the M-16/USM203 leg. And then that was it again. Then I came to and there was Danny Trejo with a coat full of machetes and BAM! And Michael Biehn! With a shotgun! Again! Think about that for a sec - is there a movie with Michael Biehn using a shot gun that doesn't kick ass? Aliens? Terminator? Anyone, anyone?

Now, I am not the biggest Robert Rodriguez fan (note to Robert: A bunch of cray-ass fight scenes and Cheech Marin do not a movie make, though he will be forever praised for the genius of "Sin City"), but still...

Zombies. Minigun. Rose McGown with a machinegun for a leg. A dude named Machete. And Michael Biehn. Reese. Hicks. Reunited with his beloved shotgun. Did I mention the zombies?

While Tarantino has lost a little luster of the years, he's still "got it." I was re-watching parts of "Kill Bill 2" the other night on TNT (I think) and was reminded of how good a movie that was, warts and all. Will he ever get back to the heights of "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs"? Not likely. But his films always have something worthwhile/interesting in them.

[DeToxRox]

A lot of the stuff in trailers is from the intermission with fake movie trailers. The movie is so violent people say that was the only stuff they could really get away with showing. I'll see it Opening Night, I can't wait. It's two movies that don't take themselves serious, can't go wrong.

[cthomer5000]

Will he ever get back to the heights of "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs"?

Actually, he'll top them both with a movie called Jackie Brown.

[st.cronin]

Actually, he'll top them both with a movie called Jackie Brown.

Agreed, far and away his best movie.

[stevew]

Wait a minute, I'm in the minority that kind of enjoyed ...Mexico, Dusk, and at least some of the Spy Kids?

Dang, usually when I'm in a movie minority around here it's because I didn't like something that everybody else did. This time, it's the other way 'round.


Maybe i still have a sour taste in my mouth from Sharkboy and Lavagirl. While most stupid movies feel like they were written by a 3rd grader, this one actually was. And it shows.

[DeToxRox]

Actually, he'll top them both with a movie called Jackie Brown.

Love that movie and shocked it's met with so little fanfare (in contrast with the others).

For people who don't like it, just curious why?

[Fouts]

Looks like I'm going to have to check out Jackie Brown. I was under the impression it was a remake of an old movie and skipped it.

[Qwikshot]

His new movie, I see a chick with a leg of a shotgun and I'm just not that impressed. Granted it's supposed to be pulp but it's a bit much. Probably wait this one out.

[cthomer5000]

Anyone else catch this today?

Definite overall thumbs up, but i'm sad to say I felt let-down by Tarantino's half of things. And some of the fake trailers in between movies... pure genius.

[WVUFAN]

Actually, he'll top them both with a movie called Jackie Brown.

Oddly enough, that was the one Tarantino movie I couldn't stand.

But, then again, I liked Rodriquez's movie The Faculty, so what do I know? :)

[cthomer5000]

Saw it and had the opposite reaction. RR was nearly impossible to deal with while Tarantino did his best work in a long time. Planet Terror was barely good enough for a MST3K episode, much less to be attached to the great trailers (Don't!), but I now want to see the full version of Death Proof.

Nothing will compare to the Kurt Russell screams for the rest of the year.

Seriously... would you rank Death Proof over any other Tarantino movie?

I thought Planet Terror was exactly what it was billing itself to be, a lot of gorey, silly, fun. Death Proof on the other hand took wa too long to set up. I wouldn't have minded the setup if basically every character wasn't totally unlikeable. The car scenes were fantastic, but not enough to redeem that specific movie to me. I mean, i love Tarantino, and I love his longish, natural dialouge, but I just think he got it wrong in this case. And the two "lead" chicks in the sort of seperate chapters were pretty painful characters.

edit: misplaced word which totally changed the meaning of the first sentence.

[MikeVic]

Saw this tonight. I loved the fake trailers and Planet Terror. The car scenes and Kurt Russell were good in Death Proof, but I wanted more action and less talking.

I thought these were supposed to feel like old, cheesy movies. Yet a large portion of Death Proof just seemed like a Tarantino movie to me.

Overall, I'd say this movie is well worth the price of admission.

[cthomer5000]

I thought these were supposed to feel like old, cheesy movies. Yet a large portion of Death Proof just seemed like a Tarantino movie to me.

This is really the gist of my statements. I feel like Tarantino really couldn't put his own style in check enough to make the movie that the trailers led me to believe I'd be getting.

Still, i would love to see a "making of" for the stunt scenes in Death Proof. There was some pretty crazy shit going on there.

[Karlifornia]

I just got back from an 11:00 showing. I thought Planet Terror was a bit better than Death Proof....but the ending of Death Proof was fucking hilarious. The trailers were definitely great. The girl on the trampoline...hell..the whole "Thanksgiving" trailer convinced me to go see it if it were actually being released.

"I'll eat your brains
then take your knowledge"

[Warhammer]

Agreed, far and away his best movie.

The one movie of his I liked.

[DeToxRox]

Echoing everyones sentiments. Planet Terror was amazing, and the trailers were excellent. Death Proof was okay, the chases were as good as it gets but lots of dialouge. Probably needed to be done that way with how Planet Terror is all action but still.

Machette is being made a real straight to DVD movie I've heard, now they need Grindhouse II with Thanksgiving and Don't.

[Logan]

Haven't seen it, but just wanted to comment on the movie doing really bad at the box office. An opening weekend of $11.5 million, just over half of what was expected. It'll probably make everything up in DVD sales, but still...

[Karlifornia]

Haven't seen it, but just wanted to comment on the movie doing really bad at the box office. An opening weekend of $11.5 million, just over half of what was expected. It'll probably make everything up in DVD sales, but still...

People have no taste.

[BrianD]

People have no attention span.

Fixed that for you.

3+ hours is going to scare away many people.

[lordscarlet]

But, then again, I liked Rodriquez's movie The Faculty, so what do I know? :)

It had Jordana Brewster and a GTO, what's not to like?

[JonInMiddleGA]

3+ hours is going to scare away many people.

You beat me to it.

Plus I question the timing of the release.
Plus I wonder whether the recent spate of splatter/horror movies hurt this one.

From my mildly disinterested perspective, I considered this more as comedy/camp/spoof than action or gore, but I'm not at all sure that the average moviegoer (or "not-goer" in this case) thought of it the same way.

[BrianD]

You beat me to it.

Plus I question the timing of the release.
Plus I wonder whether the recent spate of splatter/horror movies hurt this one.

From my mildly disinterested perspective, I considered this more as comedy/camp/spoof than action or gore, but I'm not at all sure that the average moviegoer (or "not-goer" in this case) thought of it the same way.

When I first saw the previews, I had no interest in seeing the movie. Later I heard an interview with Tarantino (I think) talking about trying to re-create the feel of the old 70's double features with their typical cheesy-thriller movies and I became much more interested. This seems like a type of movie that is particularly unsuited to the common trailer form of advertising. You probably have to know something about the directors or their goal before this could look like something worth seeing.

I'm going tonight so I'll have a better impression after that.

[Kodos]

I hate Tarantino. But I love zombies...

Guess I'll wait for it on Netflix or something...

[Drake]

And Michael Biehn! With a shotgun! Again! Think about that for a sec - is there a movie with Michael Biehn using a shot gun that doesn't kick ass? Aliens? Terminator? Anyone, anyone?

Thank God. I thought I was the only person on the planet who connected Michael Biehn + shotgun with MUST SEE.

[dawgfan]

Echoing what many others have said already, but I thought Rodriguez's Planet Terror worked much better than Tarantino's Deathproof, and the fake trailers were the most entertaining part of the whole experience.

Rodriguez's half was unabashedly, unapologetically and gleefully over the top campy fun, from the story & dialog to the acting to the special effects gore to the artificial aging and "missing reels" of the film stock itself. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously, it was meant to be push-the-envelope-trashy, and it succeeded.

Tarantino's half on the other hand seemed to me to be a confused mess; an awkward mish-mash of his dialog-heavy character development with high-adrenaline action sequences, and with his film breaking into two halves that, to me, didn't mix well. I get that he was using the first half to set up Russell's character as an unsympathetic psychopath, but I felt the sudden change in his character's demeanor in the 2nd half after he was challenged by the women from scary psycho to whimpering pussy just didn't feel right. And the dialog sequences, while well-written, acted and shot, were just too long for this kind of movie - after a few minutes I just wanted them to hurry up and shut up so they could get to the action. Plus, the effects in his film weren't nearly as good as in Rodriguez's half, nor were his methods of aging and dirtying up his film stock as effective.

The trailers were successful because they pretty much all followed the lead of Rodriguez in terms of campy over the top fun, and had the big advantage that their one joke premises didn't have to be stretched out into 90+ minutes of actual movie

[timmynausea]

I also went in expecting to like Tarantino's half way more and ended up liking Rodriguez's better. Despite that, my girlfriend and I both kind of felt like Planet Terror was a little long and didn't get that feeling during Death Proof.

Also, and this is a bit spoilery: Am I the only one that totally wanted Stuntman Mike to win? Nobody goes to this kind of movie to root for the good guys (or girls). I want to see Kurt Russell terrorize the shit out of some girls and look straight into the camera and smile. The scene with him whimpering in the car was hilarious, though.

[timmynausea]

More spoilers:

Now that I've had more time to think about it, I'm actually kind of wondering about the chronology of Death Proof. Can anyone remember if Kurt Russell had the scar in the second half of it? I can't remember for sure, but the more I think about it, the more it'd make sense that the second half actually happened first chronologically and the first half is Stuntman Mike getting his revenge to some degree. That would actually make it a more satisfying story, I think, though telling it out of order does make for better cinema.

Anyone have any thoughts on that? I found one thread on IMDB about it, but it didn't provide much info.

[cthomer5000]

More spoilers:

Now that I've had more time to think about it, I'm actually kind of wondering about the chronology of Death Proof. Can anyone remember if Kurt Russell had the scar in the second half of it? I can't remember for sure, but the more I think about it, the more it'd make sense that the second half actually happened first chronologically and the first half is Stuntman Mike getting his revenge to some degree. That would actually make it a more satisfying story, I think, though telling it out of order does make for better cinema.

Anyone have any thoughts on that? I found one thread on IMDB about it, but it didn't provide much info.

It wouldn't surprise me given that it's a Tarantino flick, but i definitely got the impression that they killed him at the end of the movie. If that's correct, obviously it had to take place after.

[BrianD]

This was the most fun I have had at the theater possibly ever. The first movie was total trashy fun. Great overacting, great cheesh F/X, lots of blood splatter. I laughed, I winced, I loved it.


Tarantino's half on the other hand seemed to me to be a confused mess; an awkward mish-mash of his dialog-heavy character development with high-adrenaline action sequences, and with his film breaking into two halves that, to me, didn't mix well. I get that he was using the first half to set up Russell's character as an unsympathetic psychopath, but I felt the sudden change in his character's demeanor in the 2nd half after he was challenged by the women from scary psycho to whimpering pussy just didn't feel right. And the dialog sequences, while well-written, acted and shot, were just too long for this kind of movie - after a few minutes I just wanted them to hurry up and shut up so they could get to the action. Plus, the effects in his film weren't nearly as good as in Rodriguez's half, nor were his methods of aging and dirtying up his film stock as effective.


I had a totally different reaction to Tarantino's movie. It started out with a lot of dialog that seemed unnecessary, but then I realized they were setting up a movie that they weren't really showing. Like a lot of the good old terror movies, it looked like it was going to go one way and then went another way...toward the terror. The second half of the second movie started out just like the first half (for familiarity), took the same twist, and then took another twist. There was some very good dialog, some great action, and some great fun. More over the top stuff, more laughs. I totally loved it.

[dawgfan]

I had a totally different reaction to Tarantino's movie. It started out with a lot of dialog that seemed unnecessary, but then I realized they were setting up a movie that they weren't really showing. Like a lot of the good old terror movies, it looked like it was going to go one way and then went another way...toward the terror. The second half of the second movie started out just like the first half (for familiarity), took the same twist, and then took another twist. There was some very good dialog, some great action, and some great fun. More over the top stuff, more laughs. I totally loved it.
Yeah, I recognized the similarity between both halves of Deathproof and can see that Tarantino was playing them against each other, and also using the dialog-heavy parts to break up and provide contrast to the high-action parts - it just didn't work for me. I thought it just felt like too much of a mish-mash, that it didn't really flow well as entertainment.

Now, if it turns out Russell didn't have the scar in the 2nd half of it, that changes things up a bit and the movie makes more sense.

[BrianD]

Yeah, I recognized the similarity between both halves of Deathproof and can see that Tarantino was playing them against each other, and also using the dialog-heavy parts to break up and provide contrast to the high-action parts - it just didn't work for me. I thought it just felt like too much of a mish-mash, that it didn't really flow well as entertainment.

Now, if it turns out Russell didn't have the scar in the 2nd half of it, that changes things up a bit and the movie makes more sense.

I would imagine parts of both movies may not work for some people. It either resonates with you or it doesn't.

I'm really hoping he did have the scar in the second half. Seeing the transformation he went through was great. Reversing the order of events would just make them feel cheap.

[Glengoyne]

Thank God. I thought I was the only person on the planet who connected Michael Biehn + shotgun with MUST SEE.

After seeing K2, a friend and I postured, more posturing than actual thought, that Biehn might just be one of the greatest actors of all time. The premise... He was such an ass in that movie, and that presented a problem for us. He WAS a hero in our minds. Yet in that movie, he had us completely convinced that he was an ass.

I bring this up because, one of the arguments against our theory was that he didn't actually have a shotgun in K2. This brought up the point that the shotgun seemed to be an important contributing factor to his heroism.

In any case. I'm a Tarantino fan, though Kill Bill left me a little cold. I can't wait to see this movie.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It's from Page Six, so take it FWIW, but ...
http://entertainment.myway.com/celebgossip/pgsix/id/04_10_2007_10.html

HARVEY Weinstein is so disappointed in the $11.6 million opening weekend gross for "Grindhouse" - the three-hour-plus double-feature directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez - he's considering re-releasing each film, "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror," separately in longer versions, the way they'll play in foreign markets and on DVD. "I don't think people understood what we were doing," Weinstein told Page Six. "The audience didn't get the idea that it is two movies for the price of one. I don't understand the math, but I want to accommodate the audience." He said the main deterrent to ticket buyers is the length, which "becomes a time commitment."

[Drake]

After seeing K2, a friend and I postured, more posturing than actual thought, that Biehn might just be one of the greatest actors of all time. The premise... He was such an ass in that movie, and that presented a problem for us. He WAS a hero in our minds. Yet in that movie, he had us completely convinced that he was an ass.

I bring this up because, one of the arguments against our theory was that he didn't actually have a shotgun in K2. This brought up the point that the shotgun seemed to be an important contributing factor to his heroism.

In any case. I'm a Tarantino fan, though Kill Bill left me a little cold. I can't wait to see this movie.

To this day, I remain stunned that Biehn was not a bigger star. I've enjoyed watching him in every movie I've ever seen him in.

[BrianD]

It's from Page Six, so take it FWIW, but ...
http://entertainment.myway.com/celebgossip/pgsix/id/04_10_2007_10.html

HARVEY Weinstein is so disappointed in the $11.6 million opening weekend gross for "Grindhouse" - the three-hour-plus double-feature directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez - he's considering re-releasing each film, "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror," separately in longer versions, the way they'll play in foreign markets and on DVD. "I don't think people understood what we were doing," Weinstein told Page Six. "The audience didn't get the idea that it is two movies for the price of one. I don't understand the math, but I want to accommodate the audience." He said the main deterrent to ticket buyers is the length, which "becomes a time commitment."

I think he is right in that people don't know that this is a double feature. I think the other part he is missing is that people don't understand it is a reproduction of some campy horror/terror flicks. I will again blame the previews for that. I didn't know about any of this but read up on it since one of my friends wanted to go. That extra reading changed this from a friendly obligation to a really great idea. It also helped put me into the right mood going into the film which is always important.

[cthomer5000]

I think releasing it on Easter weekend was the bigger mistakel, especially against new family films/comedies.

[BrianD]

I think releasing it on Easter weekend was the bigger mistakel, especially against new family films/comedies.

I agree that is certainly a big factor as well.

[Butter]

Just saw this. Thought it was mostly well done, but probably about half of the 25 person audience walked out during the 2nd half of Death Proof. Tarantino got that one pretty badly wrong as far as keeping with the tone of the rest of the collection. I didn't think it was a bad movie, but it did not fit.

And I laughed at the Thanksgiving trailer all the way through the opening credits of Death Proof.

[jeff061]

I loved it. Death Proof started out painfully slow, but Kurt Russell's "transformation" half way through was hilarious and it was golden from then on. In my opinion.

[Butter]

Nothing wrong at all with the Kurt Russell character in my opinion... but there was way too much of the chicks and way not enough of Stuntman Mike.