Grindhouse - New Tarantino/Rodriguez film announced.. - Page 7

Matthew Marino · 04-11-2007, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn_KE

The second group of chicks, he just came across by random and his intent WAS just to fuck with them. He saw them goofing off and wanted to join in, but pissed them off and had to back pedal.

It wasn't random at all. The hospital scene cuts to him taking pictures of them as they are leaving a convenient store. He was clearly targeting them ahead of time.

Brad Porter · 04-11-2007, 07:15 PM

Quote:

The second group of chicks, he just came across by random and his intent WAS just to fuck with them. He saw them goofing off and wanted to join in, but pissed them off and had to back pedal.

He photographed them leaving the high school set, followed them to the diner (where he clearly should have heard that Kim was armed), and then staked out the road near where he had heard they would be driving the Challenger. He didn't just happen upon them at random. (credit to Matthew for posting the same while I was typing)

I had two problems with the chase sequence. They had clearly established that Kim was armed. Why did she not draw her weapon when he was driving alongside? And, when Mike's car spins out into the field, why didn't they slow down to let Zoe off the hood? I could believe that it didn't serve the excitement of the scene, but Kim never seemed too panicked to be able to make these types of decisions.

Brad

Matthew Marino · 04-11-2007, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad Porter

I had two problems with the chase sequence. They had clearly established that Kim was armed. Why did she not draw her weapon when he was driving alongside? And, when Mike's car spins out into the field, why didn't they slow down to let Zoe off the hood? I could believe that it didn't serve the excitement of the scene, but Kim never seemed too panicked to be able to make these types of decisions.

Well she was the one driving and her priority there was to make sure her friend didn't fly off the car and to hopefully escape the maniac attacking them. If she went for her gun (which was on her ankle, under her jeans) she could have lost concentration, driven off the road and smacked into a tree. It would only take a split second for disaster to happen. Imagine having to lean down to get something by your foot while its on the gas pedal driving at a high speed on a winding road.

When he spins off the road I just remember there being this huge cloud of smoke completely covering his car. There was really no way for them or even the viewer to know exactly where he was. The camera actually had to pan over the right to show where he really was which is not where anybody would likely expect him. My friend commented how cool this shot was because we don't even see him spin back.

AaronMan · 04-11-2007, 10:02 PM

Yes, that was a great shot.

Kirk Tsai · 04-12-2007, 01:36 AM

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When he spins off the road I just remember there being this huge cloud of smoke completely covering his car. There was really no way for them or even the viewer to know exactly where he was. The camera actually had to pan over the right to show where he really was which is not where anybody would likely expect him. My friend commented how cool this shot was because we don't even see him spin back.

My guess is that another stunt driver with another car came in to make this work.

MikeRS · 04-12-2007, 02:46 AM

"Planet Terror" isn't really an homage to grindhouse. The first two thirds of the film are Rodriguez's emulation of both George Romero (think The Crazies more than Dawn or Night Of The Living Dead) and John Carpenter (Assault On Precinct 13 , Halloween, Escape From New York, The Fog, The Thing). Rodriguez does all this really well with his digital toolbox. And it's a cool cast. Great fun! Great score! Technically brilliant.

The last third isn't as strong or tight, and is really about James Cameron more than anything else (Terminator and Aliens). If you've seen El Mariachi, you'd know already that Rodriguez has a hard-on for Big Jim. By the climax, Rodriguez is again revealed to really not have alot on his mind. He won't fool me into believing he's actually interested in that female empowerment theme (ie: Rose McGowan's arc). He's just aping one of his heroes. Only homage.

The missing reel was awesome though. Not just because of the sex scene being cut, but Freddy Rodriguez finally telling Michael Biehn about that 'thing'!

Death Proof - LIKE ALL TARANTINO - is part homage and part commentary/subversion of genre (He truly is the "trash" answer to Godard). The first half is the classic serial killer genre done as the grindhouse redneck car-chase movie. Introduction of women/victims doing and talking about mundane things (of course, with the Quentin stylistic syntax)

WHAM! BAM! EXCITING MURDER SEQUENCE!

(btw, THAT'S the grindhouse mo. Mundane merging with the sensationalistic).

I think because Quentin does the murder sequences (and the portrayal of a cold blooded monster) so well, many folks would have been happy with just a 'straight' serial killing telling. With Kurt Russell's fascinating Stuntman Mike, I don't blame them.

But Quentin will always be Quentin. And the structure/vision for this flick is gonna drive some folks nutty.

I loved the second half, btw. By the last minutes of film - as Stuntman Mike gets the heightened exaggerated living shit kicked out of him - I was laughing uncontrollably

.

Yeah, I left the theater with a big smile on my face.

The car/chase/murder sequences are AMAZING.

Brad Porter · 04-12-2007, 03:07 AM

Quote:

If she went for her gun (which was on her ankle, under her jeans) she could have lost concentration, driven off the road and smacked into a tree. It would only take a split second for disaster to happen. Imagine having to lean down to get something by your foot while its on the gas pedal driving at a high speed on a winding road.

My counterpoints:
1. She's a professional stunt driver. Give her some credit.
2. Disaster was already happening.
3. The jeans aren't that snug around the ankle. Say "Bitch take the wheel!" to the co-pilot, free up the right hand, and let the bullets fly. That's what I was expecting, given the set-up time used at the diner to establish the gun and her commitment to using it.

I was more bothered by it because they had explicitly established that part of her character in the diner scene and then delayed the payoff that we knew was coming, not by any practicalities of getting to the gun. To me it seemed out of character for her to panic, so I was drawn out of the scene the way I always am in horror/slasher films when characters make stupid decisions solely to serve the action or the gore.

I won't be talked out of the things that bugged me since that was my subjective experience while watching the film... so I wasn't really looking for a debate.

Perhaps it's just my nature to overanalyze movie characters that have long, obvious sections of character development dialogue. I wait for the payoff (and I get really annoyed if it never comes).

Brad

Jason Seaver · 04-12-2007, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad Porter

My counterpoints:
1. She's a professional stunt driver. Give her some credit.
2. Disaster was already happening.
3. The jeans aren't that snug around the ankle. Say "Bitch take the wheel!" to the co-pilot, free up the right hand, and let the bullets fly. That's what I was expecting, given the set-up time used at the diner to establish the gun and her commitment to using it.

Kim being a professional stunt driver is why I believed that she waited until the car was stopped before going for her gun. Stunt people do dangerous things in the safest way possible, and Kim's top priorities were making sure that the car didn't crash and Zoe didn't fly off the hood.

Pete-D · 04-12-2007, 04:28 PM

I felt like Tarantino's segment was (as you might expect) more 70s-ish, while Rodriguez's was more like early/mid 80s style. The thing about stopping in Death Proof did bother me a bit, it definitely seemed like they had a couple of oppurtunities to stop and let Zoe off the hood, but I'll forgive it.

Marley Shelton (Dr. Block) really steal Planet Terror IMO (along with Michael Biehn). Her scenes with her son are particularily hysterical and got some of the biggest reactions from the audiences I've seen the movie with.

Michael Elliott · 04-12-2007, 05:19 PM

I too kept asking myself why they didn't try and stop the car but I guess this is a tad bit unfair. If I can believe Jason can come back to life after an axe to the head, machete in the side of the face and so on then I guess I can overlook the roof thing.

PLANET TERROR is certainly more of the late 70s early 80s Italian zombie films. Clearly influenced by NIGHTMARE CITY and of course there's the homage to Fulci's ZOMBIE.