Hey folks, Harry here... The reaction to the KILL BILL VOL 1 reviews have been pretty fricking disgusting to me. Oh sure, there's a good bunch of folks that seem to be celebrating the news that there is a new Tarantino film... strike that... Two new Tarantino films on the horizon. That the first one is apparently amazing for many reasons, but then there's those that just seem to exist for one single purpose. To tear it down. Why? Jealousy? Puberty? Stupidity? I'm not entirely sure why all of you come to AICN, but I know why I do it. I created AICN because I love films. Because at the start of it all, I was paralyzed in bed and couldn't go to a movie theater and wanted to write and share my love of film with faceless filmlovers out there in the ether. In 1996 when it all started it was right smack dab in Quentin-mania. Back then, I thought Quentin was a pretentious film fake that wasn't half the film geek he made himself out to be. I felt he came across as arrogant in interviews and thought that the pure adulation that everyone heaped upon him was greatly over-rated. RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION did kick ass, but that's just two movies. Oh sure, I loved TRUE ROMANCE, thought NATURAL BORN KILLERS was whacked and out of control, and I loved FROM DUSK TILL DAWN... but personally, I thought Quentin was full of shit.
That changed in 1998. He came to Austin for that first QT Film Fest at the Dobie Theater. There was no Alamo Drafthouse in Austin at the time. Only about 150 folks could fit in the Dobie screening room where it all took place. Scraping up the money for Dad and I to attend was tough, and I was going to it because there were a good 30 films or so that I would kill to see. That's why I was there. Listening to Quentin lecture about film frankly felt to me prior to the event to be yet further proof of his arrogance. But I wanted to see those movies. The first night... as he introduced THE SAVAGE SEVEN, HOLLYWOOD MAN and THE GLORY STOMPERS... as he passionately spoke about Adam Roarke or Casey Kasem as a sleazy bisexual biker badass... well, there was no faking it. This was who Quentin was. Now it is true, I've become friends with Quentin since that first festival. I've met very few people in my life that FEEL movies as intensely as I do. Not saying that makes me better than most, hell... I might ought to be institutionalized for feeling as intensely as I do about movies, but when you find folks of that like... it's rare. Through this site I've been quite lucky to that end. I've met and become the best of friends with folks that truly LOVE movies. Not just a genre or a type of film, but the medium, the process, the attending, the showing, the talking... everything about flicks. Quentin is one of them, Guillermo Del Toro is one, Robert Rodriguez is one, Eli Roth is one, Peter Jackson is one and ya know what... So are Drew McWeeny, Jed Strahm, Rebecca Elliot, Eric Vespe, Kevin Biegel, Marcus Owens, Tim League and a whole sleu of people that I know that are not famous... Many of them write under psuedonyms on the site, but many don't.
The point is this, ask yourself what it is you love about movies, reading about them, anticipating them, breathing them, being consumed by them... and if you aren't IN LOVE WITH THEM, well, perhaps this site isn't for you. Perhaps KILL BILL won't be for you too. All I know is Quentin has recently screened KILL BILL VOL 1 twice... once in Boston and once in L.A. I know about 7 people that went to the L.A. screening. They're all folks, well you would know by name, but they're all asking to be anonymous on the site for one reason or another. One told me, "I don't know if American audiences have ever seen anything like this. It's ultraviolent - and ultrabeautiful too." and goes on to say it is "fan-fucking-phenomenal!" Another attendee told me, "I will say nothing, because there's nothing that can really be said. It's a fucking 90 minute cinematic orgasm."
Both of the above are people whose taste I trust absolutely, and who... in the past have never once bullshitted about any film, including their own. They have ZERO to do with the film and absolutely nothing to gain from the success of the film and... since they spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, they won't even get to curry favor with Quentin over their comments. Then I got the following review. This person saw the film and had read talk backs on the other reviews before doing it and got pissed off at the naysayers. Of course, I hold that none of this will change a naysayer's heart. Only the film can do that, and if they choose not to see the film because they know "Quentin is a hack and over," well then, I suppose ignorance is bliss. Ultimately, I'm writing for you folks that are excited, that do love film and that feel that this along with MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, RETURN OF THE KING, PETER PAN, THE MISSING, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, CABIN FEVER, LOST IN TRANSLATION, SECONDHAND LIONS, UNDERWORLD, BUBBA HO-TEP, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, BAD SANTA, ALIEN (rerelease), IN MY SKIN, ELF, 21 GRAMS, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, IN AMERICA, THE LAST SAMURAI, COLD MOUNTAIN, THE FOG OF WAR, PAYCHECK and ZATOICHI are all reasons to live for the rest of the year... well, then live well friend... This year is going to have some greatness for us before it is all said and done! Here's El Mariachi...
Anyone who doesn’t love this film in all of its gory needs to stop watching movies and do something else with their free time. Quentin is one of us… A TRUE FAN OF CINEMA… He doesn’t make film for anyone but himself, he’s not a hack director, he’s not a sell out, he’s not a guy compromising his art for the sake of the studio system. He’s a guy who loves movies. What more can you possibly ask for in a filmmaker?
Love him or hate him, you have to fucking respect him. I saw KILL BILL. It was AMAZING! Uma Thurman kicked more ass that Keanu Reeves in the MATRIX, matter of fact, Fuck Keanu Reeves! She’d kick his ass, better yet, she’d kick everyone in the MATRIX’s ass and you’d actually believe it if you saw it. That’s how good she is in the film. She also brought an emotional spirit to the film, I felt her pain and I felt her misery, which would soon become rage.
KILL BILL is an old school, Shaw Brothers, Kung-Fu Chop Socky Extravaganza. It’s beautifully violent. All of the kung fu fight sequences are completely unique. The best in the last twenty years, and there’s heart. I loved the Bride. I felt for her loss and I wanted her to get medieval on all those who betrayed her… and she fucking did!
The ending of the film is a cliffhanger, but not the kind that you fucking hate and want to kill the filmmaker because he left you hanging. This is more in the tradition of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, there’s a bit of closure, but you know there’s still a lot of shit left to do… that’s what’s cool. It ends perfectly.
If everyone would stop being so cynical, condescending and arrogant when it comes to film, I guarantee they’d thoroughly enjoy this fine piece of work. Lucy Lui is amazing, she’s not the Lucy Lui from CHARLIE’S ANGELS, she is a bad motherfucker! You will be scared of her in this film. She’s that bad!
This is the film that all the old school Tarantino Fans have been waiting for… all the ones who hated JACKIE BROWN (which was a very good film, but most couldn’t see the brilliance because they wanted to see another PULP FICTION… but if he in fact would have given them another PULP FICTION, everyone would have bitched and said that he was unable to do something new… the irony).
I honestly think that QT is one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. He could have easily given us another PULP FICTION after PULP FICTION, but he didn’t. He’s not fucking Guy Ritchie! He does what he wants regardless of what everyone else may think. You gotta respect him for that. I sure do.
So all you film geeks out there who like to shit on people just for the sake of doing it, go right ahead, but you know what? I know without a doubt that you will look back on this film and his work and realize that QT is a bad motherfucker!
QT has done it again. He just re-invented another genre. So now all you hacks out there can go copy him.
El Mariachi
