Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. I saw GRINDHOUSE again on Friday night, and I’m working on my review right now. I am smitten. I enjoyed it even more, and I’ve got a lot to say about it. For now, I’m looking forward to wearing both of these groovy shirts that are being offered up by the boys over at FirstShowing.net. Check this out:
Hey guys, Not really sure if you care and it’s not really news, but I just wanted to forward along the Grindhouse shirts we custom made. You can find them right here. A good friend of mine works at a shirt shop and loves whipping up designs like this for us for big movie openings. We’ll probably be doing it again for Spider-Man 3 and most of the summer’s big films, but in the meantime those are the Grindhouse shirts. Enjoy! Alex Billington
I am troubled by reports of how the film’s going to be split up for overseas release, and I have a feeling that this particular US theatrical run is the only time you’re going to be able to see the films in this particular configuration. Sure, I’m dying to see DEATH PROOF in the longer Cannes edition this summer, but I also wish everyone would get a chance to see the film the way I’ve enjoyed it so far. Here’s a set of reviews from a couple who decided to each tackle one of the movies. Good stuff:
Hey, Harry. In the forums, somebody stated that there are too many reviews for Grindhouse. Well, I only read two, and one was from donutboy. However, my girlfriend and I felt it was important to do this review a little bit different. Since, it is a double-feature; we felt doing each movie as its own would be a good idea, especially, since the rumors are true. Most other countries are not getting the grindhouse experience. That’s right, no double-feature, and no faux trailers. So, I will do “Planet Terror” and she will do “Death Proof.” Hopefully by doing this, we are giving non-American readers a better idea of each film and how it holds up on its own. I get a screening pass (screening for critics) from a friend of mine, who is working the corner of E. 13th and Broadway right next to the Regal theatre in NYC. He does all the Weinstein screenings. It’s for Friday the 30th, it starts at 6:30PM, be there at 5:00PM. I get to the theatre on the pass, “E. 12th and 2nd Ave”. We get in and take our seats in the balcony next to a bunch of New York critics. This theatre is old, (hence: a grindhouse experience). The “Machete” trailer hits, I know what to expect, and its going to be fun. Next up a warning sign letting the viewers know that some of the reels are missing, this gets a laugh from the audience. Planet Terror starts, and the crowd is pumped. This film is exactly what you get when you see the posters; insane over-the-top smelly cheesiness. This movie is bad but in a really good way. In fact, it is an all out brutal and fun film. “Planet Terror” despite its lack of logic, is extremely difficult not to like. Plus the grossed-out visual are some of the best in a long time. I haven’t seen this much fun since “Dead-Alive” and indeed, am I saying this, “Evil Dead.” Rose McGowan simply knows that this is the best thing she has done in a long time. And in all seriousness, I was not a Freddy Rodriguez fan, but man, he owns this movie. This is his fucking movie. He is having the best time of his life doing this, and you can see it. Every ridiculous line that comes out of his mouth sounds cool. Bruce Willis is having fun here too, doing what ever he can to keep this movie from being too serious. However, the highlight of this film is not Rose McGowan (Cherry) getting her machine-gun leg, but the entrance of the rapist, Tarantino’s character. This is where the pinnacle of the film comes in. I just love the insane gross-out humor that ensues. A memorable line when one of the henchmen tells him she has only one leg... “Easy Access.” One other character that really stands out besides Freddy Rodriguez and Tarantino is Josh Brolin’s character. You will hate him in this, because the zombies are not what’s demented and scary in this film, its Doc Block (Josh Brolin) and he lives up to his status of domestic violence. No offense, but he is too good in this role, and you are waiting for Dakota (Shelton) to get some pay back. Stacy Ferguson is in this movie, and I just don’t see what the big deal is on this chick, she doesn’t ruin the film, but she is just not attractive to look at. She looks well over 40 with too much plastic going on. Hey, at least she has a memorable death, “That’s a no-brainer.” All in all, this is a very enjoyable film, and Robert Rodriguez knows how to make people have a good time at the movies. Plenty of action, no slow boring scenes, lots of gore, and some extremely disturbing images of the worst genital and anal herpes you will ever see. You will never want to forget that condom next time you go out looking for some action. The trailers in between are great fillers. Now, here is my girlfriend’s review of “Death Proof” which in her viewing, called it a chick flick, and I think she is right. -Mr. Brown This is my half of the grindhouse review. So, as Mr. Brown said in his review, we got early screening passes to see grindhouse in the coolest old movie theatre in New York. Planet Terror was amazing, and after watching the combined hotness of Freddy Rodriguez and Naveen Andrews I was looking forward to watching some of Quentin Tarantino’s amazing dialogue to chill me out. Then, the opening shots of the film were no surprise to me, feet. I am going to say right here, this movie is a chick flick, but not an annoying one like the notebook. This is the empowering, I can kick ass, I am woman hear me roar kind of chick flick. We are introduced to Jungle Julia, a local DJ, played by Sydney Poitier (the daughter of the award winning actor, after her appearance in this film, she is definitely someone to watch for in the future) and her friends Arlene and Shanna. The girls are looking for a good time after not seeing each other in ages. At a bar that night, the girls are having a great time drinking, dancing, and smoking up. As always, the choice of music is perfect for the scene and characters. Quentin Tarantino himself shows up as the owner of the bar, and any of his fans will hoot and howl, at the multiple self references he makes; “now that’s a tasty beverage” and red apple ciggys anyone. We also meet Stuntman Mike, who we learn is (duh) stuntman, as well as Rose McGowan, who shows up blonde (I think she looks better brunette but that’s just me). Fast forward a bit and we’ve got one dead blonde, and Kurt Russell speeding down a dark road straight at the girls’ car. I won’t go into detail, but I’ll just say that I will never ever stick my leg out of a moving car again. And now onto our second group of girls. Abernathy, Lee, Kim and Zoe Bell as herself, are stuntwomen and actresses. As a self proclaimed rent-head, I was ecstatic to see Tracie Thoms and Rosario Dawson together again, and Zoe Bell is amazing, not only can she act and do stunts, but she made my lazy ass feel like I needed to go to the gym and lift some weights or something. Here is where I draw the line in the sand, between the two sets of girls; many critics have said that this film has too much dialogue. They are also all men. Any woman watching this movie, will relate to them easily, we really do talk that much when we get together, hell we talk more, curse more, and are louder than any man around. So yea, fine go ahead you men, be bored during death proof, but when your out, ask your date, your sister or your mother what she thinks, and I can almost guarantee that boring is not one of the words they will use to describe “Death Proof”. Now that I am off my soapbox, back to the review. Stuntman Mike has picked his next victims, and unfortunately for Mike, he picked the wrong bitches to fuck with. They ream Mike’s stuntman ass, and leave him crying like the little bitch that he is. Speaking about bitches, some of you critics that left are straight up rude. It’s a free fucking movie, finish the flick jerks. Sorry about that. Visually, Tarantino’s film is quite different from Planet Terror, it is much cleaner, and the color seems almost over saturated. The day after I saw the film, I bought the grindhouse making of… book, and in it he talks about how when he went to watch old grindhouse movies, it was always different, sometimes you would get a print that was wrecked, scratches and dirt all over, and sometimes you would get that perfect print. Here it seems that although there are a few “missing” reels, Tarantino gives us not just a beautiful print, but an amazing movie. If I had to figure out a way to describe this movie to make others see it, I would say this; imagine you just had sex with the hottest person you will ever sleep with, now you’re done and you’re lying there all satisfied and sweaty, that is how you will feel after grindhouse. For people reading this, who will not get the grindhouse double-feature experience, I hope the review for each film on its own will help you decide what you want to see most. -Ms. Pink
