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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
Well, Europe, the various bits and pieces of GRINDHOUSE are starting to roll out for you guys now, and I’m personally itching to see the longer version of DEATH PROOF. So I’m eager to read responses to the cut that played at Cannes, reviews like this one:
Hí Harry, love the page and the time all you guys put in it. I just catched the first german press screening of Tarantino’s bad ass ride “Death Proof” in its 124 Minutes Version and want to share the little and big differences between your US – double feature version and our single experience.
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
This guy sort of says it all. I sense a simmering resentment building with UK readers regarding this issue (and with other international readers as well), so here’s the place to vent that frustration and tell The Weinstein Company how much you want to see the whole film the way it was supposed to be seen:
Hi guys, I am so incensed about the news I read today that Grindhouse would be split for the UK audience.
Releasing the films not as they were originally intended just doesn't make any sense to me. A big part of the whole point of these films is that they are a homage to the back-to-back Grindhouse features of the past. Now I don't know much about that but the little I do know is that they were two b-movie films shown together in one sitting. So why the hell would you then go and release two b-movie like films with small name stars and one with a director (Rodriguez) who is only semi-known in the UK at best, separately?!?! It just completely destroys a big part of what these movies are about and that is the Grindhouse experience.
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Hey folks, Harry here… I said I’d update the big Grindhouse Article with my list – and well… as I’ve received so many of your thoughts upon the Grindhouse of old… along with friends, programmers and general co-conspirators in all things cinematic… Let’s kick off a new article on GRINDHOUSE titles.
I love Robert and Quentin’s films. Right now I’m listening to the Soundtrack to Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF and just finished the soundtrack to PLANET TERROR. It’s so hard to name…. “The Top Ten” – GRINDHOUSE films – simply because that’s such a wide spread blanket. Movies like JAWS literally did play in some Grindhouses… but they’re not primarily GRINDHOUSE films… to earn that label, they had to be films that you just weren’t likely to see at any other type of theater at the time… aside from Drive-Ins.
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Hey folks - Harry here. There's been an awful lot of GRINDHOUSE headlines and titles over the past few weeks and month - but I've been getting an awful lot of letters from folks that are new to this multi-genre classic period of anything goes cinema. What I have here are some of AICN's Regulars - along with a pair of the Alamo Drafthouse's GRINDHOUSE programming, booking and print finding finest you'll ever find. And at the very end of this article - which will be posted - INCOMPLETE - as more and more from the AICN crew send their in... then at the very end, I'll include mine. I'm also going to ask you talkbackers to try to take part.
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a rather interesting rumor, which I was alerted to by the all-seeing Monki.
I think it's a horrible idea, of course, but it is an interesting rumor.
Nikki Finke, who has taken on the responsibility of challenging the whole concept and execution of GRINDHOUSE, got on the horn with Harvey Weinstein about the poor weekend.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY!!
Of course, he's not happy and his thought is to quickly recut the film, chop DEATH PROOF from PLANET TERROR, cut in some of the missing footage, and re-release them in the coming weeks.
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Before I begin my review, I’d like to apologize for the lateness of this review… I’ve been moving, and for the past 9 days I’ve been netless… with the exception of a bouncy wifi signal that I literally have to bounce off a metal door at my carport – at a 65 degree angle to get two bars of wifi glory.
That said – here’s Harry’s review of GRINDHOUSE.
Unlike, nearly every review you have read on AICN – this is coming from someone who was actually actively going to real Grindhouses in their heyday of the Seventies… along with their Drive-In companions. My parents had no restriction on the films they took me to, but before you think it was all sex and violence – that wasn’t what the GRINDHOUSE was about.
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Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here. You know, every so often I take stock at what's going on in the world at large, and ask myself, "What's missing in this big ol' world right at this moment that would just make everything seem a little more alright?" And today an answer came back to me: "Another GRINDHOUSE review."
If you care even an iota about the two films that make up the experience known as GRINDHOUSE, then you know you're in for a long day or night at the movies and one that both delivers on every expectation you might have, while never missing an opportunity to throw in a few surprises along the way. Writers-directors-conceivers Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY) and Quentin Tarantino (KILL BILL) have pulled together the complete GRINDHOUSE experience in their three-hour-plus package. You get trailers (albeit for fake exploitation films, directed by the likes of Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, Eli Roth, and one by Rodriguez), ancient warnings about the explicit nature of the material, vintage-looking opening credits and music, missing reels (both films feature "missing" footage that might have been really helpful in getting from point A to point B in the story, but that's the fun), and damaged film stock.
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
... and you can check it out right here.
Quint wrote a pretty great obit for Bob Clark that got nuked when our server shit the bed, and I’m hoping he reposts it soon. I also lost a 1982 article that covered teen sex comedies, including PORKY’S, and I’m working on putting that one together again.
But for now, if you’d like to remember Bob Clark, let’s use this thread, and it really is worth reading that interview, where Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez both love up on Clark a little bit. It’s haunting in retrospect, but well worth your attention.
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm going to keep this as brief as I can. One, because I'm incredibly tired, having stayed up past my bedtime to watch the first screening in Austin of GRINDHOUSE's regular run and am now looking at about hour 22 of consciousness. And two, because you've gotten a glut of review already and I don't know how much different mine will be.
Unlike most of my friends at the site, I did not read Tarantino's script for DEATH PROOF. I've heard both positive and negative reaction and even though I had it available to me, I opted to keep my cherry intact until the film. I read through KILL BILL years before it was made and I regretted it upon seeing the first film. I thought it was great, of course, but there was a level of excitement I didn't get because I already clued myself in on the story, the characters and where they all end up.
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Short version: I loved it.
But oddly, the film isn’t what I expected it to be, at all.
Let’s back up a step. Right around the time it was casting, I was sent a copy of the DEATH PROOF script. I’ve been reading Tarantino’s scripts before I saw the films since RESERVOIR DOGS, and so I didn’t hesitate when the script hit my desk. I dug in, surprised at how long it was, ready to be dazzled as usual.
Then... I wasn’t. And it really threw me. It seemed talky and uneventful, with a few moments of fun, but a long of waiting around to get there. The dialogue was good, definitely in Quentin’s voice, but I’d heard all about how crazy and wild and insane GRINDHOUSE was going to be, and DEATH PROOF (despite that great title) seemed like it was anything but. As the films were shooting, I heard all sorts of wild rumors about Rodriguez’s film, PLANET TERROR, and I started to worry that this entire enterprise was going to turn out to be a vanity project that was more fun for the people who made it than the people watching it. I worried that it might be one joke that couldn’t sustain a full three-hour experience for an audience.
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There's a visual for you, eh? MiraJeff and two of the biggest names in geekdom sitting in the back row, MiraJeff working his arms like a guy on a ski slope.
Ahhhh... the golden days of theater going, indeed.
Hey, guys. "Moriarty" here to introduce MiraJeff's big-ass QT/RR interview for GRINDHOUSE. He covers a lot of ground here, and the only thing I'll warn you about is the spoiler that appears early on. I've put it in Herc's Patented Inviso-text, but I still want to make sure you know it's coming.
Otherwise, dig in and enjoy. Good stuff.
Greetings AICN, MiraJeff here with an Ain’t It Cool News exclusive interview with Grindhouse writers-directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. I can’t even put how cool this experience was into words, but I have to thank Pantea Ghaderi at The Weinstein Co. for arranging this sit-down, which fulfilled a lifelong dream of meeting Tarantino. In case you guys aren’t familiar with the origin of MiraJeff, it’s a moniker I’ve had since middle school, stolen from the good folks at Miramax because my three favorite movies back then were Pulp Fiction, Scream and The Crow, and also because my mother and the Weinsteins’ mother share the same name. Anyways, with that little fun fact out of the way, let’s jump right in. I have to ask you guys to bear with me because this is a long interview but it’s worth reading to the very end. Forgive me for not posting this earlier, but it was an awful lot of transcription and even more considering how fast Quentin talks. Without further adieu, from the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, here’s MiraJeff’s threesome with two of the coolest filmmakers of all-time. Quentin comes in about halfway through. Enjoy…
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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.
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I won't complain. I had to trade off seeing GRINDHOUSE two days ago at the Austin premiere to be in Louisiana for my final visit to the set of THE MIST. It's not a bad trade-off, but goddamnit I want to see this movie so bad. And you don't know what it's like to hear Harry so happy that he got to see it and I didn't. It's torture.
If you're like me, yearning to see this thing, then you need to head over to IGN.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT IGN'S EXCLUSIVE GRINDHOUSE TRAILER PAGE!
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Hey folks, Harry here with the spottiest frickin' wifi in and out signal known to man. Third attempt to post this - I've no idea if it'll work this time. I'll be working up my review soon - still waist deep on the move. GRINDHOUSE is a fucking blast! Here's Donut Boy
Call me Donut Boy.
My friend does PR for Vanessa Ferlito and that's how I got my ticket to the Premiere of Grindhouse in Austin, TX. I got to the theater about an hour early and before I walked to my seat, I stopped by and said hi to Harry who was very friendly and even introduced me to his fiancee. I got to my seat which was right smack in the center of the theater on a row that was reserved for the actors in the movie. Kurt Russell, flanked by two gorgeous girls sat down next to me. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino took the stage to a thunderous roar and began to introduce the film. They mentioned that the film has already screened in LA, but they were really more psyched to screen it here in Austin because first, they don't like watching movies with agents, and all those other suits and second, the films were done here in Austin and they purposely put in a lot of very Austin items that were sure to please the crowd. They even went on to tell us to cheer loudly and have a great time. Then before leaving the stage, Tarantino got us doing a pretty good cheer-off.
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
I’m seeing this one again this weekend before I write about it, I decided, and I may even see it again for a third time before it opens.
Yet I’ll be the first to acknowledge that it’s not a flawless film. But if it were, would it truly be grindhouse? I think not.
What matters is whether or not it’s fun, and I’m guessing people will have a wide range of varied opinions on just how much fun it is. Here’s BoboVision, an occasional contributor, to weigh in with his point-of-view:
Hey Moriarty,
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
Y’know, the really scary part of running Neill’s reviews is that I am starting to understand the way he thinks. Having seen GRINDHOUSE on Friday night, this pretty much sums up my reaction. Sure, he expresses himself a little more... colorfully... but this pretty much says it all, and it says it exactly how it needs to be said.
I completely agree with his spoilers, by the way.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the only GRINDHOUSE review that matters...
GRINDHOUSE
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Hey folks, Harry here... I personally expect reviews to be all over the place for GRINDHOUSE - the genre that Tarantino and Rodriguez are playing with - well, it's something that many filmgoers haven't really experienced - and most film critics that are writing today, have intentionally avoided. GRINDHOUSE is going to be a film that kicks the ass of those whose asses it'll kick. Like C.J. Hollywood here... he ate it up with all the condiments. I see it next Wednesday... how appropriate is that?
I attended a critics screening of Grindhouse last night at the Mann's 6 in Hollywood. As I waited in line Quentin Tarantino and Kurt Russell came out of a previous screening. I was jazzed. Cut to the chase: is Grindhouse the movie we're all hoping for? Oh my God! To some degree I expected not to love Planet Terror and Death Proof as stand-alones. I suspected that the directors might dumb these flicks down a bit compared to their normal fare, much like the second-half of From Dusk 'til Dawn. That is NOT the case here ladies and gents. We get Tarantino and Rodriguez in top form. Let's break it on down in these brief reviews...
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
This one's just starting to screen for the press, and I'm sure I won't be able to just write about this one right away, but as soon as I can, I'm itching to review this movie.
In the meantime, people who went to tonight's screening of the 3 hour 5 minute final cut have been writing in with their reactions. Some love it.. some hate it. Some love one film, and they don't like the other film. It's going to be fun to discuss this one with film fans soon.
For now, here are our first two reviews for the movie. First up is Spidermonkey:
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Hey folks, Harry here... I believe all the tickets for next Wednesday's Austin Premiere of Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino's GRINDHOUSE are either all gone - or very nearly all gone. However, why can't we have a little extra fun with this event?
Some company sent me around 50 or so GRINDHOUSE items (Action Figures, T-Shirts & Mini-Posters) and asked me to do some sort of giveaway with the items. So - this was the coolest thing I could think of that would be fun for both you and me.
Beginning around 6pm next Wednesday at the PARAMOUNT THEATRE in Austin - the Red Carpet fun will be well on its way. As always - there will be tons of people gathered around that area to have a look at the various celebs that will be coming. Trying to get autographs - a picture with a celeb or two... Some of you may already have plans to be there.
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Hey folks, Harry here... This is going to be the most kickass premiere at the Paramount in the history of kickass premiere's at the Paramount. The only shame is - it is the Paramount. Don't get me wrong, I love the Paramount. And this isn't a - it should've been at the Alamo Drafthouse bid. The Alamo is the closest thing to a Grindhouse we have. In Austin, there were 3 main Grindhouses. We had the RITZ THEATRE - the coolest of the joints or so my dad tells tale. Then there was THE CAPRI - which is where the Hard Rock was here in town. Then the last of the Austin Grindhouses was THE STATE where I saw double bills in the era of THE MACK & SUPERFLY, tons of Kung Fu bills and films like SCHLOCK and many others. The STATE still has a screen, but this event is about putting as many of you in seats as humanly possible - and the Paramount is going to feel like the coolest fucking GRINDHOUSE ever on this magical night! The ushers are going to be a bit of a trip on this night... But ya know what? You can not only have BEER, but mixed drinks too! Though - at 3 hours, I don't know how much... wait - that's right - there is allegedly an intermission. Heh.
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I unfortunately had to sacrifice a good deal of my movie-watching time at SXSW today in order to get ready for my ShoWest/Vegas travels. Thanks to everybody who wrote in to me with ShoWest advice, by the way. I still don't have a solid way around those goddamn ShoWest passports, but I've got some sneaky ideas/theories from some clever readers.
Anyway, I did get to see two panels, GRINDHOUSE 101 hosted by Robert Rodriguez and the Panel of the Dead, which Harry moderated with Cinematical's Scott Weinberg, Scott Glosserman (director of the great BEHIND THE MASK) and a few other horror people, including Cabin Fever's producer, a few people from Borderland, including Rider Strong, and the Alamo Drafthouse's Terror Thursday horror nerd, Zack.
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
Okay, I know AICN hasn’t exactly been tap-dancing with joy about Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN remake, and I’ve heard that Rob is sore at us.
Rob, it’s not you, man. Seriously. It’s the reverence we have for HALLOWEEN. Personally, I’d rather you follow your own muse, because when you do, crazy-ass shit like this happens:
And that, my friend, is a good thing.
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
I am so freakin’ there.
You know, this pretty much means I’ll be broke for most of March and April, and I doubt I’ll be seeing much in the way of new releases for these two months.
That’s because I plan to spend most of my free time and spare cash at The New Beverly Cinema in Hollywood where Quentin Tarantino has programmed a Grindhouse Festival that will run from March 4th to April 30th. That’s 58 solid days of crazy exploitation madness. Suck that, Austin!
I’ve seen a lot of the films he’s showing, and some of them I’ve actually seen in Austin at the various QT Fests that I’ve attended at the Alamo Drafthouse. What’s great about this particular version of the festival is that anyone who’s ever been to the New Beverly knows... there is no better place in LA to do this. That place always feels sticky in some intangible way. I have nothing but love for the people who run that place. I think they do a great job running really eccentric and fun programming all year long. But there’s no getting around it... there’s a thin veneer of sleaze to the place that you can’t shake when you’re there. It feels like a grimy little shoebox from the ‘70s because, frankly, it is. And that’s what makes it wonderful.
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Hey folks, Harry here... I don't know about you... but a full half of the reason I love Tarantino's films is the vibe I get from the mix tape soundtracks that he perfectly places the motion to. It gives the actors a soundtrack to groove to, and in most cases he has the music picked before the film every shoots, so he can cue his actors and editor in on exactly the feel he's going for. Here's the press release from the Soundtrack company putting this bad bitch out...
MAVERICK RECORDS TO RELEASE SOUNDTRACK TO QUENTIN TARANTINO’S DEATH PROOF ON APRIL 3RD
Death Proof is Acclaimed Film Director Tarantino’s Highly-Anticipated Half of Exploitation Double-Feature Grindhouse
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