Alex, Alice, William, and I just returned from Grindhouse, the new Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature. I notice that most of the reviews are marginally favorable and select one of the two features as the letdown—the reason for two-and-a-half stars instead of three-and-a-half stars. Colin Covert, writing for my hometown newspaper, the Star Tribune, certainly favored Rodriguez's "Planet Terror," but I'll readily join the side of A.O. Scott and Richard Roeper, both of whom favored Tarantino's "Death Proof." I think the Kurt Russel slasher film would have been entirely enjoyable had I not been restless from sitting in a theater for an hour and half by the time it arrived. I still enjoyed the flick, but it was just barely sufficient as a reward for sitting though the tedious "Planet Terror." I'd recommend waiting for the DVD, watching "Death Proof," and then giving "Planet Terror" a try if you're hungry for more. And don't miss the four fake trailers. I was disappointed that "Cowgirls in Sweden" didn't make the final cut, but enjoyed the rapid-fire pacing of the trailers I did see. My favorite trailer was probably that for Eli Roth's Thanksgiving, which was disturbing to the point that I'm sure I would not want to see the movie (were it to be made) but allowed me to get a taste of the Hostel director's work without having to watch for more than two minutes. (I've seen a few minutes of Hostel and did my best to stop watching is as quickly as I could.) Rob Zombie's trailer for Werewolf Women of the S.S. didn't seem to have any potential beyond its ingenious title, and the trailer for Machete was perhaps spoiled by the fact that half of its footage was used in the trailers to Grindhouse itself, but at a couple minutes a piece, they certainly didn't do any harm to the jammed-packed spectacle that is Grindhouse.
No comments:
Post a Comment