...with an attitude to boot!
Does that line even make sense?
"Grindhouse" – noun – A downtown movie theater - in disrepair since its glory days as a movie palace of the '30s and '40s - known for "grinding out" non-stop double-bill programs of B-movies.
This weekend, a film opens bearing the same name...from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. It's being presented under the guise of two 70's-like exploitation flicks. But they're loaded with real movie stars and cool-looking explosions and special effects...so it probably cost some serious coin, something the movies didn't have that supposedly inspired our two indie rebels with a cause.
Furthermore, the intermission has several faux trailers directed by such celeb directors as Rob Zombie. But this article states that parts of these trailers were so graphic that they ran the risk of garnishing the picture a NC-17 rating. Much trimming ensued...again, something the exploitation movies this film supposedly celebrates wouldn't have worried about.
So what have we got here? A celebration or tribute to a long lost era of rock n' roll movie making? Or a big-time wank job? Because if my memory serves me correctly...these films way back when may have been entertaining, but primarily because they were 'so bad they're good.'
Anyway, here's a long version of the trailer for the two films:
We know Cunningham will be there will bells on...what about the rest of us?
9 comments:
I'll be there...
...but that was almost as obvious as Cunningham, n'est?
I'll be there with a fifth in my jacket....
It is a celebration of those movies and the movie-going experience of a double bill. One of the biggest complaints has been that it runs nearly 3 hrs...but theaters are also whining that audiences are staying away. Grindhouse hopes to correct (or at least illuminate) the problem of:
"Movie going is no longer an event."
That's what T & R (and Dimension) are hoping to do - create a "must see" theatrical EVENT.
I'm looking forward to midnight screenings and examinations of audience participation ala Rocky Horror. It's that kind of double feature.
oh, and the cost was around $58M +/- for the double feature.
It's a good deal all around:
- You can get individual discs of the movies.
- you can get the double feature discs with all the extras.
- The audience feels they are getting more for their money (something theaters have been sadly lacking in providing moviegoers).
I'm really looking forward to the wank job, myself.
Tarantino and Rodriguez are going to turn one of the fake trailer films into a full feature, I think it was the Nazi Surf one?
I think they look dreadful... and brilliant.
I'll be there.
Sorry, but at a push I'd watch Planet Terror and the trailers. Then run for the nearest exit.
I know I'm late getting in on this conversation, but I'll go see anything Tarantino does, but I wasn't thrilled about this one.
I read the scripts a couple months ago, had fun with PT but hated DP, tried to write a review, and decided against it because I didn't want to crash a party that hadn't started yet. Tarantino's movie, in particular, was grating because of its unbelievably excessive dialogue. And I felt those same feelings as I was watched it, too. It's like, get on with the story, ya know? The man needs to return to the basics. Sometimes Tarantino can't even live up to being Tarantino. There was a lot of dialogue in Pulp Fiction, but it wasn't the same characters talking to each other in scene after scene. It was different characters talking to new/different characters and the stakes were consistently raised so that you can't help but closely follow every single word. That wasn't the case here. There was very little at stake.
My humble thoughts...
-MM
Thanks for your thoughts, MM.
Always welcome...
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