BEFORE I BEGIN, THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
I was just thinking of the movie GRINDHOUSE, or should I say movies? This film is a stroke of genius, and yet I've heard rumors that it is doing poorly with reviews and at the box office. Sure, not too many people want to use up 3.5 hours on what I considered, "The best movie I ever saw again, for the first time." Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror," had to have been the most clever zombie flick I'd seen in almost forever, and Tarantino's "DeathProof" was a stroke of madness on wheels. If I could change anything here, I would have put the zombie film last, because it was obvious that Rodriguez paced and played his movie in such a better way than Tarantino. Quentin was very slow-paced until the last ten minutes when it was pure rage running wild, while Rodriguez had his movie going non-stop balls to the wall (or the ground) from about the three minute point throughout.
It got me thinking, though...how many NEWBIE directors are going to take advantage of all the exploited flaws of this movie? Is a Grindhouse feature something that we'll see so much of now that it'll get over-exposed like a 9th-grader's photography assignment? Or will this be a joy to happen once every few years from Dimension just because something is so good that they double-feature it, cut a few reels out and then dub in some extra bs just to finish the deal?
Not only that, but what OTHER genres/fields will incorporate the now infamous "cut ten minutes of the film because it allows you to skip the nude scene, then miss the entire plot element where one of the "heroes" gets shot by his own man and jump right to the final act? I mean, I guess comics did it when they released like the 25th issues of certain comics about a year before they were due, and then somehow had to get the story in that issue to make sense...what'd they call that, "Future Image?" Anyway...
I don't think it'd work if anyone else had done it. In fact, portions of Tarantino's cut felt forced, too rush, and just annoying...Rodriguez on the other hand seemed to get it right, pace it perfectly, and just find that right amount of genius and madness to make a truly good movie, whether by itself or as part of the double feature...the sad thing was that it wasn't the finale, and yes folks...people in the theatre DID leave before Tarantino's portion even went on the screen.
The "fake" previews were superb, and everyone I know WANTS TO SEE MACHETE...and why wouldn't you? Anytime you take all the working elements of Desperado, El Mariacho and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and couple them with Cheech playing a priest and Danny playing the role of a gardner asked to kill a man...how can it not be like the greatest thing since sliced bread?
Oh, and did ANYONE else want to see HALLOWEEN directed by Rob Zombie after seeing this film as much as I did? If he incorporated the "grindhouse" effect to the film, that may be the next and only other time this year that it would be deemed appropriate...if only to add a nostalgia feel to it, since it is a remake of the #2 horror film of all time (behind the Exorcist).
Alright, I've taken up enough of everyone's time...but I'll finish with this...Grindhouse IS a Testosterone movie. You do not take a date to it, and you have to probably see it at midnight just to feel like you didn't waste a night on it...it reminds me of the time I stayed up to watch "Billy the Kid vs. Dracula." You just don't get more assinine than that...and yet, it still holds a dear part of my heart.
This movie WAS an instant classic, but only if you LIKE cheesy, dressed up films that NO ONE else could pull off...and that is where the genius lies.
1 comment:
no doubt.
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