Movie Review: Grindhouse
This is kind of the movie that my future brother-in-law would call "light-hearted entertainment". Which (when you use the "future brother-in-law" decoder ring) translates into "normal people are going to throw up in their shoes". It's light-hearted in the way that Sin City was. Or... well, no I can't think of anything else comparable. But what a ride!
People who are complaining about the length of movies these days could be directly pointing a finger at this one. Strictly speaking though, this is two movies. The first one, Planet Terror, is a gross-out movie, more gory than anything I've seen. It turns into sort of cartoon violence -- it's so over-the-top it's ridiculous, and yet still somehow realistic and believable. That's pretty odd. The second one, Deathproof is, well, kinda the same, though with more car chase.
I feel like I just participated in some cult-status-initiation-ritual thing, and I don't know anything about what I just joined. Like all good cult movies, this one has now flopped at the box office (though that might just be publicity's spin -- it is actually making some money). Part of the fun of this movie would be doing the research and the backstory and knowing all the little knick-knack details. I can't bring myself to care that much about it. But it was wild shenanigans to experience it.
I think this is a retro statement whose time has come. The thing is that every element of these movies feels real. The production values are lower, the budgets are obviously smaller, and they are more off-centre than anything in mainstream movies. But with no cg, or at least nones that discernible, they just have a raw, real feeling. You have to work hard if you're going to suspend your disbelief over these two. Or you can just choose not to care, and go along with the camp craziness. In the end, I'm still trying to figure out what these two mean for me -- there's something deeper in them that what's visible. I just can't articulate it yet...
On a side note, if Deathproof inspires a movement of rat muscle car (a natural to follow the current lo-buck rat rod trend), I'm going to be a little miffed. I wanted to be unique just once! But whatever happens, I'm not going to kill people inside it by driving them to death -- that just gets messy!
People who are complaining about the length of movies these days could be directly pointing a finger at this one. Strictly speaking though, this is two movies. The first one, Planet Terror, is a gross-out movie, more gory than anything I've seen. It turns into sort of cartoon violence -- it's so over-the-top it's ridiculous, and yet still somehow realistic and believable. That's pretty odd. The second one, Deathproof is, well, kinda the same, though with more car chase.
I feel like I just participated in some cult-status-initiation-ritual thing, and I don't know anything about what I just joined. Like all good cult movies, this one has now flopped at the box office (though that might just be publicity's spin -- it is actually making some money). Part of the fun of this movie would be doing the research and the backstory and knowing all the little knick-knack details. I can't bring myself to care that much about it. But it was wild shenanigans to experience it.
I think this is a retro statement whose time has come. The thing is that every element of these movies feels real. The production values are lower, the budgets are obviously smaller, and they are more off-centre than anything in mainstream movies. But with no cg, or at least nones that discernible, they just have a raw, real feeling. You have to work hard if you're going to suspend your disbelief over these two. Or you can just choose not to care, and go along with the camp craziness. In the end, I'm still trying to figure out what these two mean for me -- there's something deeper in them that what's visible. I just can't articulate it yet...
On a side note, if Deathproof inspires a movement of rat muscle car (a natural to follow the current lo-buck rat rod trend), I'm going to be a little miffed. I wanted to be unique just once! But whatever happens, I'm not going to kill people inside it by driving them to death -- that just gets messy!
Labels: review
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home