{ Wednesday, October 15, 2003 }
Prior to the showing of Kill Bill, there was a preview for what appears to be a remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I've seen three horror movies over and over again, those three being: Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Changeling, The Shining. I realized that this is because I don't see a lot of horror movies; horror movies really frighten me; and once I've sat through one, I'd rather sit through the same one again than see a new one, because I know what's going to happen.
P.S. I was not impressed with the splatter orgy that was Kill Bill. Was there some reason we should have cared about what's-her-name, the protagonist? (He puts together a good soundtrack though. Love the Nancy Sinatra.)
LINK | 10:43 PM | TB
I think the reason you're supposed to care was that on the day of her wedding to Bill, he instead had her almost killed by the rest of his assassination sqaud. Why, we don't yet know. Tarantino displays a wide knowledge of genre films, and his command of style is near unrivaled in filmmaking right now. The film takes from an old Bruce Lee flick (which I forget the name of right now), female-revenge kung-fu movies, spaghetti westerns, anime/comic-books, and one of Tarantino's favorite decades: the 60's.
I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but the Deadly Viper Assassination Sqaud of five people who each specialize in a different weapon is basically the same concept as Fox Force Five, the sitcom that Mia Wallace did the pilot for in Pulp Fiction. That can hardly be a coincidence.
Also, something that blew me away was that Tarantino was able to find the 5 6 7 8's and put them in his movie, uniting both his love of Japenese style with his love of 60's style. My roommate had come back from his year abroad in Japan with the 5 6 7 8's CD and played it for me a bunch. I was really happy when I saw them playing a couple of songs in the movie, not just the soundtrack. Very cool.
Say what you will about the ultra-violence, the attention to detail and command of style in Tarantino's movies is outstanding.
Tom | October 16, 2003 8:56 AMHmm...
That beats gawker.com's review:
"My favorite moment of Kill Bill did not occur until the very end. It was just as the credits began to roll, when the gentleman in front of me hurled a large cup of Pepsi at the screen and shouted, 'That movie ate a d*ck sandwich with a side of balls! F*cking f*ck you, Tarantino!'"
It's not the ultraviolence that was the problem -- Clockword Orange is, in fact, one of my favorite movies of all time. But I don't care how many obscure Japanese celluloid references you can pack into 2 hours -- if you have a crappy story you have a crappy movie.
I know *why* we were supposed to care about whats-her-name, of course. But I didn't.
As I was telling Judith, we saw Equus the same day, and when you see two movies side by side, it is easier to judge them. Equus was a play first, and is admittedly more introspective and language-y, but Richard Burton is like a force of nature, there was sex and violence, but all of it was central to the plot, and the story was -- well you can't get a better story than that. It was like a myth.
Caterina | October 16, 2003 11:50 AMTom, the wedding was not to Bill -- they mention quite a few times that her husband was killed in the massacre.
The Bruce Lee reference is to Game of Death, mostly in the form of the unmistakable yellow jumpsuit. There are lots of Shaw Brothers-esque Kung Fu references, but the female revenge plot seems more inspired by Japanese films such as Shura Yukihime (Lady Snowblood).
As for the story, yes, it was thin. Not sure we can fully judge it as a whole until the second half of the film is released, but what's been shown so far is wafer-thin as a standalone story.
yukino | October 16, 2003 3:01 PMGod, I loved THE CHANGLING. One of the best horror movies to give you the shivers without all the blood and guts that goes with the genre. Watched it again a little while ago and the seance still gives me tingles. One of my top five canadian movies.
Against my better judgement, I enjoyed Kill Bill. (Although I didn't realize it until the fight scene with the little girl and her ball chain) Still kind of pissed at having to pay for one movie twice -- I hope this trend doesn't continue -- but the ending didn't leave me wanting the way that piece of Matrix crap did ...
The nightclub scene with the 5,6,7, 8's was a nice homage to an excellent (but hard to find) japanese film TOYKO DRIFTER.
Alot of the fans who grooved on the violence of the 1st part are going to be disappointed with the second half, from what I hear it's all talk ...
Les | October 16, 2003 7:10 PMBest movie of the year in my opinion. While it lacked much of the dialog spark of his last movies - it was *supposed* too. This is a take on kung-fu movies after all. You do not watch a kung fu movie for the dialogue.
I loved the "Death List Five" - a nod to "Fox Force Five" and also "Death Race 2000" - a David Carradine movie.
I loved the flick and immediately wanted to watch it again. While it is not a movie that is more than it seems -neither is it less. Its all up there on the screen.
I'm pretty easy to please - I even enjoyed "Matrix: Reloaded."
What were you expecting - Citizen Kane?
Michael Bogue | October 17, 2003 10:28 AMOh no, I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane, not at all. I was expecting Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction.
Caterina | October 17, 2003 10:40 AMTokyo Drifter is thankfully not that difficult to find, thanks to the Criterion Collection who put it out on DVD.
Seijun Suzuki is a fascinating director; Branded to Kill is weird and wonderful, and I had previously thought that Kill Bill would be more or less like its sequel Pistol Opera (which it decidedly was not).
yukino | October 18, 2003 12:23 PMI was so looking forward to Kill Bill that it's taken me this long to admit to myself that I didn't enjoy it. It's not the violence of the movie that I object to, although in the absence of anything engaging it's easy to find myself tsk tsking, but then I remember that Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction hinged on violence, too.
No, the problem was that the movie was apparently made for Tarantino's fellow followers of obscure cult Japanese and Chinese splatter cinema. That excludes me and I suspect 90% of his previous audience. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction had enough elements which were either timeless or hip but accessible riffs on American pop culture. Kill Bill, if you believe its proponents, requires that you have put in a few years as clerk in a testosterone-rich indie video store in order to get it.
One other thing: as I sat through one essentially boring action sequence after another, I was reminded of Werner Herzog and Peter Greenaway and other directors of high-end art films full of personal gestures and quirky obsessions. The difference being that if you stick with Herzog and Greenaway there's a "there" there, but with Kill Bill it all resolves to empty choreography.
Prentiss Riddle | October 19, 2003 5:28 PMEven expecting "Reservoir Dogs" or "Pulp Fiction" may have been a little much. I personally would not like to see another rehashing of his previous movies.
Its an age old dilemna for the artist - esp. in the money driven art of film - everyone wants something completely new and novel... so long as its just like the last completely new and novel thing they created.
Michael Bogue | October 20, 2003 9:02 AMDavid Denby was right to call it "post-nihilistic stupidity."
C. Maoxian | October 20, 2003 10:13 AMPeople who use terms like "post-nihilistic" ought to have their critic's license revoked for one year.
Michael Bogue | October 21, 2003 7:14 AMMichael madsen couldnt have been in fox force five. From my point of view anyway, he's not a foxy chick. So if this FF5/DiVAS paralell is to be drawn then there's one descrepancy that will leave some tarentino lovers (such as I) scratching their heads. Whats in the briefcase? ;-)
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{ Post a comment }
ah...the lone voice of reason! thank you for telling some truth about a really blah, blah, yatta, yatta movie.
you pretty much rock!
Carey Henderson | October 16, 2003 12:46 AM