Tag Archive for 'Nicky Katt'

Grindhouse: Death Proof

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 8, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

This is the second installment I saw of Grindhouse and was directed by Quentin Tarantino.  See my review of Planet Terror if you need an intro to what the Grindhouse films are.

After seeing both of the Grindhouse films once, I’d have to say Death Proof was my favorite of the two.  Maybe it was just more of my style.  I’m not really into horror films anyways.  I’m also a huge fan of Tarantino and his films.  Just like some other heavily styled directors (Wes Anderson, the Coen Brothers, P.T. Anderson, Kevin Smith, Hitchcock, etc) you should be able to easily spot this as a Tarantino film if you’re familiar with his previous works.  It really seemed like Quentin was trying to create his own version of Smith’s Askewniverse.  Kevin Smith has his own little universe he has created amongst a series of movies in which characters, timelines, places, and situations float between the films.  Tarantino, and this might just be because of the order I saw them, reuses characters and places from Planet Terror.  He also reuses some actors/character from his previous films.  If you’ve seen Kill Bill, you’ll recognize the Texas sherrif and his son.

At first I thought this was a real ripoff and I complained to Liz about it.  When I had first heard about these two films being made, my understanding was they were going to make “crappy” movies nostalgic of their childhoods.  I felt like Rodriguez had stuck to the agreement and Tarantino cheated.  The quality of Death Proof just seemed much better than the first film I saw.  In reality, and I didn’t take the time to look anything up, I have no idea what the agreement was.  So that probably doesn’t matter, and, if Tarantino wants to reuse any of his stuff he has every right.

So Death Proof is about a movie stunt actor who has a “death proof” car.  It’s reinforced and has the fancy seat belts so he can do crazy things with his car and not be killed.  This “crazy” man with his crazy car also happens to be a bit of a serial killer.  He likes to stalk women, terrorize them on the road and kill them with his car.  We see Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russell, in two different situations terrorizing two different groups of women.  I won’t tell you what happens because that’s half the fun of watching.

I highly suggest watching Death Proof over Planet Terror if you need to pick between the two.  As usual there is some amazing music/soundtrack to go along with interesting scenes and scenarios.  Tarantino has a great knack for doing this.  I believe the radio station everyone is listening to is the same station from Resevoir Dogs.  I also love the fake trailer for Machete.  It stars Danny Trejo’s character from El Mariachi.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Grindhouse: Planet Terror

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 8, 2009
in Action, Cult film, Horror, Sci-fi, Thriller and Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

This is the first of the Grindhouse films I saw.  If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino decided to make a couple of B-movie flicks.  The first that I saw, Planet Terror, was directed by Rodriguez and is about a biological outbreak of sorts.

I think the coolest thing about these films is the style.  It looks like something out of the 1970s - the scratchy film, the sound, the commercials, the trailers, etc.  I really wish the fake trailers would be made into real movies.  There are even random bits of the films missing due to a missing reel.  Before this whole digital age, films used to arrive in several reels that were loaded and lined up.  If you’ve seen Fight Club, Tyler Durden talks about the “cigarette mark, ” that little circle in the upper right corner, showing when a new reel has started.  This is something I had never even noticed until it was Tyler brought it to my attention.  Anyways, the style is really cool and the films are shot present day, just in this old style.

Planet Terror is about a military group, I assume rogue, has their hands on some biological weapon.  In a botched sale the chemical is released and starts wrecking havoc on the surronding area.  The only people immune are the soldiers who were trying to buy the weapon in the first place.  They have these gas masks of sorts on and are breathing in some type of antidote.

There is of course a group of heros who are trying to fight off the affected/infected people and these crazed soldiers at the same time.  Being true to the B-genre, there are some nifty little elements like Cherry, played by Rose McGowan, loses her leg and ends up with a stump.  A stump with a machine gun attached.  This proves quite useful later on.  While this film is a bit ridiculous, it’s definitely fun and entertaining.  Liz walked in and said, “gross.”  She happened to catch a couple scenes where the effects of the mysterious chemical was being seen on several townsfolk.

If you’ve seen a Rodriguez or Tarantino film before, you’ll probably recognize a lot of the actors.  This is definitely an ensemble cast effort.  If you get bored in the middle, just stick through to the end.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy it at least a little bit.

Rating: ★★★½☆

I Love Your Work

Published
by
Lij
on August 1, 2006
in Drama and Neo Noir
. 0 Comments

I first heard about I Love Your Work in 2003, when it was released but never accessible. The other day, when I came across it at Blockbuster, I had to rent it.

The movie is a convoluted story about Gray Evans, a movie star, and his movie star wife, Mia. Gray is played by Giovanni Ribisi, who is always interesting to watch, if nothing else. He’s a really good actor. Mia is played by Franka Potente from Run, Lola, Run and The Bourne Identity and The Princess and the Warrior, all quality movies.

Gray and Mia have only been married for a year, and their marriage is a bit tumultuous. They’re highstrung individuals with a lot of fans and a lot on the line. I believed that they loved each other in the film, but neither character was very good at acting out that love.

Gray is on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the very beginning of the film onward. He is paranoid that he’s being stalked, worries about what people think of him, and is constantly trying to avoid the public eye. He hates being a movie star. As much as he hates attention, he ends up befriending a fan, played by Joshua Jackson. Something about Jackson’s character John intrigues Gray, as if John’s normality could equal normality for Gray himself. Over time, Gray begins to live out his paranoia by stalking John and John’s girlfriend, who bears a striking resemblance to a woman that Gray can’t stop fantasizing about.

It’s difficult to tell the difference between the present, the past, and the future in I Love Your Work. Writer/director Adam Goldberg has an interesting idea with this film, but doesn’t execute it all that well. What’s supposed to be mysterious ends up being confusing, and what’s supposed to feel fresh and new ends up feeling a bit stale.

I liked watching the film, but I don’t think I really understood it. It takes a lot for me to call a movie “weird,” but this one fits the bill.

Sin City

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 2, 2005
in Action, Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Crime, Drama, Graphic Violence, Multiple story line, Narrated, Neo Noir and Thriller
. 1 Comment

Sin City is a movie adaptation of the graphic novel/stories by Frank Miller. It was co-directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez with a Quentin Tarantino as a guest director. There are so many big name actors/actresses in this movie I’m not even going to try and name them all. Check out the link for yourself.

I’m most definitely not going to make a general blanket statement of telling people to go see this movie. This is definitely a comic book made into a movie - and I’m not talking about X-Men, Spiderman, Batman or The Hulk. There was some great cinematography and I loved what they did with the black and white with artistic splashes of color in all the right places.

As far as content in here that might turn people off there’s a decent amount of violence. Definitely nothing that bothered me, but I’m sure it’ll bother some. There was also a decent amount of T&A that I wasn’t necessarily expecting.

The story was great and captivating. I most definitely didn’t understand everything and will need to see it at least one more time. The timeline was also a bit confusing. Sort of like watching Pulp Fiction for the very first time. I’m going to need to talk to Lofton - I’m sure he can explain it all to me.

Overall I’m gonna have to say I liked this movie. Great acting, great directing, great story. It was intriguing as well as interesting. There’s a good chance I’ll be seeing it again with some other people and will hopefully get a better grasp on things.