I noticed. I was actually looking for the scratches while watching Zoe was on the hood of the car, but there was no film stock issues. I think QT didn't want us to be distracted from the real action.

Overall, I loved Death Proof more, I'd just as well see a 2nd screening and walk in just before the Thanksgiving trailer.

Obviously, I think the issue that some have with the women dialogue is the fact that it wasn't the typical banter of women in film. These are women in the film industry talking. Do you think that women who are stunt car drivers would be talking about hair and make up? Not at all. In fact, the film actress who was accompanying them had very little to add to the conversation because she could not intellectually keep up. This was not Pretty in Pink.

QT made a film that was in the spirit of many 70's action films. Often there were many scenes of dialogue before any action or thrills would appear.

I hope the dvd will have extended versions of the films when it's released or re-released.

Death Proof would be a great movie on its own.

I feel almost the exact opposite. Planet Terror was absolute fun but when Death Proof came on, all that energy was gone (until the very end). Now, I don't think DP was a bad movie, just alright saved because of Kurt Russell and parts of the finale...

Now that I've had time to think about it, the only part that seemed pointless and to drag was the whole explaining to Butterfly what she had to do when a guy bought her a drink and recited that poem, ... only to pull the "missing reel" gag when the time came for her to actually do it. We could have done without that I think.

I know I'm going broken record, but I disagree. Planet Terror worked almost entirely because of its missing reel. Had that been added back in, I think the movie would have long outstayed its welcome.

On the other hand, Death Proof's missing reel just seemed kind of needless, and I would have much preferred for those 20 minutes to have stayed in.

Because, TBH, I was getting tired of Planet Terror a good while before it was over, it was still fun no less, but it did drag. Death Proof constantly felt like it was building.

I would say that the first group of women talked in a way that a music geek wished women talked, and the second group of women talked in a way that a film geek wished women talked - not that it's bad, but the characters seemed to be in their profession (DJ & film) just so they could throw out some of his lines.

Maybe this is really supposed to simulate a grindhouse experience in more ways than one - a standard approach with the second film on a double feature was to retitle/repackage a movie to sound like something that it wasn't, and this might fit the bill (even down to the detail of changing the title card).

Quite right. This isn't how women talk---it's how QT wishes women would talk.

anyone catch the phone number that was being messaged in DP? They showed it twice and it certainly wasn't a 555 number.

How do you know how women talk?

And besides, there are geeks who are chicks too. What do you think they talk about? American Idol?

Quite simple: because I have listened to women talk.

In any case, all I'm really saying is that it's possible to learn something about an artist by looking at his art. It follows that you can learn a lot about QT by looking at how he depicts women in his films.

True, you can learn alot about how QT thinks of women in his film. They're not mindless, weak cutesy dolls. Some of them are can defend themselves and hold deep conversations about pop culture (among other things).

Hell, I'm sure if some guys had the opportunity to speak to women in the film industry, politics or finance, they'd likely learn that there are more dimensions to women that are typically depicted in film.

And for guys to say that women don't talk that way, well, that's condescending.

it was a 512 number.

You're right--QT does like strong, sexy women. But let's not be mistaken: these women are not holding deep conversations. They're spouting trivia.

What bothers me, though, is that festering beneath your comments is the idea that I'm a latent sexist, as if I don't think women can hold their own the professional or academic world. To go further, you seem to imply that I would be "likely to learn" that women have several dimensions to them.

So let me break my previous comments down even further. The three leads in Death Proof talk about three things almost to the exclusion of everything else: sex, cult films, and muscle cars. So when I imply that these women are QT's fantasy women, I am saying that this is how QT sees the ideal female. My use of the word "fantasy" does not imply that these women do not exist.

Here's the catch: if it's fair to say that QT's fantasy women are physically strong and sexy, and their conversations focus on film trivia, sex, and muscle cars, it's also safe to say they lack that which we both seem to value: any real kind of intellectualism. Of course, carrying over these notions of QT's fantasy women becomes necessarily more complicated if we examine other films---more specifically, Jackie Brown.

As opposed to Jackie Burke?

Saw this one last night. Loved Planet Terror (and the all of the trailers). Disliked Death Proof. It's the first Tarantino movie that I didn't like. The dialogue was just horrible to me. It was pointless, uninteresting, and took me right out of the movie. I don't mind lengthy conversations, but talking about nothing on screen for a half hour at a time does nothing for me. I was disappointed. Of course I loved Kurt Russell and all of the car work. Honestly, I was hoping every one of those girls would get slaughtered (except Zoe Bell, who actually showed some character).

Planet Terror - B+
Death Proof - D

= J

I wouldn't be surprised if his Cannes version of the film, which will have the missing reel put back into the movie, looked entirely like a new film with no scratches at all.

Anyone else think Tracie Thoms looks just like 355 from "Y The Last Man" (a Vertigo comic)?

Saw this with friends at an Alamo Draft House (like in the movie!) and we all really liked it. I agree that Tarantino's was too long winded and boring. I loved seeing those annoying girls get wrecked. Kurt Russel really saved the film and was awesome. Zoe was great too for a stunt girl, I really liked her.

When Tarantino played that missing reel during the lap dance people booed and one yelled out "fuck you Tarantino!" I could care less, that chick was fugly.

Radriguez has the worst missing real, what the fuck happened!!

You're may get your wish if there's any truth to that rumor that Tarantino is going to expand Death Proof and take it to this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Which is a good idea; like I and others have mentioned before, Proof is just so different in tone and feel from Planet Terror and the fake trailers that it really throws Grindhouse off as a whole. I still think a double bill of Terror and Thanksgiving would have been better, with Proof released on its own as a kind of companion piece.

I'm really curious to hear what critics overseas think, since Terror and Proof are being released as seperate films, not as one piece.

By the way, weren't there a whole bunch of other trailers shot? I could've sworn I read that Tarantino made a few of his own, and Rodriguez had done some more. I always thought it would have been a neat idea to shoot several trailers and then have each print of Grindhouse come with a few different, randomly chosen trailers.

Really? I thought that was one of the movie's biggest laughs. Got a great reaction out of the theater.

Vanessa Ferlito has a weird looking left nostril, it's distracting if you are watching her left facial profile.

I still would not have minded a lap dance scene. They should have had a missing reel anytime a girl talked in Death Proof.

Yeah, who needs character development, pfft.

You call that character development!?!? It was an hour of mundane, boring chatter that made me hate the characters. I was hoping that they would die every chance they could. I've seen better writing in Tarantino-inspired movies and the sad part is that Tarantino wrote that pile of crap all by himself. Pathetic. I really wish that Death Proof would have been made by any other director, it would have gotten ripped apart.

even with the amazing car stuff you still would give death proof a d? I thought it was much better then Planet terror. Planet terror was fun but it did get repetitive and Death Proof felt like it was building to something amazing and the last half was fantastic.

For me, I think the first half of Death Proof would have played better if Tarantino had written more slasher film victim, vapid, cliche girl characters instead of a indie-chick flick, talky, GenX, Linklater kind of hipster group. Then, when the second act came, there would have been a better contrast with the more aware, strong, empowered, totally non slasher-victim female group.


Actually, I think for the entire Euro release they are both coming out seperately, as stand alone films with extended scenes. Double bills are a more American thing, so they (QT, RR, Weinstein Co.) said it didnt make sense to do the double feature thing in Europe.

Hey, that's a pretty interesting idea.

Oh, I know, hence the

in my previous post.