Thursday, April 12, 2007

Summary of problems with "Grindhouse"

This is a summary of the problem(s) with Grindhouse gleaned from reviewers and blogs. Some of the statements here are direct quotes, but there is a link to each original review.

Before you read these, take note that IMDB already lists Grindhouse in its top 100 movies EVER. And based on a significant number of votes. That could be a sign (to me it certainly IS) that a bad first weekend at the box office is a poor way to judge a movie's quality. This is a lesson that should not be lost on entrepreneurial filmmakers. (Which is the best way, perhaps, to describe Robert Rodriguez, who submitted himself for scientific experiments to raise money to make El Mariachi.)

Grindhouse

This picture is something I made myself from the Grindhouse official Web site -- a nice feature. The actors are Freddy Rodriguez and Marley Shelton, from the "Planet Terror" segment.
  1. [review] The directors treat their own product like an in-joke.
  2. [review] At three hours and 11 minutes, it’s a bit of a slog — especially on a Tuesday morning.
  3. [review] Your friends may not even know about it.
  4. [review] There aren’t enough fans of obscure B-movies.
  5. [review] The second half of Grindhouse ("Death Proof") slows down the whole experience, and Quentin Tarantino’s dialogue doesn't deliver enough interest to recover from the action lost.

    (This is the same complaint my son makes -- he hates Tarantino for it. But the same writer above also says Kurt Russell isn't so great. There I can't agree: Russell brings back memories of one of my favorite roles, Old Jack Burton.)

  6. [review] Whatever Tarantino and Rodriguez’s intentions, the [films are] sadistic, filled with sex, nudity, profanity and [buckets] of blood.

    (Yeah, that's what they did in those exploitation flicks. I know it's a new generation, but could the writer really not have known this going in?)

  7. [review] They should have opened in on fewer screens and let a buzz build, and over time release it on more screens.
  8. [review] Recent films like Shaun of the Dead [...] and dozens of others have all done what Grindhouse sets out to do, which is pay respect to the past work that inspired them.
The solution is NOT
  1. To split the movies apart. Especially for the DVD version -- that's where Grindhouse would make up a fair amount of its theater losses. Tarantino and most of the reviewers say (and correctly) that the movie experience is best enjoyed in the theater. But that doesn't take away the value of the movies themselves.

    Nevertheless, some writers say (and correctly) that Grindhouse is just too long, and the two features each could've been shortened. (Cut down the dialogue in "Death Proof" by 15 minutes and you're done with that one, with no loss of value.)

  2. To give up on the genre and make cookie-cutter stuff like
    Blades of Glory or Are We Done Yet? just because it looks like that's what most of America wants. Even if most of America DOES want that, not ALL of us do.

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posted by Ron @ 8:22 PM

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