John's Movie Musings

Like I mentioned in the Planet Terror review, Death Proof is Quentin Tarantino's yang in the Grindhouse movies (Note to self: stop talking about Tarantino's yang). But unlike Planet Terror, this one is not a horror movie. Sure, there's lots of gore and violence, but it's not horror.

Rose McGowan makes an appearance has a blonde with two normal (boring) legs, but Kurt Russell stars as the obligatory creepy guy. He stalks women and laughs like a creepy guy and even demonstrates a creepy way to eat nachos. But he's got a personality and a cool name (I won't spoil it) that makes ya want to have a few beers with him. All in all, he's awesome. Some critics say this is Kurt's best role ever. That's saying a lot when you've got Snake Plissken on your resume.

Like Rodriguez, Tarantino plays around with the Grindhouse Special Effects(tm). Instead of having the film skip and melt, he plays with the edits. Back in the old days (or maybe they still do it), an editor would cut the different takes and piece them back together into one continuous reel. Now imagine if those cuts weren't exact and missed a few frames that should have been left on the floor. That would get real annoying if it happened a lot, but Tarantino is a genius and everything works to perfection.

The one thing that everyone will tell you about this movie is the car chase. Fact, it's the best car chase in movie history, even beating out The Blues Brothers (/dwight schrute). Yeah, it's that good.

So as you may have guessed, you need to watch both Grindhouse movies. Invite some friends over, let them in if they bring beer, and have an outstanding evening. Which one is best? Well, that's what the drunken arguments at midnight are for.