I agree with that, I would see Death Proof again but not Planet Terror.

Planet Terror saved this movie for me. It was fun, too gory, but still fun. I giggled at some of the scenes. I'd grade it a B+.

Death Proof was mostly boring with the endless near-worthless chatter. The chase scenes were entertaining. C.

Overall, I'd give it a B.

I loved this. It was just brilliant. I wasn't really anticipating this, I didn't know what to expect from the trailers and everything. Yet when I finally saw it, it was just an amazing experience altogether. While I have to say Tarantino's Death Proof is slightly better than Rodriguez's Planet Terror, I found the whole thing, trailers included to be awesome. I'd give it an A+. I think I might have found my favorite movie(s) of the year already.

It was the Vanishing Point Charger.

Just watched the extended version of Death Proof.

This is a terrible terrible film, if not for the references to Vanishing Point and maybe bits of the opening 30 minutes (and the first car kill) i'd have flat out hated it.

If I want to re-create this experience i'll just have to go to a random bar and listen to 4 random people at a table talk about random stuff, with the added caveat that they must be the most boring people on the planet.

D+

Hey now, I don't mess up on my automobiles...

The car from Vanishing Point is a 1970 Dodge Challenger. I was referring to Stuntman Mike's second car in the movie, the 1969 Dodge Charger, which is a direct homage to the Dukes of Hazzard.


and

I misread, stand corrected.

Well, I watched Death Proof, and it's easily Tarantino's weakest film yet. It's not really bad, but the film doesn't generate interest at all until the last 30 minutes or so.

C+

We'll see how Planet Terror goes. I expected to like it more anyways.

Dammit, I thought this was out on dvd already, so I went to the store right away only to remember when there Zing gets them a week early... Luckily I hadn't known and noticed Away From Her was out already, so I picked up that instead. Good turn of events. I should keep track of dvd dates

You ended up with the better movie anyway.

Haha, whoops. I don't even work there anymore but I still get them early from a friend who works there when I'm in town so I got a few (Death Proof, Condemned, and We Are Marshall). But yeah, you probably got the better film.

Oh don't get me wrong, I love Death Proof.

It's just Away From Her is in a class of its own (well, a class shared with Once, I suppose).

Only saw Death Proof... I didn't like it much.

I don't normally use this as a criticism for movies, but it just felt way too vile. In all the other QT films there's at least an interesting story and plot to work with, Death Proof doesn't have that. It just felt like 2 hours of random girls talking, Mike watching, more random talking, death. If there was suspense and fright to Mike's character, maybe this could've worked as a slasher-esque film, but he's more laughable than anything.

I didn't care for any characters or what happened to anyone, and I didn't really care when they died. The actors weren't bad, just not memorable.

The dialogue is typical Quentin talk, but nothing more. Somehow I had less fun listening to these people when the majority of scenes were stalling and pushing the movie nowhere. Character introductions, ok, but half the movie is the people randomly talking in cafes and at gas stations, pushing the movie absolutely nowhere. It's useless banter and unlike in other QT films, it wasn't clever or intruiging enough to last on its own. There's none of the charm here, none of the fun of listening to these people, and as a result the talking scenes don't work nearly as good as they should.

I just kind of felt a so what feeling at the entire plot of the movie. A stalker creeps on some girls at a bar, kills them, moves on to another state, picks on the wrong girls, and gets killed. The end. Is that what QT plots have come to? It also seems like he has the intention of sending a love letter to women empowerment and wants to say don't underestimate them, but if anything the movie is more on the other side of the fence, the girls are mostly sleazy, unappealing, and fodder for Mike to kill them... Their biggest attributes were being hot (Especially Vanessa Ferlito as butterfly, WOW). As a whole it didn't seem so female-appreciative to me.

I will say one thing though, the Ship Mast sequence with Zoe on the car? For my money, best scene of the year and one of the best and most thrilling I've ever seen of its type. I was on the edge of my seat that entire time, Quentin nailed that direction-wise. Just perfect. When she got in it took a step down, though was still enticing. I'm interested to see where QT goes with Zoe Bell by the way, after being the prime stunt double in Kill Bill and her role here, I get the sense she'll appear in his next movie as a mini-muse.

So yeah, didn't like it much at all. QT's worst by a mile. I get the sense the dvd reaction might not be the best away from the Grindhouse theatre experience, maybe I would've liked it more in that atmosphere.

C-

Without the Ship Mast scene, something like a D.

The Chud review Kill posted is dead on by the way

As much as I liked the original car crash and the ship mast sequence in the 2nd half, the movie would've been much better if it went like this:

First 40 minutes of the movie remains, all the bar stuff with Jungle Julia, Butterfly, the lapdance, it was good and Ferlito/Poitier had good screen presence.

Mike kills blondie on the ride home, very cool scene IMO. Proceeds to chase after girls, throws the photos on the ground, whatever.

No crash. Instead he follows them by car, either to their lake cabin or if they pick up on his creeping, off on a detour. Entire movie follows Butterfly and her gang trying to escape him and figure out what's going on, and whatever else QT comes up with. Maybe Mike kills them one by one in whatever cool and twisted way he finds. There's a movie.

The first 40 minutes set up all the characters perfectly, then with the death proof car twist, an intense badass slasher could've followed. Instead he kills them all in a crash and starts all over again, it just killed the momentum of it all. But whatever.

Just saw the unrated version of the film. Wow there is a lot of new good stuff added to it. I'll admit I liked the new version a lot too. But if I was to watch the Grindhouse film again, Id prefer it the way it was in theaters. I think the way stuntman mike isnt shown until the bar is what really works beter in that situation.

I did love seeing the extra bit of dialogue in almost every scene now. I agree that the film would have worked better if they stuck with one storyline. But the film holds up well and is fun to see the new stuff to it. The Lapdance scene especially, and the black and white opening. Id say that at least 15 minutes was added into it. Stuntman Mike remains a great character and QT accomplised everything. Solid A

Saw Death Proof, and seriously WTF was that?. THis should of been easily a 15-20 minute movie, the rest was a waste of time that didnt contribute nothing to the movie.

C-

Just saw the Uncut version of Planet Terror.

Well its better then Death Proof but thats not saying a whole lot. Its solid enough Zombie splatter but I'd take From Dusk Til Dawn for one over it.

Planet Terror is better. It's far more entertaining than Death Proof throughout.

But, basically, I think Grindhouse had to be seen in theaters.

Planet Terror - B
Death Proof - C+
Overall - B-

I watched the whole she-bang (fake trailers and all) last night.

The trailers are fun. Machete is fairly hilarious. Werewolf Woman of the S.S. is bizarre. Don't is funny, but not overtly so. Thanksgiving was probably my fave, it was simultaneously hilarious and grotesque.

Planet Terror is pretty much a non-stop wild ride. It's immensely entertaining and it never takes itself too seriously. The makeup/visual effects are top-notch and the purposefully poor quality of the film really added to the experience. The cast is terrific, really getting into their roles and making the characters a lot of fun. It's hard to judge something that's meant to be intentionally bad, but I really enjoyed myself. The bin Laden stuff made me cringe with it's overt melodrama, but, other than that, it was pure entertainment.

Death Proof is completely different. It feels totally unlike what's come before it. There's no intentionally bad acting, there's no over-the-top silliness, there's not even the scratches on the film. It is, through and through, a Tarantino film, with it's long, rambling, irrelevant conversations and meandering plot. But I dug it.... for the first half. Stuntman Mike's buildup and eventual quadruple murder was pitch perfect. And then it just nose-dived. The second half is a complete joke; Mike is barely present, the girls are annoying, and the conversation grows more inane. Admittedly, the car chase scene is breathtaking, but it seemed only to distract the audience from the nonsense of the plot. A mega-disappointment.

Overall, I'd say it's an interesting experience, but not one I'd like to see again. At least not from Tarantino. Rodriguez at least seemed like he knew what he was doing, as Planet Terror felt (to me) like what I was expecting going in. But both of these directors are capable of better, and I hope the film's failure will convince them to stop stroking each other's egos.

PLanet Terror - I reaLLy Loved MarLey SheLton and her performance, I thought she was awesome. Rose McGowan and her machine gun Leg kicked ass. The techniques RR used for the effects/Look of the fiLm was refreshing. B+

Death Proof - First-haLf was okay-didn't get me reaLLy excited untiL the ending. The second was much better-the ship's mast scene was just intense and totaLLy rocked. B+

OveraLL - SoLid Rodriguez and Tarantino coLLaboration. B+

Planet Terror - One hell of a movie, and it fit the whole Grindhouse theme perfectly. One of the funnest movies I saw in a long time. Great humor, and I loved Rose Mcgowan in it. Not a dull moment. I'd give it a very solid A, and almost a borderline A+, but I'd have to see it again in a while to be sure.

Death Proof - Besides for a couple moments, the first 1 hour and 15 minutes were as boring as fuck. I didn't care much about the characters and the conversations between them dragged on and on and was as pointless as hell. However, the last 20-25 minutes was freakin' fantastic and almost made the painful first hour worth suffering through. If Tarantino could have tightened up the first 75 minutes, this could have been something great. Instead, I'd have to give this one a B-, and I'm probably being a little generous just because of the great end.

I saw Death Proof about a month and a half ago. I had downloaded both movies at the same time, but DP turned me of so much it took me until now to finally see Planet Terror. In other words: I really really didn't like it. I didn't hate it: there was too much brilliance to be hated. What was brilliant? The car chase scene in the end. The huge tracking shot of dialogue in the diner in the middle of the film with the new set of girls (that must've been at least eight minutes of really pretty solid acting and writing). Russel's performance as Stuntman Mike, even though his character was a bit underserved by the screenplay (IMO). So what could have cancelled out the brilliance into a film I dislike? Everything else! Until the car chase scene, there was no direction or point to anything in the movie. The story that was told could have been told in 15 minutes (10 of which would have been taken up by the chase scene) and there would have been no difference.

Death Proof: C-/D+ (without the chase, probably a D)

Planet Terror, on the other hand, was everything Death Proof was not. It was an absolute blast, and once the momentum got started, it never stopped. The action was great, and while no single scene sticks out like the car chase of DP, it certainly doesn't disappoint or bore. It was a *tad* unrealistic (LOL UNDERSTATEMENT) but the movie was way too fun. All of the actors were having way too much fun to not like it. I really enjoyed this entertainment. But it's not much more than that: entertainment. Following in the steps of this year's 300, it provides little long-term value. But I don't mind. It was a blast while it lasted.

Planet Terror: Low A/high A-

I cannot grade Grindhouse as a whole. I have only seen the Machete trailer (which made me lol) in addition to the fact that I saw both movie 6 weeks apart on my laptop in the wrong order, instead of both of them back-to-back in the theater, for which the experience was designed.

I guess I saw a different movie, since I loved the 1h15min of "endlesss dialogues" that preceed it as much as the final sequence. Oh well.

Still haven't seen Planet Terror.

I agree with your review sommie, Death Proof is... not good. Which is shocking, considering I love every other QT movie to bits.

I haven't seen QT's full library yet. I saw Pulp Fiction and LOVED it (it's in my top 20) and both Kill Bills got in the A-/B+ range (been a while since I've seen 'em, so I can't quite remember). I really hope DP is the exception, because it was bad enough to deter me from watching anything else by him based on DP alone (as in not factoring his brilliance shown in PF)

Tarantino has, without fail, made progressively worse films. Reservoir Dogs was his masterpiece, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown were both really great, Kill Bill is good but overrated, and Death Proof is decent on its own and terrible as a Grindhouse film. It makes me worried for what he's got next.