Letters to the Editor
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Proofing crit
"bounteous breasts, spurting blood and careering cars," I think you mean 'careening' cars.
Don't mind me, I'm a technical writer. :)
Otherwise, great review and I look forward to seeing the movie.
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metasailor: careering is valid, and perhaps more eloquent
From Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: 2career
Function: intransitive verb
: to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner
Don't mind me, I'm a proofreader!
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Katie W. - consider me corrected
It would appear my careering proofing inclinations have careened off into my forced correction.
Incidentally, now that I realize 'career' is a synonym for wandering directions...how coincidentally fitting.
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career
I've had a careening career for pretty much my whole life. Fortunately, I've never had a carreering careen.
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I can't believe Stephanie said what she said!
Oedipus said "A movie critic not liking 'Pulp Fiction' is like a food critic not liking French cuisine." Very nice analogy, Oedipus. When Ms. Zacharek confessed her disdain for 'Pulp Fiction,'I was flabbergasted. To say the least. Perhaps I'm an mere unsophisticated lout, but PF rates just after 'Blade Runner,' 'Brazil' and 'Clockwork Orange,'in my catalogue of really great flicks.
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Shut Up and Drive.
Just saw the film and I agree with much of what burnt_orange_zombie said earlier: Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" is fun and outrageously over-the-top, while Tarantino's "Death Proof" is a disappointment. Tarantino has had some snappy dialogue in his films, particularly "Pulp Fiction," but there are so many incredibly talky scenes in "Death Proof" where the dialogue is repetitive and isn't very interesting that should have at least been pared down a little. This is, after all, "Death Proof" not "Coffee Chat." I wouldn't mind some added depth to the Z-movie characters if the dialogue actually added depth, but instead of Tarantino's cool whimsy (like the "watch" speech in "Pulp Fiction"), it often felt like actors just doing bad improv trying to stretch the movie into an hour-and-a-half. Tarantino hits some good action scenes toward the end that are kind of worth the wait, though. But to use a couple of inexcusably bad puns to sum up the double feature: Tarantino often feels like he's on cruise control with his car chase show, while Rodriguez really sinks his teeth into his zombie flick.
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Look, about Pulp Fiction...
It's a nice movie and all, and I like it better after repeated viewings...but come on, it's not Blade Runner or Clockwork Orange-caliber work, guys. Reservoir Dogs might come closer to perfection, and I'll put Kill Bill way up there on the list (sorry, zombie-guy, you're dead wrong on that account)...but PF was just a really good film, it wasn't really that ground breaking...not unless you hadn't seen a Tarantino film up to that point. But I had seen Reservoir Dogs and True Romance before PF, so that film didn't nearly impress me as much...maybe my expectations were too high, so if Stephanie Z. didn't like PF for that same reason, then I can sympathize a bit. I still say it's a good film...but it's not the X-Generation's version of Citizen Kane, for crying out loud.
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"Pulp Fiction" was far too precious
I agree with the letter writer above that said that after "Reservoir Dogs" and "True Romance", "Pulp Fiction" was a letdown. It wasn't nearly as tight, and there were too many times I could see Quentin peeking through to see if everyone was impressed at his precociousness--literally and figuratively.
The soundtrack was good, though.
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Can you hear me groaning?
Everyone has their own taste in movies, of course, but to read these posts glorifying these sorts of movies makes me wince nearly as much as watching them does. I saw Reservir Dogs, then Pulp Fiction, then said I'd never waste another minute or another dollar on Quentin T. and his "new" genre. Now to see Stephanie Zacharek fawning over these movies, all I can do is groan. I'm sorry, but these movies are nothing more than silly and mindless violence peppered by oh-so-witty banter that's supposed to make the mindless characters look smart and admirable. After reading this review, I don't need to see "Grindhouse" to know it follows the same formula.
Why anyone would see more than one of these movies though, I can't say. I guess since the Romans closed the Coliseum, people have had to find other safe ways to see blood flow and limbs fly.
And they call it "genius."
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Stephanie Zacharek is really...
Stephanie Zacharek is really...an occasional pen name for Quentin Tarantino. QT loves to review his own films, and he's done this incognito for years. He sometimes uses CHRISTY LEMIRE as a pen name, too, as he did for this hyper-hyped film. Compare the two reviews by Quentin "Zacharek" and Quentin "Lemire."It's obvious. QT's goal in life is to get us to share his lusts and pleasures and desires. He can't just force them on us on the screen. He's got to write through "hosts" like Zacharek and Lemire to get into our heads. It's necessary because the project is not just to force your desires on people by getting them to experience them on screen, but to get them to intellectually approve of the process in sophisticated and ironic and savvy ways. Remember when QT wrote through David Edelstein that the right response to the Arterial spray of Kill Bill was glee? It's an evil genius of a project that has had great success--and anyone who doesn't go along with the glee is dumb and probably religious and probably rural or from Kansas or a pacifist or well--way way not cool!
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Nice try, "anonymous"
But we all know who you are...
and we saw what you did.
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What a Piece
No, not that kind of piece, I mean '...of writing.'
Starts off funny (for a second I thought maybe Heather was rubbing off on you... just kidding), and then you just rolled right through all the most important points. The note regarding films 'enduring, in our memories, long after the celluloid had...' fallen apart(?) Heheh, (Sorry, writing from memory)... really took me back...
When I was a kid, 50 years ago, I was in Fresno (think suburban country-bumpkin, California style) and the thing was triple features for 50 cents. Maybe an old Edward G. Robinson movie (gangsters), and a biker movie (take your pick), and a gladiator flick (you know, franco-italian-greek co-production, gay guys playing Ulysses and Hercules, scantily clad wannabe starlets, and lots of guys getting it on the rack, or slow-cooked over the barbecue, heheh, you know, good clean European 'fun')... and you hit it right on the head about film, and its place inside us.. very nicely put.
The other thing, the part that made me realize I was reading the work of a Saint (okay, that's a little over the top), was your remarking upon one of my favorite movies of all time, that love poem to Pam Grier, sixties soul, films, and love, itself: Jackie Brown... as far as I'm concerned, Mr. Tarantino could turn out industrial crap forever, and he's already in film Heaven.
One last thing, can you believe that somebody wants to chastise you for using the word 'girls' to describe women? Jesus, Lyndon Johnson was right, "We live in a sick society,'
Keep up the great work. You're the best. Oh, wait, You and Heather are the best. Heheh.