Interesting experience

Rating: 7/10 (15 October 2007)

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.