The Best Movie In Decades!

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2007)

About 5 minutes into Robert Rodriguez's 'Planet Terror', his segment in my new favorite movie 'Grindhouse', you know a few things, one - that you'll have a great time watching this movie, two - that you'll hear some terrific writing from two of the best screenwriters of our time, and three - you're gonna see some great actors, and truly there aren't any bad performances in Grindhouse (except for Quentin Tarantino...), and there's really nothing short of extraordinary about Grindhouse.
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez offer two fantastic movies for the price of one fantastic movie. And that would be enough - but wait! There's more! There are fake trailers for faux 1970's B-movies, which I'm sure you've heard about already, and even though these trailers are completely awesome and hilarious. They serve as an intermission between both movies, but believe me, you DO NOT want to miss these, so don't drink anything before you go see it. There really isn't a dull moment in either movie.
The first trailer you see is Robert Rodriguez's "Machete" with Danny Trejo and Cheech Marin. It is probably my favorite trailer out of all of them. It is about a Mexican assassin who's left for dead, and then gets his revenge against the people who 'f---ed with the wrong Mexican!' Then you're thrown directly into 'Planet Terror', Robert Rodriguez's tale of zombies, diabolical plans, and girls with machine guns for legs! Rose McGowan plays Cherry Darling, a go-go dancer who wants to quit and become a stand up comedian. Cherry's left leg is an early casualty of a zombie outbreak that has something to do with toxic green gas and Osama Bin Laden. Cherry comes into her own when her ex-boyfriend El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) makes her a machine gun prosthetic for her leg. She comes into her own by killing a whole lotta people. In Planet Terror, we also see the story of Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) and her diabolical husband, played by Josh Brolin. They are both great stories...and that's just the first movie. And you don't wanna miss the end of Planet Terror. It comes on rather quick, but it's really great.
We see more fake trailers, including Edgar Wright's "Don't" which warns the audience, 'If you're thinking of seeing this movie alone...DON'T!!!' and we also see the deeply sick trailer for Eli Roth's 'Thanksgiving', where a naked cheerleader gets impaled with a knife, and trust me, it's much grosser than it sounds. And we also see a trailer for Rob Zombie's "Werewolf Women of the SS" and I'm not even gonna spoil that for you...
And we're right into 'Death Proof', Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof", which is just like any Tarantino film, and I'm sure that there will be the group of stupid people who say that this movie is 'boring' and 'drags on forever', but it doesn't. If you remember, all of Quentin Tarantino's movies have lots of dialogue in them, and that has never been a problem. And it still isn't. Death Proof has a nice balance of gore and great dialogue, so it's like a great breather after 'Planet Terror' brings new meaning to the term 'extreme'. But in my opinion, 'Death Proof should have been first on the bill. If it was, this would have been beyond perfect.
But which one do I like more? Well, that is really a tough question, considering that both of these movies are perfect. But I will say, for $11, Grindhouse is quite a deal. You see 2 movies, fake trailers and crappy little candy ads from the 1970's, which add a great touch to the movie. It's a great experience. It'd be a crime to miss it.
Grindhouse: A+