Halfway to Greatness

Rating: 6/10 (9 April 2007)

It was difficult for me to give an overall score for this double feature. So I'll start with the first film and go from there.
Planet Terror is an absolute masterpiece. If you go and view this film, you will be in the hands of a true genius of the camera. From the missing reels to the dirty look of the film to the way characters are developed and so many smaller things I won't go into, Planet Terror is easily a modern day, ramped up version of a true grind house film. The gore is excessive (again, in a good way) and the story is cheesy (good way). There are things that make absolutely no sense but you don't even care because for the first time in years, there is a film that is fun to watch again. I enjoy going to movies, I love the experience. Rarely have I actually had the kind of fun in a theater that I have at an amusement park. Planet Terror broke this mold and then some. This film alone gets a 9.5 out of 10 easily and honestly I'm only knocking off .5 because of....
Death Proof. Tarantino has now lost me as a fan forever I believe. After the literal cheers and laughs and just overall good feeling going through the audience while watching Planet Terror it was horribly disappointing to see Death Proof. It accomplishes it's goal in some ways. It's a grind house film. The problem with that is that it's a classic one, not updated in any way. If you think that's a good thing, sit down and watch ANY of the originals. If you really want an example of how this goes in Grindhouse though, watch your favorite comedy or action movie then watch one. The flow is broken horribly and within 10 minutes the audience went from fun and active to quiet and still. In any other movie this would be a good thing, not so in Death Proof. Tarantino tells no story, has very few bits of humor, and just saturates the audience with pointless dialogue. It's not even classic Tarantino dialogue. It's just boring. And that's all I can say about the entire film. The ending is more about pleasing himself than the audience. The celebrated car chase scene? It's about 10 minutes long and other than impressive stunt work, it's not exciting at all. 2 cars on a dusty road near some fields is not excitement anymore. The film could be 15 minutes and tell the story and that's about as nice as I'll get. 3 out of 10 and that's mostly out of kindness to one of my favorite directors (used to be anyway).
So in the end I say see Grindhouse, go with friends, but walk out as soon as Death Proof starts.