Though it probably won’t surprise anyone to learn that Quentin Tarantino has, with Death Proof, once again outdone his Weinstein-indentured buddy, what should shock people is that, in conflating the slasher and car chase genres, Tarantino has slapped together his most formally audacious work since Pulp Fiction. After coloring outside the lines to impetuously enjoyable effect with the Kill Bill saga, Tarantino has, to a startling extent, focused himself and written what can most confusingly be described as Eugene O’Neill’s The Car by way of Susan Faludi. If Godard had any interest in shooting a car chase, he might’ve headed in this direction following Week End. That right, I said it–Death Proof is the better of the two movies in Grindhouse.
Day: April 14, 2007
MasterChugs Theater Extra: ‘Planet Terror’
Take one part go-go dancer, her ex-boyfriend, two parts Josh Brolin, five parts the rest of their small town community who get swept up in your typical chemically man-made zombie super-soldier military conspiracy, one part Robert Rodriguez, and a bucket-load of gore, and what do you get? A go-go dancer that has an M-16 with a grenade launcher attachment, zombies, and part of one of the most insane movies of year. We on Earth like to call it Planet Terror … probably because that’s its name.