103 and 104 ("Grindhouse" equals "Planet Terror") and another Indie Gem Brought to You by Neil LaBute
Grindhouse Presents "Planet Terror"
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: everyone imaginable (almost) including: Rose McGowan, Bruce Willis, Freddy Hernandez, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton
In 2007, Tarantino and his protege, Robert Rodriguez got together and decided to pay tribute to a long forgotten form of filmmaking known as "Grindhouse." Tarantino convinced his filmmaking buddy that it would be a great idea and box-office gold to pay homage to this underground form of film.
"Grindhouse" is a term often used to describe a theater that shows exploitation films, mainly located on the now completely changed 42nd Street in New York City. This was a notorious strip of the city known for its strip clubs, drugs, sex, and everything else in the 50s and 60s and 70s. These theaters showed films you couldn't watch anywhere else because they mostly featured porn and/or sleaze, "slasher" horror films, or even martial arts films dubbed over from Hong Kong. Then, in the 1980s, thanks to home videos (and cable) the genre sort of went out of business or become mail order only. Also, thanks to New York City's mayor, who decided to clean up the streets and make it safe(r) for people to walk those streets without fear.
Robert Rodriguez is an unbelievably gifted director and writer. Look at his resume:
Desperado
The Faculty (cheesy, but good)
Spy Kids (all 4 of them)
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Sin City (and the finally upcoming sequel!)
Machete (born from a "fake" trailer in the "Grindhouse" double feature!)
Planet Terror
"Panet Terror" is pure entertainment for entertainment's sake. Rodriguez winks and nods to all the fans of the original grindhouse genre many, many times throughout the film (whether it be through the grainy film reels the movie is projected on to showcase its "old-fashionedness" or the tease of "missing reel" during the obviously erotic sex scene between the main characters, leaving it all to our imagination, like Rose McGowan hasn't revealed herself in film before!, or the cheesy dialogue with jokes inserted, the gore). It's all here, and I absolutely loved it.
Here's the plot in a nutshell.
Rose McGowan plays a go-go dancer named Cherry. It takes place in Texas. There's been a bio-weapon unleashed by the army (by accident?!) which creates puss-oozing zombies. They eat Cherry's leg off, leaving her crippled, but definitely not out of the game. Her boyfriend, Wray, keeps her alive and brings her to a hospital where Josh Brolin is a doctor and his wife, Marley Shelton, is an expert anesthesiologist (and apparently a closet lesbian!?).
The zombies pretty much overtake the entire town and the zombie plotline is almost as well-crafted as any Romero or Carpenter. Rodriguez ups the ante by making it absolutely grotesque, in an enjoyable way (as long as you're not eating)! Their flesh bubbles with puss-oozing abscesses. Oh, and did I mention, the guy/terrorist who sort of created this whole disaster is a delightful villain who collects the testicles of his victims and keeps them in a mason jar? How great is that detail?! Oh, and they spill at one point!
This is an action film that never quits. Yes, there's dialogue, but where Tarantino shines in that category, Rodriguez knows he cannot compete. His dialogue is grindhouse appropriate and just as cheeky. It's fun to laugh while being grossed out at the same time. He doesn't stop to catch his breath, which doesn't allow you much time to do the same. There's plenty of action once the band of survivors find each other. Rose McGowan's Cherry is even fitted with an M-16 for her artificial leg. And she helps save the day, in the end. Her crying stripper/go-go dancer is a strong female character that ironically is not so much exploited as she is shown to be powerful.
It's pure entertainment at it's best. Thank you Robert Rodriguez for the gift of nostalgia (that I didn't even live through). I appreciate your effort! This is a well-crafted film from beginning to end, and even fits Bruce Willis in as the mutant villain.
.........................................................................
"The Vicious Kind"
The minute the credit of executive producer showed up, I knew I was in for a decent film with a load of baggage and expert dialogue.
Neil LaBute. Enough said. But, to say more. This is the man who wrote such great films as "In the Company of Men," "Your Friends and Neighbors," "The Shape of Things," and "Possession." He has also written and directed plays. His writing often has a misanthropic tone to it.
"The Vicious Kind" certainly doesn't stray of misanthropy. At it's heart, it's a family melodrama filled with hurt (and eventually, healing). The director/writer, Lee Toland Krieger, is obviously a huge fan of LaBute. His dialogue is sharp and witty. The film has great quiet moments where the characters and the faces tell the story when words don't have to be said.
And the actors do a wonderful job with a wonderful script. Alex Frost is a great, youthful find to play Peter. But the film really belongs to two others. Adam Scott and Brittany Snow.
Adam Scott (known for his charming character on "Parks and Rec") is the misanthropic asshole here. Quite a departure for him and he shines. Even though this is an indie film that only made its way through the festival circuits, Scott deserves bigger roles after watching him here. He plays Caleb, the older, somewhat prodigal son who is estranged from his family (well, really just his father). We meet him in a diner where he is spouting off at the mouth to his younger brother (home from college for the Thanksgiving holiday, with his girlfriend in tow) about the worthlessness of women, whom he claims are "all just whores, even our mother." Stinging. Caleb is the mystery to be solved and the character most likely to have an epiphany in a film like this, when he talks in such biting diatribes and then cries the next. He seems to be the poster child for Bi-Polar Disorder. But, it's not that simple. Oh no. That's the easy way out. Instead, we get flashbacks of a girl that Caleb has obviously been destroyed (emotionally and mentally) by. He is a walking contradiction when he confronts Caleb's girlfriend (played so well by Brittany Snow, may she please continue to find roles like this, where he dyed-jet-black hair puts her more on display than her onesie pajamas that she wears) on several encounters. The best scenes occur between Emma (Brittany Snow) and Caleb, because you can tell that Caleb's redemption can only come through her. An encounter at the grocery store leaves Emma in tears and Caleb apologizing (in tears) after his threat to "kill you and bury you in the ground if you hurt my brother." Obviously this is coming from his own hurt. The irony is in the telling, though, because Caleb becomes slightly obsessed with Emma, which leads to the climax of the film where a betrayal occurs. But even though there's a real shitty betrayal, the director/writer (Krieger) doesn't want you to leave this film feeling like people equal shit. That's where he strays from LaBute. LaBute doesn't care. He tells it like it is, often through a war (of words) of the sexes.
This is family drama. This is realism. This is indie gold. I enjoyed every aspect of this film. If you want to watch a film that presents a conflict and resolution well enough that even though there's no "true" happy ending, you're not upset or disappointed with the outcome. Although, Emma basically proves Caleb's original scathing diatribe about women, you wonder, has Caleb been right the whole time? Does he need redemption?
.................................
And now I start my last vacation of the school year (before summer vacation, of course). I will be working on my final paper/project for my last Graduate Class in my Master's Degree program, but I will keep up with watching films, of course. This has been a great way for me to study films closely, learn a few more things, and of course hone my writing skills.
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: everyone imaginable (almost) including: Rose McGowan, Bruce Willis, Freddy Hernandez, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton
In 2007, Tarantino and his protege, Robert Rodriguez got together and decided to pay tribute to a long forgotten form of filmmaking known as "Grindhouse." Tarantino convinced his filmmaking buddy that it would be a great idea and box-office gold to pay homage to this underground form of film.
"Grindhouse" is a term often used to describe a theater that shows exploitation films, mainly located on the now completely changed 42nd Street in New York City. This was a notorious strip of the city known for its strip clubs, drugs, sex, and everything else in the 50s and 60s and 70s. These theaters showed films you couldn't watch anywhere else because they mostly featured porn and/or sleaze, "slasher" horror films, or even martial arts films dubbed over from Hong Kong. Then, in the 1980s, thanks to home videos (and cable) the genre sort of went out of business or become mail order only. Also, thanks to New York City's mayor, who decided to clean up the streets and make it safe(r) for people to walk those streets without fear.
Robert Rodriguez is an unbelievably gifted director and writer. Look at his resume:
Desperado
The Faculty (cheesy, but good)
Spy Kids (all 4 of them)
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Sin City (and the finally upcoming sequel!)
Machete (born from a "fake" trailer in the "Grindhouse" double feature!)
Planet Terror
"Panet Terror" is pure entertainment for entertainment's sake. Rodriguez winks and nods to all the fans of the original grindhouse genre many, many times throughout the film (whether it be through the grainy film reels the movie is projected on to showcase its "old-fashionedness" or the tease of "missing reel" during the obviously erotic sex scene between the main characters, leaving it all to our imagination, like Rose McGowan hasn't revealed herself in film before!, or the cheesy dialogue with jokes inserted, the gore). It's all here, and I absolutely loved it.
Here's the plot in a nutshell.
Rose McGowan plays a go-go dancer named Cherry. It takes place in Texas. There's been a bio-weapon unleashed by the army (by accident?!) which creates puss-oozing zombies. They eat Cherry's leg off, leaving her crippled, but definitely not out of the game. Her boyfriend, Wray, keeps her alive and brings her to a hospital where Josh Brolin is a doctor and his wife, Marley Shelton, is an expert anesthesiologist (and apparently a closet lesbian!?).
The zombies pretty much overtake the entire town and the zombie plotline is almost as well-crafted as any Romero or Carpenter. Rodriguez ups the ante by making it absolutely grotesque, in an enjoyable way (as long as you're not eating)! Their flesh bubbles with puss-oozing abscesses. Oh, and did I mention, the guy/terrorist who sort of created this whole disaster is a delightful villain who collects the testicles of his victims and keeps them in a mason jar? How great is that detail?! Oh, and they spill at one point!
This is an action film that never quits. Yes, there's dialogue, but where Tarantino shines in that category, Rodriguez knows he cannot compete. His dialogue is grindhouse appropriate and just as cheeky. It's fun to laugh while being grossed out at the same time. He doesn't stop to catch his breath, which doesn't allow you much time to do the same. There's plenty of action once the band of survivors find each other. Rose McGowan's Cherry is even fitted with an M-16 for her artificial leg. And she helps save the day, in the end. Her crying stripper/go-go dancer is a strong female character that ironically is not so much exploited as she is shown to be powerful.
It's pure entertainment at it's best. Thank you Robert Rodriguez for the gift of nostalgia (that I didn't even live through). I appreciate your effort! This is a well-crafted film from beginning to end, and even fits Bruce Willis in as the mutant villain.
.........................................................................
"The Vicious Kind"
The minute the credit of executive producer showed up, I knew I was in for a decent film with a load of baggage and expert dialogue.
Neil LaBute. Enough said. But, to say more. This is the man who wrote such great films as "In the Company of Men," "Your Friends and Neighbors," "The Shape of Things," and "Possession." He has also written and directed plays. His writing often has a misanthropic tone to it.
"The Vicious Kind" certainly doesn't stray of misanthropy. At it's heart, it's a family melodrama filled with hurt (and eventually, healing). The director/writer, Lee Toland Krieger, is obviously a huge fan of LaBute. His dialogue is sharp and witty. The film has great quiet moments where the characters and the faces tell the story when words don't have to be said.
And the actors do a wonderful job with a wonderful script. Alex Frost is a great, youthful find to play Peter. But the film really belongs to two others. Adam Scott and Brittany Snow.
Adam Scott (known for his charming character on "Parks and Rec") is the misanthropic asshole here. Quite a departure for him and he shines. Even though this is an indie film that only made its way through the festival circuits, Scott deserves bigger roles after watching him here. He plays Caleb, the older, somewhat prodigal son who is estranged from his family (well, really just his father). We meet him in a diner where he is spouting off at the mouth to his younger brother (home from college for the Thanksgiving holiday, with his girlfriend in tow) about the worthlessness of women, whom he claims are "all just whores, even our mother." Stinging. Caleb is the mystery to be solved and the character most likely to have an epiphany in a film like this, when he talks in such biting diatribes and then cries the next. He seems to be the poster child for Bi-Polar Disorder. But, it's not that simple. Oh no. That's the easy way out. Instead, we get flashbacks of a girl that Caleb has obviously been destroyed (emotionally and mentally) by. He is a walking contradiction when he confronts Caleb's girlfriend (played so well by Brittany Snow, may she please continue to find roles like this, where he dyed-jet-black hair puts her more on display than her onesie pajamas that she wears) on several encounters. The best scenes occur between Emma (Brittany Snow) and Caleb, because you can tell that Caleb's redemption can only come through her. An encounter at the grocery store leaves Emma in tears and Caleb apologizing (in tears) after his threat to "kill you and bury you in the ground if you hurt my brother." Obviously this is coming from his own hurt. The irony is in the telling, though, because Caleb becomes slightly obsessed with Emma, which leads to the climax of the film where a betrayal occurs. But even though there's a real shitty betrayal, the director/writer (Krieger) doesn't want you to leave this film feeling like people equal shit. That's where he strays from LaBute. LaBute doesn't care. He tells it like it is, often through a war (of words) of the sexes.
This is family drama. This is realism. This is indie gold. I enjoyed every aspect of this film. If you want to watch a film that presents a conflict and resolution well enough that even though there's no "true" happy ending, you're not upset or disappointed with the outcome. Although, Emma basically proves Caleb's original scathing diatribe about women, you wonder, has Caleb been right the whole time? Does he need redemption?
.................................
And now I start my last vacation of the school year (before summer vacation, of course). I will be working on my final paper/project for my last Graduate Class in my Master's Degree program, but I will keep up with watching films, of course. This has been a great way for me to study films closely, learn a few more things, and of course hone my writing skills.
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