"Grindhouse" – noun – A downtown movie theater - in disrepair since its glory days as a movie palace of the '30s and '40s - known for "grinding out" non-stop double-bill programs of B-movies. From groundbreaking directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez comes the ultimate film experience: a double-bill of thrillers that will recall both filmmakers' favorite exploitation films. Grindhouse will be presented as one full-length feature comprised of two individual films helmed separately by each director. Tarantino's film, Death Proof, is a rip-roaring slasher flick where the killer pursues his victims with a car rather than a knife, while Rodriguez's film explores an alien world eerily familiar to ours in Planet Terror. Welcome to the grind house - it'll tear you in two.
In a ploy to inevitably milk as much money out of the movie enjoying public as possible, the two movies that made up Grindhouse are being released individually on video. This way everyone can buy or rent them seperate and then buy or rent them together when the package that was released in theaters gets put on video shelves over the next year or so I'm sure. Anywho, I didn't check this movie out in theaters because the theater version was over three hours long and even though critics seemed to love it - I just didn't understand the point of this movie ever being made. After seeing one half of Grindhouse, Tarantino's Death Proof, I still have not the slightest clue why this movie was ever made. It's as if Tarantino and Rodriguez (the director of the other half to come out next month - Planet Terror), are stuck in their 13 year old minds where sneaking in to watch B movies was the coolest thing ever and due to their egos being so enormous now (especially Tarantino) and the fact that studios will gladly put anything out there that comes from their directorial talents - something like this gets made. I could see any fan of B movies like this loving them. They did go all out to not only catch the lack of a storyline and really cheesy characters/dialogue, but they also made sure that the quality of the film was that of a B movie played in a crappy theater. There are intentional spots on the screen as if the film is all beat up and there are periodic hiccups in the film as if the movie was crappily edited and what not. As far as the actual "movie" Death Proof, it was basically a set up to two really cool scenes. However, the set up portion was so amazingly brutal that by the time you get to the two cool scenes the payoff doesn't match the time you wasted waiting for it.
I really wouldn't recommend this film to anyone. I really hope that Tarantino will get over himself at some point soon and get back to showcasing his amazing talent instead of his enormous, nerdy ego.
