Just saw GRINDHOUSE.

[KYGOTC]

Anyone here see this with a girl, or speak with a girl who also thought 'Death Proof' was boring/annoying?

I saw it with 2 girls and they both got so bored they left durring the middle of the movie to smoke. I also was frikkin DYING of bordom, but i stayed.

[AnubisVonMojo]

I can understand Grindhouse getting the separate DVD treatment for two reasons:

(1) A lot of people seemed to prefer one movie over the other, whether it be for entertainment value or for  the "I'd buy this one on DVD, but I'd only watch the other one once and be done with it" factor. People are more likely to buy the one they liked if it's available on a separate DVD rather than pay twice as much to get both movies in a single package. Personally I enjoyed both enough to buy them, so I'd be willing to buy them as a set, which will no doubt come along once Planet Terror lands.

(2) The movie bombed in theaters because people were either not interested, unable to sit through a 3 hour viewing experience, or just too lazy to see it before it disappeared from big screens all together... or because it just wasn't carried in their neck of the woods to begin with, which is sad and to those who really wanted to see it, you have my sympathies. I know what it's like to live in the middle of nowhere and be subjected to nothing but Hollywood box office chumpions. I feel your pain. Anyway, I think releasing the movies as two separate DVDs is also an attempt by the Weinstein Company to make some extra dough off of the project given the box office failing they suffered from putting it into theaters to a nation of movie-goers who either weren't ready or "just don't get it".

I think the hold off on Planet Terror is also to accommodate the Machete feature that Rodriguez is/was planning on releasing direct-to-DVD alongside it. I'll have to check imdb to see if there are any updates on whether this is still the plan or not...

[Mr_Vindictive]

I'm one of the people who didn't get to see Grindhouse in the theater due to it not playing in my area, like Anubis mentioned.  That being said, I did obtain a copy of Death Proof and watched a little over the first hour last night.

*Slight Spoilers*

First of all, why does everyone hate Death Proof?!?  I went into it expecting it to be awful considering the buzz around it, and so far I've loved every second of it.  That being said, I should note that one of the things I love most about Tarantino's films is his sense of dialogue.  He's a master of the rapid fire conversation and I love how theatrical every line seems.  That being said, I actually enjoyed all of the talking throughout the first portion of the film. 

Kurt Russel IS Stuntman Mike.  I can't image a better person being cast in the role.  The guy is f***ing brutal.  The first car wreck which takes place about an hour into the film is fantastic.  I sat there with my mouth open for what seemed like forever after it occurred.  The chick gets her leg ripped off and then the seriously hot Butterfly gets her face ran over.  Seriously, how could ANYONE hate this flick!?

So far the only thing I have disliked is Tarantino's decision to do away with all of the grain and make a "real" film in the last third.  I have yet to finish this portion of the film and I hope it holds up as well as everything before it.

As for someone saying it just feels like any other Tarantino film....well it does.  But, then again it also works very well as an exploitation film.  When one thinks about exploitation flicks, they always think about the classics that deliver the gore and mayhem.  Most people don't think about the other exploitation flicks that came out at the same time which were meandering and slow and never live up to the advertised hype.  Death Proof is kinda like that.  It takes a long time to get going but once it does, it's amazing.  I can't wait to watch the rest tonight.

[zombie no.one]

The first car wreck which takes place about an hour into the film is fantastic.  I sat there with my mouth open for what seemed like forever after it occurred.  The chick gets her leg ripped off and then the seriously hot Butterfly gets her face ran over.  Seriously, how could ANYONE hate this flick!?

true... it's probably an all time Top 10 movie car crash. maybe top 5...I can't really think of any that compare to it, really.

[Mr_Vindictive]

So I finished the flick last night.  Absolutely great.  I love the freeze frame at the very end, very very 70s. 

As I've stated here before, I'm a huge MOPAR nut and a big fan of Vanishing Point.  When the last portion of the film turned into a love letter to classic MOPAR muscle cars, I was completely hooked.  Even my wife was getting excited with the Challenger, repeating like a mantra: "I Want To Drive That Car!" over and over.

I love Stuntman Mike's transformation once he gets shot.  I was enjoying every scene of him crying and freaking out.  He goes from complete badass to crying victim in a split-second and I didn't expect that from the film.  Really threw me for a loop.  Also, Zoe Bell was fantastic here.  Apparently she is a stunt actress in real life, but she did a great job in the role she was in.  The scene with her riding on the hood of the car made me fall instantly in love with her.  I hope she decides to do more acting roles.

I'm very pleased with Death Proof.  I had all intentions of hating it due to the bad reaction it got at it's release.  It's actually pretty damn awesome.  Hot chicks, fast cars and Kurt Russel. 

[DistantJ]

Here in the UK Grindhouse has been split in half and we're actually getting it as the two separate movies as opposed to a "double feature". In a way I'm glad - the days of double features are long gone, people are more busy and have less time to spend in a theatre, and attention spans are shorter. I know I'd have wanted to leave after the first film. Death Proof is already on it's way, we're getting the TV Spots and trailers, I'm not sure when we get Planet Terror, though. Either way I look forward to seeing both, and I hope we get some of the fake trailers still.

As for the splitting of the DVDs, in both the USA and the UK (and elsewhere) I imagine there'll probably be a double feature DVD release in it's original Grindhouse form at some point, or perhaps a two disc boxset with the Grindhouse title.

[Torgo]

I found out today that in the Death Proof DVD is a 5 dollar coupon that you can use towards Planet Terror which is out on October 16th.

[KYGOTC]

I found out today that in the Death Proof DVD is a 5 dollar coupon that you can use towards Planet Terror which is out on October 16th.

no offense Torgo, but screw that, my friend. GRINDHOUSE is 1 movie, and unless the rules have been changed and no one told me, when movies get released to dvd you dont have to buy one half and then buy the other half for the same price separetly. Its all about making money. They think the majority of the movie-going public is stupid (not calling you stupid by any means, by the way.  ) and they're right in assuming that unfotunately. But im not gonna bite. Not until they release the whole damn unedited movie on 1 bloody dvd. The jerkbags.

[Neville]

Here's another European that had to see the whole thing at two different times and pay two tickets.

Because pretty much this sums it all: Damn the Weinsteins and their silly excuses about not having a double feature tradition in Europe. All they care about is to make ends meet, and if Americans won't cough their bucks as much as they expect, well, just make the rest of the world pay double.

These said, I think these movies should have been released separately from the very beginning. They're too different, and too long, to be released a double feature. Really, I can't imagine myself sitting throgh both movies in one session. Then they could have recovered the idea for the DVD and sell them together.

Anyway, I enjoyed "Planet Terror" more than I expected. It sure has a lot of flaws (irregular pacing, too much gore, an ill-advised touch of sentimentality towards the very end) and it tries to be too many things at the same time for its own good, but what the hell, it's tons of fun, and that's what Rodriguez was aiming to.

But the winner here is "Deathproof". Tarantino takes things quite more differently than Rodriguez. Rodriguez's film is a real B-movie, while Tarantino makes this film a personal exercise. He does not disguise his style, he rather tries to adapt it to the material. The blend is not perfect (the feeling of reiteration is evident as he introduces the second gang of girls), but the slow pacing does work, and his camerawork is far superior than Rodriguez's.

The problem here is that not only American audiences get the worst version (I'm told the lapdance by Vanessa Ferlito, one of the highlights of the movie is gone in that version), but that they also get to see the movie right after a very frantic one. I can understand the boredom, really. All I can say is wait for the DVD and watch it isolately. It gets much better.

[KYGOTC]

Is there anyone who doesnt feel like waiting for the Planet Terror dvd release?

(Ssshh! its our little secret!)

http://mmovp.net/forum/showthread.php/grindhouse-2007-dvd-quality-1485.html?t=1485

[dean]

Hasn't been released at cinemas here yet.  If overseas trends are anything to go by, it seems like it will be separated.  I hope not, but we'll see.

Was the excuse that Europeans don't have a double feature tradition?  I wonder what their line will be here... We ain't Europe, but as far as I know, we don't have much of a double tradition either. 

[Torgo]

I watched the Death Proof extended cut last night after picking it up at Wally World (I didn't fall for that Best Buy nonsense of paying an extra 8 bucks for a 30 minute featurette). 

I have to say that it works even better in it's extended version with the 25 or so of extra minutes put back into it.  There's more Stuntman Mike stuff, the lap dance is beyond hot and the B/W scene at the start of the 2nd act was great as well.

I guess I'm one of the people that thought that Death Proof was much better than Planet Terror.  I will be picking up the Planet Terror DVD when it is released in a little less than month but I will be returning to Death Proof much more.

[Neville]

I forgot to mention that in exchange of getting the long versions of both films in my country, apart from paying twice, we only got the "Machete" trailer. I would have payed even more to see the trailer of "Werewolf women of the SS" on a crowded theatre.

I'd say that the problem with "Death Proof" bad reviews in America is not only that they cut somke of the best stuff, but also that it should have come *before* "Planet Terror", and not afterwards. "Planet Terror" is so action packed and frantic that it makes "Death Proof" look even slower.

[Torgo]

I agree with everyone who says that they should have made Death Proof the first movie on the double bill in America.  While I liked it better, Planet Terror was so frenetic that people were disappointed with how seemingly "slow" Death Proof was even though it was by far the better of the 2.

[Jim H]

They're too different, and too long, to be released a double feature

You do realize that each movie was only like 70 minutes in the American version?  With the actual trailers, fake trailers, and both films, it was still only about 3 hours.  That's, for example, about as long as The Two Towers, or Dances with Wolves.  Or a half an hour shorter than the theatrical Return of the King...  Or about 10 minutes longer than the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean.   As an aside, typical double features in the US in the old days were 80-90 minute films.

Too different, maybe, but I really can't see how you can argue they're too long.  It just makes me sad double features are so rare these days (some small non-chain theatres in the US still do them once in a while).  It's nice to actually be able to call an "evening at the movies" just that once in a while.