Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Grindhouse...winner or loser???

I have posted a review of the movie Grindhouse. For those of you unaware of this movie, it is a lovechild of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The basic premise is that the movie is a doublefeature production and is a throwback to when movie houses would literally become a grindhouse, grinding out C-movies simply to bring in the dough. One movie belongs to Quentin, the other to Robert. Seeing as how the movie has not come out yet, I am unable to submit my own review. However, it's not the review that I am interested in. It is the fact that this movie has the ability to change the way movies are made in the industry. When people in the industry who routinly make good movies such as Quentin and Robert do (and I use good loosly in Quentin's case...anyone see Resevoir Dogs? Eck!!!), start making movies that are supposed to emulate bad films, it seems to me that a trend is a brewin...and not a good one. I understand the need to throw tribute to the movies that pushed you into the movie making business...but couldn't they have just had a special screening of those movies instead of going out and making one? Now, as I said before, I haven't seen the movie. I will be seeing the movie. It could knock my socks right off, only time will tell. I am just worried that other directors and producers will take this film and make bad, bad, bad emulations of it. That means movies that lack character development, overtly use sex (and many times this means degrading women), and cheap looking gore all takin in with a shot of bad dialogue and even worse story lines.
Another problem that I have is that my friend Quentin does have a certain...well a certain something about his films. In the revieew, the author was kind enough to share with the reader that Quentin has a bit of trouble actually making a film different then what he is used to making. It may be because Quentin is only capable of making one style of film. It may because Quentin thinks that that one style of film is the best and he won't ever quit using it. Either way, I fear that it will completely take me out of the film and get me comparing it to Kill Bill.
Emulating these films also creates a problem for people in the industry since these films are usually an a,b,c motif, it rarely leaves the director, not to mention the viewer, to put their own take on the film. For someone who wants to create movies, that's a sad thing to think about.
Whatever you may think about this movie, check back cause you better believe that I will be posting my own thoughts on the film once I have watched it. I could be completly wrong...however, these are just some fears that I think about when I think about heavyweights in Hollywood recreating genres that shouldnt be recreated. I would like to think that one day I could create a movie with all the elements that this film might lack. I think that the film will catch on, simply because it is something this generation hasn't seen. However, sometimes generations should look to the originals and appreciate them instead of trying to recreate.

http://movies.ign.com/articles/775/775718p1.html

1 comment:

Matthew Falk said...

I saw this thing last night, and i'm unsure if it knocked my socks off or if i sort of just dreamed it was cooler. I was impressed by the first half, and although it was ultra-gore, thats what i expected. Tarentino's was a little more subdued with a nice ending.

For me the best part was probably the guest - directed shorts / fake previews. I also totally want the music they play when they show the credits.

I'm curious to see what you and Mr. Murphy think of it.