Grindhouse

First, no more moderated comments.  I don't want to waste any more time and effort having to approve comments.  Second, Grindhouse.

I saw this one on Monday evening and watching it, something happened to me that hasn't in a long time: I started "interacting" with the movie!  Yes, I'm afraid so: I talked back to the screen, jumped a few times and even "helped" the ladies kick ass, swinging my fists in synch at an imaginary Kurt Russell.  My wife was suitably embarrassed, but I didn't care.  Grindhouse is a great movie, although I liked Tarantino's half more than Rodriguez's.

Everything about this duo of a movie was spellbinding.  I didn't see any of the so-called original grindhouse movies, I wasn't in America and too young, but from what James Hudnall says, this is a faithful reproduction of the experience which was characterized by scratchy, uneven sound, jumpy pictures, missing reels and color fluctuations.

Rodriguez's half had a lot more "interruptions" than Tarantino's and way more gore, but that's understandable seeing its topic, cannibal mutants.  With guns galore, some really funny lines (Freddy Rodriguez to a bloated, pulsing Bruce Willis as he's about to pull the trigger, killing Willis: "Thank you for your service to your country" BLAM!) and scenes (Rose McGowan as an amputee with a grenade-launcher M16 attached to her stump), it was a highly enjoyable romp through bad movie-making.  I laughed and cringed doing so every step of the way, even from minute one.

Tarantino's was a lot more subdued in the beginning and the acting was a bit strained, but Kurt Russell was excellent.  Many references to the earlier half of the movie and to other Tarantino films are present, an always enjoyable theme in QT's shows.  Nowhere near as much gore, but the part in which Jungle Julie loses a major appendage comes close to gore, but tastefully, if such a thing is possible.  In the end, this is vintage Tarantino: zany, quirky and the bad guy always gets it in the end.

4 stars out of 5.