Well. It looks like Quentin Tarnatino's having a good week.
I know some people have a visceral loathing for his movies, but I'm not one of them. I thought perhaps he would never have the success he did with Pulp Fiction, but it looks like with the Kill Bill franchise he has another big success on his hands. Frankly, I wish him luck.
I recall, too, that one of the complaints about Pulp Fiction which did resonate with me somewhat was that all the female characters were either weak or flakes. I guess you could say he's made up for that with this series, eh?
Funny thing is, I have seen neither of the Kill Bill movies. But I've wanted to, especially since picking up the soundtrack. Since one of my all-time favorite webloggers has endorsed it so strongly, I know I'm going to enjoy both the original and the sequel.
Now if only they hadn't run out of volume 1 at the rental place....
Best way to watch it is to watch Vol. 1 and immediately watch Vol. 2 in the theatres.
The fight scene in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is like a dance sequence. At one point, I felt like I was watching Breakin II: Electric Boogaloo with hacked off limbs and fountains of blood. Good times. Good times.
Just watched Volume 1 last night. Wicked cool movie. Kung foo, sword fights, massive amounts of spurting blood.
Good stuff.
I saw Vol. 1 for the first time on Friday night, and then saw Vol. 2 last night.
Everything gets explained-- it's a superbly well-constructed story, and it gets wrapped up in a bow far better than Pulp Fiction did.
And David Carradine's performance is Oscar-worthy. No question about it-- watching it is like eating Red Lobster cheddar biscuits. You know you'd better stop, but you just can't.
Saw Vol. 2 last night. It is substantially different in tone and content than Vol. 1. I liked them both a lot.
You know what the best part was for me in Vol. 2? The chemistry between David Carradine and Uma Thurmand.
I just ordered Vol. 1 on DVD from Amazon on Thursday. Ought to be here some time this week. Then to fire up mplayer on my trusty computer...
I really enjoyed Vol. 1, but felt let down by Vol. 2. I feel as though the first movie set us up for something that didn't happen in the second one. I won't give anything away here, but I did my review over at my blog...
Maybe we're just getting too old for this stuff - I quit watching when Bill shot the bride at the very beginning - Judy tried watching it after I'd gone to bed and gave up - she said it was "artsy-fartsy and sucked". She likes his other movies. I personally don't like gratuitous violence, and I just don't like Tarantino's movies. I thought "Reservior Dogs" was trash and "Pulp Fiction" only marginally better. I did however enjoy his role in "From Dusk Until Dawn", so it's not like I have anything against him personally. Different strokes for different folks. I don't slow down to look at auto accidents either
Although I don't know how old you are, Hunt, I doubt it's an age issue. I think it's a mindset. I frankly think Tarantino's brilliant, but he can also be disturbing. His movies in many ways are all, to a certain extent, one long in-joke. A sort of "you get it or don't" matter.
In a way his movies are about simultaneously breaking with convention on the one hand, and becoming so over-the-top in their conventiality that they....
Oh, I'm babbling like a film student or something. Let's just say, Tarantino's unique, and leave it at that. ;–)
Dean,
I'm 62 and grew up here in Hawaii, so I'm probably a little out of the cultural mainstream. Judy however, grew up in Southern California and actually knew Quentin when he was a lowly clerk in the video store she used. She has followed his career with interest, and is very knowledgable about the film industry. As a point of interest, all the movies etc. that I was exposed to as a kid had very little blood and gore, and I've only recently gotten into video games. "Bonnie and Clyde" was a real shocker. I think the younger generations take bloody and graphic violence for granted, whereas it seems pornographic to me.
I can't possibly think of Quentin Tarantino without thinking of Uma Thurman. And I can't possibly think of Uma Thurman without thinking what about Ethan Hawke being one of the supreme assholes of the world for having willfully pushed that goddess of a woman out of his life.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI