I just watched Kill Bill

[xiphias]

I get DVDs to watch while I'm folding laundry and doing other such chores, and I just watched Kill Bill, both parts.

I feel rather ambivalent about it. On the one hand, I'm thinking, "Wow. That was totally self-indulgent regurgitated tripe -- why do people let Quenton Tarrantino even MAKE movies if all he's basically going to do is make film-school-student masturbatory material?" and the other half of me is going, "WOW! THAT WAS COOOOOOL!!!!"

Comments

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

Ha! I have the exact same dual reaction to his stuff. He irritates the bejesus out of me as a director (and I really /really/ wish he wouldn't put himself behind the camera), but he does some dizzyingly cool shots as well.

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

*in FRONT of the camera. Yeesh. :)

[jhitchin.livejournal.com]

I get the same reaction from basically anyone who is insanely talented, but yet only uses this extreme talent to make crap. Good-looking, good-sounding crap, yet it's still crap.

There's a guy I know who is a BRILLIANT lyricist. He could write some of the best lyrics on Broadway. But he only wants to write parodies of filk music. *sigh*

[tylik.livejournal.com]

One of my professors referred to "Kill Bill" as Tarrantino's dissertation on the martial arts genre. Which does cover it pretty well...

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

I liked it as pure eye candy. I did not go into watching it expecting anything deep. I found it quite entertaining given my expectations. I assume that you saw both parts back-to-back (this was actually a single movie split in half due to run length).

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Referencing it against Sonny Chiba flicks, yeah, it's a great homage. Would be interesting to see a Phantom Edit done with the material. Might be able to get a good movie out of it all.

Is also good for inspiring avatars.

[theclamsman.livejournal.com]

"Wow. That was totally self-indulgent regurgitated tripe -- why do people let Quenton Tarrantino even MAKE movies if all he's basically going to do is make film-school-student masturbatory material?"

That's just basically how I feel about him/his work, period. >_>.

[theletterelle.livejournal.com]

I quite liked it. I went in expecting flashiness and hot chicks fighting, and in that he did not disappoint. But I also felt it had depth, with the flashbacks and the thing she was searching for. I like stories that reveal things bit by bit, and that expect you to keep up (see e.g. Memento). I felt Tarantino did a great job with that, while indulging himself with the things he (and a lot of Americans) likes-- trashy, bright-colored things blowing up real good.

[marquisedea.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why it's "self-indulgent regurgitated tripe." It's awesome and really most movies in theaters are totally idiotic (sometimes we forget because we haven't bothered to see them) and it's a downright joy to have some ridiculous, action-packed cowboy assassin fun in there.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

Actually, compared to many movies in the martial arts genre I thought it was much better in regards to it's camera angles, pacing etc.

I preferred the first film to the second, the second had far too many 'shock elements' put in purely for their gore factor rather than advancing plot or developing character.

Like most martial action films (and most action films) there is a some artistic license taken along the way, and some obvious referential bits that are just there to connect it with all the action films that have gone before it in the genre.

It's not Crouching Tiger, certainly, but it's a lot better than Kung Fu Hustle which is one of the most over hyped and pathetic hack jobs to make it into American distribution.

And it did the two things that a film has to do. It entertained and it made money. Most mainstream American film is not art, and much of it is just rework and redoing what was done before over and over and over again. Hollywood doesn't do much in the way of original films, the upcoming year of sequels and remakes is proof of that.

At least Tarantino won't do a "Kill Bill Returns" or some other studio crud.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed "Kung Fu Hustle" more than I enjoyed "Kill Bill", although I did enjoy them both. And I'm in the somewhat odd position of having watched them two days apart.

One of my problems with "Kill Bill" is that it postulates that women are 1) sex objects 2) mothers 3) killers, and nothing else. It shows two women who are both 2 and 3, but with an implication that, once you choose #2, you can't be anything else.

[the-editor.livejournal.com]

I think Tarantino has a brilliant talent for making the best bad movies that can be.
GRINDHOUSE
Kill Bill
Pulp Fiction...

yup... it's now a genre.

think Ed Wood...
with talent
Ya gotta see 'Grindhouse'!

[florafloraflora.livejournal.com]

I was done with Tarantino after Jackie Brown (I just have this urge to slap him) but I don't begrudge anybody else the enjoyment of his work.

[kelfstein.livejournal.com]

Tarrantino makes B movie films that are like watching a train wreck, you just can't stop. I enjoy the films, they have no deep meaning. They seem to take themselves seriously but not realy they are tongue in cheek fun.