I remember Grindhouse as being a fun experience and worth a matinee ticket, but the first half of Death Proof (where most of the endless and unimportant talking happens) is definitely bathroom-break time. "People who preferred Planet Terror to Death Proof just want endless action, and don't have the patience for Tarantino's genius dialogue," say Quentin's apologists. But Rodriguez intended to make a bad movie and succeeded spectacularly, while Tarantino intended to make a good movie and failed.

That said, the showcase stunt at the end of Death Proof comes close to redeeming the rest of it.

Also:

"A tall (maybe 6ft) Amazonian Mulatto goddess walks down her hallway, dressed in a baby tee, and panties that her big ass (a good thing) spill out of, and her long legs grow out of. Her big bare feet slap on the hard wood floor. She moves to the cool rockabilly beat as she paces like a tiger putting on her clothes."

That made me say "Oh my!" in my George Takei voice.

It made me say 'Great Goobity Goob!' in my Grady Wilson voice, here.

first half of Death Proof (where most of the endless and unimportant talking happens)

I could listen to Tarantino's characters talk for hours.

I haven't seen "Grindhouse" yet, but it sounds like he's trying a Godard-meets-exploitation flick combination, which has worked before.

(Two fun trivia bits: the director of "Two Lane Blacktop" was one of the producers of "Reservoir Dogs," and Tarantino's production company is named after a Godard movie.)

Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite? ;>

It’s unbelievably juvenile

(he says that like it's a bad thing. It's a neo-exploitation movie. It's supposed to be juvenile. This guy was probably a little Martin Prince back in school)

Abernathy was an actress?! Dateless wonders?! I sat through that whole thing and was so bored out of my mind that I don't remember either of those points. Ultimately, "it's Tarantino paying tribute to Tarantino more than anything else." Yup, and "From Dusk To Dawn" it's not.

I can easily imagine rewatching Planet Terror a number of times. Rodriguez understood the concept and then nailed it, especially the missing reel concept, offering a film with the surface sheen of exploitation but supported by any number of levels of complexity in characterization and plotting. As for that missing reel, Rodriquez even managed to build up to "the grand theme" with its "inevitable touching moment" and then robbed the viewer of that release. Pure genius.

DeathProof however is little more than death warmed over (heheh), and as much as I appreciate what Zoe Bell did for the finale, that itself is so drawn out and examined from every possible angle that I doubt I would watch more than a few more times.

I liked Planet Terror. Rodriguez 'got' the assigment. Death Proof had some potential but it got over Tarantino'd. My favorite part of it was really seeing so many Austin landmarks in the beginning. The dialogue was a little much. I also liked the ending. The middle? Not so much.