![\"\"](\"https:\/\/maggipicayune.net\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/grindhouse.gif\" "\\"grindhouse\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nPersonally, I never heard of the term grindhouse until this movie came out (it was mentioned in the my recent Joe Bob Briggs\u2019 book review and I still didn\u2019t remember). In the Midwest, these movies were shown at drive-ins up to the early Eighties and sometimes HBO to fill time in the late evenings. Back when I lived in Champaign-Urbana, there was this older kid named Charlie who always managed to see such \u201cclassics\u201d as\u00a0The Car, It\u2019s Alive, Food of the Gods<\/em> and\u00a0Shock Waves<\/em>. He had everyone\u2019s undivided attention as he retold the plots, gore and other great parts. Well the duo of QT and Rodriguez make their latest tribute to trash cinema through the double features of\u00a0Grindhouse<\/em>, complete with trailers, commercials, film scratches and conveniently \u201cmissing\u201d reels. If you want the horrible smells, sticky floors and other unpleasantness associated with actual grindhouses, you\u2019re on your own but I\u2019m sure the dollar theater in Round Rock is pretty close.<\/p>\n The first feature is Rodriguez\u2019s\u00a0Planet Terror<\/em>. It\u2019s really a knockoff of every other flesh-eating zombie movie ever since Romero\u2019s 1968 original. What separates his from the pack is its general goofiness, especially Rose McGowan\u2019s antics with her machine-gun limb and the ending. To me it was a more gruesome version of a personal favorite B Flick:\u00a0Night of the Comet<\/em>.<\/p>\n The second feature is Tarantino\u2019s\u00a0Death Proof<\/em>. At first, it has a painfully slow start because the trio of women that begin the movie ramble on in Tarantino\u2019s signature banter. This was amusing 15 years ago in\u00a0Reservoir Dogs<\/em>, it was tiresome by the third time I watched\u00a0Pulp Fiction<\/em>. Thankfully Kurt Russell finally shows up as the villain Stuntman Mike and demonstrates how he has more talent than the entire cast combined. The second half is another gaggle of women talking like Tarantino\u2019s male characters but a car chase sequence compensates until the sudden ending.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t like the two movies within the movie, the four trailers (one at the beginning, three in the middle) are good for some laughs. I thought\u00a0Don\u2019t<\/em> was the best one from the\u00a0Shaun of the Dead<\/em> people and Eli Roth\u2019s\u00a0Thanksgiving <\/em>slasher flick was spot on, right down to the scracthy-voiced announcer.<\/p>\n Despite all the intentional and unintentional flaws of\u00a0Grindhouse<\/em>, I can\u2019t help but like it. I hope this movie succeeds too because if there\u2019s a sequel, the production company should go with a different pair of directors who bring their own stories that fit the title\u2019s theme.<\/p>\n In closing, if you live in a city with an Alamo Drafthouse,\u00a0Grindhouse<\/em> is best seen there. The people who run those theaters keep up the energy and excitement by showing additional trailers that inspired this. The funniest one was\u00a0Night of the Lepus<\/em> which is a movie I think that depended upon the audience\u2019s ignorance of Latin for it to work. Their polite reminder of \u201cdon\u2019t talk during the movie or else they\u2019ll throw your ass out\u201d was touching since it was former governor Ann Richards punishing the boorish offender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Personally, I never heard of the term grindhouse until this movie came out (it was mentioned in the my recent Joe Bob Briggs\u2019 book review and I still didn\u2019t remember). In the Midwest, these movies were shown at drive-ins up … Continue reading