[quote=“Knoxville Kingpin”]
Goddamn!!! Suddenly DP has went from QT’s best movie ever to he shouldnt have made it. When did the flip flop take place? I dont think the movie is that good, except for the first half and the first car crash (which is AMAZING), but you guys went apeshit over it. Ify, I dont recall if you went apie or not, I guess I could look that up.
QT himself took the grindhouse idea and ran with it. RR was actually shocked when QT started making the rounds telling everyone who would listen that he was making a grindhouse flick with RR. QT seemed very, very excited to be doing this beloved project as he talked so much about wanting to do it, how much he loved doing it and how many times could he mention his film collection? I dont know where this " not really from QTs own heart" horse shit comes from. QT simply made a mistep and didnt give the public what they wanted from him but rather what he wanted to give the public. The public rejected it. So what? The real question is will he give his fans what they want from him or do another side project. Ive been questioning QT every since he was making the circuit prior to DP being released. When he went on TV and talked about how cool American Idol is I almost tore down my giant Pulp Fiction poster! QT is changing and im not sure he knows what cool is anymore. I hope he proves me wrong but if he hires Spears for his next film Im gonna burn my Giant Pulp poster and piss on the ashes!
[/quote]
You have a tendency to over-exaggerate. I don’t think anybody with the exception of a handful of people on this forum said that Death Proof was QT’s best film. If you payed attention to the ratings it got, it got 9/10 or less. Whereas I’m sure these same people gave his previous films 10/10. Nobody here doubts the quality of DP, it’s a brilliant film. Personally, I had tears in my eyes after I watched it, because I had the nerve to believe other people’s opinion that QT had fallen off, that it was boring, that the dialogue was shit etc. At no point did I ever get bored whilst watching it, and it is one of the best films I have seen since Kill Bill.
What we’re trying to say is, in terms of QT’s own very high standards, Death Proof just does not cut it. It’s obvious that DP is levels below his other films, and that is shown through it’s minute aspects, i.e. RD, PF, JB and KB feel like big films. They feel like huge projects and are epic in their own ways. DP however, is relatively small. Everything happens on a micro level. Everything is low key. It FEELS like a small film after you’ve finished watching it. In that way, I find it hard to compare with QT’s other films as it is on a whole other level. It’s QT doing things in a non-QT way (in a sense that it’s not like how he did things in his previous films), but manages to stay very QT. It’s a whole other side to him. It lacks so many things found in his previous 4 masterworks, and re-works other things (like the trunk shot). In essence, everything seemed to be watered down. It seemed like everything was 2nd best, whereas in his other films, everything was first class. For example, the dialogue didn’t have as much humour or wit, the characters weren’t “larger than life” (meaning they all took a back seat, pardon the pun), the soundtrack was filled with “ok” songs, the black suits were missing and I think that signifies something. It’s like he purposefully departed from his other films and wanted us fans to see that. As Pete says, it was experimental. I mean the scene where the motorcyclist has a crash, is unlike anything QT has ever done, yet it feels so QT.
The only thing I don’t really like about DP is the idea behind explaining to us (the viewer) of what had just taken place through a character in the film (Earl McGraw). I’m like “why doesn’t QT just let us decide ourself what we think his motives were”. In fact, I was quite surprised at the inclusion of this scene. It’s one of the other ways QT departs from his tradition style of story-telling. He hasn’t done it before, in fact he’s made a point at purposefully letting us decide what we think happened after a certain situation. I never liked this device in Psycho (how Bates’ intentions and motives are layed out in front of you via a character that explains everything) and that’s exactly the effect QT was going for, but it just didn’t appeal to me. On a smaller scale, imagine if QT told us what happened to Lee, would it be more or less thought-worthy?
With regards to my perception of it prior to it being released, well I was always sceptical. Not about the quality, but the type of film it is. I don’t much like the horror genre. But of course it was never quite going to be a horror film. Horror and musical, never have liked them. So for me, it wasn’t that appealing. The only appeal was that it was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino! Thankfully, I loved the film, but it comes bottom on my “best QT films” list.
[quote]Ive been questioning QT every since he was making the circuit prior to DP being released. When he went on TV and talked about how cool American Idol is I almost tore down my giant Pulp Fiction poster! QT is changing and im not sure he knows what cool is anymore. I hope he proves me wrong but if he hires Spears for his next film Im gonna burn my Giant Pulp poster and piss on the ashes!
[/quote]
The thing with QT is, he doesn’t go with everybody else. He has his own tastes and opinions and isn’t scared to convey them. I watched an interview with him on MTV2 with Zane Lowe. QT was choosing tracks for them to play. Right at the end, he said he liked Maroon 5 and you could see Zane’s heart break. He was so disappointed with QT, and let him know that too. It took him a while to get over it, and asked QT to introduce it. QT was surprised they were gonna play it. Then there was a message on screen saying “you didn’t think we were actually going to play Maroon 5 did you?” I thought it was funny. The thing with QT is, he likes almost everything, and tends not to like some people, most people think are great. I don’t see how what QT likes has any bearing whatsoever on his films. I would never do some stupid shit like “oh my God, QT likes American Idol? That’s it, I hate Pulp Fiction now, I’m going to tear my poster down, burn it and piss on it afterwards”. That to me is like the definition of stupidity and exaggeration. Why should what he did 14 years AFTER Pulp Fiction, change my perception of it? It’s stupid shit like this that annoys the hell out of me. Like people have a right to dictate what QT should and shouldn’t like. When my idols (Tarantino David Gilmour) say they like something that I don’t, I don’t throw a strop. I accept it, afterall - to each his own! Until I hear QT himself say he’s thinking about hiring Spears as an actress, I’ll reserve my judgement till then.
