Twin screengrabs from the 20th minute and 7th second of related movies
...and a look back at the Action Heroine Blog-a-Thon
[whistling]
[snorting line of coke]
"Take a hit. Be somebody baby!"
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And right there folks, you have it in snapshot form. This is the difference between the two halves of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill saga: Vol I in all its brutal simplicity and stylishness and Vol. II in all its talky extranneous elongation... (why is this character even in the movie?) so as to make up for the cleaving in half.
And there you also have it... my long overdue admission: I don't care for Vol II that much. I tried to love it, settled for admiring it a little. But I never watch it. It's always Vol I for me. Hmmm, and there you have it again: My feelings about Grindhouse. First half (Rodriguez) very very good. Second half (Tarantino) chatty and fond of itself with way too much fat on its bones.
You just keep having it... so this train of thought must end.
The cheeky extra title of both Kill volumes combined, "The Whole Bloody Affair", is also a wink back to Action Heroine Blog-a-Thon just past. The Bride, Buffy and Ripley were mentioned often, though not neccessarily as the focus of articles. In fact, not one blogger wrote about the vampire slayer. Imagine that. If you didn't get a chance to read all the entries here's another way to peruse: by subject.
Aliens
Cinemathematics "The Two Ripleys" * My New Plaid Pants "Vasquez" * This Distracted Globe James Cameron's classic
Asian Heroines
Cinephilia (Lady Vengeance) * Collecting Tokens (Supercop) * Film Otaku five best list * Gallery of the Absurd Crouching Tiger reimagined --Ziyi Zhang replaced! * Joes Movie Corner (House of Flying Daggers) * The Listening Ear Brigitte Lin *
G.I. Jane
Flickhead "Suck my dick!" * Stinky Lulu "the makeover"
Jane Fonda
Coffee Coffee... (Cat Ballou) * Woodstock on Barbarella.
Kill Bill
Crumb by Crumb The Bride * Lazy Eye Theater O-Ren * this is a blog about you Elle Driver * Rants... Gogo Yubari * Bright Lights After Dark Kill
Lists/Overviews
Burbanked a special edition of their series "womb to tomb" * Collecting Tokens heroines I've wanted to be * Cosmo Marius Miss World semi-finalists * Dr. Insermini mi top 5 de heroínas * Film Flap creating an strong woman in your screenplay * Flick Filosopher Top Ten TV * Goatdog The action movies of Olivia DeHavilland * Screengrab chicks with guns * Sell Me a Screenplay top three * Stale Popcorns haiku for hero(ine)s * Ultimate James Bond ass kicking Bond girls * Way of Words "She's a Maniac..." Hollywood's nonthreatening action women *
Lolas
Victim of Time (Run Lola Run -Germany) * Deep In Your Eyes (Lola the Truck Driver -Mexico)
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Damsel in Progress schizo "mom" debate * Low Resolution good-bad pleasure
Non-Traditional Action
Luke Hingis (Elizabeth) * Forward to Yesterday (Scaramouche) * Joe's Movie Corner (Sophie Scholl) * Lazy Eye Theaters "sans the action"
Pirate Girls
Film Experience (Peter Pan) * Pfangirl (Mistress of the Seas) * Wifely Steps (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Single Shots -Miscellaneous Films/TV
Michael Parsons (Blade Runner) * As Little As Possible (The Indiana Jones franchise) * Cinebeats (Faster Pussycat Kill Kill) * I am Screaming... (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) * The Blossoming Stix (A Low Down Dirty Shame) * Jester Tunes (The Matrix) * All About My Movies (Pan's Labyrinth) * Heroine Content (Paycheck) * Odienator (The River Wild) * White Board Markers (She-Ra) * popbytes (Terminator 2) * Verging Writer (Thelma & Louise) * Joes Movie Corner (V For Vendetta) * Ultimate James Bond (Goldeneye) *
*
Posts
24 comments:
I have to agree about Volume 2...all that talk about Superman at the end.
that was Darryl Hannah's best performance ever
"You know, I love that word. Gargantuan. I so rarely get to use it in a sentence."
:-)
I would have nominated her for Supporting Actress.
I did nominate her
I agree about Kill Bill, and about Grindhouse.
It was frustrating that Kill Bill was always hailed as the "better" of the two installments because it has more "character development" and "thematic relevance" or whatever. What about being CINEMATIC? And CONCISE? I mean, hello.
And I was totally bored throughout the first half or so of Grindhouse, right until the first car crash. The first group of girls was SO lame. And what were they even talking about? I have no idea. The second half was cool, though. Better dialogue, or maybe just better actors, but I cared so much more about those girls.
*Kill Bill = Kill Bill 2 (obviously)
I actually like both Kill Bill parts about equally, but can understand the complaints. Had they not been split into two films the shift would have probably been more jarring, though I actually consider it one long film in two sections.
I think the reason I love the second one may have to do more with Uma's training sequence followed by her "grave" escape. I love everything about that, including the music. And of course there was also the Amazon fight.
Pretty much agreed on Grindhouse. I think Planet Terror is the most fun I've had at the movies so far this year. The tension of the last half hour or so of Death Proof made sitting through the rest of it worthwhile, but I agree with Adam, those first gals were disposable.
Speaking of which, I haven't read all of the action babe posts, (great job coordinating that, Nat) but Zoe Bell kicked all kinds of ass.
Other gals I would have been tempted to write about include:
Miranda Otto in The Return of the King (knowing me...duh!)
Angela Basset in Strange Days
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in The Abyss
And another unconventional one that a friend reminded me about, Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction
I two am in the "like both halves" camp, but I really think the problem is that it should have been one movie, and that would have forced a certain degree of concision. Certainly, the "House of Blue Leaves" fight could have been at least a third shorter and Budd's visit to the workplace -- which I actually like -- could have been left out entirely.
As one film running just a bit over three hours, with an intermision (and they need to bring those back), I think it would have played perfectly. For one thing, I think that after the House of Blue Leaves megafight, the audience would have been ready for a long break from the ultraviolence. Breaking it up into two films created an built-in letdown since people were expecting the second half to be as action packed as the first.
And I actually like the Superman speech. On the other hand, I did think "Deathproof" was just plain talky, though the final car chase covers a multitude of sins.
This is a lot helpful in seeking an individual opinion on a specific. How can all this not be a success?
And I loved Vol. 1, haven't seen Vol. 2 yet.
And for Vol. 1, that was really at 20:07?! WOW! That's one of the best so far absolutely.
And now I kinda regret not finishing a post on Miranda Otto. Oh well.
They should really rerelease it in theaters as a single movie, 3 hours with an intermission. Hell, I'd see it again. Or they should at least release a DVD of it all streamlined and edited together. Are there plans in the works to do that?
If it'd been released as a 3-hour movie with an intermission (probably a good publicity angle), it definitely would've gotten some oscar noms. At the very least Uma and the editing would've made it. And quite possibly David Carradine, the cinematography, and the sound effects editing as well. Sigh.
Man, it's still so weird that Keisha Castle-Hughes got nominated over Uma in '03 and then Catalina Sandino Moreno got in over her in '04. I mean, Jesus. Does career achievement and name recognition count for nothing at all?
Haha -- I love that you've grouped the "Lolas" together. I am so amused -- and honored.
Bob, i totally agree with you about the one film and the slowness of vol 2 not being a problem in that context. i AM exhausted by the end of vol 1 (even tho' i love it) and, yeah, woulda worked better for me
i'm not sure why i'm instigating this early 04 conversation again (musta been the action women) but well... here we are
I was a bit disappointed with Vol 2 initially, but then I rewatched it on DVD and thought it was amazing. Not as flat out genius amazing as Vol 1, but nonetheless.
And, yeah, it's all well and good that you guys get to discuss how talky Death Proof is and how fun Planet Terror is but the Weinsteins are still dicking the world around. I don't think we get Death Proof until November. And PT doesn't even have a release date at all.
And they're releasing the DVDs seperately in America. PT isn't getting a release yet at all as of the moment.
And, yeah, they were supposedly gonna release a big 3 hour Kill Bill but much like many other Weinstein promises, they got flushed down the crapper.
ugh the weinsteins.
i'm so worried that they're the ones with I'm Not There. and i'm alarmed that so many filmmakers still sign on with them
i adore both parts of the kill bill movies but surely the vol I is my favorite. it's too much of a bloody rampage and cultural icons for me to overlook. vol II is beautiful and deep, but i also hate shallow people who can't get what vol I is about saying vol II is better just because vol I has too much blood.
i loved being part of the blog-a-thon!! it was really fun to write my article and i'm still going through all the marvelous things written.
I have a question: Has there been a costume so iconic this decade than The Bride's yellow jumpsuit? Tell me otherwise.
I
dare
you.
Adam, that Sandino Moreno deserved the nomination over Thurman in '04 certainly helps to alleviate the weirdness of her nomination.
And it would be nice if career achievement and name recognition counted for nothing at all in the nomination process.
;)
Amen, Steve!
As for the film discussion, I agree on all counts.
KB1 >>>>>>> KB2
PT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DP
Whew! I thought I might encounter a wellspring of defense for KB2 and DP, but with my dislike for both, I'm sitting comfortably in the majority over here.
Feels funny.
The blog-a-thon was freaking awesome, and I've discovered and bookmarked several new spots. Thanks again!
Judge, the yellow tracksuit she wore was actually a replica of the one Bruce Lee wears in Game of Death. So I'm not whether that knocks it down a few notches.
And I just rewatched this today. So very good.
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