I have now seen Grindhouse as well as the individual, longer cuts of Planet Terror and Death Proof. The differences are outlined here.
Planet Terror is easily the better of the two movies, though there is often the sense that it's trying too hard, and is at its best when playing it straight. It also strangely relies on a lot of call-backs, with lines being repeated throughout the movie, and which don't always work. Overall I found it quite fun and enjoyable. The cut version in Grindhouse is marginally weaker because it throws some of the pacing off and loses some character development which was needed because of the large ensemble cast.
Death Proof on the other hand is terrible. As usual for every Tarantino movie after Jackie Brown, it's an exploitation homage about brutal revenge. Filled with boring scenes of dialogue, spoken by unlikeable characters, that have none of the flair Tarantino has shown in other movies. The plot is threadbare and basically divides the movie into two halves with the same scenario but different outcomes. Only the cool car crash half-way through and the final car chase help to redeem it, though even there, it feels like the Zoe Bell character missed multiple opportunities to escape danger. In the Grindhouse cut it's stronger, because it skips twenty-five minutes (!!) of irrelevant dialogue.
All four fake trailers are hilarious and pretty great, and as a double bill with the trailers it definitely captures the feel of a Grindhouse or drive-in double-bill, especially as the second movie was often of lower quality, but I feel that a better movie experience could easily be had by just watching two real, better, grindhouse movies, along with some trailers.
Coming from someone who hadn't seen either part individually, but gerally a fan of both Tarantino and Rodriguez - this is pretty excellent. Both parts good for completely different reasons, but they work well one following the other.
The single feature edit of Planet Terror is also on the TSZDT top list in its own right, and I'm more than happy to watch most of the same footage again to see the alternative edit. Will probably get around to the other edit for Death Proof too; also worth a rewatch.
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ChrisReynolds
I have now seen Grindhouse as well as the individual, longer cuts of Planet Terror and Death Proof. The differences are outlined here.Planet Terror is easily the better of the two movies, though there is often the sense that it's trying too hard, and is at its best when playing it straight. It also strangely relies on a lot of call-backs, with lines being repeated throughout the movie, and which don't always work. Overall I found it quite fun and enjoyable. The cut version in Grindhouse is marginally weaker because it throws some of the pacing off and loses some character development which was needed because of the large ensemble cast.
Death Proof on the other hand is terrible. As usual for every Tarantino movie after Jackie Brown, it's an exploitation homage about brutal revenge. Filled with boring scenes of dialogue, spoken by unlikeable characters, that have none of the flair Tarantino has shown in other movies. The plot is threadbare and basically divides the movie into two halves with the same scenario but different outcomes. Only the cool car crash half-way through and the final car chase help to redeem it, though even there, it feels like the Zoe Bell character missed multiple opportunities to escape danger. In the Grindhouse cut it's stronger, because it skips twenty-five minutes (!!) of irrelevant dialogue.
All four fake trailers are hilarious and pretty great, and as a double bill with the trailers it definitely captures the feel of a Grindhouse or drive-in double-bill, especially as the second movie was often of lower quality, but I feel that a better movie experience could easily be had by just watching two real, better, grindhouse movies, along with some trailers.
Tidorith
Coming from someone who hadn't seen either part individually, but gerally a fan of both Tarantino and Rodriguez - this is pretty excellent. Both parts good for completely different reasons, but they work well one following the other.The single feature edit of Planet Terror is also on the TSZDT top list in its own right, and I'm more than happy to watch most of the same footage again to see the alternative edit. Will probably get around to the other edit for Death Proof too; also worth a rewatch.
NuclearPlanet
@Big A2. Well Since Grindhouse was only realeased in Cinema, and the fake trailers can be found on the Interent. You could still check it.Big A2
@boulderman: I wouldn't. Grindhouse uses shorter edits of the two movies, and has the fake trailers inbetween.Chris Hart
Planet Terror is what makes this awesome and of course the Machete trailer.boulderman
Can I check this if I see Planet Terror and Death Proof?auxt
Waste o' TimeDieguito
80's movie redone in an artistic way..Joris B.
You have to see to the fake trailers too