Tarantino Poll

i would vote 'reservoir dogs' because all of the pop culture talk seems pretty natural and integrated into all of the dialogue scenes really nicely, and the directing and style are so impressive, but i still think the best scene in any tarantino film is the 'hold tight' scene in 'death proof'.

and kurt russell was GREAT

the car crash at the end of the first part of is better imo

yeah Kurt Russell is so amazing. and its funny/ironic that Tarantino got him to be in his half, as opposed to RR's Carpenter-lovefest.

that was the part i was talking about

ok ok well u otm then

That scene is incredible. Captures everything great about Tarantino.

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Kill Bill 1
3. Reservoir Dogs
4. Kill Bill 2
5. Jackie Brown
6. Death Proof

all classics, tho

my underrated fav moment in death proof is when the jersey girl and the greaser dude are on the porch and it's pouring and she's laying down the law to him re making out in the car

That scene is incredible. Captures everything great about Tarantino.

OTM

I keep losing track of what got cut from DP in Grindhouse. I know the lapdance didn't make it (no great loss) but didn't that scene get truncated too?

That scene = porch scene, not car crash scene.

idk ive only scene the dvd version

i remember seeing grindhouse at a midnight show in a packed theater and everyone in the house was basically like O_O at that scene

It's kind of the most extreme conclusion of the ear-cutting scene from Reservoir Dogs.

so the main subplot of the first part is whether or not jersey girl is going to give a lapdance to kurt russell but they cut that scene from the OG? weird. also it's a pretty girl dancing to "jeepster"!

I mean it's why all the nonsense about DP being just a pure GH homage is just nonsense. The movie is Tarantino through and through to me.

car crash scene is super-cool and well executed, about as good as tarantino gets (as is the seqence building up to it, from pam & mike leaving the bar onward). on the other hand, the business with zoe on the hood - buildup and chase - is one of the best supsense/action sequences of any kind i've ever seen. so it's a tough call. wish the rest of the movie were as disciplined and effective as these two bits.

Pshaw to discipline.

hey btw can someone clear this up

a few weeks ago i watched reservoir dogs w/ a friend on dvd. id never seen it before and he hadn't seen it in a few years and he swore that the ear cutting scene was more vile than what we had on the dvd, which didn't show madsen actually slicing the ear off. the whole thing didn't seem that bad to me - except maybe the parts where you see the side of dude's head sans ear - but then i was reading how ppl walked out at sundance and shit and i was thinking that maybe the dvd got edited or something. what do u guyz kno?

^^yeah i mean it's got some vague grindhouse elements but i feel like other than the overall general concept and the poster for the film it's all tarantino. it abandons any grindhouse trappings pretty quickly. xxxp

nah the ear was never shown being cut off

ookay, thx u

Sure that's why Death Proof is the MOST extreme conclusion to that scene!

film festival crowds are notoriously weak when it comes to being able to handle gore imo

yeah basically you see our first-half heroine's face get ripped off by a tire

I saw Tarantino talking about the making of "RD" on some about-movies special where he talked about how he shot that scene about a bazillion different ways and the one where the camera veered away and all you got was a window and the dude's agonized howls was far and away the most visceral, effective rendering of that scene. (It is certainly one of my, not favorite, but most-remembered movie moments.)

I mean it's why all the nonsense about DP being just a pure GH homage is just nonsense.

- alex

already responded to that point, alex. it's not "just a pure GH homage", but it is constrained in some ways by tarantino's reverence for the source material and for cinematic art in general. this is especially true in that the reverence in question prevents DP from being a simple exploitation flick. this is not a fault, mind, but rather an observation, a distinction. i don't think planet terror is better for being more authentically trashy/exploitative.

xp: oh shit I was only half-watching "Death Proof" (lol WoW) so I only saw homegirl get her legs severed

here's another shot that i love from death proof: the super extreme close up of kurt russell eating nachos. actually that whole scene when him and mcgowan first meet is the biz

"but it is constrained in some ways by tarantino's reverence for the source material and for cinematic art in general"

You could make this argument about any Tarantino movie though.

Inaccurate, anachronistic or whatever, there's little changing my mind that Planet Terror is the more entertaining half of Grindhouse, though I'll admit that Death Proof (when it's on) is the better film.

I haven't seen anything after Kill Bill but I've thought that he peaked with RD/PF, but countered with a subtle (well, for him) masterpiece with JB. Both the KBs I thought were OTT to the point self-parody that i doubt will age well.

something i wrote about RD's "ear scene" a while back:

...it's cool cuz it's not just a gnarly suspense/torture sequence, but also a smart & funny little meta-essay on how restraint and excess complement each WR2 screen violence. the first half of the scene is gruesome & tense as hell, but OT doesn’t show us any blood. he almost rubs this (relative) restraint in our faces, making a point of how brutally he can treat the audience without ever lowering himself to "mere splatter".

so, he makes this point, hangs us on a hook, and then takes a break. mr. blonde walks out of the garage into broad daylight (one of the only shots in the film that takes place in open air). the jarring quality is like a huge neon sign, drawing attention to the fact that something significant is happening...

and when mr. blonde goes back in to finish the job, tarantino shoots the entire remainder of the scene in tight, bleeding close-up on the victim’s severed ear. such a hilarious inversion of what came before. he’s rubbing it in again, standing apart from his own film like a college professer, saying, "see! i fucked you up with no blood at all, but not cuz i have to, not cuz i don’t wanna go there. i did it just to show you i can. and now i’m gonna fuck you up the other way too!" so great.

it’s everything that’s wonderful about tarantino wrapped up together with everything insufferable. it’s sadistic, self-indulgent, smug, smart, juvenile, referential and exceptionally well constructed. the movie is pretty damn good overall, but the ear scene is all-time brilliant.

You could make this argument about any Tarantino movie though.

― Alex in SF

goddang, man. yes you could make that point, and i would. alls i'm saying is that since planet terror is less reverent (i mean, it is, but in a less artistically meaningful way), it's therefore able to be more authentically trashy, base, exploitative.

"goddang"?

i put goddam, but it felt mean, so i changed it. goldang? gosh darn it?

I would have gone with "ARGH". That's just me, tho

"Goddang" seems a little too much like my cousin who will not curse but will say "nigga" at the drop of a hat, leading to him once saying "Bump that, nigga; I do not give a flip!"

^ display name

hahahahah i love "bump that"

it's therefore able to be more authentically trashy, base, exploitative = more reverential in a way doesn't it? Don't know why I'm arguing this, frankly. You can prefer it for whatever reason you want.

here's another shot that i love from death proof: the super extreme close up of kurt russell eating nachos. actually that whole scene when him and mcgowan first meet is the biz

― nascar jesus (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, February 10, 2009 7:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

that place's nachos are fly as fuck btw

they are much tastier than that scene suggets

idk if that scene is supposed to make them seem repulsive or like they are the bomb but it always made me hungry as fuck for some nachos

I am two blocks from that place RIGHT NOW.

fancy a nacho?

ha if only

i am up on the north side today, gon' get a friend addicted to the wire!

well, that's the best excuse I can think of

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

PF of course

but we will need to revisit this once inglourious basterds comes out