Full article at: Hollywood's new epics are living (well) by the sword
Two Nicks' Opinions "down on light-saber standoffs"
#1
Posted 26 December 2003 - 09:40 PM
Full article at: Hollywood's new epics are living (well) by the sword
#2
Posted 26 December 2003 - 09:50 PM
You are a legitimate author and such, njamilla. What are you doing here?
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#3
Posted 28 December 2003 - 11:38 AM
#4
Posted 28 December 2003 - 02:41 PM
It won't be. Save yourself (Don't see it).
#8
Posted 29 December 2003 - 10:02 PM
"Silly rabbit"
"Trix are for kids."
HUHN?
KILL BILL is like someone out there with a lot of talent for pastiche decided to make a high-power Japanese schlock sword film, a revenge-themed bit of anime, a streetfighter blacksploitation flick, and a Tarantino-esque black comedy about assassins, rape and randomly-placed references to pop culture. But for some reason it never feels like the guy making it actually is Tarantino, because the dialogue throughout is utterly inept. No, inane. Well, in-something.
Every scene with action in it is amazing, while all the dialogue is squirm-worthy. It is the exact opposite of Tarantino's genuine masterpiece, PULP FICTION.
So, yes and no to the sentiment of the article. The action is loads of fun, but like they say, it isn't fueled by story, since, frankly, I don't care whether Uma kills the little schoolgirl or "the guy in the Kato mask." They're not characters. The action was much better in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, cookie-cutter plot or not. At least everyone had motivation other than "look cool, spill blood."
PS: deciding to tell the story out of chronological order actually calls attention to how dumb the story really is. And there's nothing clever about the device here. I don't think I need to go into why the device was clever in PULP FICTION or even in RESERVOIR DOGS, or why it was overused and unnecesary in JACKIE BROWN. Here, it's just stupid and even points to some mistakes in plotting. Tarantino is sloppy with this one, so I'd hold off on calling KILL BILL V.1 a "masterpiece."
#9
Posted 29 December 2003 - 11:31 PM
Other then Pulp Fiction all his movies have been terrible. Dusk till Dawn? puke! Kill Bill I have not seen yet, but if it's just well scored sword fighting then I'm gonna pass.
I ve seen enough special Fx's with no soul to do me a life time. Matrix, SW, and kill bill all have visual entertainment, but it goes no deeper than that.
Marvel came in and totally killed the CG scene. They made hulk, daredevil, and x men ( I liked X2) because they could. They had the cpu technology to make them so they did. Not because these needed to be seen in the movies.
Last Samurai and LOTR share something that is deeper than your run of the mill action films. The battles scences had emotion that you could appreciate.
It's almost as if they are trying to hard to make me go "whoa cool!"
#10
Posted 29 December 2003 - 11:40 PM
#11
Posted 30 December 2003 - 04:45 AM
Tarantino does a good job with the action, seeing as this is his first foray into the genre. I mean, he makes films like a real pro, but the thing is, there are still real pros out there, so all he has to do to get a film like this made is to copy some (Miike Takashi, Kazuo Ikehiro, John Woo, et al) and hire others. The strength of the thing, for Tarantino, wasn't going to be in the look or the style. It was going to be in the writing, and he skimped on that. Period.
#12
Posted 30 December 2003 - 04:55 AM
I still have not seen resevoir dogs.
Whats with this "PERIOD" thing. I m just sick of all the CG, kung fu flying movies. I just put my say in.....period
#13
Posted 30 December 2003 - 12:59 PM
I don't know. I suspect it meant that vwing refuses to say any more on the subject, but I won't hold it against him if he changes his mind. I just added one to make a little bit of fun... Period.
Sonny Chiba planned out the fights, so there's that. I'm sure Tarantino called the shots, but his style of direction is to watch movies he likes and make storyboards from them. He even tells his actors and cinematogrpaher what movies he's trying to emulate. He's not secretly cribbing; everyone's in the know. So naturally his pastiche will be competent.
In other news, his next film, possibly titled INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, is about a group of WWII soldiers who have disgraced themselves in various ways and are scheduled to be executed ... until someone comes along with a mission so impossible that if they can pull it off, they'll be granted full pardon for their various crimes.
Do I need to ask for a fucking break?
#14
Posted 30 December 2003 - 10:31 PM
#15
Posted 31 December 2003 - 12:13 AM
I'm rather ambivelent to Kill Bill (which, in a way, is worse than hating it). I love watching sword fights, but it wasn't really Japanese sword fighting as much as it was Beijing opera -- the moves, the techniques, the wire work.
Why didn't Tarantino set in Beijing? It was filmed in Beijing. All the guys wore masks because they were Chinese, not Japanese. And what Japanese "swordsmans" that did exist in the movie can be classified as chambara, a degoratory term for the fake, stylistic, samurai sword fighting in the gawd-awful Japanese TV flicks.