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[Cidd]

The last few minutes of Death Proof are some of the best from QT.

You have to watch it.

 

[BiGBoSSMk23]

I can't co-signt this. Death Proof was a good time, and you missed some awesome stunt work.

Yeah, expecting a plot out of this movie is missing the point .

You're just watching to see Tarantino riff on the script and splurge on stuntwork.

And it was pure entertainment.

 

[rootbeerafloat]

Jesus christ dude

 

[blame space]

is death proof the best script of the last 15 years?

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

The last few minutes of Death Proof are some of the best from QT.

You have to watch it.

Some of his best, as in up there with Mr Blonde's torture scene in Reservoir Dogs? Now that is some of QT's best right there.

I can pop the movie back in and give it another go, since every one seems to like the chase scene.

Jesus christ dude

What's got you saying the Lord's name in vain for? You can tell me anything.

 

[stupei]

Honestly that surprises me, cause I feel his film quality dipped with Kill Bill and only just started picking back up with Django. Long movie sure, but I'd also take hateful over anything in between those. Kill Bill, Inglorious, and Death Proof are serious mixed bags for me. They're like Tarantino's mid life crisis movies to me, where he got so far in he lost touch.
To Death Proof's credit, I did appreciate it was a bit more soberly put together.

In terms of editing, I don't just mean length or scenes that simply feel somewhat lacking in precise execution. The actual choice of cuts is sometimes severely flawed.

Like there's that scene in Django where he returns to the house where the trackers with the dogs are and there are those random shots in close up to open the scene that appear to just be there to reveal that Zoe Bell is making a cameo (what is shown plays no significance otherwise), followed by a long, lingering shot that you assume is going to eventually convey something. It doesn't really. It just kind of... happens. The way the scene is edited together as a whole makes the viewer's perception of space really confusing. The shots jump around the room, constantly breaking the 180, but doing nothing with the momentary disorientation that comes with that. In any kind of action oriented scene, not being able to easily take in the layout of the space is a pretty serious flaw unless that is a deliberate choice meant to convey something about the story. Here it just feels like an accident that nobody in the edit bay noticed.

It's just one moment but it feels sort of emblematic of the arbitrariness that feels present in moments of Tarantino's latest works that never felt like it was there before.

Personally, I feel like Basterds is his true masterpiece, largely because of how flawless each cut is. The incredibly long, tense dialogue scenes are so carefully executed and each lingering glance feels deliberately chosen. The first scene with Christoph Waltz is just around 20 minutes, the vast majority of that time spent sitting at a table, quietly speaking, and it manages to somehow move very quickly, never lingering for too long, but all while creating a prolonged and building sense of dread. The tension is unbearable, but not even a moment is wasted. Obviously that's largely down to Waltz's incredible performance, but in the hands of a lesser editor those prolonged pauses could become ham-fisted and false instead of menacing. The film is thoughtful in every moment in a way that I feel is sometimes lacking in the last two works. They're certainly not bad films, by any stretch, but it strikes me that perhaps much of the restraint Tarantino had as a filmmaker might have evolved largely from this collaboration that is now lost.

But Menke was one of our greatest living editors, honestly. Anyone who came after would have a lot to live up to. I just feel as though I didn't realize the full extent of her influence on Tarantino's work until she became fully absent from it.

 

[HStallion]

I feel the only one of these modern day grind house flicks that pulled off the vibe and aesthetic while also being entertaining was Hobo With a Shotgun. Rutger Hauer gave a Hell of a performance for such a ridiculous movie.

 

[Gattsu25]

Yes, I stopped after the part where they introduced the next set of girls.

Haha. You really should finish it.

For what it's worth...you're basically watching two different films. What you've seen is only the mean spirited early slasher film in the "Stuntman Mike" series.

 

[Spikematic]

I found it enthralling actually. It was so weird and different. The latter half was insane. But yeah, I can see why many people won't like it at all. Definitely requires a lot of patience.

 

[Corleth the Fey]

So you bailed before the best parts of the movie? lol

edit: I also think the prerequisite for enjoying this movie is having seen the movies this was basically a tribute to.

Yep, I love this film, but that's because I love Vanishing Point.

 

[hal9001]

You stopped before the best part.

 

[VAD]

I loved it. It wasn't the movie of the year but I thought it succeeded at what it was attempting to do. The disturbing scenes were actually disturbing and the thrilling car chase was actually exciting. And the bad misogynistic guy is punished at the end.

 

[Jon Carter]

Very weak film. It really doesn't seem like much thought was put into it when you compare it to every other movie he made. It feels like QT on vacation.

 

[Copenap]

To be honest it took me a second to even realize which movie you were talking about. That said, I thought it was ok/good.

 

[Rimon-hanit]

You watched the wrong 45 min.

 

[spineduke]

I think I've seen two cuts of this, one that's 30 mins long, and the other which is stretched out into a full length movie. The condensed version probably works better since the plot is so bare.

edit: the short cut was under an hour.

 

[soundscream]

The girls were fucking awful, hard candy tier unlikable characters.

Group 1 agree
Group 2 were great

 

[toastyToast]

You should have started watching it after 45 minutes

Holy fuck was that first half trash.

 

[Bl@de]

I love Death Proof. It's stupid and fun. And the ending is hilarious.

 

[Minyobi]

While it isn't my favorite Tarantino movie, I do think it is worth completing.

That said, at least OP watched some of the movie.
It seems like some don't even do that before going on diatribes.

 

[LiQuid!]

Finish the fucking movie. You quit after the set up and didn't get to any of the payoff! Fuck this thread actually.

 

[Lord_Balkan]

I thought it was mediocre. I liked the homage to Bird With A Crystal Plumage and the car chase scenes. I think the pacing is kind of off because of the huge distinction between each half. In movies that kill off their main character 1/3rd or half way through (Psycho and Nightmare On Elm Street) fall back to another character already introduced. Since Death Proof kills off everyone in the first half, all that tension in the second half needs to be rebuilt from scratch. This is what I think causes a lot of the pacing issues.

Aside from the chase scenes, I found the type of movies that this spoofs much more enjoyable.

 

[Frodo]

I love Death Proof. It starts exactly as a Grindhouse would start, but halfway it spins the conventions of the genre around and the end when

Spoiler

Kurt Russel is the one running from a bunch of girls

just solidifies it as one of my favourite QT films. It is not perfect by any means, and I wouldn't say it is one of his best films, but it is definitely one favourite of mine. I was grinning from ear to ear when it ended. The car chase and stunt work (not forgetting the crash scene, of course) all validate watching this film at least once.

Honourable mention for the super weird feet fetish scene clearly referencing QT himself.

 

[LeadenStride]

The biggest difference to most Tarantino films is that none of the characters in Death Proof are interesting in any sense. I found no enjoyment in watching them interact with one another.
Of course, it doesn't help that half of them are thrown out half way, which gives only little time to establish each of the groups. Mike himself wasn't interesting either though.
Certainly, characters aren't everything, but I think that they have always been one of the strongest aspects of Tarantino films.

 

[Woody Invincible]

I thought it was such a breath of fresh Tarantino air. Great second half, and an awesome ending.

 

[Valtýr]

You should have started watching it after 45 minutes

Holy fuck was that first half trash.

The first half is required for the second half to have any weight. You need to see Mike in control and at the top of his game so that when you see him in the second half, it actually means something.

 

[DoctorFling]

I like that Tarantino just indulged himself and made a trashy car chase movie, but I personally don't care for it at all.

 

[MrRudiMentary]

By far my least favourite Tarantino film. It's slow like his other movies but nowhere near as interesting.

 

[Glass Shark]

It's probably his weakest movie in my eyes, but I think that's largely because I don't have any reverence for the source material it was inspired by. And a weak Tarantino movie is still better than a lot of other mainstream movies.

I'm still super glad that I saw Grindhouse in a crappy theater at a late night showing. It was a fantastic moviegoing experience that you just can't recreate in a different setting.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I like this flick. That April March song is ear torture tho.

 

[Robot Pants]

One of his best
Why is this even a thread if you only watched 45 minutes

 

[Jay Sosa]

Don't bother finishing it.

While I wouldn't say it's a terrible movie it certainly is extremely boring which to me is even worse. Bad movies can still be entertaining, Deathproof simply was a waste of everyones time.

is death proof the best script of the last 15 years?

Maybe not 15 but certainly of all times.

 

[Fritz]

I loved it. It's weird and off and not in the usual Tarantino way weird and off. I felt it really had a different tone to it compared to his other films. I also think it's his sexiest film. Them girls, swoon.

 

[Concrete Charlie]

Death Proof is great. It isn't one of Tarantino's best but it isn't the shitfest some of you are making it out to be. Not everything is going to be Pulp Fiction.

 

[cj_iwakura]

At least it has some entertaining parts, unlike Jackie Brown. The end credits sequence is worth it.

 

[Grenchel]

Best scene in the movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkR8oeIBAz4

 

[Jay Sosa]

At least it has some entertaining parts, unlike Jackie Brown. The end credits sequence is worth it.

Louis? Louissssssss?

Spoiler

Bam, bam

I thought Jackie Brown had some very entertaining parts.

'Not if your ambition is to get high and watch TV' might be one of my favorites quotes from any movie. Cracks me up every time.