Death Proof

So the plot…  Stunt driver Mike has a bad habit of killing people in his car which he has ‘deathproofed’ (his side only – sorry ladies).

Who wouldn’t pay money to see Kurt Russell as a bad guy driving around looking for people to kill in a black American muscle car.  And who wouldn’t love seeing him cry like like a bitch when the tables are turned.

As always the stylings of Tarantino are written all over this flick with a clever soundtrack, fantastic stunts, replays of action shots and dynamic cinematography.  The technical style of filming was interesting, changing from grainy colour reminiscent of a drive in screen, to a black and white Art Nouveau feel, to bright, fully saturated colour.  The style changes can mean that it breaks your connection to the story and you have to settle and reconnect again, but this is something Tarantino does on purpose and it does seem to have a refreshing effect.  Like an interval in a play before it starts a new section.  The film is what fans expect, dialogue heavy, style conscious, graphically violent, brilliantly written and directed, with a killer cast.

A thoroughly enjoyable film.  One of my fave Tarantino films.  Zoe Bell shines as Tarantinos latest muse and as always the extras are well worth watching, a free lesson from a film great.  The story was refreshing and it was fun to watch Kurt Russell being bad!  The movie buff friend I saw it with, became ‘deathproof’ crazy!  Watching it another four times taking her total to five times in one week – a record even for her.  Be warned.

Scariest moments:
The Kurt Russell nachos scene – I’m not sure I’ll be able to eat nachos again.
The lap dance scene, with Butterfly and Kurt Russell, he looks soooo old.

Fun fact:  Tarantino originally wanted Mickey Rourke for the part of Mike but Rourke turned him down (he also turned him down for the part of Butch in Pulp Fiction which then went to Bruce Willis).

Ghost Dog

Ghost Dog (Forrest Whitaker) is an African American who lives by the code of the Samurai and kills for the mob.  When a hit goes wrong the mob decide to retire him.  Ghost Dogs best friend speaks only French, which Ghost Dog doesn’t yet they maintain a close friendship.  This film has some interesting things to say about the blurring of cultural lines and values.  The soundtrack is great with some traditional sounding Japanese music as well as hip hop and rap.  This movie is a great arthouse sort of film with different pacing to the normal hollywood style movies.  The characters are interesting and its great to watch but with a slightly disappointing ending.  Watch it for the scene with the wannabe hip Italian crooning to African American rap.

Garden State

A Fascinating a look into what life could look like to people who are depressed or heavily medicated.  Andrew Largeman has been on lithium since childhood and the movie brings home the realities of loss, disconnectedness, love, relationships and how some people don’t grow out of awkwardness as adults.  Perceptive, thought provoking funny and deep!  Not what I expected for a first time movie from Zack Braff who wrote, acted and directed this film.  Natalie Portman is perfect as Largemans romantic interest and Peter Sarsgaard is great as his stoner friend.  My favourite character though had to be Sylvia Largeman portrayed exceptionally well by Jackie Hoffman.