i've been a tarantino fan since i saw res dogs in college...and i've always been a huge fan of the clint eastwood man with no name movies as well as the old kung fu theatre stuff, along with having a thing for uma thurman.... needless to say this film was nearly perfect for me and i've seen it about 6 times now... describing it to friends i say its a trainload of spagetti westerns running headlong into a trainload of the kung fu theatre flicks. the biggest thing going for it is tarantino is in absolute full movie geek mode and you can see his passion for the film running end to end.. andy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Johne Cook" <bio_phy at hotmail.com> To: <Dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 4:07 PM Subject: Kill BIll V1 (was Re: Uma Thurman's House) > Roger Ebert gave it four of four stars. His reasoning is more interesting > than his verdict: > http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-killbill10f.html > > ""Kill Bill: Volume 1" shows Quentin Tarantino so effortlessly and > brilliantly in command of his technique that he reminds me of a virtuoso > violinist racing through "Flight of the Bumble Bee" -- or maybe an accordion > prodigy setting a speed record for "Lady of Spain." I mean that as a sincere > compliment. The movie is not about anything at all except the skill and > humor of its making. It's kind of brilliant. > > The movie is all storytelling and no story. The motivations have no > psychological depth or resonance, but are simply plot markers. The > characters consist of their characteristics. Lurking beneath everything, as > it did with "Pulp Fiction," is the suggestion of a parallel universe in > which all of this makes sense in the same way that a superhero's origin > story makes sense." > > For me, I'm glad that I went to see it, with one caveat - I took my kids to > see it (15 and 10), and that was A Big Mistake. We went to see _Bulletproof > Monk_ and it was your basic cheesy chopsocky martial arts action flick. I > guess I was thinking this would be the same kind of thing. If the usual > martial arts picture features comicbook violence, the violence in Kill Bill, > V1 is that of a graphic novel, making it a truly adult film in that regard. > The only thing that made me more uncomfortable were the two little old > ladies in their Sunday finest behind me and to the left. Their unconscious > shock during the scene with Go Go was alternately embarrassing and amusing. > Just having them there made seeing the film even that much more surreal. > > Ebert describes that scene thusly: > "Later the sword must face the skill of Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), > O-Ren's teenage bodyguard and perhaps a major in medieval studies, since her > weapon of choice is the mace and chain. This is in the comic book tradition > by which characters are defined by their weapons." > > I totally enjoyed the film and will definitely see the second half in > February. I will also, likewise, see it without my kids. > > johne (phy) cook > wisconsin, usa > > personal blog: http://breezeway.blogspot.com > aerie blog: http://aeriepress.blogspot.com/ > stormfort list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stormfort/ > > "Almost any act of (creative) expression is an act of courage. Whenever you > write (something) and you show it to someone else, it's an act of courage > because it's your life, it's who you are and you're laying it out on the > table and you're either going to be rejected or accepted." > > Terry Scott Taylor > > >For evidence, see Kill Bill, Vol. 1. Or don't - it's nowhere near Pulp > >Fiction in quality. Anyway, there's a Tazendra-style fight scene and a > >declamation from overhead which I think T would have been proud of. > > _________________________________________________________________ > Add MSN 8 Internet Software to your current Internet access and enjoy > patented spam control and more. Get two months FREE! > http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/byoa >