Kill Bill

“R” is for Reservoir Dogs

| rachelhamm
source: pixshark.com
source: pixshark.com

Watched: April 18, 2015 on Netflix

Hashtag: #WatchingReservoirDogs

Year Released: 1992

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi

Run Time: 99 minutes

Description (from IMDb): After a simple jewelry heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

You may want to get yourself in the mood with this song. Press Play before reading the review.

source: threttassessment.wordpress.com
source: threttassessment.wordpress.com

Okay, so I didn’t realize Reservoir Dogs was another Quentin Tarantino film until I hit ‘play’ on Netflix.  Serves me right for not doing my research, huh?  But actually, I enjoyed Reservoir Dogs more than Kill Bill, which surprised me.  You’d think I’d be all about a movie which was all about the bad-assness of strong ladies, rather than a movie that was all about the weakness and craziness of stupid men, but in the end, the gore and fight scenes in Kill Bill were just a hair worse than those in Reservoir Dogs.

That’s not to say there wasn’t gore or fight scenes in RD. In fact, I almost turned the movie off during the infamous torture scene because it was AWFUL – I literally thought I was going to puke if Mr. Blonde set the cop on fire.  But, Tarantino reigned himself in little bit.  There wasn’t blood spurting everywhere and the torture scene was at least interesting for being broken up with the music and dance number (in the gif above) and the long shot where Mr. Blonde walked out to his car and then back inside.

I was just telling some friends of my mistake in watching a second Tarantino film for this project and realized I had to admit that I respect him as a filmmaker.  He is original and takes risks and uses music really well, I just don’t particularly care for the stories he tells.

Also of note, there is not a single female speaking role in this movie. It was his first movie, and as I said above, he did go on to showcase really awesome female characters in future movies, so while it irks me, I’m not going to hold it too much against him.

source: wifflegif.com
source: wifflegif.com

To see all my thoughts on this movie as I was watching it, follow me on Twitter @RLHammAuthor and search for #WatchingReservoirDogs

“K” is for Kill Bill Vol. 1

| rachelhamm
source: caragaleblog.wordpress.com
source: caragaleblog.wordpress.com

Watched: April 9, 2015

Hashtag: #WatchingKillBillV1

Year Released: 2003

Genre: Action

Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu

Run Time: 111 minutes

Description (from IMDb): The Bride wakens from a four-year coma. The child she carried in her womb is gone. Now she must wreak vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her – a team she was once part of.

source: taringa.net
source: taringa.net

I should start by saying I’m not a big Quentin Tarantino fan, but I felt like this is a big piece of pop culture, so I decided to watch it anyway.  There were things about it I really liked – Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu, mainly, and things I really didn’t – all the blood.  Seriously ALL. THE. BLOOD.  It was kind of ridiculous. Also, I didn’t like that it felt like you MUST watch the next film to get the entire picture.  I realize it was done like that on purpose, because the original script was too long for one movie, but it would have been nice if certain things hadn’t been so cryptic.

In my personal opinion, the fight sequences were too long to be enjoyable (not to mention, believable, but I doubt believability is what the director was going for), so I’m not really looking forward to Volume 2, which I’m sure will be more of the same, but I will probably watch it, just to know how it ends.  Does she Kill Bill?  Is she reunited with her daughter?  Inquiring minds need to know! No spoilers in the comments, please!

source: wifflegif.com
source: wifflegif.com

And now for the customary sampling of tweets. For more, follow me on Twitter @RLHammAuthor and search for #WatchingKillBillV1